Some old travel photos I could never bring myself to delete from my phone: the moat of gorgeous Matsue Castle and a little flotilla castle replica in the style of Shimanekko, the tourism mascot of Shimane Prefecture. I gasped with joy pretty much every time I encountered Shimanekko, which was a lot. He is everywhere!
Even some train seats feature a Shimanekko statue as a permanent fixture. Being a veteran of the harrowing Tokyo commute, I cannot begin to fathom such flagrantly irresponsible use of extraordinarily valuable seat real estate, but also at the same time, I was always delighted to see it. (Also, overcrowding does not seem to be a pressing issue in Matsue.)
Also, the text on the wreath he is holding reads ご縁 [goen], which refers to fate, chance, or (destined) relationships or human connections. I love how the 幺 radical (top left in 縁) is stylized to look like an infinity symbol (unless I'm making that up).
