On January 29 some readers of this blog came to visit Kotaro from Singapore! Kotaro gave them a warm welcome in Horie Park, where the meeting took place. Here’s Chee Chien:

(Kotaro: Welcome to Japan! Sniff sniff!)

And Avon:

(Kotaro: Welcome to Japan! Lick lick!)

Kotaro likes girls, so Shu Ting got a particularly warm welcome.

(Kotaro: Welcome to Japan! Hug!)

After the greetings, Kotaro was very pleased to receive a souvenir from Singapore!

(Kotaro: What’s this?!)

It was a special occasion, so we had Kotaro show the guests some tricks.
First: sit…

Shake…

Asking for more food…

Then they played one of Kotaro’s favorite games: tug-of-war. Shu Ting keeps a dog (a Jack Russell Terrier), so she was very good at handling Kotaro.

Once they had got to know each other, Chee Chien took Kotaro for a stroll. Kotaro was a bit stronger than he expected.

Here Kotaro’s famously soft ears are being shown off.

And here Kotaro’s getting scratched on the white fur on his underside (one of the features of the Shiba breed). They were good friends.

It was a lot of fun and seemed to go really fast! We finished things with a group photo. Thank you very much Chee Chien, Shu Ting and Avon!

(Cheese!)

Eri
Editor, Kotaro’s Blog

(Photos: Eri)

Happy New Year! We (Kotaro included) hope that 2010 brings great things for you!

As with last year, Kotaro had already been to Isakuri Shrine, Ise Shrine and Fushimi-Inari Shrine with the company president, but we decided to check his luck for the coming year and went a second time to Isakuri Shrine. Isakuri Shrine protects the Osaka and Semba area that the JSHOPPERS.com office is in.

(Kotaro: Happy New Year!)

As we were walking around in the shrine, we got a surprise. “Is that Kotaro?,” said someone nearby.

(“Is that Kotaro?”)
(Kotaro: Eh?)

That someone turned out to be the Shinto priest. It turns out that by pure coincidence he’d read this blog! Apparently Kotaro is a famous dog around Isakuri Shrine!

(Kotaro: Yes indeed, I am one famous canine.)

Then it was time to get down to business and get a fortune! In Japan, this is how it’s done:

1. Put \100 in the box.
2. Shake the hexagonal tube and tip out a thin rod from the small hole.
3. The number on the rod indicates the number of your fortune. (The fortune is written on a little piece of paper.)

In order of luckiest to unluckiest, the types of fortune are “dai-kichi,” “chū-kichi,” “shō-kichi,” “kyō” and “dai-kyō.” This, year, Kotaro’s fortune was…

(Kotaro: How’s mine?)

It was a “shō-kichi.” Not particularly great, and Kotaro wasn’t happy!

(Kotaro: Not particularly great?!)

The last step is to tie the fortune to a tree or special cord in the shrine. Traditionally, good fortunes were taken home and only bad fortunes tied and left, but recently some people tie both good and bad in hope for divine protection for the coming hear.

(Kotaro: I hope I meet someone special this year…)

On the way home we stopped by at the park near our office. It was really cold, and the wind was blowing up a gale, so we gave Kotaro a scarf. Like it, Kotaro?

(Kotaro: Hmmm…)

(Kotaro: Brr! It’s still cold!)

Unfortunately it was still pretty cold.
Make sure you rug up nice and warm for the rest of the winter!

Eri
Editor, Kotaro’s Blog

[Photos: Eri]