I'd like to extend a big welcome to the latest edition to the Keane family, Nelly, our Maneki Neko direct from Japan. 

For those of you who have seen these cats, Maneki Neko literally means "beckoning cat" and is a good luck charm for businesses. Our first set of Maneki Nekos suffered an unfortunate tumble to a shattering death last year and until just last week we had been without one. My mother-in-law was in Japan last month and returned with Nelly, who in size comparison is about 10 times larger than the other cats. I hope that means 10 times more luck. 

An interesting fact from Wikipedia: 

To Americans and Europeans it may seem as if the Maneki Neko is waving rather than beckoning. This is due to the difference in gestures and body language recognized by Westerners and the Japanese, with Japanese beckoning by holding up the hand, palm out, and repeatedly folding the fingers down and back up, thus the cat's appearance. Some Maneki Neko made specifically for Western markets will have the cat's paw facing backwards, in a beckoning gesture more familiar to Westerners.

Each Maneki Neko's color, paw position and decorations mean different things. Nelly specifically is inviting customers in (raising the left paw), is the luckiest cat of all (being a calico cat) and hopes to deliver wealth and material abundance (the bib and bell).