Japan Shop Hopes Its Tiger-Faced Daruma Dolls Can Spur Recovery

Production of auspicious daruma dolls to ring in the New Year is at its height at a shop in Hiratsuka, a city south of Tokyo, all of them featuring a tiger motif as 2022 is the Year of the Tiger in the Chinese zodiac.

Photo Insert: Arai Darumaya's tiger daruma dolls

Craftspeople at Arai Darumaya, a studio with a 150 year-plus history, were recently seen applying the finishing touches to the tiger faces on softball-size daruma dolls, made of Japanese washi paper and clay, Yuki Miyatake reported for Mainichi Japan.

Each tiger has its right paw raised like a welcoming "manekineko" cat, in the hope that the doll will help put Japan's pandemic-hit economy back on track. The shop plans to craft 3,000 tiger dolls by the end of the year.

"As they are handmade, each and every doll face has its own character. We hope people will visit our shop and look at the dolls with their own eyes, before choosing one they'd like to get," said Seikan Arai, 66, the fourth-generation head of the studio.

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