Draw for 8-14-16
Added 2016-08-16 04:43:27 +0000 UTCI lived in Okinawa Japan when I was a young teen for about five years. It's a very interesting place, and one of the cultural things that I remember strongly is the Okinawan 'Shisa dog'.
Shisa dogs were ornamental lion-dog statues that would often sit on rooftops or fence posts. Traditionally, one would have an open mouth, and another a closed mouth. The open one scared away evil spirits, and the closed kept good spirits in.
They looked a lot like Chinese foo dogs, and if I remember correctly, this is because early Okinawa was... it was either Chinese or heavily influenced by China? At least, before it became part of Japan. Okinawa still carries a lot of it's own cultural traditions separate of Japan, and it's own identity.
Actually, Japan kind of considers Okinawa to be it's 'Hawaii', it seems?
