Minnie Mouse at Yamadera.
This photo is often greeted by non-Japanese with an ironic laugh. However, the Japanese are saddened by the photo, and not by the mixture of modern American culture and Japanese traditional culture. These statues are for children who died very young, or for aborted fetuses, and some mother has brought this Minnie Mouse to the shrine because she thought her child may have liked the toy.
Copyright © 1998 by Edward Kaspar
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