By Paula Rath
Advertiser Staff Writer
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| The Ukulele Kat is based on the maneki neko, which draws customers and brings good luck to businesses.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser |
Flying musubi with angel wings, cock-a-roach B-52 bombers, pun-tossing myna birds: These are a few of the whimsical musings that come from the fertile imagination of artist Grant Kagimoto.
His Cane Haul Road creations, from tea towels to T-shirts to greeting cards, have been amusing Islanders for years.
Now here’s Kagimoto's latest: Ukulele Kat. It's a witty, wacky take on the tradition of the maneki neko, the Japanese beckoning cat that’s placed in shop windows to draw customers in and bring good luck to a business.
Custom dictates the cat hold a koban, or gold coin. Kagimoto’s cat, however, embraces an ‘ukulele. And his attire? Strictly local: an aloha shirt and rubber slippers.
Ukulele Kat is sold on O‘ahu at Island’s Best, Shirokiya and Vue Hawaii, and on the Big Island at Cook’s Discoveries. Price: $38.
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