In which we sponsor a doll from Japan and Richard gets a phone call....

But first, a big welcome back to Vicki and the residents of Hittyville!












~*~

"Who? Yes, I am..." I could hear Maddy on the phone in the other room. "Yes. I'll be over in about an hour. Great. Thank you." She hung up. "Yes! She's here. I was afraid her visa might be delayed."

"Who's here?" I said, looking around from the computer.

"The doll from Japan we're sponsoring," Maddy said, looking for her other shoe and the car keys. "Want to take a ride with me to pick her up?"

Wait. What doll? Japan? Why doesn't she like, tell me these things?

~*~

Turns out this has actually been in the works since before she made me. Pinky found out about the Friendship Dolls and their descendants while she and her band were in Japan back in the spring and thought it would be really cool to sponsor one of them. It's a program that started back in 1927 (read more about it here and here.) Maddy loved the idea, but the application process and red tape took far longer than anyone thought. She was starting to worry that it might not come through, until she got the call today that our sponsoree (is that a word?) had arrived at the airport across the river.

So without further ado, as they say, meet Moriko.

She comes to us from Shizuoka, near Mt. Fuji and the beautiful, if eerie, Aokigahara forest.

"I wanted to travel and see the rest of the world," she told us on the drive back. "Like many of the smaller dolls in the program, I was inspired by reading of your ancestor Hitty."

Okay, I like this girl....

~*~

Seriously, though, she's really sweet. Maddy being Maddy, she was intrigued by Moriko's stories of Aokigahara and its almost Lovecraftian reputation. John-John thought it sounded like Mirkwood from Middle Earth.

"Do you think Tolkien had it in mind?" he wondered.

Moriko, Maddy and I all kind of doubted it. But it was an interesting thought....

~*~

We showed her around a little this afternoon - we even got a close up look at some of the local wildlife.










Maddy emailed a pic to the agency to let them know that Moriko had arrived safely. Although she wore traditional dress for the trip over, she said she usually prefers more contemporary outfits for everyday. She said kimonos are worn more for special occasions now. I asked her what "kimono" translated to in English. Turns out it means, simply, "thing to wear." Maddy got kind of a laugh out of that.

I think this is going to be fun....



~*~

Richard Morris is going to have to wait until he gets back to meet her - he got a call from Dr. Armitage on Friday and hurried up to Arkham. Not sure what's going on....

(Maddy's note: I was inspired to make Moriko after reading an article in the Winter 2013 issue of "Doll Reader" about the Friendship Dolls of 1927. Perhaps in some small way, they did help make things right between the US and Japan. And Mt. Fuji and Aokigahara are indeed on my list of Things I Want To See...)