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China: Qingdao Cat Goes Viral for Adorable “Beckoning” at Café Counter

On November 21, 2025, in Qingdao, Shandong, a tabby cat at the “One Tree Cat Life” café stood on the counter and rhythmically moved its front paws, as if politely bowing. Glancing at the camera with wide, pleading eyes, the gesture was irresistibly cute. Chinese netizens joked, “The owner couldn’t afford a Maneki-neko, so the real cat took over!” The video quickly went viral as a symbol of good luck.

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Japan sends posters to Ukraine calling for fair election

TOKYO, Japan - This poster featuring ''maneki neko (beckoning cat believed to bring luck)'' will be put up at over 30,000 polling stations during the upcoming presidential election in Ukraine. It reads: ''I support a fair election. And you?'' The Japanese Foreign Ministry said on Dec. 22 that it is donating 4.5 million yen to a Ukrainian nongovernmental organization to help finance the campaign.

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Lesser panda gestures like "beckoning cat"

CHIBA, Japan - A lesser panda gestures like Japanese "maneki neko" beckoning cat ornaments that are believed to bring good luck at Chiba Zoological Park in the city of Chiba on May 24, 2012.

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Lesser panda gestures like "beckoning cat"

CHIBA, Japan - A lesser panda (R) gestures like Japanese "maneki neko" beckoning cat ornaments that are believed to bring good luck at Chiba Zoological Park in the city of Chiba on May 24, 2012.

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Feline station master Tama tourism promoter

WAKAYAMA, Japan - Tama, a feline ''station master'' at Wakayama Electric Railway Co.'s Kishi Station, is held by President Mitsunobu Kojima (L) during a ceremony at the station in Kinokawa, Wakayama Prefecture, on Jan. 5, 2011. Wakayama Gov. Yoshinobu Nisaka (R) designated the cat as a special tourism promoter called ''maneki daimyojin'' (a deity beckoning people).

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Japan sends posters to Ukraine calling for fair election

TOKYO, Japan - This poster featuring ''maneki neko (beckoning cat believed to bring luck)'' will be put up at over 30,000 polling stations during the upcoming presidential election in Ukraine. It reads: ''I support a fair election. And you?'' The Japanese Foreign Ministry said on Dec. 22 that it is donating 4.5 million yen to a Ukrainian nongovernmental organization to help finance the campaign. (Kyodo)

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Feline station master Tama tourism promoter

WAKAYAMA, Japan - Tama, a feline ''station master'' at Wakayama Electric Railway Co.'s Kishi Station, is held by President Mitsunobu Kojima (L) during a ceremony at the station in Kinokawa, Wakayama Prefecture, on Jan. 5, 2010. Wakayama Gov. Yoshinobu Nisaka (R) designated the cat as a special tourism promoter called ''maneki daimyojin'' (a deity beckoning people). (Kyodo)

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Lesser panda gestures like "beckoning cat"

CHIBA, Japan - A lesser panda (R) gestures like Japanese "maneki neko" beckoning cat ornaments that are believed to bring good luck at Chiba Zoological Park in the city of Chiba on May 24, 2012. (Kyodo)

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Lesser panda gestures like "beckoning cat"

CHIBA, Japan - A lesser panda gestures like Japanese "maneki neko" beckoning cat ornaments that are believed to bring good luck at Chiba Zoological Park in the city of Chiba on May 24, 2012. (Kyodo)

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Giant cat sculpture in southwestern Japan

Passers-by look at a wooden sculpture representing a "manekineko" beckoning cat, regarded as inviting good luck in Japan, in Oita city, southwestern Japan, on April 19, 2019. The sculpture, more than 10 meters long, will be on display in the city, a host city of the Rugby World Cup starting in September, through the end of the tournament in November. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo