Several years ago, my husband and I started visiting the local shrine on the morning of New Year's day. There are always prayer boards or "ema" on sale so that people can write their wishes for the coming year and hang them in the appropriate places at the shrines. These wooden plaques show the animal for the current year according to the Chinese zodiac. You're supposed to write you wish and leave the board at the shrine, but my husband and I like to just keep one from each year as a memento of our visit and our time in Japan.
I'll miss adding a new ema to our collection each year.
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