"We are singing, in our boat."

The Ichimatsu dolls are here! Luckily bink could use the car to take me to pick them up this morning. I was going to bike, but it's raining, and also my body feels achy all over--from the Covid shot two days ago.

The dolls were left on the steps in a bag with my name outside their old home, below, for me to pick up. I'd wondered if they'd be sad, but they seemed happy to go with me.

The younger one (above, right) is quite chatty, so her name is Cricket.
The other looks like bink's English friend Hannah, so her name is the Japanese name Hana ("flower").

I'd messaged the man who posted them (free!) on FB market if he knew their names. He was nice but didn't seem into the dolls (not surprising, since he was giving them away).

He replied that all he knew was they're from Japan, bought by his wife's grandparents "so they're old--that's all we know".
But he didn't say how old he or his wife are, and I didn't want to pester him again.

I'm guessing the dolls are from after 1927, the year of the Japan-US Friendship Doll exchange.

[Wow--one of the original dolls from Japan is at my city's library! I must find out if I can see her sometime.

*googles*
Oh--yes! She––Miss Miyazaki––was sent to Tokyo for restoration in 2016 and is back again.]

I thought these girls might be sad to leave their old home, but I suspect they've mostly been sleeping in their box . . . which is now a boat!

They were singing and singing as we sat in the car in the rain.