For some reason these bouncing baby bags of rice make Western style birth announcements seem a tad impersonal. Talk about bundles of joy. These dakigokochi, or baby-shaped bags of rice personalized with a picture of their respective newborns, weigh just as much as the infants whose arrival the text announces.
Dakigokochi are far from being an age-old Japanese tradition. They were, ahem, conceived by Naruo Ono and his wife, Yukiko, who own the Yoshimiya rice shop in Kita-Kyushu. The popularity of the pair's wedding favor – a packet of rice, adorned with a picture of the happy couple – inspired them to create the unusual birth announcement. Even though their own son, Sota, is now four months old, the Onos haven't had a chance to send out their own dakigokochi. Guess they've been too busy fulfilling orders for other proud parents.
[via Boing Boing]











