“Tiger tiger burning bright in the forests of the night, what immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry?” Well, Japanese artists for one, who have not only managed to render the tiger tame, but have also depicted it as being unbelievably cute. If you live in Japan you won’t have failed to have noticed that the Year of the Tiger is about to pounce upon us and the shops are filled with tiger-themed stuff in all ranges.

The Tiger (tora) belongs to people born in the years 1998, 1986, 1974, 1962, 1950, 1938, 1926, 1914. People born in those years are said to be sensitive, stubborn, short-tempered, courageous, selfish and slightly mean yet they are deep thinkers and are capable of great sympathy for those they are close to and love.

Still, not only the tiger-people but almost every Japanese at the moment joins the tiger craze as it supposedly brings luck to be in good terms with the animal of the year.

Especially tiger-themed New Year’s cards, stamps and otoshidama money envelopes boomed in the first weeks of the new year. If you’ve got plenty of ink in your printer but no cash in your pocket, you might want to hit Canon’s Web site which has a treasure trove of downloadable resources for the New Year.

If you lack the time to buy stamps and post your New Year cards, Japan Post Office has launched a great site that will do the job for you from the comfort of your own home. Templates can be customized with hand written messages (a bit tricky this with a mouse) and photographs, before being sent either to an email address or directly to the addressee’s house.

Naturally, in a country where you can find something like a "ambassador of cute" most depictions of the tiger are closer to tamed kittens than to reality. Thus you can find everything, from keychains to bento boxes to plush toys to clothes showing off a cute little tiger-chan. And it's important to show some stripes in the new year as the economic predictions seem to predict a tough year! (JapanPulse)