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Hanafuda are traditional Japanese playing cards and a really beautiful Japan souvenir. Hanafuda cards are an invention dating back to the 16th century when Japan was blocking out western influence. In that time gambling was forbidden, so smaller cards with inconspicuous flower motives were developed to avoid the prohibition. What many people don’t know is that Hanafuda cards are the first product of a very well known company: Nintendo.
Koi-Koi
The most famous Hanafuda game is Koi-Koi which is also a key element of the 2009 anime movie “Summer Wars”.
Where to find the souvenir?
You should find this Japan souvenir card game in a Nintendo store. Unfortunately, most souvenir shops don’t have Hanafuda cards – I think that they assume that foreigners don’t know how to play the game. As the cards alone are really beautiful and the games are really fun, you should definitely learn it. You can find all the rules on this dedicated Hanafuda wiki. As a proof how popular Hanafuda cards are, you should type in “Hanafuda” in the emoji search on your phone and see what appears on your screen. Comment below what emoji occurs. If you don’t want to wait until you travel to Japan, then you can also buy this beautiful Japan souvenir on Amazon.
Arigato gozaimasu for reading。
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