Amabie and creativity
After spending a day at office doing nothing constructive but cancelling businesses, I was too exhausted. I treated myself a quick stop at a coffee shop. There, I saw on SNS with a strange figure of monster or mermaid-like creature. 『肥後国海中の怪(アマビエの図)』（京都大学附属図書館所蔵） Photograph courtesy of the Main Library, Kyoto University - Amabie The figure was called Amabie, which is believed to be a spirit or mermaid ( or maybe a merman ) , and said to have been discovered by local official in Kumamoto in Southern Japan about 150 years ago. According to Wikipedia, legend has it as follows : According to legend, an amabie appeared in Higo Province (Kumamoto Prefecture), around the middle of the fourth month, in the year Kōka-3 (mid-May 1846) in the Edo period. A glowing object had been spotted in the sea, almost on a nightly basis. The town's official went to the coast to investigate and witnessed the amabie. According to the sketch made by this official, it had long hair, a mouth like bird'