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Wall Street Journal Reports on Lucky Star Shrine

The Wall Street Journal newspaper reported on its front page on Wednesday on Japan's Washinomiya Shrine and its recent surge of visitors due to the Lucky Star anime. This adaptation of Kagami Yoshimizu's manga highlighted the shrine by having the twin sister characters Kagami and Tsukasa Hiiragi working at the shrine as miko (shrine maidens). Citizens were at first trepidacious about the new visitors, but later embraced them and the boost they gave to the local economy. Hundreds of thousands of visitors took part in the traditional shrine visits over the New Year's holiday this year. Since the anime debuted last year, visitors have reportedly spent 42 million yen (about US$390,000) in Lucky Star food and goods, including 20,000 charms.

Thank you to Starks for the news tip.