In Japan, shop entrances often have statues of a cat with one paw raised. This is a type of good luck charm called maneki neko, meaning something like "beckoning cat" or "welcoming cat"; in English it's often called "lucky cat". The raised paw represents a gesture meaning "over here" (specifically, the gesture involves holding a hand up, then bending the wrist and/or knuckles forward and back). [...] [tvtropes.org]