Sorry for the late greeting, Happy New Year.

2017 is the year of the rooster. In Chinese zodiacs, the year of the rooster is believed as a year of thriving business, so I am hoping that our company will receive some luck.

The Japanese for rooster is tori, and is said to be related to the word torikomu, meaning to “take in.” Evolving from this word pun, it is believed that you can “take in” luck and customers.

Rooster has different Chinese characters鳥, 鶏, and酉. The Chinese zodiac uses酉, which derives from the definition “fruits that are ripe at the fullest.” So, people believe that 酉 represents good fortune.

I hope for accomplishments in learning something new, and good results with academics and business.

Chinese zodiacs have been used in many countries, Japan, Taiwan, and the Korean peninsula. It is easy to understand that these countries used the Chinese zodiac signs due to geographic structure and proximity to China. But, surprisingly, Bulgaria in East Europe, Turkey, Arabic countries, Russia, and Mongolia, and in the South, India, Sri-Lanka, Tibet, and Vietnam all share the signs.

There are some regions and countries that use original animals for certain signs. For example, a water buffalo instead of the ox, a cheetah instead of the tiger, a cat instead of the rabbit, and alligators or fish instead of the dragon.

This year’s rooster is the same around the world, but India’s bird is a Garuda (a mythical bird).

So why didn’t the Chinese zodiac signs reach West Europe, America, or Australia? This is because the Mongolian Empire once spread its territory all the way across the Eurasian Continent.

Recently, more people in America and other English-speaking countries are interested in the zodiac signs, but the dragon is a unique mythical creature of Far East Asian countries, so the interpretation of it is difficult.

Anyway, I hope the year of the rooster “tori” is a year that I can “take in” success, and “fly” up higher.