During the ceremony, they both carry Kewpie dolls that probably have some barely hidden significance, and indeed do.

NEWYORKER: Going for a Beer

He intervenes and she turns up at his hospital bed, bringing him one of her Kewpie dolls to keep him company.

NEWYORKER: Going for a Beer

Which was full of Kewpie dolls, the sort won at carnivals, and they made a date, as he recalls, to go to one.

NEWYORKER: Going for a Beer

Maybe he should take her back to the carnival, he thinks, where she wins another Kewpie doll (this is at least their second date, maybe their fourth), and this time they go for a romantic nightcap at the bar where they first met.

NEWYORKER: Going for a Beer

Kewpie dolls , the babies.

MSN: Investigative reporter

The feather's unceremonious fall from a symbol of wealth and elegance in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to one of vulgarity--from the hats of fashionable women to the heads of Kewpie dolls--is not only a story of the fickleness of the fashion industry.

FORBES: Magazine Article