Cherished Teddies - Japan

I got a book called Cherished Teddies Around the World and it has a bear for a lot of different nations.  I loved it and thought I'd stitch them all.  But which one to start first?  I thought I'd do them in order of the nations I've visited.  I'd start with Japan, because I was born there.  Then the USA, because I live here.  Then Mexico, because I've visited there first.  And finally Canada, because I've visited there too.  And that's about it.  How depressing is that?

So . . .

I've decided to make it one of my "bucket list" items to visit all the places represented by these bears and then stitch up the corresponding bear to hang on my wall.  I doubt that I'll get to all of them but at least it's worth a shot.

Here's the book:

I'm doing the Japanese Bear first.  This is what it's suppose to look like:

This is how much I've got done so far (14ct Mint Aida, 2x1, full):