Daruma

This is called a daruma. I suppose it stands for dharma and is probably some bastardized Japanese-pronunciation-turned-English, but I never delved too much into it. When a Japanese friend gave me this odd looking doll about the size of a softball, the thing didn't have pupils. It had these eerie blank eye sockets, and you were supposed to fill out one of the eyeballs while making a wish. Once your wish came true, you fill out the other eyeball to give it a somewhat sane appearance. I think I got the Japanese character on its stomach (?) wrong, but you get the idea.