An iconic Japanese summer sight: kingyo-sukui

In addition to stalls selling takoyaki, okonomiyaki, candy apples, and the like, traditional Japanese summer festival stalls will often include games such as tossing hoops and shooting for prizes with toy rifles.

One of the most popular games, however, is known as kingyo-sukui 金魚すくい, literally "goldfish scooping."

The basic rule is that the player scoops goldfish from a pool with a paper scooper called a poi and puts them into a bowl with it. The paper easily rips, so the challenge is to scoop the fish quickly while the paper is intact. Even if you fail to scoop a single fish, the stall owner will often be kind enough to give you one or two goldfish to take home.

When the pool in the stall is properly maintained and the winner knows what precautions to take both in transporting them and providing a proper environment for them at home, it's possible to raise healthy goldfish that will live out their remaining years in your care.

In Japan, it's common to see people coming home from a festival carrying their goldfish prizes in plastic bags packed with water, and the sight of someone, perhaps dressed in a yukata summer kimono, carrying one of these bags home from the festival, is an iconic image evoking not only festivals but Japanese summers in general.

But you don't need to travel to Japan or even buy a goldfish to create the mood of a Japanese summer festival if you have one of these cute single-stem vases:

Shaped like a prize bag from a successful game of kingyo-sukui, these cute vases come complete with fake goldfish swimming around inside.

Enjoy the refreshing sight of cute vases with swimming goldfish!

It looks just like you've won a bag of goldfish from a summer festival!

This cute little single-stem glass vase will surely delight you as soon as you see it. It really looks as if goldfish are swimming in a small plastic bag.

The glass bag looks as if it is really filled with water. The patterns of the red and black goldfish are so cute that you will never get tired of looking at them.

You can appreciate the attention to detail: The mouth of the vase is made to look like the opening of the plastic bag bunched together and tied.

The simple design of this single-stem vase makes it well-balanced without being too assertive, no matter what kind of flower you place in it.

It's also great that it's small and doesn't take up much space. Place it on your desk or on the window sill, and you can enjoy the feeling of summer!

Crafted individually by hand

The Kingyo-Sukui Single Stem Vase is a handmade item. Each piece is individually crafted from blown glass. No two pieces are exactly the same and each one has its own personality.

It's nice to consider that your vase is the only one of its kind in the world, your very own single stem vase.

Just looking at it will soothe you and make you feel cooler in the summer heat.

Literally, it's a cool vase that evokes Japanese summer festivals. You can decorate your office, living room, or your entryway with flowers. Even without any flowers in it, you can still enjoy your vase as a seasonal object to display as interior decoration.