This is what Japanese tavern Tomo Izakaya is requesting for its official opening. The Clarke Quay tapas-style restaurant wants the money that would have paid for those fancy arrangements to be donated to two charities instead.

It hopes to donate $20,000 to the two beneficiaries: The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund and The Business Times Budding Artists Fund.

The restaurant's customers will know roughly how much these two charities are getting from the number of folded paper cranes on display.

A crane goes up for every $20 donated, adding to the 1,000-crane strand known as a senbazuru. In Japanese tradition, folding a thousand cranes makes one's wishes come true.

GRACE CHUA