The cow is an akabeko though (ngl Etruscan ceramic would have been funny too)
It could just be my imagination, but those seem to have been cropping up a lot in manga recently.
I decided to read up about them, so I went to Wikipedia, and am now informed. I made the mistake of hovering my mouse pointer over a link to smallpox, though, which rather spoiled my enjoyment of the chocolate brownie i was munching on at the time.