From a Western perspective, Hinamatsuri dolls can be both fascinating and slightly eerie. They resemble the delicate porcelain dolls that were once prized heirlooms in European households. Their serene yet enigmatic expressions can feel lifelike, almost as if they are silently watching over the household.
In our house they are carefully unpacked and arranged each year, so I soon realised that they are not playthings.
Perhaps because of this my children who, by day, enjoy admiring the dolls refuses to sleep in the same room with them at night. "They look like they're watching me," one said. 
And I kind of know what they mean. These dolls, so regal and motionless in the daylight, take on a different quality in the dark. They are not to be touched and their fixed gaze never wavers. I guess the meticulous craftsmanship that brings them to life can also make them seem just a little too alive.
AH