Not really related to Kangaeroo.com, but an amazing downpour hit Tokyo on the afternoon of June 29, 2014, and it deserved to be recorded. Fortunately, nobody appears to have been injured in the massive deluge that struck the capital that had been basking in glorious sunshine just minutes earlier (and would return to relatively fine conditions within an hour). So much for climate change deniers…
An awesome young Japanese guy playing a hip tune on the didjeridu, an indigenous Australian instrument, in Tokyo’s Harajuku district. Related stories Ringo’s Ring-in, Awesome Aussie Anime Highlight the Fab Four’s Oz Oddities
The 1970 Osaka World Expo was a boon for Japan’s second-largest city, then, like the rest of the country, enjoying the postwar boom that propelled Japan from the brink of destruction to being the No. 2 economic power in the world. 1970年に行われた大阪万国博覧会は、当時高度成長期真っ最中商業地域であり日本第二都市である大阪にとって世界に披露する機会を与え、思い切ってその素晴らしさを見せた。 Australia, too, was still enjoying unprecedented prosperity in 1970, and it showed with its amazing pavilion at the Osaka showcase. 当時、オーストラリアも景気が良かったし、万博で見せたご立派な「オーストラリア館」もその証拠と言えるだろう。 The pavilion, modeled on Katsushika Hokusai‘s The Great Wave at Kanagawa, was at the end of the Expo donated to Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture, which is Sydney’s sister city. It was supposed to be a symbol of the…
Australia rarely makes the news in Japan, so it’s interesting to see it on the front page of the Asahi newspaper June 4 evening edition. The story is about Japan’s Aussie Rules team, the Samurais, who’ll be battling it out in the International Cup starting from June 8. Japan has a really small, but thriving, Australian Rules competition, with two leagues (including several all-Japanese teams), the Eastern League, centering on Tokyo and surrounding areas, and the Western League, comprising Osaka and Nagoya. Here’s an excerpt from the Asahi report: サッカー・ワールドカップ（Ｗ杯）大会が迫るなか、「世界で最も激しい」というフットボールの世界大会も８月に開かれる。それってラグビー？ いえいえ、オーストラリアンフットボール。豪州では国技と言われる大人気のプロスポーツだ。５大会連続で出場する日本代表も、追い込みに入っている。 A translation: Just as the soccer World Cup is about…
