• Daily Life

    Roo-ed Good Health!

    Not much is going well (except rude good health), but I got a lucky break today and feel pretty chuffed about it. Following the morning’s customary ride, I got home and discovered the kangaroo badge I had velcroed to my bike saddle bag just two days ago was gone. I kicked myself with the reminder of my incredible propensity for breaking, losing, damaging or otherwise rendering unusable just about anything I ever get my hands on. Then, I happened to look at Strava and noticed that a follower had posted a photo of the lost badge! “You bloody ripper,” I…

  • Daily Life - Strine Tucker

    Feel That Groove….Or, Don’t

    I’ve struggled to adjust to the realities of life over the past few weeks, but waking on this holiday morning and seeing tiny spots of green sprouting up where my lawn used to be has raised my spirits infinitely, even if not leaving me quite as chilled out as a kangaroo playing air guitar. While on the topic, I’ll stick with the good news. The onerous (and highly costly) process of getting an Australian passport for my daughter was finally completed. Even then it had been a bumpy ride, fighting with my daughter over instructions to fulfill the extremely demanding…

  • Daily Life

    Rav-AGE!

    Getting old is not much fun, nor, as the late, great thespian Bette Davis once famously said, it’s not for sissies. But I’ve becoming increasingly conscious of age over the past few weeks. My eyesight is going: quickly and rapidly. I’m seeing less in the dark and rain, vision is cloudy and peripheral vision untrustworthy. Arthritis in my hands is making even the most minor of tasks a tough one. And my professional life, such as it is, is slipping from disaster to disaster. All these things are adding up to fill me with fear and trepidation, which has become…

  • Daily Life

    Bouncing in All the Wrong Places

    Despite the presence of kangaroos and their proclivity for jumping, there’s a bit too much shaking and bouncing going on in and around Tokyo, with dozens of earthquakes shaking their nearby Izu peninsula over the past week or so. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Great Kanto Earthquake that crushed large parts of Tokyo and Yokohama, killing over 100,000. And that quake was preceded by quakes in the same area that they’re happening now. Tokyo is overdue a natural disaster with earthquakes and volcanoes frequently smashing the metropolis every few decades in its roughly 4 1/4-century existence. (There…

  • Daily Life - Japanese Kangaroos - Roo-ing the Day - Unknown Nichigo

    A Bit of a Roo-ed Shock

    Kangaroos have always taken center stage in this blog (which I started almost 13 years ago to try to tap into the then recent introduction of Australian English into TOEIC testing), so it was a bit rare yesterday when I had the chance to write about roos but didn’t (albeit giving prominence to quokkas, another member of the marsupial family). Yesterday, the Kangaeroos had a wonderful time at the Saitama Children’s Zoo, which has an Australian animal area., and attracted us because Mrs. Kangaeroo wanted to see its quokkas. I know a lot of people aren’t too keen on zoos,…

  • Daily Life

    Let There Be Lights

    Kangaeroo Corner has got one of the greatest gardens in Tokyo, at least according to Kangaeroo, and one of its features its the extensive lighting. Alongside the mostly Aussie native plants adorning the garden are plenty of garden ornaments of Australian native animals and birds. The kangaroos, koalas and various types of avian life such as a kookaburra, cockatoo and galah, are lit up using solar-powered garden lights. Much to Mrs. Kangaeroo’s chagrin, Kangaeroo adores these garden lights. And the growing length of sunshine each day as spring approaches affords each lighter with a greater charge of its battery, which…

  • Strine

    There And Back Again: Oz 2022

    Kangaeroo made it back to Oz for a while in 2022. The circumstances behind the trip weren’t the greatest. But the time spent Down Under was fruitful and poignant. Kangaeroo got to catch up with lots of childhood friends. And deeply explored the places that had played an enormous role during the formative years. Thanks to an enormously kind and helpful seller on gumtree, Kangaeroo also got to move around outer eastern Melbourne on a Malvern Star! In many ways, the time spent in Australia was magical and Kangaeroo extends his deepest gratitude to all the friends, family, people, places,…

  • Japanese Kangaroos - Unknown Nichigo

    A Slice of Oz Enchantment

    Somewhere in the backblocks of Tokyo’s Tama district, there’s a little Aussie enchantment at work. It could be coming from this jen, who stands about 1 meter high. She’s nestled in among the bark and grevillias. Her joey is enjoying the ride. And they’re lit up at night. 東京多摩地区裏のある所に、オーストラリアの小さなな魔法場所がある。 由来が約1メートルもある身長のこの雌カンガルーにあるかな? バークとロベスタの中に寄り添っている。 子カンガルーも楽しく同乗している。 そして、夜になるとライトアップされます。 Kangaroo Corner Koala Colony

  • Japanese Kangaroos - Strine

    Kangaeroo.com Kit Dares to Dazzle!

    The third, and latest, version of Kangaeroo.com cycling kit has come off the production line and is ready to dazzle. This year, for the first time ever, Kangaeroo.com cycling kit includes a vest and bib shorts. The kit is a full supplement of spring-summer gear in a predominantly Aussie-wattle hue with gum-leaf green lettering. The brighter gear reflects a shift to a new environment. Kangaeroo.com cycling kit comprises a jersey, bib shorts and vest. The jersey features the Kangaeroo.com thinking kangaroo logo on the front, rear and both sleeves. The website title and URL also appear on the front, rear…