Exploring Aoyama, Carts Of Cats And Finding My Feet

My favorite month of the year allowed me to explore Aoyama.

We moved here a few months ago after my old employer was bought out.

We had a wonderful festival to mark the new company’s foundation.

Cop A Gander At These Rippers Too...

  • Acrobatic Start to Relations まさにアクロバティックに始まった日豪関係

    知られざる日豪関係のルーツ What You Didn’t Know about Australia-Japan Relations 日豪関係のルーツは、まさにアクロバティックに始まった。1867年に日本の曲芸団がオーストラリアを訪問した数年後(具体的な日付は不明。1871年という説もあれば、1874年という説もある)、Sakuragawa Rikinosukeという曲芸師がオーストラリア人女性と結婚して、豪州に移住した日本人として初めて記録された。 Japan-Australia relations started off by swinging into action – literally. First contact came in 1867 when a Japanese acrobatic troupe visited Down Under in 1867. A few years later (the exact date is unknown – some say 1871, others 1874), Rikinosuke Sakuragawa, an acrobat touring Melbourne with another troupe, married an Australian woman and they settled in Queensland, where their descendants remain today.

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    Tets-J Doing a Dinkum Bewdy of a Job Spreading Indigenous Aussie Culture in Japan

    Tets-J is one of the great unsung heroes promoting Australian culture in Japan, and he’s even more remarkable for advancing indigenous Aussie culture. Tets-J learned about the didgeridoo while staying in Melbourne, taught himself how to play, then returned to Australia’s Arnhem Land and studied under Djalu Gurruwiwi, a master didgeridoo player and member of the Yolngu people. He has devoted his life to spreading indigenous Australian culture throughout Japan, which he does through his performances, his store, Dinkum Japan, classes, lectures, workshops and live performances he gives across the country, as he is currently doing on weekends in Tokyo. Aboriginal Cultural Week Vol. 2, the collection of lectures, workshops…

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    How Did An Aussie Bloke Build One of Japan’s Favourite Craft Breweries?

    オーストラリア人はいかにして日本で人気クラフトビール醸造所を築いたのか? When Australian Sean Collett moved to Japan, he came to study—not to brew beer. Today, he and his Japanese wife Ayako run Two Rabbits Brewing in Shiga Prefecture, creating beers that blend Australian creativity with Japanese craftsmanship. オーストラリア出身のショーン・コレットさんは、留学のために日本へやって来ました。 しかし現在では、日本人の妻・綾子さんとともに滋賀県で「Two Rabbits Brewing」を営み、オーストラリアの発想と日本のものづくり精神を融合させたクラフトビールを造っています。 From Australia to Lake Biwa オーストラリアから琵琶湖へ Sean Collett first came to Japan as a student at Kyoto University. While living in Japan, he discovered that the country’s growing craft beer scene offered an opportunity to combine two passions—brewing and cultural exchange. Together with his wife Ayako, he founded Two Rabbits Brewing in neighbouring Shiga Prefecture. Today, the brewery welcomes both local customers and visitors from around the world….

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    Oops! Austrian textbook error sparks online calls for Japanese to boycott Aussie Beef

    Japan’s feisty online community briefly urged a boycott of Aussie Beef — arguably Australia’s best-known export to Japan — after an Austrian school textbook referred to the Sea of Japan as the “East Sea,” a Korean label aimed at helping it forget its past as a Japanese colony, according to a June 28 report from online Japanese news site J-Cast. Australia, which uses Sea of Japan in its school materials and official documents, had nothing to do with the textbook. Among the comments posted online were “That Australian mob are simple and will fall for anything,” “Why’s Australia calling it the East Sea if it’s not to their east?” and…

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    Who Were the Japanese Divers Who Helped Build Broome?

    ブルームの真珠産業を支えた日本人ダイバーとは The Japanese connection beneath the waves 海の底から始まった日豪のつながり Today, Broome in Western Australia is famous for its turquoise waters, red earth and South Sea pearls. But behind the town’s pearling history lies a remarkable Japanese connection, built by men who risked their lives working on the ocean floor. 西オーストラリア州のブルームといえば、青い海、赤い大地、そして南洋真珠で知られる。しかし、この町の真珠産業の歴史には、海底で命がけの仕事をした日本人たちが築いた、知られざる日豪のつながりがある。 By the late 1880s, Broome had become a major centre for the pearling industry. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had harvested shell for thousands of years, but as the industry moved into deeper waters, experienced divers from overseas became increasingly important. Many Japanese divers came from Wakayama Prefecture, where coastal communities had long traditions of fishing and diving. 1880年代後半までに、ブルームは真珠産業の一大拠点となった。アボリジナルやトレス海峡諸島の人々は、何千年も前から貝を採取してきたが、産業がより深い海域へと進むにつれ、海外から来た熟練ダイバーの重要性が増した。日本人ダイバーの多くは、漁業や潜水の伝統を持つ和歌山県の沿岸地域からやって来た。 The…

  • Bonzer Bonsai!

    Given that this site started with the intent of spreading information about Japan and Australia and matters related to these countries, including languages, and then how much focus I have placed on gardening over the past couple of years, it’s surprising that I haven’t had much to say about bonsai. Or bonzer, for that matter. Bonsai is, of course, the Japanese art of miniature tree growing in trays: the literal meaning of the word bon (tray) sai (gro/cultivate). And, despite having written a Strine Dictionary, or list of Australian English terms, one of its notable absentees is the word bonzer, which was perhaps an iconic term Down Under in the…