Japan-Australia Friendship Festival Fires Up Steaming Summer

Our grueling summer got a shot in the arm from a Japan-Australia friendship festival held in Tokyo’s Ueno Park, but we’re too busy to do a detailed update.

Summer is typically busy, as it is every year, but instead of relying almost solely on outsourcers, we are doing more of the work as our business is clearly slowing down.

Cop A Gander At These Rippers Too...

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    Japan’s Mobs Of Macropod Motifs Missing Marsupials In Masterpieces

    Something strikes me about kangaroos in Japan, where companies like Seino and Nikko Kanko have made the marsupials highly visible. Kangaroos are possibly even higher profile than their native Australia, where Qantas uses the national symbol in its logo, but the macropod is a somewhat uncommon sight elsewhere in the corporate sector. I wouldn’t go so far as to say kangaroos are a ubiquitous presence in the Japanese retail or corporate sector, but it would be no exaggeration to claim they are a daily presence. Far more so, actually, than they are in Australia. That got me to thinking about the presence of kangaroos in the Japanese art world, which…

  • No Paws for Thought

    Kangaroo paws, the big success story of my Aussie seeds saga, and the one that most mattered to me, reached a new stage in their progress from propagation. Mrs. Kangaeroo noticed that they were crowding the large pot that I had planted them in, and if they weren’t moved they could end up choking each other. Showing a turn of speed I’m not known for (unless there’s chocolate around), I was off to the local 100 yen store to fill up on pots and stones to put at the bottom of them. Along the way, I put in an order online for Aussie native plant potting mix. I spread out…

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    Australiana for Australia Day

    オーストラリア人コメディアンオーステン・テーシャス氏＊が1983年豪州象徴的なものや地名などのごろ合わせによって詩「Australiana」で全国一世風靡し、No. 1ヒットとなった。かなりやばい言葉使いであり、色な所で放送禁止となった。 1月26日建国近年日にあたる「Australia Day」にちなんで、下記再現する。お楽しみ。 Australiana Sittin’ at home last Sunday mornin’ me mate Boomer rang (boomerang). Said he was havin’ a few people around for a barbie, Said he might cook a burra (kookaburra) or two. I said, “Sounds great, will Walla be (wallaby) there?” He said “Yeah and Veggie might (Vegemite) come too”. So I said to the wife “Do you wanna Go Anna (goanna)?”. She said “I’ll go if Din goes (dingoes).” So I said “What’ll (wattle) we do about Nulla?” He said “Nulla bores (Nullarbor) me to tears, leave him at home.” We got to the party about two and walked straight out the kitchen to put…

  • Garden The F**k Up!

    Unsure of where to put the punctuation in the title, I decided to go without any at all, and I used this phrase because I wanted to talk about the garden, have something catchy, and draw from the Velominati’s Rule Number Five. Our garden, Kangaeroo Corner* is absolutely thriving. But not quite in the way that I may have originally envisaged, hence the latter part of the title, and the uncertainty over where to place the punctuation.** Banksia I should originally have planted in sunny spots are doing well, but none of our four trees have never really flowered, which is what the sun will draw out of them. And…

  • He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Ego…(But He Really Is Weighty)

    Actually, that title’s a lie and my enormous ego is tremendously cumbrous, probably to the extent that it’s been the bane of my life. My over-sized ego’s up to its old tricks now–especially when cycling–at a time when I need to be humble. Maybe it’s because of being the baby of a big family or what, but all my life I’ve constantly craved attention and it’s driven me to do some pretty stupid things right through to old age, when conventional wisdom suggests I should be smart enough not to fall for that. Stuffing myself into body hugging Lycra is among the less painful acts of folly I engage in…