Warming Up

2 March 2023

After yesterday’s spectacular start and the promise of a 20-degree day, I woke with great expectations of another brilliant beginning.

Anticipations of even greater things arose with the warmth being decent enough to enable the year’s first early morning ride in shorts and short-sleeves (albeit with a heattech T-shirt).

Wanting to get higher quality shots of the expected glorious sunrise, I loaded up with the heavy DSLR camera.

And it was with great delight that I headed up the Tamagawa Cycling Road and noticed a bit of patchy cloud cover.

This was delightful as the presence of clouds creates greater visual appeal with sunrises.

And….the clouds ended up taking over.

Approaching the point where yesterday I noticed the sunrise was going to be something special, I was disappointed to see that the morning was still bleak and dark.

And it stayed that way pretty much the whole time for the rest of the ride.

Eventually, despite carrying the camera for the entire ride, I got home without taking a single shot.

At least it was light by the time I got home and I could see the growing number of blossoms starting to flower, including the wattle in the garden.

In keeping with the outcomes of the day, I’d been able to gather considerable video footage of what was frankly an unremarkable ride….but yesterday I got almost no images even though I had thought I was recording most of the trip.

But now, a couple of hours later, it’s shaping up to what looks like a lovely, sunny day! And I am here in shorts and a Hawaiian shirt (more heattech underneath, though!)

Survived I was hospitalized. My brother and sister dropped everything to come and help. They took me to meetings. I have stopped. I will be all right. I can’t give up....
F.R.O. 2022 As 2022 draws to a close, Kangaeroo will be glad to see the back of it. There was plenty to be grateful for: a happy marriage, closer relationships with children, excellent friends, a life filled with love, family reunions, delightful garden, a full year of employment, generally good health. For...
Glad to be Alive Kangaeroo is easy to be critical and cynical, less so to be thankful. Today, he is taking a moment to be thankful for life. Kangaeroo loves life, even though he has largely made a mess of his own until recent years. Life interrupted this week, preventing any significant entry here,...
Rounding Biwa, Japan’s Largest Lake Blessed with a long weekend and loads of motivation, Kangaeroo and Mrs. Kangaeroo got out the foldups and built up the resolve to circumnavigate Biwa, Japan’s largest lake. The 235-km shore length is not for the faint-hearted, though plenty make the trip in a single day, courtesy of the almost...
Wattle Happen Next? It’s becoming increasingly clear that spring is not too far away, and the wattle tree in Kangaeroo Corner is giving hints of something about to spring into action. March, which starts tomorrow (der!), is traditionally a coldish month, with a warm day every few days here and there. This winter...
Craving Procrastination, But Will Procrastinate Tomorrow Well, what a bloody awful rabbit hole to fall into. Today was supposed to involved delivering choccies to some cycling associates in Kawasaki. But getting up and about with half an hour or so free before Mrs. Kangaeroo was due to head off to work and hanging out with the...
Trekking Up Takao For the last day of the 2023 new year’s break, Kangaeroo and Co. headed up to the delightful Mount Takao in Hachioji. Leaving late in the morning, a short trip by bus and train had us at the foot of the mountain. A healthy walk of little over an hour...
Flake News! Tokyo, or at least the hillier Tama part of it, got dumped by a heavy snowfall on Friday, turning the place white. Kangaeroo Corner’s trees, never keen on the cold, struggled with the heavy snow clogging their branches. It did look good, to be fair dinkum. But it was another...
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...
Tour de Kagoshima-Kyoto Day 4: Kurokawa to Beppu Glorious weather greeted the tour today, paving the way for some amazing riding. The group set out from the gloriously quaint hot spring resort town of Kurokawa. Slowly but surely, the riders wound their way through forested areas, driving ever upward until reaching the Kuju ski ground, the highest point...
Amazing Alex’s Aussie Oasis in Tokyo’s Tama Sometimes, little miracles come into your life in unexpected ways. Alex Endo has done that for Kangaeroo.com by transforming a little plot of land in Tokyo’s Tama region into a tiny slice of Australia. たまに思わず小さな奇跡が寄ってくる。東京多摩地区の小さな庭を「考えRooコーナー」に変革し、まるでオーストラリアの1画に変えることによって遠藤”アレックス”昭さんがそのような奇跡を起こした。 With a well-laid plan going back a few months and a few hours of hard...
Costly Bloody Crash! Kangaeroo’s accident this week continued to have reverberations. Although both Kangaeroo and the bloke he collided with rode away apparently unharmed from their predawn collision, costs have since mounted. The crash gave greater urgency to updating the chain and gear sprocket on La Cangura, which had been showing signs of...
Rain, Rain, Go Away April in Tokyo can get wet, but it can also be warm and dry. Unfortunately, today it’s the former. On the upside that means more photo opportunities and a slower pace to enjoy riding. Make no mistake, though, April is when spring really starts to, well, blossom in the Japanese...
Abe First Japanese PM To Visit Japanese-Bombed Darwin In 1942, Japanese forces launched the only attacks on the Australian mainland, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe became the first premier to visit Darwin, the most heavily damaged city bombed by the Japanese. Apart from Darwin, Japanese forces also attacked Sydney, Broome, Katherine, Wyndham, Exmouth, Port Headland and Townsville...
Open Up Your Eyes, An Everlasting Bud! Kangaeroo’s Aussie seed experiment is moving forward, and today resulted in its first buds. Seedling growth came from an everlasting, a pink, yellow and white flower native to Western Australia. I potted everlasting seeds last weekend in humidity pods. They’ve been growing under lights daily ever since, except for Tuesday...
Love The Way You Lie Kangaeroo got a much better day than expected today, Japan’s National Foundation Day but not a holiday because it fell on a Saturday. Waking, Your Humble Narrator (to borrow a turn of phrase from Anthony Burgess) was greeted by a winter wonderland from the previous day’s snowfall. There would be...
Cheating Death! Kangaeroo recently added a recumbent bike to his collection. A recumbent has long been part of the Kangaeroo dream. When Kangaeroo started cycling, he often shared his commute through suburban Tokyo with a seasoned Kiwi cyclist called John. Kangaeroo was a rookie (and still is, really), but John had been...
Ouch! Taking a Tamagawa Tumble 「Ouch!」「バカヤロー!」「ごめんなさい。」「日本は左通行だよ。バカヤロー！何考えてんかよ？バカヤロー！」 Kangaeroo took a Tama River tumble today and it was entirely his fault. Taking his normal pre-dawn ride along the Tama River Cycling Road, Kangaeroo caught a glimpse of an oncoming runner just late enough to be able to swerve away from her and avoid striking...
Bumping Into the Candyman Today was supposed to be a day for a new beginning. It was: just not the way it was meant to turn out. After today, Kangaeroo will be bigger and bolder. Rather than in a metaphorical sense, though, it will be a literal increase in size following a day of...
The Strine Why Atorkin: Natchrule Strine Read this in Plain English/プレーン英語で読む Read this in Japanese/日本語で読む Chrissie It was getting close to Chrissie, which prompted me to chuck a sickie. I was still in the nuddy, so I slipped on some grundies. I went to light up a durry, but I’d run out and had to have...
Thank God for Diet Coke! This week, Kangaeroo was granted the dubious pleasure of eating a glazed donut hamburger. The photo deserves to be listed as full size to stand as testimony to its likelihood of clogging arteries, even among those who haven’t eaten it. This was the Luther Burger, which sells for an equally...
A Seed Of An Idea As I touched on over the weekend, I’ve started trying to grow plants from seed and I completed the first round of the process this morning before heading off on my bike. Dwarf wattle seeds that I soaked in boiling water last night were the final group of seeds that...
Fuck Off Foreigner This sign has been up in the Harajuku district of Tokyo for a long time. This is a tourist area, so it comes as a bit of a surprise. Betcha it won’t be around in 2020....
May It Always Be May May is gorgeous in Japan, even this year when the world is confronting the bleak tragedy of the covid-19 outbreak. The warm, dry, mostly sunny month brings some much-needed delight....
So It Goes… Today marks farewell to Premiership Palace. Kangaeroo is no longer a Kanagawa kenmin (resident of Kanagawa Prefecture) from Kurokawa. Well, at least not after today. If nothing else, at least the pandemic allowed Kangaeroo to explore the neighborhood, getting to know what a delightful place it was. Time in Kanagawa...
No Wonder the Wallabies Were Wallies in RWC2019 Australia’s rugby team, the Wallabies, were ignominiously dumped from the 2019 Rugby World Cup that Japan is currently hosting (and being lauded for both its organization skills and the rousing performance of its unfancied team). The Wallabies lost badly to England in a quarter final, mostly because they were not...
Australia’s Rohan Dennis Retains World Time-Trial Championship Title Australia’s Rohan Dennis retained his UCI Road World Championships Men’s Time Trial title with a blistering win in Yorkshire, England. Dennis was racing for the first time since his sudden withdrawal during Stage 12 of the Tour de France in July. Few expected the reigning champion to defend his title,...
豪のクリスマス・ソング：Twelve Days of Christmas Aussie Style 　クリスマス・ソングと言えば恐らくまずこの「クリスマスの12日間」を思い浮かぶ人が多いだろう。　それで、珍しいがオージー版もあるんだ。　曲の流れやメロディが伝統的な曲と同じだが、「梨の木のヤマウズラ」などじゃなくてもらう物がコアラなどオーストラリア独特なものだ。 TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS AUSSIE STYLE On the 12th day of Christmas My true love sent to me 12 parrots prattling, 11 numbats nagging, 10 lizards leaping, 9 wombats working, 8 dingoes digging, 7 possums playing, 6 brolgas dancing, 5 kangaroos, 4 koalas cuddling, 3 kookaburras laughing,...
Fatal Attraction Following slovenly Saturday where I did basically nothing for the whole day, today has become a bit of sprightly Sunday, being busy from the get-go, with the Death Machine taking a prime position. The Death Machine is, of course, the nickname I give to my Performer recumbent bicyle. It gets...
Reversing Destiny Almost 25 years ago, Kangaeroo picked up a newspaper containing an article about a park created for people to experience life in a different perspective. The Site of Reversible Destiny was created without horizontal and vertical lines to try to shape a new way of looking at art and architecture,...
Warm in the Winter It’s bloody freezing, but some know the best way to beat the cold. We had a pretty heavy snow fall last week, but it was followed by a few days of unseasonably warm spring-like weather that took the edge off. Only for winter to return with a vengeance as the...
Tour de Kagoshima-Kyoto Day -1A: Tama Hills to Haneda Kangaeroo started a epic journey on the morning of September 29. Leaving the United States Air Force Tama Hills Recreation Reserve in Inagi, Kangaeroo hit the Tamagawa Cycling Road. The bike track follows the Tama River to its mouth at Tokyo Bay, leading directly to Haneda Airport. From Haneda, it...
豪のクリスマス・ソング：Christmas Photo 　もはや、今年のクリスマスの日が後僅か数日間となった。　日本を含めてほとんどの人のクリスマスに関する印象が北半球の真冬の行事だ。　しかし、南半球を忘れないようにしようよ！　オーストラリアのクリスマスが真夏だ！　実は、ほとんどの場合、真夏でもクリスマスに関する飾りや行事が真冬っぽいの姿をオーストラリアでも現れる。　だが、たとえトナカイの変わりにカンガルーがサンタのゾリをひっぱたり、サンタが半袖・短パン姿で描かれたりしてオージーっぽいのクリスマス・イメージもある。　オーストラリアのクリスマス伝統一つがCarols by Candlelightと言います。これは、公園、海辺など屋外公の場で夕方になってろうそくをもってクリスマス・ソングを歌う習慣。とっても綺麗だ！そして、規模がさまざまだ。都市の中心部で数万人参加する物もあれば、近所たちごとで数人しかやらないこともある。おまけ、サマー・タイムで大体夜９時ごろまで明るく子供たちが夏休みなので、にぎやかな季節だ。　今日の豪風クリスマス・ソングは、典型的なオーストラリア人歌手ジョン・ウィリアムソン作の「クリスマス・フォト」だ。家族揃ってクリスマスの昼食を食べた後にクリケットで遊んで記念写真を家族で撮ろうという話の歌だ。　ちなみに、クリスマス・ランチを食べた後のクリケット遊びもオージー・クリスマス伝統一つとして言える。 CHRISTMAS PHOTO It’s December in Australia; Time to remember all the family. Christmas tree – native pine, Lights and tinsel all entwined. Put a fairy on the top. There’s Gran and Pa and Joan and Pop. The ham and...
Castle in the Clouds Ozu Castle appears to be floating above the clouds of mountains in Ehime Prefecture....
Bit of a Wasted Weekend Didn’t do a lot today. Except eat. And play with the bird. Turned out to be something of a wasted weekend. It wasn’t a total failure. Cleaned the house. And got the garden looking good. Including some shopping for new lights....
豪の不思議な巨大人物「Marree Man」が消滅恐れオーストラリアのアウトバックにある身長約4キロメートルで世界最大な地上絵である原因不明なMarree Manが消滅する可能性が高く、助かるために公的資金が求められている。　Marree Manの存在が謎の中の謎だ。　1998年ある日、南オーストラリア州マリーという町にあるパブが「巨大地上絵が君たちの町の近くにあるよ」などと不思議なファックスを届いた。ジョークがいたずらかと思って無視したが偶然にその時期近くに飛行機が飛び、やっぱり本当の話だった。　地上絵がブーメランを持って狩りをしているオーストラリア先住民であるアボリジニーの姿をし、書かれている線が約18キロメートルもあり、発見した当時約20～30センチの深さがあって所によって幅が約20メートルもあった。　どのようにMarree Manがその辺に出来たかが未だに不明。ファックスの送り主が分からないし、発見当時米国星条旗が入った瓶とブランチ・ダビディアンというカルトに関する手紙があってファックス内容がメートル法より「マイルなど」旧式な言い方をしたからアメリカ人が関係すると思われているが燻製ニシンの虚偽とされている。現地の人々が2002年に亡くなったオーストラリア人アーティストが作ったではないかという人が多い。いずれにすよ、本当の話が分からない。さらに問題化しているのが同地域が先住民が所有権を持ち、近くの一般立ち入り禁止ウーメラ試験場もあるので簡単に地域を変化などをすることができないけど、上空観察などによって発見からの15年間にちょっとした観光業が成り立っていた。　だが、整備の難しさの上に時間経過によってMarree Manが構成する線が段々薄くなっている。マリー関係者が州政府に維持費などの助成金を申請して陳情しているが、今の所行動をとっていない。　ある日いきなり現れてきたMarree Manが急速に砂漠の土の中に戻る恐れが非常に高くなっているので、ますますオーストラリアの不思議な事件一つが深い謎に囲まれそうだ。 Race on to Save Marree Man （英語） www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKEJgQeAdiQ Marree Man by David Batty, National Film Board of Canada...
日豪味深い映画「ウルヴァリン: SAMURAI」の和風ポスター盗難問題　ヒュー・ジャックマンが主人公、日本が舞台など日豪味深い映画「ウルヴァリン: SAMURAI」の墨絵風PRポスターが米国では盗まれっぱなしだ、とメルボルンエイジ紙が２３日報道した。 The Wolverine, a movie with strong Australia-Japan connections with Hugh Jackman as its star and much of the action taking place in Japan, is being plagued by people stealing its Japanese-influence sumi-e posters, according to the Melbourne Age on April 23. 　約２０年前日本でもSMAPの木村拓哉の公な場にあったポスターが盗まれた現象と同じように同映画主人公であるヒュー・ジャックマンがイケメンの上に和風人気が恐らく原因であるポスター盗難が人気ぶりの証しとして配給会社20世紀フォックスにとって矛盾でありながら嬉しい悩みだ。 In a phenomenon similar to that...
Fantastic Flowers! Blessed with great company, brilliant sunshine and time, Kangaeroo got to enjoy the unexpected pleasure of HANA BIYORI. HANA BIYORI is a new type of botanical garden that forms part of the sprawling entertainment complex centered around Yomiuriland in the Tokyo suburb of Inagi. HANA BIYORI was a delight simply...
オズのアホ使い　考えRooの母国であるオーストラリアでは、国名を省略して「オズ」と呼ぶことがある。　偶然に、考えるRooの生き方は馬鹿な言動が中心となっていた。　つきましては、「オズのアホ使い」と呼ばれても全然問題ないと思う。　具体的なことを言えないが、分かる人は分かる。いくらでも成功する機会が与えられ、裕福になれてもおかしくない過去があった。　しかし、貧乏で終わって、キャリアも何もならなかったというかキャリア事態はなかったというほど達成感がない。しょうがない。　それはそれでも変えられない。このもんだ。それでも十分。というか、これで満足しています。「オズのアホ使い」らしい生き方をして、最後までもそうだろう。　結局、考えRooはもう少し考えるべきだったかもしれない。...
Some of the Cycling Camerawork that can be Expected These are the types of shots that I’ve been able to take of bikes....
Picking Up From Where We Left Off As sticklers will point out, 2020 doesn’t really count as the start of the Twenty-Twenties, but Kangaeroo reckons it does, so that’s how we’ll view it on the site. And the ’20s got off in pretty much the same way that 2019 left off–on the saddle, pushing the pedals. Once...
Compliment Courage! Boosted by a blessing, inspired to take more photos and now hoping not to be a pretentious dick On a bleak and wintry December morning with conditions ideal for moaning and a terrible start to the day, Kangaeroo got a boost with an unexpected plug for the site’s photos. Coming...
May It Be That Way May is Kangaeroo.com’s favorite time of the year. Normally, dry, warm and sunny, flowers bloom and the month is a visual and sensual delight. This year has been unseasonably sodden, but that’s good practice for the upcoming rainy season that will begin in early June. Normally, May is a great...
Don’t Think! A good mate of mine often quotes William Shakespeare’s Hamlet by reminding me that, “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” Kangaeroo is prone to over-thinking, and this week is looming as a tough one. There’s plenty on the schedule, both professionally and privately. And...
Cold, Wet and Dark Doesn’t get any more archetypically Monday than today….cold, wet, dark and bleak. Kangaeroo wasn’t too keen on getting out on the bike with a huge day ahead. But it was precisely because the day promises to be demanding that dragged him out in the end. Rain had been forecast, but...
Wahoo for Wahoo, and Thanks Y’s Road Lads Further to the weekend’s bike device calamities, Saturday’s mess turned into a much better Sunday. Saturday was supposed to be a day for getting the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt repaired. But an untimely drop in front of a couple of passing cars resulted in the device being utterly destroyed. Already worrying...
Beautifully Breaks the Tama River Morning Mornings can be hard to get up for, particularly in the cold and dark of winter. Yet, some things make it worth waking early for. Waking, then moving, can be a great way to start the day. It can get the body working and warmed up before the mind takes...
The Inspirers Actions by many people give Kangaeroo to give life a go, and they almost certainly don’t know it, and Kangaeroo doesn’t even know nearly any of them. One of the benefits of the dark period of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the gift of being able to go for a...
Doing Something Better than Nothing Kangaeroo had a rare late night, typically torrid sleep and woke with great reluctance when it came time to take a customary morning cycle. Eventually, Kangaeroo did get up and drag himself out of bed thanks to the events of the previous day. For much of December and continuing on...
Dino Might! Perhaps not surprisingly in a land ruled by middle-aged and elderly blokes and the fax still a crucial communication tool, mightily impressive dinosaurs have taken over a part of Japan not far from Tokyo. And despite being equipped with apparently razor-sharp fangs, the dinosaurs in question are actually toothless. They’re...
A Second Bite of Biwaichi Fatigue, muscle soreness and endurance were going to be the order of the day on the Kangaeroo crew’s second leg of Biwaichi, the circumnavigation of Biwa, Japan’s largest lake. Mrs. Kangaeroo had completed the 70-plus kilometer first leg with barely a hint of trouble, but not being used to cycling, it...
Tower of Strength on an Icy Morning Today started with a pre-dawn trip to Tokyo Tower. A quick get-together with some mates over coffee and chockies followed. And then it was a ride back home. Now it’s on to familial duties. It was cold and dark heading into town. Just about every traffic light seemed determined to...
Up There, Kazari! Australian Sports Day was a fantastic event held at Komazawa Olympic Park yesterday, and I got to go and enjoy some of the proceedings that were a decorative display, (or should I say kazari?), of some of Down Under’s favorite pastimes. The day itself was a ripper, starting with explanations,...
Chocka Quokka Quokka took center stage today as the Kangaeroos hopped over to Saitama Children’s Zoo to see the little marsupials. The zoo’s Quokka Island is chokka quokka, including a joey born in late January. Quokkas have become something of an Internet meme after a photo showing one of the little fellers...
Tour de Kagoshima-Kyoto Day 8: Wakayama to Koyasan Japan, the land of the gods, threw everything at the Tour de Kagoshima-Kyoto on Day 8, but the riders came up trumps, scaling the queen stage unscathed. Despite persistent drizzle, the tour made it to the World Heritage List site Koyasan without injury or incident. The tour’s first flat even...
Happy New Year! Welcome to 2020, the Year of the Rat, according to the Chinese zodiac. A rat is as close as you’ll get to a kangaroo in the Far East, so Kangaeroo is looking forward to this year. And if that’s not good enough, Kangaeroo’s track record suggests a rat is not...
Tour de Kagoshima-Kyoto Day 2: Hinagu to Ozu The tour’s drive into Kyushu moved northward on its second day of riding, and first when inclement weather came into play. Rain fell about halfway through the 72-km leg, drenching riders, but fortunately not resulting in any injuries or accidents. The trip was largely along the plains of Kyushu, following...
Spring in the Step This has been a strange kind of week. Meetings kicked off the week, continued throughout and were punctuated by work and lots of cycling and photography. Oh, yeah. And looking after the pet dinosaur. Amid that, feelings went up and down. Mostly down. Now, as the working week draws to...
A Season Of Sayonara And Au Revoir It was sayonara time. We farewelled our apartment that Mrs. Kangaeroo scrimped and saved to snare upon the end of her previous marriage. Then it was goodbye to being Tokyo citizens as we became Kanagawa Prefecture residents. And we moved on to say au revoir to the Printemps department store....
Heading Toward New Horizons We’re off to a new home, thanks to the miraculous passage of a housing loan, and I’m getting a new job as the company looks for ways to deal with the pandemic. We’re moving back over the hill from Kawasaki into Tama and into a delightful place now undergoing renovations....
大ヒット中のTimTamって「豪菓なビスケット」と言っていい？今では、オーストラリアの味が日本でひそかなブームが起こっている。 Australia is, in a way, flavor of the month of sorts in Japan at the moment. Amazon.co.jp ウィジェット　それはチョコ・ビスケットTimTamのことだ。 That exalted status is thanks to the humble TimTam. 　今、日本のどこのコンビニーでも売られているし、多くの駅売店でも販売されている。 TimTam biscuits are now sold in just about all of Japan’s ubiquitous convenience stores and most station kiosks in the...
Neighborhood Stroll After a warmer than usual winter (despite initially showing signs of being a cold one), spring is suddenly upon us and cherry blossoms have bloomed at one of the earliest times ever, though the covid pandemic prevents them from being widely enjoyed. On the weekend of higan, the vernal or...
Enough of the Rain, Already! Kangaeroo is on holiday. Has been for 37 hours now. And it has rained almost that entire time. And due to continue falling for almost the next 24 hours, too. Ah, well…not much that can be done about it....
南豪州政府が「みだらな言葉使用道路標識」が合法性を維持「みだらな言葉と二重の意味のある道路標識が一部の市民の感情を害しても社会全体に高く評価されたり、交通安全につながるから合法だ」と南オーストラリア政府がこの頃判断を下した、と豪ニュースサイトnews.com.auが報道した。　同州と隣のビクトリア州をつながるハイウェイに使われている交通安全用道路標識３種類はみだらな言葉と二重の意味の表現を使って同道路に運転しているドライバーに交通安全を訴えている。　しかし、それに対して同州議会無所属議員ボブ・サッチ氏によると「標識が感情を害する」と州政府に陳情した。　が、同州交通安全大臣ジェニファー・ランカイン氏は「苦情に理解できてものの、言葉が主観的なものであり社会風習に違反しないし、例え若干無責任な言葉づかいであっても交通案の効果を考えれば使い続けるしか選択がない」と苦情を却下した。　ランカイン氏によると同標識が使用開始したからシートベルト着用違反が９％減少、飲酒運転が５％ダウン、スピード違反件数も１５％下がった。　標識は「cock（雄鶏）かwanker（anchor< いかり＞にWをつける）またはknob（ノブ）のように運転するな！」に訳出できる。いずれの言葉が「バカ野郎」と別意味がある。 South Australian Government rejects complaints about ‘offensive’ road safety signs...
Bloody Beauty! Back on the Bike! After months of near inactivity, Kangaeroo was finally able to indulge regularly in the pursuit that brings probably the greatest pleasure in life: cycling! So far, 2022 has been a series of calamities in terms of cycling, starting with poor weather then moving on to poor equipment, poor health and...
Slowly Settling Into Place It’s been a great year. I’ve been in full-time employment since April, the longest unbroken stint of working since September 2008. Mrs. Kangaeroo pleaded with me for some stability and I feel like we are close to getting there. Our company got bought out over the summer. Our office moved...
Beating Jobsworths with Luck Waking early gave Kangaeroo a slice of luck this morning, enabling a visit to Yakushiike Park in Machida before the jobsworths arrived there and booted him out for bringing his bike. The park is a delight, unbelievably located in the Tokyo suburbs. It has some spectacular wisteria growing on trellises,...
Calamity Free Ride! After several days featuring a series of stumbles, fumbles, bumps and bruises, it was fantastic to finally have an early morning ride that went without a calamity. Sort of. Riding La Cangura much slower and more cautiously than usual, the morning ride went without a hitch. There were many fears...
Sensational Sunrises There have been some sensational sunrises to greet me in recent days, though each weekend for the past six weeks has seen at least one day rain. This week it was Saturday and Kangaeroo spent the day on the Death Machine, riding only a short distance. Sunday, though, was a...
Hello Cello, Watch Out Aussies! 2CELLOS Are Headed Your Way Japan has given a final farewell to the 2CELLOS, the amazing duo of cellists on a world tour they have promised will be their last. Stjepan Hauser and Luka Šulić are already on their way Down Under, where they will play a series of shows before a final performance together...
Campbelltown Forest of Wild Birds A Slice of Oz in Sleepy Saitama Campbelltown, which is situated about 50 kilometers from Sydney’s central business district, were almost made for each other, even if only serving as satellite cities for their respective countries’ largest cities. Koshigaya and Campbelltown are Campbelltown Forest of Wild Birds in Koshigaya could arguably be one of the Kanto Plains...
Climbing Kangaeroo loves cycling. He cycles a lot. And I mean a lot. The line between a moderately good rider and a strong rider can largely be drawn at climbing; specifically, how fast a cyclist can make it up the hills. The best cyclists are all good hill climbers. The key...
It’s All Happening Here! Pushed for time and all other sorts of resources, Kangaeroo was surprised to note this morning that it had been almost 10 days since the last post on the site. So much has been going on, some of it pretty crucial, that time slipped away. To borrow a turn of...
The Cycle Of Life Like A Rolling Stone Searing summer made for some delightful cycling, with seemingly less rainy than is normal for this time of year. But I also got to ride to see an exhibition of the Rolling Stones being put on in Setagaya, but it wasn’t as good as the show for Bowie a few...
Credit To The Cryptobros It’s becoming clearer that our bosses are very unhappy with the situation as they continue to pay us with no discernible output on our part, and Japan spared of much of the carnage affecting the rest of the workld. But I give credit to the cryptobros for acting quickly and...
Kicking Off 2023 With Central Tokyo Loop And Super Sunshine If nothing else, 2023 sure started far better than the awful year of 2022 did, and eventually led to a wonderful ride focused on a central Tokyo loop. Just as had happened 12 months ago, Kangaeroo headed off on the first day of the year before the dawn. Unlike 2022,...
Holmes, Sweet Holmes With Valentine’s Day focusing a spotlight on love (or at least a love of chocolate in Japan) and having gone to a movie theater to see a film for the first time in decades over the weekend, I got to thinking, which can often be a dangerous thing. Growing up...
Grizzle/ぐずる grizzle Australian English To moan and complain unceasingly. This word is used mainly to describe the behavior of grumbling children, but can also be used about adults who complain without due reason. 日本語めそめそする。ぐずる。泣き言をいう。この言葉は、主に小さい子がぐずぐずしている時に使われているけど、特に大きな理由がなく泣き言をいう大人に対して使っても違和感を感じさせないだろう。 Plain English To whine. Strine Dictionary...
豪キャブラリー： Dunny Dunnyはオージー英語の象徴的な言葉であり、dunnyそのものがオーストラリア人にとって国の代表なイメージでもある。トイレという意味だけど、外で回りになにもないところにぽつんと置かれているというイメージが浮かび、オーストラリアの広さと大自然の中の孤立さの感覚を思い起こさせるような感じだ。しかし、実際に使うと暗くて臭くて多くの人にとって怖いところだ。おまけに毒蜘蛛の温床する場所でもある。いうまでもなく、dunnyはウォシュレット付きではないはずだ。　...
ええ？日本語でオージー英語？What? Strine in Nihongo? 　ええ？オージー英語（豪語）の中では日本語もあるって？信じられない！でも、数少ないながら、本当にある。それに、同一意味や使い方の言葉もある！日本語とオージー英語の共通実例を紹介します。...
「やばいリンガル」Lurk (待ち伏せる) 　普通、米・英語ではlurkにはちょっと暗いイメージがあるが、オージー英語ではそれに加えてもっと軽い感じの意味もある。クリックすれば、どのように違うかが分かるよ。　To lurk implies something dark when normally used in English, but when it comes to Strine, being on a good lurk in Australia is not such a bad deal....
豪の実力以上のものに挑む精神を表示するBig Guitar群れ　多くのオーストラリア人が自国が実力以上の物に挑むことを信じている。　ある程度根拠があると言える。例えば、人口僅か2千万人にも関わらず経済が世界ベスト15カ国に入りアジア太平洋地域を中心に外交面でも大活躍する。ソフトな面もヒュー・ジャックマン、二コール・キッドマンなどハリウッドなどで大スターとなっているオージーが多く、音楽界でもカイリ・ミノーグかオリビア・ニュートン・ジョンや最も成功しているＡＣ／ＤＣもオーストラリアから世界へ挑んだアーティストの例。　そして、音楽と言えばさらに実力以上に挑むのが各地にあるBig Guitarかもしれない。各地にあり、オーストラリアの「Big Things」の一例ともなる。　まずは、最も音楽界に親密にあるのがニューサウスウェールズ州のタムワースにあるBig Golden Guitarだ。　タムワースがオーストラリアのカントリー・ミュージック都と呼ばれ、ある意味では豪版ナッシュビルみたいと言っても過言ではない。　Big Golden Guitarが高さ12メートルがあり豪カントリー・ミュージック賞のトロフィをモチーフで1988年で創られている。　　そして、同州南方にあるナランデラという町に世界最大弾けるギターがある。　これも当然オーストラリアの「Big Things」一つでもある。　この「Big Things」がBig Playable Guitarと呼ばれ、長さ6メートル高さ２メートルの巨大な楽器だ。　実際に弾けることを弾けるがまともな曲を弾けるために二人以上かかるという。　そして、最後に、厳密な「Big Things」とちょっと言いがたいがクィーンズランド州観光名所ゴールド・コーストの最も有名な地域サーファーズ・パラダイスには高さ10メートルのBig Hard Rock Guitarがあり、目印となっている。 Big Golden Guitar Tourist Center...
Straya, We’ll See Your Vegemite Chocolate and Raise You with Cough Lolly KitKats Strewth! It doesn’t get much worse than the latest KitKat concoction to hit Japanese stores, which arguably takes the title of world’s worst chocolate unofficially claimed by Australia when it produced Vegemite chocolate back in June 2015. KitKat Nodoame flavor is now selling at Japanese retail outlets and is the...
Eat ‘Em Alive! Richmond Football Club takes on the Greater Western Sydney Football Club in the Australian Football League 2019 Grand Final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on the afternoon of September 28. The Tigers enter the game as a slight favorite against the league’s youngest club, which is playing in the Grand...
Aussie Kit Maker Perfuro Storming Onto the Scene Perfuro certainly blew a storm for me! And so it should have, considering the Latin word for storm is the name given to a great line of Aussie cycling gear from the Gold Coast that Kangaeroo.com was lucky enough to get to try out after being picked as a contest...
Tour de Kagoshima-Kyoto Day 7: Matsuyama to Wakayama A moving day allowed the tour riders to freshen legs ahead of the trip’s biggest climb, but that didn’t mean it was an easy day. Riders had a free morning in Matsuyama before assembling around midday to catch a bus to Tokushima. Activities engaged in during the morning included watching...
Tour de Kagoshima-Kyoto Day 10: Nara to Kyoto Our tour has reached Kyoto, remarkably with only minor injuries and not a single puncture in the more than 11,000 kilometers the cyclists covered collectively since setting out from Izumi, Kagoshima Prefecture, on the morning of October 1. The group battled a barrage of rain on the most prominent of...
Tour de Kagoshima-Kyoto Day 6: Uchiko to Matsuyama Shikoku’s glorious mountains seemed less and less attractive at times while pounding the pedals to push on upward even higher, but a wonderful descent followed on the final day of riding on the smallest of Japan’s four main islands. Leaving Uchiko later than most starts, it was a steady climb...
Spring Has Finally Sprung Almost as though on cue, probably the most delightful time of the year in Japan–May, when it’s warm, dry, sunny and with the longest hours of daylight–has been generally bleak and glim by its usual standards in 2022. This year has been subjected a bit to the rule of law:...
Rainbow Over Allah And Putting A Tiger In The Tank Work slowed down and it was a little easier to enjoy life, which allowed for stopping to smell the roses and capturing such opportunities as a rainbow shining above the Tokyo Mosque and beefing up Bargearse the bike. Mrs. Kangaeroo and I also got to visit an exhibition by the...
Stone the Crows! Deja Vu All Over Again Richmond Football Club will play in the 2017 Grand Final, tackling the favorite Adelaide Crows, who must be beaten at all cost. It’s the first time in 35 years that the Tigers will play off in Australian Football League’s most important game of the year. Richmond would lose that game...
Geothermal Cooking Meals can be cooked using geothermal heat in the city of Beppu. The approach to Beppu shows its location, sandwiched between the sea… …and the mountains....
オージー英語テスト　オージー英語と標準（？）英語をどの位マッチングできるだろう？　正解はしたへ。正解：1) Q, 2) S, 3) T, 4) M, 5) J, 6) O, 7) A, 8.) H, 9) E, 10) B, 11) L, 12) D, 13) P, 14) R, 15) G, 16) N, 17) F, 18) K, 19) C, 20) I このテストはMate, She’ll be Right, I’m Australianからの引用だった。ありがとうございました。...
泥棒が、、、コアラだった！オーストラリアアデレード市に「泥棒が自宅に入り込んだ見たい」という電話が14日午前中市内のある夫婦から警察当局に入り、警官が駆けつけたところすぐに「犯人」を捕まえた、、、コアラだった、とオーストラリア多文化放送局SBSが報道した。　夫婦が無事だったし、結局何も盗まれなかった。　一方、「犯人」のコアラもお騒ぎを起こした後、警官がだっこし、近くの森に放された。　未確認ですが24時間中約22時間寝ると言われているコアラは、以降、恐らく再び寝入りしただろう。「起訴することはなかったよ」とある警官がコメントしたらしい。（元記事：英語）Koala sparks Adelaide police incident...
Japan’s Crucial Role in Turning “Mad Max” into a Global Aussie Icon Turning the clock back 40 years, Japan played a crucial role in giving Australia a leg-up toward becoming a player in the global movie industry. In late 1977, a couple of fledgling Australian filmmakers pooled their meager funds and shot a movie starring mostly unknown young actors and actual motorcycle...
Autumn in Aoyama Winter is coming to the Kanto Plain, but 2019 still has a final flourish of beauty before the bleakness. A stroll around the Aoyama/Omotesando areas produced some late-autumn gems. Autumn 2019 has been a mixed bag in terms of weather. Terrible typhoons wreaked havoc on many areas in the Kanto...
San-poses! More Shots Snapped During a Lunchtime Stroll Late autumn/early winter can be a wonderful time in Japan. The typhoons of the early to mid-autumn are gone and the rain stays away for most of the time until June of the following year. (Leaving aside the fact that October and late...
Kangaroos Have a Proud History Adorning Japanese Marushi Bicycles Maruishi Cycle Ltd. is a prestigious bicycle manufacturer perhaps best-known today for its vintage models that until late in the 20th century also included penny farthings. Maruishi continues to make fine touring bikes in Japan. The company’s history dates back to 1894, though it has been Chinese-owned since 2006. Of...
Warm in the Winter Dino the dinosaur is no slouch in finding a warm place in the winter, which is a handy trait when you’re a rosy faced lovebird. She huddles up next to her heaters, on the nest she builds out of the strips of paper she so dexterously rips off with her...
Little Bit Chuffed! Today I got a message from someone who really inspires me to be a better person, and it has thoroughly made my day. That message has now gotten me away from writing in the third person because doing so makes me sound like an even bigger tosser than I am....