Aussies, Look And Learn! Japanese Cleanup Of Melbourne Was By Residents, Not Tourists

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1. Akiya Akita (空き家、飽きた), Or How I Got Sick Of The Idea Of A Japanese Home Too Cheap To Be True Having lived in Japan for decades, it’s suddenly strange to see the country become what seems to be the global flavor the month, particularly when it comes to the phenomenal interest in akiya, one of the millions of empty homes throughout the country. All of the photos in this post...
2. 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....
3. Kangaroo Paw Finally Hopping Into Action My heart-wrenching kangaroo paw plants have finally started to flower, bringing some joy, but a little bit of sadness, too. Perhaps the best lesson they’re teaching me at the moment is not to get too attached to anything. I’ve always wanted to have kangaroo paw in the garden. They’re one...
4. Inuit ‘Innit It’s snowing in Tokyo again, reminding me that the Inuit are supposed to have 50 different words for snow and making me wonder if the equivalent to English’s “Oh no” is one of them. I’m not the biggest fan of snow falling on Tokyo, mostly because of the paralyzing effect...
5. Beware The Creatures Of The Night Much to the chagrin or Mrs. Kangaeroo, our garden is filled with all sorts of weird and wonderful Australian creatures, and they’re designed to look nice nocturnally. We have all sorts of kangaroos. Their sizes range from life-sized to tiny. A similar story goes for koalas. We have a koala...
6. Saying It With Flowers Running out of time with a busy schedule ahead, but a flourishing garden at hand, what better way to say anything than to do it with flowers? So that’s what we’ll do, courtesy of Kangaeroo Corner’s enduring grevillea....
7. Lots. And Nothing All sorts of things have been happening, but also nothing at all. I hope that doesn’t seem too strange? The “all sorts of things” are just day-to-day events that keep me busy. And there was yet another clash with my boss, this time leading to her humiliation. I could have...
8. Japanniversary This week marked 37 years since I arrived for a six-week trip in Japan way back in 1988. I’ve never really thought much about the anniversary of arriving in Japan, but recently started work in an office that provides a spot where I sat and waited for a friend to...
9. Slice of Heaven Kangaeroo Corner, the name I give to our garden even though it’s not a corner but close enough anyway (which kinda sums up my life) is a little slice of Godzone for me. Gardening had never entered my radar until Mrs. Kangaeroo and the amazing Alex Endo presented us with...
10. New Roads Kangaeroo won’t be doing much riding along the Tama River for a while. For the next few weeks, it will be back in the homeland again. Riding will be a bit of a challenge while there. But also a bit exciting! Oz is far stricter on policing road rules than...
11. Paws Before Thinking Times are tough and Mrs. Kangaeroo implored me to tighten my belt to cope with rising prices and crippling wage cuts, but I don’t think she was too impressed by my belt tightening efforts involving gargantuan eating practices and getting fatter. It’s been a gloomy year in many ways so...
12. Tray Trees Make Bonzer Bonsai Reluctantly dragged out of my comfort zone, I was rewarded with a bonzer trip around the Japanese Bonsai Garden inside Showa Kinen Park to see the autumnal trees in trays, lit up as part of the Autumnal Night Stroll....
13. Doxing Paradoxes OK, the title is a bit of a lie, because I confused doxing with poxing, but the wordplay was better, so that’s what I went with. The paradoxes I’m dealing with are trying to make a living while blessed with innumerable talents that are all useless and a track record...
14. Bird-jacked! Plans to write a blog post today turned out to be a bird-brained idea. Our rosy faced lovebird hijacked our computer keyboard because it’s the warmest place in the house. There wasn’t a great deal to write about anyway. So all I’ll be skipping on is the minituae and other...
15. Willow Worlds Cricket is one of the few things I really miss about life in Australia, and stumbling across the Japan Cricket Association website recently led me down a rabbit hole centered around willow, an integral yet often unremembered part of life in my two countries. Come down the willow wormhole with...
16. 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？...
17. Hitting The Early Morning Jackpot After three days of incessant rain, we finally got a dry start to a morning, which enabled me to get out on the bike and end up being rewarded with the most extraordinary sights for getting out so early. Wet roads are my enemy as I don’t have the grip...
18. Glowing Mother Nature greeted me with a glorious sunrise yet again today as I biked the Tama River Cycling Road. Most of the ride was in the dark, as is the case at this time of the year just before the winter solstice. But just as I was leaving the path...
19. Awe-tumnal! Glorious autumnal weather and a magnificent event lighting up the coloroful leaves made for an outstanding occasion at Showa Kinen Park. Mrs. Kangaeroo and I enjoyed a hot date on a cool day by spending the early evening at the park, travelling there and back on the scenic Tama Monorail....
20. 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....
21. The Cycling Gods The cycling gods have been active through 2024. Like all the gods of ancient times, there have been plenty of trials and tribulations and (so far) a happy ending. It’s no secret the period from about October 2021 to July 2024 was one of the most testing periods of my...
22. Bird Brained Dominated in our day-to-day lives by a delightful little dinosaur (one of their modern day descendants in the form of a rosy faced lovebird to be precise), Mrs. Kangaeroo and I decided to spend a rare shared day off by playing with birds. And our flying visit to Moff animal...
23. Enjoying the Cycle of Life Kangaeroo is not a young marsupial. He is old, fat and lazy. Exercise is not his thing. Yet, thanks to the humble bicycle, this exercise-averse old codger can enjoy a relatively healthy lifestyle. Every morning, almost without fail, Kangaeroo wakes, dresses, has a cup of joe and gets on his...
24. No Beg Pardon In Our Garden Our garden, Kangaeroo Corner (even though it’s not a corner), is unabashedly at its best in the spring, though it also thrives in places during the other seasons. Flowers are blooming now, bringing immense delight. Flowers I grew from seeds–hardenbergia and kangaroo paw now, a dwarf wattle that briefly flourished...
25. Show Me The Monet! Blessed with a shared day off for the Emperor’s Birthday, the Kangaeroos decided to spend it dealing with Monet matters. We traveled to Tokorozawa Sakura Town to take in the Monet: I Can See the Lights – An Immersive Journey exhibition. It was a decent show featuring a series of...
26. Jacaranda Journey Provides Purple Haze Mrs. Kangaeroo and I woke up early, let the dinosaur roam free for a while to stretch her wings, then headed off to Atami for one of Japan’s few jacaranda festivals. We’ve got a jacaranda in our garden and it has proven to be pretty fickle, so I was very...
27. Terrible Trainspotters Trainspotters in Japan, referred to somewhat derogatorily as Tetsuo (鉄男） or Tetsuko （鉄子）(a play on words forming a portmanteau from the words for “rail” and common suffixes used to indicate a man or woman <there are commonly still only two genders in Japanese>, as well as being typical <though slightly...
28. 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...
29. The Lady In The Lake Not much has been going on recently, but just living life has kept us busy. During a quick lunchtime ride yesterday, the skies and setting gave me a ripper chance to take photos of La Cangura in the shallow waters of a wading pool in a park beside the Tama...
30. Autumn Perfect For A Fall Autumn is finally upon us, just days before its scheduled calendar end, but that doesn’t mean it’s still not ideal for a fall. And taking that literally, I decided to head out for a ride on the Death Machine, the nickname I give to my recumbent bicycle for its propensity...
31. A Handmade Tale Some of Japan’s finest cycling handiwork was on display at Handmade Bicycle 2025 held at the Science Musuem in Tokyo on Jan. 25-Jan. 26. Given that I had no other plans, wanted to do something special to celebrate Australia Day and needed to go for a ride with a decent...
32. The Lucky Country Australia is often referred to as “the lucky country,” which most people use favorably, but was actually a derogatory term coined by journalist Donald Horne in his book of the same name, and with April 25 a landmark date in Aussie history now called ANZAC Day, it got me thinking...
33. Cherry Bomb! Cherry blossoms have started to bloom in Tokyo’s suburbs. For the most part, flowers have yet to reach peak bloom along my most-traversed part of the Tama River. But in some of the areas where the flowers are at their best, the view is lovely. It was a bonus to...
34. Brushing Up On Kangaroo Paw-nography Caught up with work, study, travel, health checks and poor weather over the past few days, it was a delight to get back into the garden this morning to find that we were blessed with the season’s first bottlebrush and kangaroo paw flowers. Cooler temperatures have caused a delay in...
35. Stop that Pigeon! Lots of serious stuff is going down at the moment, yet the biggest gripe in my mind is how to deal with a bloody pigeon. One of my escapes has been the garden at Kangaeroo Corner, and one of the areas of which I had been proudest was the flourishing...
36. Three-Day Monk One of my favorite phrases in Japanese is mikka bozu, literally a three-day monk, and it’s a term used to describe the length that most people can maintain their resolve. I’ve got to admit to being an archetypical example of the concept. Having accumulated a huge spare tire and found...
37. Wattle Y’Know As the tiny yellow blossoms slowly starting to open on the wattle trees in our garden are showing, spring is gradually inching closer to realization, but it can never happen fast enough. Cold seems to linger for an inordinately long time at the end of every winter, especially as I...
38. Harbor City Coathangered! Sydney Opera House Among World Heritage List’s ‘Three Great Disappointments’ Sydney Opera House is undoubtedly a symbol of Australia around the world, but is regarded by many Japanese as one of the “Three Great Disappointments” among World Heritage Listed sites, according to Japanese AllAbout.com. It’s been common for centuries for the Japanese to rank lots of tourism-related sites — look...
39. 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...
40. Snag A Democracy Sausage Before The Nutjobs Strip Voting Rights Aussie voters in Tokyo will be able to snag a democracy sausage if they go to the Australian Embassy in Tokyo from 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Friday, May 2, according to the Embassy website. This be an opportunity to exercise a hard-fought right to vote (or avoid being...
41. 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....
42. Southern Crust: Japanese Snapper-Baker Not Loafing Around To Make Dough From Bread Down Under Photographer and baker Kazuaki Ono has combined his dual talents to create the Southern Crust exhibition at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan in Marunouchi until Oct. 31. Southern Crust showcases signature loaves from remarkable Australian bakeries that Ono photographs in iconic locations across Australia from Bondi Beach to Brighton...
43. Foot And Mouth Cold weather in the early spring is always a reminder of getting old, and few places send the message to me louder than my mouth and feet. Oral problems have plagued me for years and persist in doing so now. And it is apparently the start of effects from my...
44. 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...
45. Bloomin’ Freezing After an Indian summer and unseasonably warm autumn, this morning finally sent a message that winter is on its way, even as the warm weather grevillea in Kangaeroo Corner continued to thrive. We have three grevillea trees in the garden, all of which are fantastic growers. (And a fourth, ground-covering,...
46. Superstar Prodigy Makes Cricketing History Australian-Japanese prodigy Ayaka Kato-Stafford has created cricket history. The 15-year-old all-rounder made her international debut playing for Japan, a cricketing minnow and still only an Associate Member of the International Cricket Council. But the dual national with a career batting average of 32.67 and bowling average of a miserly 14.25...
47. 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。...
48. Where’s the Whist Amid the Wisteria? Being greeted by the sublimely serene sight of fully blooming wisteria in the outer suburban wonderland of Yakushiike Park only to have the calmness crushed by the piercing squeal of a little prick abusing and haranguing me for riding a bicycle in the park wasn’t really what I had been...
49. Bees Knees One of the most striking aspects of my last visit to Oz (in the early southern spring of 2022) was seeing how honey bees swarmed around bottlebrush trees, clearly enjoying their presence and making me wonder if Japanese bees would like the callistemon in our garden. We got the flowers,...
50. Lady of the Lake and More Lucky Rides Not much has happened, certainly nothing to really write about, but I have been very fortunate to get some amazing skies that make tremendous backdrops for bicycle photos, including these shots of La Cangura beside a little pond near the Tama River, which evoked an image of the Lady of...
51. Went Viral! (And Didn’t Have a Bloody Clue!) It’s pretty clear my career is finished so one of my current greatest worries is how I am going to repay the mortgage on Kangaeroo Corner and, being grossly over-educated and severely lacking talent, becoming a YouTuber making viral videos has popped up in my mind as a way. Given...
52. Floral Flamboyance I’ve said it before and will say it again (over and over, I’m sure), but Japan when the cherry blossoms are in bloom has got to be the most exquisitely beautiful place on earth and now, with the flowers bursting into their peak, is no exception. As happens nearly every...
53. Pushbike Paradise The few weeks leading up to the start of the rainy season in Tokyo are, for me, idyllic, and for the past few years I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to get an early morning bike ride in on most days, and today was a ripper. The sun rises...
54. Procrastination Propagation Winter is probably the worst time of the year to try to grow plants from cuttings, except, like for me, you’re desperately trying to avoid doing something unpleasant and you’ve been handed unseasonably fine weather. So, instead of taking a trial test for a potential new job as I could...
55. Get Off Of My Cloud! Riding today was like floating through the heavens at times, reminding me of one of my favorite songs by the world’s greatest rock band: The Rolling Stones‘ Get off My Cloud. I’d have loved to have been able to keep the scene for myself as I rode through the mists...
56. Bringing a Western Beat to Japan For some reason, Japanese artists covering Western songs has also held something of a fascination for me. I’m not really attuned to hit charts, nor really have been. And music isn’t one of my great loves, though I have an appreciation for pretty much any type of tune. Perhaps my...
57. Batch Of Brommies Bring A Little Bit Of Magic Maybe it’s the residue of all the macabre atmosphere of Halloween or some other mystique, but the past couple of days have been a bit enchanting. Rather than fall for all the made-up poppycock, I reckon the magical feeling probably stems from my Brompton bike. The bicycle that really got...
58. Golden Girl La Cangura is the name of my bike, a beautiful gunmetal and gold-trimmed machine from Orbea, a manufacturer from Spain, hence the name (which means The Kangaroo in English). She looks delightful in among the canola, the yellow hues of the bike and the flowers a wonderful match. Just wish...
59. Doubling Up Got to ride a tandem with an old work colleague yesterday at Showa Kinen Koen. It was a day of magnificent company, stupendous weather, and plenty of color to mark the full-on onset of spring....
60. Just A Bit Longer! The hand-wringing wait for spring blooms is slowly starting to draw to a close as more and more sections of the Kangaeroo Corner garden burst into flower. Our callistemon is literally packed with buds that are bursting into blossom in what is actually quick succession, but feels to be interminably...
61. 「やばいリンガル」　Flick　（人と縁を切る） 　オージー英語はユニークな使い方がある場合が多い。たとえ他の国の英語では同じ言葉でもオージー英語の場合の意味が完全に違うこともある。Flickは、本来の英語ではflick（軽くたたくこと）という意味だが、オージー英語ではどうだろう？...
62. Flockin’ Wonderful Time All sorts of amazing things are happening at the moment, and I’m taking me time to let them settle in. Biggest is the new job, which is taking up most of my time at the moment and, naturally, has a huge impact on my life and that of those around...
63. Castle In The Air From Atami, we backtracked only the old Tokaido route to the castle town of Odawara. We were delighted to be presented by a garden full of flowers again, this time the hydrangea and shobu, both plants that bloom around now when the rainy season hits. Mrs. Kanageroo had never climbed...
64. A Fern Native Action Some massive changes at Kangaeroo Corner this week, which is pretty apt for the early summer, but there has been some man-made actions, too, with a tree fern poised to take center stage. As mentioned earlier this week, the nandina had to go as it was killing all the other...
65. No Time to Paws Work is dominating my life at the moment and I have little time for anything else, yet we are fortunate that our kangaroo paws are leading the way in a thriving summer garden. I’ve detailed my attempts at growing Australian plants from seed. While most failed, the kangaroo paw, the...
66. Bested by Busyness Little things in life have kept me scrambling and stumbling in such a way it’s hard to get much else done. Work is always much busier in the warmer months. This year has been particularly demanding as our tyrant boss drove more staff out of the door and their tasks...
67. 「巨人の星」がBig Wickets意味を理解補足に 　タスマニア州ウェストベリーという田舎の町には巨大なウィケットがある。 「ウィケットって何？」 と思っている人が多いだろう（そもそも考えRooを読んでいただいている人がそもそも「多い」と言い難いけど、わざわざここまで来ていただいた方々の中では「多い」という意味だが、余談、、、）。 ウィケットは、クリケットに使う重要な道具だ。 「うん、、、じゃ、それだったら、クリケットって？」と思うよね。 ま、簡単に言えば野球の元となったスポーツと思えば良く、オーストラリア見たいの英国連邦諸国では非常に人気夏スポーツだ。 　ちなみに、今年あの有名なアニメ「巨人の星」がインドでリメイクすることになったが、インドではクリケットが非常に人気あるため話が野球ではなくクリケットの話しとなった。 ウェストベリーにBig Wicketsがあるのは初タスマニア出身オーストラリア代表クリケット選手ジャック・バッドコック氏を称えるためだ。高さ３メートル幅約３メートルであり、本物のウィケットの大きさのおよそ６倍であり、オーストラリアの「Big Things」仲間入りとして十分な根拠がある。 　 クリケットを題材としたインド版「巨人の星」 【ニコニコ動画】インド巨大市場“スポ根”アニメが進出へ...
68. Big Red Bike Tour Stage 8: Mr. Do Little Walks And Talks With The Animals  It was a beastly time to kick off the double stage Big Red Bike Tour today. Literally, as I headed off to Tama Zoological Park. The zoo is close by and I made a whirlwind visit before racing home for the day’s second stage and a cycling-oriented event in the...
69. Feast of Flowers There’s much to love about Tokyo in May–long, warm days with little rain (for the most part), lots of greenery and things settle down after the hectic early months of spring when much of the country starts and ends the business year. Little, though, can beat the delight that the...
70. Hammered By The Cycling Gods Despite a short work week, life was busy and the cycling gods dealt another blow that made it hard to stay on the bike. After riding more than 30,000 kilometers in 2021, the fates have combined to drastically curtail my riding as I’ve been affected by work, play, family, health,...
71. Big Brother Is Watching You Summer is sweltering again, turning the Kangaeroo Corner into a dustbowl, but this year is a little different because my every move is being watched by the untiring Uyu. We’ve been walking incessantly despite the heat, and the beautiful border collie had me worried because she looked exhausted and overheated...
72. Blessed By Wonderful People in 2023 Magnificent people made 2023 a much better year than I thought it was...
73. Avian Flew I got to make a flying visit to the “Bird” exhibition held at the National Museum of Nature and Science. The exhibition traced birds’ roles in ecosystems, dating from their evolution from dinosaurs through to the important roles they play today. There were over 600 bird specimins exhibited, divided into...
74. Give Me, Give Me チョコレート！ 　元気がなくて、めちゃくちゃへこんでいるし、怒りが治まらない！ 　これまでの経験によると、こういう時にどんな薬より最も効果的な対応策が何といっても「チョコレート」である！ 　しかし、暴食ってあまり良くないので、目で食べるという選択をし、気分転換を祈っています。 　以前、イタリアで見かけたチョコレート市場の思い出のギャラリーだ。一生忘れられない！...
75. Of Sloths And Sloth Closing my eyes on ethical concerns for a couple of hours, Mrs. Kangaeroo and I got on the Tama Monorail and headed to Moff animal cafe in LaLaport Tachikawa, where in addition to getting bird-brained, we enjoyed playing with various types of creatures, including a sloth. Ironically, as that would...
76. 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...
77. Glimpses of Gloriousness For a few seconds this morning, I got to have a couple of glimpses of gloriousness. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve noticed Tokyo’s outer suburbs have had some amazing sunrises and sunsets. The old sayings about red skies in the morning and night seem to have been put...
78. A Pleasant Dalliance With Death After a couple of months with wet weekends and pretty much a week of incessant rain, the brightcomp sunshine and lack of wind was too great to resist, so I got out on the Death Machine while I could this morning. I was rewarded with a delightfully smooth ride that...
79. The First Class First Nations Film Festival For a measly 1,000 yen I got to get a totally unexpected and delightfully amazing full day’s entertainment, a couple of souvenirs and an all-round wonderful time at the 2024 First Nations Film Festival held by the Australian Embassy in Tokyo at EUROSPACE. I’ve always been sympathetic to the cause...
80. Happy Bird-thday, You Pterror! Today is Dino (the dinosaur)’s third birthday. Our little rosy-faced lovebird has been with us for three years, and has been pretty much a constant companion since the early days of the pandemic. She is my best mate, but at the same time, the bane of my life. She demands...
81. Everlastings Love! Everlasting daisies have become the first plants I’ve potted after starting to grow them from seed. I planted the seeds in humidity pods on February 19. They germinated in a flash, with buds clearly visible within a week. They were starting to grow too big for the pods, so I...
82. Springing Into Action After an interminably long wait, it finally got warm this week, prompting me to spring into action. It was hard to believe that just last week Tokyo got blasted with heavy snow. Short sleeves and shorts were the watchword, even for typically well-covered types such as Mrs. Kangaeroo. Even though...
83. Big Red Bike Tour Stage 2: Freaky Friday Pushed for time, yet pressed to get riding the Big Red Bike Tour, I turned to an old favorite for Stage 2 and headed out and about near home to see the local monsters. We’re short on time because we’re due to go drinking with a neighbor’s family tonight before...
84. Just Flowers It’s a sodden day with rain punctuated by drizzle, but the flowers in Kangaeroo Corner are brightening an otherwise bleak day. The grevillea are simply gorgeous and our star tree is filling with flowers that I have to learn to deadhead so that we get even more. Snow in the...
85. Winter is Here Although it was a glorious morning with clear, starry skies and then a wonderful sunrise, it was bloody freezing, confirming that the long-dreaded winter has arrived. Until now we have been blessed with unseasonal warmth: I wore shorts all weekend and the temperature topped 20 degrees on Saturday. I still...
86. Bromocalypse, Now! As fate would have it, I got to ride my Brompton in a post-apocalyptic landscape over the weekend, making for some eerie-looking pics. It’s not the first time I have been able to ride through the area, but it was Brommie’s first chance to do so. Although the scenes appear...
87. 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,...
88. Sometimes A Whisper Isn’t Loud Enough Having been presented with a couple of opportunities last year to look after the delightful border collie Uyu I had begun to fancy myself as a bit of a dog whisperer because of the devotion she was showing me, so I was delighted at the prospects of renewing acquaintances. That...
89. Why Is It Snowing, It’s Supposed To Be Summer? It’s cold and wet, and we’re three days into summer. As I mentioned the other day, the snow in the summer in our garden is supposed to be because of its resemblance to the phenomena, not its materialization. It’s less than 20 degrees. The sky is dark and bleak. It...
90. Big Red Bike Tour Stage 7: Anything You Can Do We Kanda Better Despite having literally cycled hundreds of thousands of kilometers in and around Tokyo, I’d never cycled the full length of the Kanda River Cycling Road until the Big Red Bike Tour Stage 7 today, and boy had I missed out. We started at the beginning of the path at Inokashira...
91. 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...
92. 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....
93. 豪キャブラリー： Shoot through Shoot through （打って通れば）を聞くと何となく「銃の引き金を引く」ような感覚を起こすかもしれないが、実際にオージー英語でこの表現を使えば一切そういうような意味がない。実は、「打つ」(shoot)と一切関係ない（だったら、なんで使うかと言いたくなるよね、、、）。「出ていく」とか「場を去る」などの意味。Shoot offも同様の意味として使う場合もある、「急いでいく」ような感覚があるが、shoot offのほとんどの使う時がshoot off your mouth（口を打つ！）になり、「しゃべり過ぎ」という意味のだ！...
94. 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...
95. Every Cloud Has a Sliver of Whining An unseasonably warm and dry late winter and early spring has given way to more customary wet, with really lousy weather since rain began early yesterday morning. Wet weather makes me whine, but I really shouldn’t because it was supposed to pour all day today, but I woke to warm...
96. Savorin’ Straya Aussie beef and lamb provided a meating (sic) of minds in central Tokyo today at the surprisingly enjoyable Aussie Meat Festival . Dragged along by Mrs. Kangaeroo, who loves a good chunk of steak and is not averse to lamb either, the celebration of Australian beef, lamb and other fare...
97. ‘Bitch-face’ Lovebird I’m the ‘proud'(?) parent of a rosy-faced lovebird, who I must admit brings an immense amount of joy into my life, but I also learned a new Japanese phrase over the weekend that perfectly sums up these tiny avian pterrors! Kozamesu, a contraction of the term kozakura inko mesu, literally...
98. 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...
99. Springing Into Life With Flower Power It was an extraordinarily hectic day of being flat out from go to whoa, but also extremely productive and fulfilling as I was propelled by the thrill of the garden’s explosion of color through flowers. I started the day with a ride, dealt with some of the village’s board responsibilities...
100. Unrealistic Expectations I’d love to be able to create a bike naturally, and would even be willing to go to term with it inside a womb if need be. (I would need to get a womb first, of course). But it ain’t gonna happen. And like a lot in life, being able...

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