Author: Kangaeroo

  • Green Godzilla

    On what was something of a strange weekend, perhaps the weirdest moment came when I got to come face-to-face with a green, as in made of plants, Godzilla. There’re plenty of Godzilla statues and effigies all over Tokyo, as I’ve reported before, and the rest of Japan, some life-sized, others tiny and plenty in-between and loving devoted to Japan’s most adored monster. In western Tokyo, where I live, the most famous example is probably the Godzilla statue outside the TOHO CO., LTD. studios near Seijogakuen-mae, which is a bit of a trip for me further out in the boonies. So, I was surprised to learn that there is actually a…

  • After the Apocalypse….

    We’ve just had a wonderful weekend enjoying the pleasures of the Tama Hills Recreation Area, which combines luxurious quarters with wild, somewhat terrifying scenery reminiscent of what a world without humans might look like. It’s the latter that continues to delight me in the bi-annual visits we’ve been fortunate to make over the past decade or so, though such opportunities may about to draw to a close. We will enjoy them while we can, though.

  • 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 about fortune and the role it plays in lives. Australia had the misfortune to fight its first day of war as an independent, federated country on April 25, 1915, and thousands of young men were brutally mowed down in meaningless slaughter in the ill-fated Gallipoli campaign of World War I (having been escorted to the battlefield by our erstwhile Japanese…

  • Zenshoen, A Story Of Cruel Tragedy

    All sorts of memories flooded back to me during a brief ride through Tama Zenshoen, a gorgeous park in outer western Tokyo, but also home to a tragic and cruel past for Japan’s Hansen’s disease patients. Zenshoen is a leprosarium and for most of its history, the 115-year-old facility was shut off from the rest of the world and its inhabitants quarantined inside, sterilized and forbidden from associating with the outside world, largely based on 1951 testimony to the Diet by Kensuke Mitsuda, a staunch segregationist but also unfortunately Japan’s foremost expert on leprosy at the time. This continued for decades, even after it was known that Hansen’s disease was…

  • 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 turned out to be a ripper. Not normally a great meat eater (simply because I don’t really like the taste), the day turned out to be a feast for all the senses, and not just the taste buds. Walking up to the site, the mouthwatering fragrance of roasting lamb wafted through the air and immediately got my gastric juices flowing…

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    Watch Your Words!

    Many foreigners guffaw at the frequent mangling of English that some Japanese can achieve and there’re plenty of websites and the like dedicated to highlighting these flaws, but they should note that this can go both ways. Perhaps a tad of extra time and consultation could have gone into the names of some of these products or places. Fukuppy was probably not the best name to give a character intended to promote a company called Fukushima Industries, especially as for most of the world, the company name evoked images of one of the worst nuclear reactor accidents in history. Fukuppy, or at least a phrase remarkably close to that, is…

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    Own Your Own Japanese Castle for $100,000

    Aussies can buy an (almost) authentic Japanese castle for only about $100,000, it has been revealed recently on social media. Century21 Japan is selling the 6-story castle (with a restaurant on the second floor) in Akabira, Hokkaido, at a price unimaginable to potential home buyers Down Under. Of course, at that price, there’s bound to be a few catches, but perhaps not as many as some may think, especially considering it comes with a huge garden (over 5,000 m2), a working elevator, restaurant, more than 40 parking spaces and connection to sewage and water mains. Located in Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost island and home to the cashed-up bogan paradise of Niseko,…

  • 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…

  • Laudable by Libs (Outside of Office) and Skillful Journalism

    For much of my life, I was something of a political animal, tempered by social requirements, but eventually tamed and then driven into apathy by circumstance. However, given a chance this week to watch a series of brilliant documentaries about Australian politics with a Tokyo connection, I felt stirrings of an old flame. Mark Willacy, a journalist for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation who was based in Tokyo as its North Asia correspondent from 2008 to 2013, interviewed more than 60 current and former Australian politicians for the three-part documentary series, Nemesis, that aired over the past couple of weeks and told the story of Australia’s three Liberal Party of Australia…

  • 情けね~!豪州元副首相ボロボロバーナビーが地面で泥酔、卑語を叫ぶ

    自民党が裏金問題などは日本で政治スキャンダルが依然として相次ぐが、オーストラリアも情けない政治家が多数いて、恐らくその典型的な例が元副首相で元国民党党首であるバーナビー・ジョイス氏。 上記の街中で倒れている泥酔オッサンは先週のジョイス氏。国会後の集会で処方箋の薬を飲みながらお酒も飲んで倒れたという。 世論で大騒ぎとなりましたが、国民党からも連立パートナーである保守系の自由党にも制裁・処罰なしでそのまま政治家として継続出来ます。 同氏が「処方箋の通り、<飲めば害を与える効果もあり>のとおりだ>」というが、謝りも懲りている様子もない。ジョイス氏はこの赤恥の常習犯だ。 ジョイス氏そもそも田舎の支持者が多い国民党有権者のため農家らしい格好やしぐさをするが、実際に政治家になる前に農家と関係なく都会にある名門私立学校を卒業した後金融界を減って会計士となり、ほとんどの友人が裕福層である。 保守系の政治家で同性婚反対など、伝統的価値観の提唱ながら4人を一緒に育った妻と結婚している間に2018年に数十年若い秘書と子供を出来ちゃって家族を捨てて秘書と同棲することになった。秘書と一緒にテレビのインタービュー中、ジョイス氏が「(当時)おなかの中の子供が誰のか分からない」と言って認知を逃げるような行為をしたが、後になって自分の子供だと認めた。以降、結婚して今二人の子供を夫婦として育ているが、ジョイス氏の行動によってマルコム・ターンボール元総理が言われている「ボンク・バン(性行為禁止法)」を保守連立政治家に命じた。 その前、2010年代半ばオーストラリア政治家の間で大問題となった二重国籍問題も巻き込まれた。オーストラリアは二重国籍が認めているが、国会議員が適用外。ジョイス氏が厳しく(当時)野党員を追求し二重国籍である者の辞表を追い詰めた。 が、数年たったら、ジョイス氏自身がニュージーランド国籍も取得していることが判明。議席は失わないで同国籍を破棄したが、偽善的な立場を触れない。だが、ニュージーランドは、このことに対して、2017年にジョイス氏を「ニュージーランド人・オブ・ザ・イヤー」としてノミネートした(受賞しなかった)。 ジョイス氏が秘書と出来ちゃった婚事件で国民党党首を辞表した。しかし、連立パートナーであった前首相スコット・モリソン氏がコロナウイルスの大流行中、外遊中時、ジョイス氏がちゃっかりと国民党の党首投票を呼びかけ世論も連立内で嫌われても国民党内の圧倒的な指示によって再び党首となった。恐らくモリソン氏が国内にいれば、国民党内の投票を辞めさせただろう、と多くのアナリストが推測する。 ジョイス氏も国際的なスキャンダルに巻き込んでいる。2015年にジョニー・デップ氏と当時の妻アンバー・ハード氏がオーストラリアで撮影した際、ハード氏の愛犬を正しい入国手続きをしなかったことに対してジョイス氏が猛反対し、その犬たちを安楽死させるように強く主張した。デップ氏が謝りビデオを作成してことを済んだがジョイス氏の過剰反応が国内外でかなり批判された。 ジョイス氏が国民党党首を2022年選挙敗戦に伴って辞めたが、今でもシャドー内閣の野党の重要人物である。 考えRooも恥をたくさん起こした。特におい酒を飲んだ時。人のことを言えない。が、納税者の血税を受けながらジョイス氏のような行為をしていません。民間企業だったら許されるような行為ではないと思う。そして、保守系連立は犯罪は非社会的な行為に対して厳しい見解を示しながらジョイス氏に対してルールが違うように見えるのが不思議と思うのは考えRooだけじゃないと思う。