Category: Strange Strine

Strange Strine

Perfect Blending of Iconic Aussie Tastes

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TimTams, chocolate biscuits fast becoming one of Australia’s greatest exports and a presence in just about every supermarket in Tokyo nowadays, has started a collaboration with Vegemite, the yeast spread symbolic of Down Under.

今般、東京内ほとんどのスーパーに見かけてオーストラリア発名物輸出品となりつつチョコクッキー「ティムタム」とオーストラリアを代表とする発酵ペースト「ベジマイト」が共作を発表した。

Vegemite flavored TimTams blend two of Oz’s most iconic food products.

ベジマイト味ティムタムがオーストラリアの二つの代表的な食品を融合する。

The sweetness of TimTam bikkies seems sure to be perfectly complemented by the savory flavor of Vegemite.

ティムタムのビッキーの甘さとベジマイトのうまみが完璧なマッチとなりそうだ。

April 1 marks a perfect date for this collaboration!

共作の発表は4月1日も完璧だ！

Strange Strine

Lyre, Lyre, Pants on Fire

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Australia’s lyrebird got its name from the shape of its tale, which is said to resemble the lyre, an ancient Greek musical instrument mastered most notably by the god Apollo.

But the lyrebird could also have been labeled the liar bird for its masterful mimicry.

The lyrebird (found in the same part of Australia from which Kangaeroo hails) can copy just about any sound, including human voices, with near perfection.

Lyrebirds are just one of myriad birds found in Australia.

Birdlife down under is amazing! Birds come in all shapes, sizes, colors and types.

Nothing can beat the amazing cacophony of bird noises that greet people as they wake in the morning in country areas.

Strange Strine

Koala-ified for Cuteness

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Koalas are a gorgeous symbol of Australia.

Contrary to a once-popular belief, the koala is not a bear.

It is, in fact, a marsupial, most closely related to the wombat and kangaroo than it is to anything ursine.

Back in the mid-1980s, koalas set off a frenzy among Japanese when they were first brought to zoos here.

Like the country itself, though, Japan’s koalas are aging and the country’s koala population has dwindled below half of its peak in the late 1990s.

Koalas generally sleep for 22 hours a day, so the animals in these photos are essentially in action pics.

It’s fair to say that for most Japanese who have a favorite Australian animal the koala is the overwhelmingly top choice.

Strange Strine

We Are Not Emus-ed

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Emus are huge, flightless birds endemic to Australia.

They’re also featured on the country’s coat of arms, together with the kangaroo, with both creatures selected because they are physically incapable of taking a step backward, meaning they can only advance.

Emus are one of Australia’s myriad glorious birds and trail only the ostrich as the world’s largest birds. They’re also capable of running up to 50 km/h!

The link with dinosaurs also becomes pretty obvious just by looking at these creatures.

Emus are also known to have controlled the late British comedian Rod Hull.

Strange Strine, Strine Sports, Strine Strife

No Wonder the Wallabies Were Wallies in RWC2019

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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 good enough as a team.

But Kangaeroo.com has also discovered another reason for the Wallabies’ woes.

Gorgeous Jindaiji Temple, which supported the Wallabies’ woeful World Cup, is situated in the Tokyo suburb of Chofu, location of the Aussies’ group stage loss against Wales on September 29 that effectively derailed their campaign on the field.

Jindaiji had proudly displayed Wallabies jerseys (alongside a Brave Blossoms team shirt, too, it should be noted) and supported the Australian team as it tried to regain the William Webb Ellis Trophy it last won in 1999.

The temple also displayed a daruma, a doll traditionally used to pray for good luck in Japan, as well as a message wishing the team well. Here is that message, reproduced in full (with spelling and grammatical errors intact):

The conetents the priest preached when he visited the camping place for the match

Daruma is a Japanese style a bringere of good luck which you can find at restaurants, in the houses and so son. This Daruma is representing a monk who was meditating for 9 years. When you think about meditation, you might think it’s static, but actually during meditation we are fighting against and enduring something like weakness or anger or worldly desires. Meditation is not just static, but also conflicting against ourselves. that’s the training of Buddhism and that’s the spirit which Daruma is showing to us. This spirit is exactly like the spirit of Rugby. It’s very dynamic in contrast, but you play desperately for one goal with focused. In Japan, there is a proverb associated with this Daruma. that is “Fall seven times, stand up eight.” It is a saying about never giving up no matter how many times life knocks you down because Daruma always comes back after falling down. The important thing is same in Sports. The high spirits touch people’s hearts. So, like this daruma, attend to the spirit and concentrate on the game and play a good game which touches people. I believe that this Daruma which you team put strong wish will bring good result. Today we want you to put one eye into Daruma. Putting an eyes means that you swear to start the mental training and achieve the goal. This ceremony is for the time which you have strong wish, so please don’t fool around make a wish.

Clearly, then, in spite of rumors of a rift in the Wallabies camp, the reason for such a dismal showing by the two-time champions and reigning runners-up was that they fooled around to make a wish.

At least the Wallabies retained the team’s excellence in selecting players with hyphenated names, the squad’s Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, Adam Ashley-Cooper and Dane Haylett-Petty continuing the Australian tradition of picking lads with monikers like Massy-Westropp, Comrie-Thomson, Farr-Jones, Scott-Young, Kenny-Dowall, Waerea-Hargreaves, Tuivasa-Sheck, Asofa-Solomona, Polota-Nau, Feauai-Sautia, Mann-Rea, Paenga-Amosa and Johnson-Holmes.

Strange Strine

Reversing Destiny

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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, as well as life in general.

The revolutionary park was created under a concept of reversible destiny by architect/artist couple Shusaku Arakawa and Madeline Gins.

And Kangaeroo was hooked. A visit to the park was immediately on the bucket list.

And stayed there without being crossed off for 2 1/2 decades.

In the meantime, both Arakawa and Gins died, despite having both dedicated their final decades to works focused on not dying.

A visit almost occurred in October 2018 when Kangaeroo cycled through Yoro, the town in Gifu Prefecture where the park is located. Pressing issues prevented that from happening, though.

Delightfully, another opportunity to get there arose this year, and this time, the long-awaited visit took place.

Kangaeroo found the park a delight, having always enjoyed Dadaism and the avant-garde, which have clearly influenced the work by Arakawa and Gin.

Works inside the park have catchy names Like the Zone of Clearest Confusion, Critical Resemblance House, Kinesthetic Park, Trajectory Membrane Gate and Geographical Ghost, adding to their attractions.

Having finally visited, though, brought about a strange sense of emptiness.

The park is visually spectacular, occupying a large hill and its expansive works spreading widely.

Perhaps the emptiness came from learning about the demise of Arakawa and Gins?

They had both been comparatively young, and still at the peak of their careers, when the park opened.

They died in severely reduced circumstances, having lost large sums to Bernie Madhof’s Ponzi scheme that symbolized the 2008 global financial crisis.

Arakawa died in 2010 and Gins four years later.

Brommie, also something of an anomaly, carried Kangaeroo to the site and fit perfectly into place.

He was supposed to be traveling from Kyoto to Tokyo, but an impending typhoon stopped that and he ended the journey in Nagoya.

It was a reversal of destiny, apt for having finally fulfilled an almost half lifetime’s desire.

Reversible Destiny Foundation

Site of Reversible Destiny Leaflet