Japanese have been legally eating kangaroo for longer than most Australians. Kangaroo meat was imported to Japan and being served in Tokyo restaurants from 1988, five years before meat from the national symbol was legalized for consumption by Australians in all states other than South Australia, where kangaroo could be eaten legally from 1980. (Indigenous Australians had continued eating kangaroo, a traditional food, regardless of the ban.) Despite the head start, kangaroo meat never really kicked on in Japan, despite its reputation for being a healthy, high-protein, low-fat alternative to beef or pork. RooMeat was promoted in Japan as being…
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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 latest in a line of Japanese KitKat flavors that extends well beyond 200. It should be noted, that ＜i>nodoame is the Japanese word for throat lozenge, and that’s exactly what’s been dished up in the latest KitKat…a throat lozenge flavored-chocolate!!!! For what it’s worth, throat lozenge-flavored KitKat tastes exactly as…
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Japan has a strange affinity when it comes to using Australian animals for its advertising. A number of major Japanese corporations use koalas and roos to plug their products and services. One with a difference is Hayashi Corporation, a construction company with a history of over 100 years and based in suburban Tokyo. Hayashi Corporation’s Fuchu branch office entrance is adorned with photos of a family of cartoon kangaroos decked out in soccer gear, just like Australia’s national football team, the Socceroos. Japan’s next opponent in World Cup qualifying is Australia, but there’s no connection. What is interesting to note,…
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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 gang members serving as extras. Almost two years later, Mad Max opened Australian theaters and became a steady, but controversial hit. The car action movie was immediately banned in New Zealand as some of its motorcycle gang violence resembled actual events in the market most closely resembling Australia’s. Australia’s movie…
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Australia provided an (admittedly unacknowledged) touch to Monster Prince (怪獣王子), one of Japan’s most popular TV shows in the late 1960s. Monster Prince told the story of Takeru Ibuki, a boy left stranded on a tropical island while a baby when his family is caught in a volcanic eruption and subsequently raised by dinosaurs living there. Together with his brontosaurus friend, Nessie, Takeru defends the island, and by extension the Earth, from invading aliens. And that’s where the Australian touch comes in…Takeru’s weapon of choice is a boomerang! The show ran for two series and was made by Nihon Tokusatsu…
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Spring finally seems to be on the way. Carp in a pond basked in the warm rays of the spring sun. Related posts: 豪のクリスマス・ソング：Six White Boomers 豪のクリスマス・ソング：Christmas on the Station Japan’s Favorite Aussie is Not Quite Who She Seems Getting Teeth Into Japanese Kangaroos 豪キャブラリー： Bloody Oath 日豪共有バブル廃墟遊園地Atlantis Marine Park (Aussie) Black Swans Give (Japanese) Koi Fish a Decent Feed An Australian Christmas オーストラリアで迷子少年がカンガルーに助けられた、とCNNがいう 日本人が知っている豪先住民語 Powered by YARPP.
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Back in the early ’80s Australia did not command a great deal of attention in Japan (to be honest, it still doesn’t command that great a presence to this day…) Things changed, however, with the launch of Lucy-May of the Southern Rainbow. Lucy-May of the Southern Rainbow was an anime by Nippon Animation that aired weekly from January 10 to December 26, 1982. The cartoon told the story of Lucy-May Popple and her family, who had emigrated from Yorkshire to live in Adelaide, Australia. The story was based on a book called Southern Rainbow by Australian author Phyllis Piddington. The…
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Japan is a land of vending machines. You can find vending machines on just about any street corner in cities. They mainly sell beverages, but the ubiquitous machines also sell a vast array of other items, including gifts, toys, fresh eggs, rice, birth control, cigarettes, beer, costumes and even surgical masks, as shown here. Related posts: 日本人移民、オーストラリアの米産業成功の父となる Tets-J Doing a Dinkum Bewdy of a Job Spreading Indigenous Aussie Culture in Japan AFL – Modern Australia’s Religion and Failed Proselytizing in Japan Aussies Exposed to Radiation in Japan – 65 Years Ago いよいよ日豪対決！Bragging Rights at Stake as Samurai Blue Tackle Socceroos…
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Walking along Route 246, I was surprised to look up and see the katakana script reading アースウィンド！ びっくり仰天だった！ アースis, in English, arse…or, so I thought. Arse wind, then, could only mean one thing….surely a company couldn’t have named itself after a fart? Of course it didn’t. In fact, アース is also the reading for earth. That makes Earth Wind a little easier to comprehend, even if the English is still a little awkward. Related posts: 豪州ど真ん中にあるBig Galah AFL – Modern Australia’s Religion and Failed Proselytizing in Japan 「巨人の星」がBig Wickets意味を理解補足に The Strine Why Atorkin: Natchrule Strine An Aussie Chrissie About Japanese…
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Australians have a special way of spreading Christmas cheer Ploughing snow is a big no-no, we have sun over here Christmas pud is a pav instead, while lunch is on the beach Cold ham replaces turkey, And we have three servings each Kangaroos help Santa out, ‘Cause reindeer just won’t do For they don’t know the bush so well, roos just bound on through Forget the fur lined boots this year, thongs are what we need Rudolf will have to sit it out, while Skippy takes the lead But don’t you worry, have no fear, Santa’s used to us down…
