• Daily Life

    A Cry in the Dark

    Riding in the morning now is cold, dark and gloomy….kinda like the state of my mind for quite some time now. But, and I guess this is like my mentality, too, there’s also an exquisite beauty to the late autumn mornings. Mists over the Tama River are breathtaking (that could be weight and age, though!). And the gradation of the sky as the sun prepares to rise is a delight, glowing a reddish orange at the horizon and slowly darkening into a deep blue, almost black the higher it goes. The pampas grass looks like a pink blanket over the…

  • Daily Life

    Roo-ed Good Health!

    Not much is going well (except rude good health), but I got a lucky break today and feel pretty chuffed about it. Following the morning’s customary ride, I got home and discovered the kangaroo badge I had velcroed to my bike saddle bag just two days ago was gone. I kicked myself with the reminder of my incredible propensity for breaking, losing, damaging or otherwise rendering unusable just about anything I ever get my hands on. Then, I happened to look at Strava and noticed that a follower had posted a photo of the lost badge! “You bloody ripper,” I…

  • Daily Life

    Unearthly

    This morning’s ride was like being on another planet. For a brief instant, it seemed like I was riding into one of those scenes of other worlds in outer space that used to be depicted on the covers of pulp sci-fi books. Unseasonal warmth continues and I still manage to wear a summer kit in the pre-dawn hours one third of the way through November: a time when I’m usually in full-fingered gloves and with at least a vest or long-sleeved summer jersey. Nice! Bring on the global warming (with apologies to the younger generations who’re gonna have to deal…

  • Daily Life

    Yakuza Battle! 多摩川での仁義なき戦い!

    My normal morning ride was rudely interrupted today when I had to stop at a set of traffic lights I usually only use for reference because there were dozens of cops loitering there. Japanese authorities have a tendency to over-react, so even though there were at least 30 officers, several patrol cars, an ambulance, paramedics and firefighters hanging around the Hino Bridge area, I didn’t think too much of it. I did think it a little strange that the bike path was roped off and cops mounting guard and patrolling on foot. It was only after discovering news on Facebook…

  • Strine Sports

    2023, A Japanese Odyssey

    A mate of mine has just accomplished a superhuman feat that filled me with admiration and maybe more than a little inspiration: a (barely) 10-day bicycle journey from the south of Kyushu to the northernmost part of Honshu as part of an event called the Japanese Odyssey. My mate, who I haven’t named because I haven’t sought permission to write about him and who I think is so humble he usually lets his actions speak for him, went on a trek of about 2,500 kilometers long and some 30,000-odd meters of elevation. And he finished this while only just into…

  • Daily Life

    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 ceaseless attention, unless she’s laid a few eggs or found herself some paper. If she has laid, as she did to mark her third birthday, she tends to sit on the eggs in a corner of her cage. If she’s about to lay, the preceding couple of weeks are nearly…

  • Indigenous Strine (Woiwurrung)

    先住民のため改憲に「YES!」

    オーストラリアは、本日(2023年10月14日)国民投票が行う。 アボリジニ―やトレス海諸島など先住民の位置を明文化するために、連邦政府(国)に対して政策を提言でいる諮問機関「Voice to the Parliament(国会への声)」に憲法改正の是非を問う投票が行われる。 同機関が設立されたら国政策等に対して先住民の意見・助言など伝える役割となり、拘束力もなく権限も全くない。 考えRooとしては賛成するの当たり前のことです。植民地化されて国が乗っ取られた全人口の約3.2%を占める先住民は、大半の社会経済指標で全国平均を下回る生活を送っている上に今でも他のオーストラリア人よりも精神的・身体的疾患の割合が高く、失業率が高く、寿命が短い。オーストラリアは先住民の国である。言い分を言わせるべきだ。また、脱植民化工程の一歩となる。 オーストラリアが先住民に対して酷い歴史がある。1967年の国民投票まで国民として承認しなくて、扱いが動物同様でした。1970年代まで続いた白豪主義も先住民を不有利だった。 1967年で先住民を国民として認めて国民投票が圧倒的に賛成し改憲となったが、国民投票の賛成が極めて難しい。全国で過半数の支持を得た上、6州中4州以上で過半数の支持を集める必要がある。独立1901年から国民投票は44回行い、賛成したのはわずか8回。 昨年まで、与野党が先住民が賛成気味だったが、白人至上主義者の兆候が見られる与党党首であるピーター・ダットン氏を先頭に反対派が生まれ、勢いが強まった。反対派は人種による国の分断につながり先住民に過剰な発言権が与えられると訴えている。残念ながら、投票当日「No」が圧倒的に支持されそうだ。 オーストラリアの人種差別歴がこれからも続きそうだ。 Related posts: X-Box LIVEがオージー英語感知に 2014年豪訪問中の安倍総理・アボット豪首相の共同記者会見 2014年豪訪問中の安倍首相が豪国会で演説 感激!同性婚保安可決に豪国会内「合唱団」が豪州人統一感の歌を 先住民視野を中心としたCommonwealth of Australia バナナを曲げる人々 People who Bend Bananas Obama Speaks Strine Aussie Anime hits Tokyo with a Blast….of Flatulence! 日本が世界ヒットの引き金となった「Mad Max」のゲームが豪訛りを拒否し、オージーゲーマーが噴火 Sweetie Pies! Powered by YARPP.

  • Daily Life

    Too Good To Be Truthful

    So, I pledged to myself to revert this blog to it’s original role of telling funny and interesting tales related to either Japan or Australia, I wasn’t totally honest to myself, which is always the case when convenient to do so. Not that it’s a despicable or harmful lie, but the morning was too wonderful to let go undocumented this morning, so it’s another set of cycling sunrises. My colleague similarly subjected to an unjustifiably huge pay cut announced his imminent departure yesterday with no word of a replacement, which I am assuming means a drastic increase in workload. In…

  • Daily Life

    Mean and Green

    After a few months of being jealous of my neighbors for enabling their lawns to evade the effects of the blistering hot summer, I woke this morning to find myself transforming from being green with envy to being verdant with chlorophyll! Kangaeroo Corner’s lawn, which started May in a generally strong state albeit being slightly patchy, took a drastic turn for the worst in early June. At what should have been the onset of the rainy season, I made the mistake of heavily fertilizing the warn to boost its strength for what I expected would be a hot and wet…

  • Daily Life - Strine Tucker

    Feel That Groove….Or, Don’t

    I’ve struggled to adjust to the realities of life over the past few weeks, but waking on this holiday morning and seeing tiny spots of green sprouting up where my lawn used to be has raised my spirits infinitely, even if not leaving me quite as chilled out as a kangaroo playing air guitar. While on the topic, I’ll stick with the good news. The onerous (and highly costly) process of getting an Australian passport for my daughter was finally completed. Even then it had been a bumpy ride, fighting with my daughter over instructions to fulfill the extremely demanding…