Covid-19 pandemic

  • Whatever Happened To Japan’s Emu-chan?

    Emus take pride of place in the Australian Coat of Arms alongside the kangaroos upon which this site has a focus. And Emu-chan played a crucial role in raising spirits in Japan during the darkest days of the Covid-19 pandemic before suddenly and mysteriously disappearing. Sabaku, the pseudonym used by a Japanese woman working in central Tokyo and “living in the mountains about an hour’s drive from the city” according to Bunshun Online, caused a national sensation with her YouTube channel Live Together With Emu up until late 2023. Videos told the tale of Sabaku’s life with Emu-chan, which she had raised from a hatchling, delighting people with footage of…

  • 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 French Impressionist artist Claude Monet’s works projected against a massive hall to the accompaniment of soothing music. A series of prints by Impressionist artists and an informative, bilingual explanation of the art form and changes that were occurring as it developed, including the influence of Japonisme, completed the event held at the Kadowkawa Culture Museum. The museum is a dazzling…

  • Heading Toward New Horizons

    We’re off to a new home, thanks to the miraculous passage of a housing loan, and I’m getting a new job as the company looks for ways to deal with the pandemic. We’re moving back over the hill from Kawasaki into Tama and into a delightful place now undergoing renovations. Work is another matter. It smells a bit fishy. We were told the shift a day before it initially happened before a short postponement, and the company is saying it’s a transfer for administrative purposes and we will continue to use the same company name and contacts despite belonging to a completely different entity. Today, I found they have terminated…

  • Winds Of Change Are Blowing

    Mrs. Kangaeroo and I are pretty close to finding a new place to live; a move driven by the unreliability of company support in the wake of a disastrous fall in the status of the company. Mrs. Kangaeroo has been looking for a new place for a while now and we have narrowed it down to a few places. We’re looking for a place close to a shopping center, and with a garden area so I’ll have somewhere to work on bike repairs. I’m also starting to test the market to see if there’s any demand for what I have to offer.

  • Better To Be Quiet About It, But It Wasn’t All Bad

    This has been a terrible year for the world, but from a personal viewpoint, it has actually been a bit OK, spending less money, riding like a madman and having a quiet life of basic solitude undisturbed by the need to accommodate others. It would be nice to have the stability we had before the pandemic, and fear has become a deeper part of my life than before. I am very grateful for Japan’s serious approach to the pandemic and the support my company has showed for us, even though we are also footing a lot of the bill and I’ve had a nominal pay cut in the form of…

  • Too Far Ahead Of Ourselves

    We tried to make a concerted return to normality at the start of the month, but within a couple of days, it was clear that things are not the same and it’s still not safe to be out and about, and it was back to isolation. I’d enjoyed the rides in and out of central Tokyo for the first time in months, and the race back home before work started, but it wasn’t to be for long. Thanks to Belladonna for making that possible.

  • Credit To The Cryptobros

    It’s becoming clearer that our bosses are very unhappy with the situation as they continue to pay us with no discernible output on our part, and Japan spared of much of the carnage affecting the rest of the workld. But I give credit to the cryptobros for acting quickly and saving our lives, even if the constant monitoring of us doing nothing and assigned nothing is onerous. Thanks for keeping me alive.

  • May As Well Just Get Out On The Bike

    There’s almost no work going on, it’s hard to shop and I can’t do much else, so I have been getting out and riding my bike as much as I can. This pandemic is filling me with fear, especially with Mrs. Kangaeroo working in a care facility for the elderly. My doctor warned me to take special precautions as I am part of the susceptible population through age and health state. At least riding doesn’t require contact.