japan

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    日本中がコアラフィーバーになったのはなぜ？

    Why Did Japan Go Koala Crazy? When six Australian koalas arrived in Japan on 25 October 1984, they were treated like visiting royalty. More than 100 journalists crowded Narita Airport, their flight had a special koala compartment, and police escorts accompanied them to their new homes. 1984年10月25日、オーストラリアから6頭のコアラが日本にやって来ました。成田空港には100人以上の報道陣が詰めかけ、専用スペースを設けた特別便で到着。動物園までの移動にはパトカーが先導するという、まさにVIP待遇でした。 But the real madness began when the public finally got to see them. At Nagoya’s Higashiyama Zoo, 11,200 people came on opening day. On the first weekend, 38,000 visitors descended on the zoo. People queued for hours just to catch a glimpse of an animal many had previously known only from pictures. 本当の熱狂は、一般公開が始まってからでした。名古屋の東山動植物園では初日に1万1,200人が来園。最初の週末には、なんと3万8,000人が押し寄せました。それまで写真でしか知らなかった動物をひと目見ようと、何時間も行列に並ぶ人々が続出したのです。 And Japan didn’t stop at looking. A nationwide competition chose…

  • When Did Japan Get Its Own Math Kangaroo?

    いつから日本に「マスカンガルー」がやってきた？ Japan has plenty of unusual competitions for children, but few can be as wonderfully odd as a mathematics contest called the Kangaroo. 日本には子ども向けの変わったコンテストがたくさんありますが、「カンガルー」という名前の算数・数学大会ほど面白いものは、そう多くないでしょう。2026年、日本でも「マスカンガルー日本大会」が始まりました。そこで、考えRooらしい疑問が浮かびます。そもそも、なぜ算数・数学の大会が「カンガルー」なのでしょうか？答えをたどっていくと、オーストラリアからフランスを経て、そして日本へとつながっていきます。 In 2026, Japan got its own Math Kangaroo competition. And that raises a very Kangaeroo question. Why is a mathematics competition called a kangaroo in the first place? The answer takes us from Australia to France and, eventually, to Japan. It Started In Australia オーストラリアで始まった The story begins with an Australian mathematics competition. In 1978, Australian mathematician and educator Peter O’Halloran and his colleagues launched the Australian Mathematics Competition. The idea was rather different from the sort of mathematics test many people might associate with the…

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    What Happened When Australia And Japan Met At The Olympics?

    オリンピックで出会ったオーストラリアと日本は、その後どうなった？ Sports Day is coming up, so it’s a good time to think that when Australia and Japan began celebrating 50 years of the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation in 2026, there was an obvious place to look for the story of their relationship: the Olympic Games. The two countries have met at Olympics in Melbourne, Tokyo, Sapporo, Nagano and Sydney, and will meet again when Brisbane hosts the Games in 2032. But the interesting stories are not really about medal tables. They are about swimmers who became rivals, athletes who became Japanese favourites, schoolchildren who adopted an Australian team, students who stayed connected across the pandemic, and even a…

  • How Did Australia And Japan Go From Allies To Enemies And Now Back To Defence Partners?

    なぜ日豪は同じ陣営から敵国になり、そして再び防衛パートナーになったのでしょうか？ An extraordinary reversal Today, Aussie and Japanese forces train together, visit each other’s bases and increasingly operate alongside each other. In 2025, Aussie soldiers participated in Exercise Orient Shield in Japan for the first time. The two countries’ defence relationship is now remarkably close. 現在、オーストラリア軍と自衛隊は共同訓練を行い、お互いの基地を訪問し、さらに緊密に活動しています。2025年には、豪州陸軍が初めて日本で行われたオリエント・シールドに参加しました。現在の日豪防衛関係は、驚くほど緊密です。 But this is not a relationship that followed a straight line. Australia and Japan were once associated through Britain’s alliance with Japan, became bitter enemies during the Second World War, and are now close strategic partners. しかし、ここに至る道のりは一直線ではありませんでした。かつて日英同盟を通じて同じ陣営にあり、第二次世界大戦では激しい敵対関係となり、現在では緊密な戦略的パートナーになっています。 When Japan was on Australia’s side In 1902, Britain and Japan signed the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. Australia was not an independent party to the agreement, but the new…

  • Event Approvals, Grants On Offer For 50th Anniversary Of Japan-Australia Friendship Treaty

    Japan and Australia are offering grants and approval for certain events to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Signing of the Basic Treaty of Friendship and Co-operation between Japan and Australia in 2026. The governments of both countries and the Australia-Japan Foundation are taking all sorts of steps for broad exchange between Japan and Australia, with the active participation of local governments, businesses, private organizations, and others. The countries will recognize events as 50th anniversary events if they meet all of the following criteria: Approved events may identify themselves as Anniversary Events for the 50th Anniversary of the Signing of the Basic Treaty of Friendship and Co-operation between Japan and…

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    Japan-Australia Friendship Festival Fires Up Steaming Summer

    Our grueling summer got a shot in the arm from a Japan-Australia friendship festival held in Tokyo’s Ueno Park, but we’re too busy to do a detailed update. Summer is typically busy, as it is every year, but instead of relying almost solely on outsourcers, we are doing more of the work as our business is clearly slowing down.

  • 豪州10月「お花見」人気過剰となり中止に追われた

    　オーストラリアメルボルン市にあるオリンダの豪国立シャクナゲ園内恒例イベントである「お花見」の人気があり過ぎて、地域のインフラに過剰な負担を理由に2014年版、とビクトリア州公園局が発表した。 季節が日本と反対南半球では今春がやってきた所であり、毎年この時期になると同園がビクトリア州豪日協会により「お花見」を行う。 　しかし、昨年、一日だけ行う「お花見デー」が驚くほど人気であって、小さな町の一角にある同園にいきなり約1万7千人がやってきたのでインフラがパンク状態になったという。 　そこで、今年の「お花見」イベントを中止することにした。残念だね。しかし、これもオーストラリアでも日本人気が上昇していると受け取っても良いと思う。 オーストラリアでの花見をお楽しむのが９月！

  • Japan’s Top 10 YouTube Videos for 2013

    Dancing to AKB48, watching infant girls playing with toys, lingerie and lightning striking were among the 10 most-viewed videos on YouTube in Japan for 2013. Here’s the Top 10. No. 10 Dancer Kenji Ebina Performs on America’s Got Talent No. 9 Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Trailer No. 8 Lightning Strikes Odakyu Line Train No. 7 Anpanman Gogo Elevator No. 6 Haruna Kojima Peach John Lingerie No. 5 Samantha Thavasa Workers Dance to AKB48 No. 4 Anpanman Conveyor Belt Sushi Toy No. 3 God Eater 2 Trailer No. 2 Anpanman Spinning Dreamland No. 1 AKB48 Roadies and Other Employees Dance to AKB48

  • Order for Aussie-Made Skim Milk Results in Kangaroo Delivery

    A Chinese woman irked by the poor reputation of powdered skim milk produced in her homeland, got jumpy when her order of Australian-made milk contained more kick than she’d probably bargained for, not quite a boxing kangaroo, but a boxed kangaroo, according to Japanese news site Rocket News. Citing Chinese-language news sources Sina news and ET Today, Rocket says the woman from Qingdao, in China’s Shangdong Province, ordered a box of six cans of Australian-made skim milk through an online shopping site, but only two were delivered with the extra space in the box occupied by a live kangaroo. The kangaroo, which is in good health, was taken into the…