Kure Kure Takora

To answer any questions: to the below post pertains to cult 70's children's TV show, "Kure Kure Takora" ("Gimme Gimme Octopus"), which I've been watching again recently. It ran for about 250 3-min long episodes (of which I've probably watched about 30, hehe). The show chronicles the misadventures of a bright red kleptomaniac octupus and his friends, including his best friend Chonbo (a kind of anthropomorphic peanut/squash thing) and his love interest Monro (a pink walrus). Yes.

Here are some highlights (I didn't compile them) that will give you a feel for the show's somewhat questionable content:

• Kure Kure is disgraced and is forced to commit harakari with Debora as his "backup".
• Kure Kure and Chonbo work out a scam where they beat the shit out of the other
  characters and then charge them exorbitant doctor's fees.
• Kure Kure uses his Ninjitsu to impersonate other characters in a bid to spring
  Chonbo out of jail.
• Kure Kure and Chonbo take over To Ro Ro's spiritual medium/fortune teller business
  (ie. they beat the shit out of him and take his business) with disastrous results.
• Biragon snaps! After Kure Kure and Chonbo attempt to steal his marbles, he captures
  Chonbo and threatens to dice him up with his katana.
• Kure Kure and Chonbo spy on one of the Sea Cucumber Gang dancing around in a grass
  skirt. What next transpires is one of the greatest battle royales in the show's
  history where nearly every character wants in on the grass skirt!
• Kure Kure and Chonbo find a fire extinguisher and go around spraying everyone's
  food with it causing some of the villagers to get upset with them.
• Debora decides to run a remedial math class for the village but he finds keeping
  discipline in the classroom to be a problem.
• Kure Kure sniffs too much incense at Debora's church and he begins to hallucinate
  about what married life with Monro might be like.
• Kure Kure proves once and for all that cowboys are tougher than samurais.
• Kure Kure begins cross-dressing in an attempt to impress the other villagers, but
  he's punished for gender transgression.
• To Ro Ro uses a magic lantern to produce a robot servant. Behind Kure Kure's back,
  Chonbo steals the lantern and gets the robot to do his laundry for him.

You can watch it on Youtube if you are that way inclined.

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クレクレタコラ

最近、もう一度「クレクレタコラ」というテレビ番組を見ていました。　１９７０歳代によってたしか作られました。　

その番組は、とても面白くて変な子供番組です。　しかし、キャラは簡単な日本語を使うので、日本語を勉強している人に教育的だ。。。そして、何てすばらしい主題歌でしょう。。。

主人公は赤くて、いつも「クレクレ！」と言っている蛸です。　その蛸は、いつもなんでもほしいので、よく何か掠め取っている。

タコラの友達や同じ森に住んでいるキャラもいます。　その蛸は、モンロちゃんというピンクな海象に愛している。　それに、タコラのベストフレンドはチョンボという南瓜のようなキャラです。

すじたては時にはちょっとあやしいのじゃないでしょうか。　各エピソードには、いつも泥棒事とか、三角関係（右絵）とか、麻薬のような事とか、死ぬ事とか、加害事などあります。　例えば、あるエピソードには、ビラゴンというキャラはタコラをはらきりをさせる。　それに、ほかのエピソードには、タコラは香煙を吸いすぎて、幻覚がします。　本当に子供の番組ですか？？

ＹＯＵＴＵＢＥでみえるよ。　タノシミＵＰ！！　；）　ＤＶＤ－ＢＯＸもあるけど、高いのじゃないでしょうか。。。

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そして、今週末、私の姉はマラソンに参加します。　長さは10マイルスだ、すごいな！！！　お姉さん、頑張れ！！　ナイスガツ！！　ゲンキハッスル！！　；）

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Week 2

Things don't seem to be going too badly at the moment...class is still difficult but I feel like I'm learning a fair amount. I am also starting to get to know my classmates and teachers a bit better, they all seem like a nice bunch.

One exercise we did this week involved introducing an animal-based sayings (for example "water off a duck's back", "pearls before swine", "face like a bulldog chewing a wasp", etc etc). As is perhaps unsuprising, the Japanese have some fairly abstract ones; if your apartment is a bit pokey, you can say that it's as small as "a cat's forehead"...anyway, we had to introduce a saying from our own country and explain the meaning...for some reason that I still don't comprehend, I chose to explain "the dog's bollocks" to my captive audience...why, God? Why??

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今週は、ここまで、かなりよかった。　新しいクラスと先生と知り合っていって、良いクラスのようなので、嬉しいだ。　そして、ここまで、今学期の事は、先学期のより、もう少しむずかしいのに、もう少し覚えやすく感じるです。　ですけど、まだ、頭が時々重くなる。。。その時、勉強して覚えるのは大変だよ。。。

昨日の動物の俚諺についての授業は面白かった。　欧米人では、日本の俚諺はちょっとおかしいのじゃないでしょうか。　たとえば、「猫の額」。　どうして猫の額？？　ほかの小さい物もありませんでした？？　ですけど、西洋の俚諺もおかしいと思う。　授業で、南イギリスの「dog's bollocks」というスラングを説明してみました。　きたないので、ちょっとはすかしかった。　日本語で、ほぼ「犬の睾丸」か｢犬の玉」だと思う。　「とてもいい」とか「とてもかっこい」という意味だ。　たとえば、大好きなサッカチームは上々なゴールをすれば、「あのゴール、犬の睾丸だったぞ！！」と言っています。　面白いね。。。＊＾＿＾＊

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New term, 1st week

1st week of my new class...one word summary: difficult! I am now officially intermediate (whoopee) which means harder textbooks, fewer handhold-y things like furigana, teachers using more complex language, having to express yourself in a more abstract manner, and so forth. It's all a bit different really...

My class is bigger this time round - 14 people as opposed to last term's 9...also I feel like class dunce as the 9 people in my class who are new arrivals at the school all seem waaaay better than me at everything, which is kind of disheartening, but may be beneficial as I am feeling motivated to study harder so as not to get left behind...we shall see.

So yeah, haven't been up to much else this week really...had a cold...went out a coupla times...having a 3-day weekend for some reason (yay)...it's all good I suppose. Apart from the cold, natch.

新しいクラスが難しいだぜ！！　「ニューアプローチ」という教科書は「みんあの日本語」よりずっとふくざつなんじゃないでしょうか。　ふりがなもないし、たくさん分からない言葉もあるし。。。

それに、新着のクラスメートはすごく上手なようだ！！　私はそれたちに比べて、分かる事が少ないので、頭が少し遅く感じる。。。

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新しい学期

さああ。。。休みはもう終わったな。。。

先週、二人イギリスの友達 が日本へ来ました。　私は名古屋のセントレアにむかえました。　それから、岡崎に案内しました。　岡崎は観光できない町なのに、普通日本の町なので、日本へ来ない外国人では、かなり面白いと思います。

次、京都へ行きました。私は京都に一日だけいましたから、大変だな。　二つ、三つ所ぐらいにしか行けませんでした。　すごくきれいだし、おもしろいし、すごい市だと思うので、ぜひ、もう一回行きたい。

今日、面白い漫画を買いました。　「るすばんの達人」と言います。　大橋ツヨシによって書かれました。　とてもおかしいですけど、面白いです。　インターネットで、案内をぜんぜん見つけられません。　だれか、知っていますか？？

そして、今日、あるＥメールをもらいました。　来月、好きな音楽家、「中山双葉」、はもう一回名古屋へ行きます。　楽しみにしますよ。

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Visit/end of holiday

Well that's the end of the holidays...feel a little refreshed, I suppose...two friends from back home came to Japan on Thursday, and it was beneficial to hang out with them for a bit and travel a little and so forth.

I met them at Nagoya airport (always a pleasure to go there as it's so very nice), where they came after spending several weeks in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong and brought them back to Okazaki to show them around...Okazaki is by no means a hot tourist destination but it's quite interesting if you fancy seeing an ordinary, everyday, non-touristy Japanese town. We ate, drank, saw the castle, went shopping for Engrish t-shirts.

On Friday afternoon they went on to Kyoto to find a cheap hostel (there aren't any in Okazaki) and I joined them there the next morning. Kyoto is one of Japan's major cities; it was once the capitol (before Tokyo), and was spared bombing in WWII in order to preserve its many historical sites.

I arrived (obviously) at Kyoto station, which is hugely impressive (sorry, didn't get any pictures, try Google). We then went east and wondered around various temples and parks for several hours, including Ginkakuji temple and Maruyama park (see pic). We had lunch (okonomiyaki), did more wondering, and then headed west.

Next up was Ryoanji, a temple with a famous Zen-Buddhist rock garden, laid in the 1400s. I seem to enjoy such places for some reason, and as such I really liked it. Very tranquil.

After yet more wondering, we took in the shopping district, looking around any shops of interest we came across, and also an amusement arcade, to marvel at the kids playing such games as Dance Dance Revolution and the new Street Fighter at ridiculously high speed and accuracy. Then I headed to the station (my friends stayed and went on to Tokyo the next day) and arrived home at about 1am (I took the cheapest route, which takes about 3hrs). Even had an, erm, interesting conversation with some drunken businessmen on one of the trains back. All good speaking practice I suppose.

Kyoto was somewhere I'd wanted to go for ages and I am sad that I didn't really get to see much of it (I'd also like to see the nearby town of Nara, which is even older and less touristy). It seems to be an excellent place, somehow concatinating metropolis with beautiful historical sites. I hope to go back again someday, maybe I'll go live there, hehe.

Still, back to it tomorrow...I am slightly nervous as I will be meeting the people I will be spending the majority of the next 3 months with. I hope they are nice...

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Er

A few random Japan-related articles that I found interesting -

Tokyo Rose (aka Orphan Ann) Dies at 90
Mr. Tanaka (his English-language homepage is here)
Blood Types
Immigration
Man recites pi to 100,000 digits
Furiita
Hikikomori
Vending Machines of Japan

Sorry, I'm bored and can't sleep... ^_^;

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Holiday gooood

The holiday drags on. Have enjoyed the relaxation. I seem to have mainly spent it sleeping, generally relaxing, and watching Internet bootlegs of The Simpsons (take THAT, Rupert Murdoch!). Also been teaching on occasion. As a result of my teaching exploits, and thanks to my ever-generous parents, it's looking likely that I will do a 4th term here (go to the UK for Christmas and then return here until April). After that...who knows? Will probably have to find a proper job of some kind, pish.

Been trying vainly to revise over the last couple of days. It seems that I've forgotten most of last term's vocab. Which kinda sucks. At the end of last term we made our first inroads into the nice 'n' complex world of keigo, or polite/humble language. I find it slightly fascinating that the Japanese have a whole system of politeness built into their very language; in English we tend to just alter the sentence to express politeness/humility (i.e. "would you be so kind as to...?" vs. "please do..."), whereas in Japanese, there are a multitude of verb conjugations, special words and expressions etc. to use. You must also take into account the social status/relative position of the person you are speaking to, whether he/she is an "outsider", etc etc. There are both polite and humble forms of numerous verbs...try to imagine having to decide between three different words for "eat" or "give" or "look" or so forth, depending on who you are speaking to...yeesh, the whole thing makes my head hurt.

Well, must get back to my...not doing very much, I suppose.

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