You have two cows.

At my work, some people get together and chat in English during lunch.
So, today, Mr. Aoki taught us some jokes.

Libertarian
You have two cows. They can go wherever they want and no one stops them.

Republican
You have two cows. You give one to your neighbour.

Communism
You have two cows. The state takes both and gives you some milk.

Fascism
You have two cows. The state takes both and sell you some milk.

Nazism
You have two cows. The state takes both and shoots you.

Bureaucratism
You have two cows. The state takes both, shoots one, milk the other, and then throws the milk away...

An American Corporation
You have two cows. You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows. Later, you hire a consultant to analyze why the cow has dropped dead.

A French Corporation
You have two cows. You go on straike, organize a riot, and block the roads because you want three cows.

A Japanese Corporation
You have two cows. You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. You then create a clever cow cartoon image called "Cowkimon" and market it worldwide.

A German Corporation
You have two cows. You re-engineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves.

An Italian Corporation
You have two cows, but you don't know where they are. You decide to have lunch.

A Russian Corporation
You have two cows. You count them and learn you have five cows. You count them again and learn you have 42 cows. You count them again and learn you have 2 cows. You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.

A Swiss Corporation
You have 5000 cows. None of them belong to you. You charge the owners for storing them.

A Chinese Corporation
You have two cows. You have 300 people milking them. You claim that you have full employment, and high bovine productivity. You arrest the newsman who reported the real situation.

An Indian Corporation
You have two cows. You worship them.

A British Corporation
You have two cows. Both are mad.

An Iraq Corporation
Everyone thinks you have lots of cows. You tell them that you have none. No one believes you, so they bomb the **** out of you and invade your country. You still have no cows, but at least you are part of Democracy...

An Australian Corporation
You have two cows. Business seems pretty good. You close the office and go for a few beers to celebrate.

Greece
You don't have any cows. You remind people that all modern cows are based on the fundamentals formed in Greece thousands of years ago.

Canada
You have two cows, eh. They have full heath insurance.

General Motors
You have two cows. They are obsolete.


I thought these jokes are pretty funny. Jokes like these, you have to know politics and things going on in the world. In Japan, popular jokes are simpler.

Like this....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84waO1faIGk

They just dance or make weird noise.

But we have decent jokes or kind of like stand-up comedy things too.

It's called "rakugo". Rakugo (落語 literally "fallen words") is a Japanese verbal entertainment. The lone storyteller (Rakugoka, 落語家) sits on the stage, called the Kōza (高座). Using only a paper fan (扇子, "sensu") and a small cloth (手拭, "tenugui") as props, and without standing up from the seiza sitting position, the rakugo artist depicts a long and complicated comical story. The story always involves the dialogue of two or more characters, the difference between the characters depicted only through change in pitch, tone, and a slight turn of the head.

Rakugo is not really popular among young people, but it's pretty funny. Some rakugoka go to North America and have shows.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jb69FP4RxQ&feature=related

I'd love to see rakugo someday!

カナダに戻ったら・・・

７年間いたキャナダ

それはそれは愛着があります。

私にとっては第二の故郷

自称カナダ人です！すみません、図々しくて・・・

そして、ほかのカナダ人と同じように

アメリカ嫌いになってしまう始末。。。

日本に帰国してカナダの何が恋しいかというと

１．Canadian Rockies

ロッキー山脈は本当に本当にすばらしいところです。大学時代、ロッキー山脈麓の町、ジャスパーまで車で4時間の所に住んでいたので、毎年最低1度は遊びに行ってました。ロッキー山脈はどこを見ても絶景で、ダイナミックで自然のすばらしさを本当に体感できるところです。人生で一度は絶対行ったほうが良い場所です！ちなみに、ジャスパーには「伝次郎」という日本食店があり、そこの「ジャスパー鍋」がおいしいんです！！

2. カナダのSushi

カリフォルニアロールとか、スパイダーロールとか、意外と好きだったんです！バンクーバーでも何件か日本食屋に行ったのですが、一番おいしかったのは、やっぱり住んでいたPrince Georgeにある、SuzuranのSushiでした。ここは、韓国人が経営しているのだけど、sushiは本当に美味しかった！板前のJamesと仲良くなったりして、もしかしたら、結構オマケとかしてもらっていたのかも。。。

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g154938-d709415-Reviews-Suzuran_Japanese_Restaurant-Prince_George_British_Columbia.html#

あとは、もちろん友達、Tim Horton's、Lulu Lemonなどなど。

カナダの友人とはチャットをするたびに、

「早く来い！」とか

「一緒にビール飲みたい」とか

「一緒に日曜日にブランチしながらガールズトークしたいね！」とか

言われたりしています。

カナダに戻ったらしたいこともたーくさんあります。

まぁ上に書いたとおりに

友達と会うのもそうですが。。。

１．ロッキーに旅行に行く！

これは絶対行きたいです！できれば友人と車で3日間くらい遊びに行きたいです。そして、今回挑戦したいのが、White water raftingとMt.Robsonでキャンプしながらハイキングしたいのです！ そうとうすばらしい絶景が見れるらしいです！

２．キャンプに行く！

キャンプとかあんまり得意なほうではないのですが、友人のキャンプの写真を見て感動したので、ぜひ今度は一緒に連れて行っていただきたい！と図々しく思っています。

３．バンクーバー島に行く！

親友のナタリーがバンクーバー島出身で、会うたびにどれだけ素敵なところかを話しているので、ぜひ行きたいと思います。そして、友人が留学していたSalt Spring Islandも行ってみたいと思います。

ほかにもたくさんありすぎて、書けないくらいです。

あ、ちゃんと仕事もしますよ！もちろん～！

こんな感じで毎日妄想しています。

だから、仕事が週6日でもがんばれる～♪

What's popular in Japan?: Music

Since I don't have anything to do at work again...

I'll write about popular things in Japan!

The most popular song in this week is...

I am xxx by Glay

Glay (グレイ) is a rock/pop band from Hakodate, Hokkaidō, Japan formed by guitarist Takuro and vocalist Teru during high school in 1988. Glay primarily composes songs in the rock and pop genres, but they have also composed songs using elements of different styles such as reggae and gospel. As of 2008, they had sold an estimated amount of 28 million records of forty-three singles and 23 million copies of fourteen albums about 37,8 million of which in Japan alone, according to Oricon charts.

Yes, they are popular. Now they look like this...

Before they looked like this...

This types of band is called "Visual-kei". Visual kei ("visual style") refers to a movement among Japanese musicians, that is characterized by the use of eccentric, sometimes flamboyant looks. This usually involves striking make-up, unusual hair styles and elaborate costumes, often, but not always, coupled with androgynous aesthetics. Some sources state that Visual Kei refers to a music genre, or to a sub-genre of J-rock (a term referring to Japanese rock in general), with its own particular sound, related to glam-rock, punk and metal. However other sources state that Visual Kei's unique clothing and make-up, fashion, and participation in the related sub-culture, is equally as important as the sound of the music itself in the use of the term.

If you go to Harajuku on Sundays, you see girls still dress like them.

Also, JUJU is pretty popular in Japanese music scene now. She is a Japanese singer song writer living in New York.

TVXQ is also popular. TVXQ (often stylized TVXQ!or TVfXQ), an acronym for Tong Vfang Xien Qi (東方神起), are a South Korean boy band quintet.

I don't really listen to J-pop or J-rock very much, so I don't really know what's popular. I just got these information from Wikipedia and Yahoo Japan. Japanese popular songs are sometimes pretty cheesy and catchy. That's why I don't listen to them.But Mongol 800 and Rip Slyme are cool! Mongol 800 is punk and Rip Slyme is hip-hop/pop. Some of my friends like Polysics. You should check their PVs!

Well, I should go and pretend that I'm working:P

カナダに移民

今回、カナダにまた戻ろうと思った理由のひとつが

カナダに移民すること！です。

祖母からは「せっかく日本人なんだから。。。」などと言われますが、

せっかく移民できるポイントがたまってるし、

基本、「もらえるものはもらっとけ！」精神なので、

移民するために戻ることに決めました。

ほかにもそう決めたきっかけはいろいろあります。

１．友達が気がついたら、カナダ人になっていた！
大学で仲良かった韓国人の友人が日本に遊びに来たとき、
彼女のパスポートがカナダのだったのに衝撃を受けました。
移民権を持っていたのは知っていたけど、いつのまにかカナダ人になっていたとは！！！
将来、家族でカナダに移住するためだそう。

２．石油の次は水が貴重な資源になる！
これは、大学時代 environmental studiesのクラスで見たドキュメンタリー。
このドキュメンタリーはどれだけ水が大切かというもので、
"The next war will be over water"というナレーションに衝撃を受けたのです。
考えてみると。。。

日本は資源があまりない国＝将来が不安。
アメリカとかに見捨てられたら、だめになってしまうのではないか。。。
カナダには水がいっぱいある。ダイアモンドも発掘された。石油も一応ある。
将来、有望な国なのではないか。。。

という感じに思ったわけです。

で、移民になれるのであれば、なったほうがいいじゃないか！

そしたら、家族もカナダに住むことができるじゃないか！

ということになったのです。

そして、まだ予定はないけれど、相手もいないけれど

子供を育てるのなら、自然にもすぐ触れられるバンクーバーが良い！と思ったのです。


友人からは「無謀だ！」「そんなに簡単にうまくいきっこない！」などの声もありますが、

私、自称強運の持ち主！

そして、やりたいことはぜったいしてみせる！という精神なので

がんばります！

Crazy Japanese

Since I don't have anything to do at work right now, I'll write about crazy Japanese people.

Swine flu hit Japan a couple of weeks ago. First, it hit Kansai area, and the government closed schools, some offices, and Japanese musicians like Ayumi Hamasaki and Ai Otsuka cancelled their concerts in Kansai area. Those people who got swine flu were high school students. They were in the same volleyball team. So the media said they passed the virus through volleyball games. This morning, some TV show was showing how they could pass the virus through volleyball games. I was getting ready to go to work, so I didn't really pay attention to it, but I think they had an experiment to show it. It was ridiculous!

How people are reacting is pretty ridiculous too. On the news, the broadcasters were showing the proper way to wear masks. According to it, we can't wear the same masks once you take it off. So people are buying masks, and drugstores sold out their masks. On the internet auctions, some people are selling masks with doubled prices. A brother of a famous comedian is super nice that he is going to give away 10,000 masks for free to those who need. Crazy eh!

Tokyo is not as crazy as Kansai area, but I see people wearing masks on the trains, and streets. And there is a bottle of antiseptic solution at the entrance of my office.

I wonder what it's like in Canada...

カナダ行き

私、カナダに行くんです！

いきなりなんじゃい！って感じですが、

そう。カナダに行くんです。




一応予定は、１０月ですが、

ちょっといろいろあって

早まりそうな予感。


早まるぶんにはいいんだけどー

今、仕事してるしー

８月に大好きなＭｏｎｇｏｌ８００のコンサートあるしー

どうしましょう。。。



今日は、仕事が暇なので、

航空券やら、住居のリサーチをしました。

めちゃめちゃ安い航空券発見しました。

ついでに保険やらも調べました。

保険はやっぱり高いですね。

住民票はどうしよう。




そうそう、今回のカナダ行きは

移民になるため！

ポイントがたまってるんです－☆




このごろはカナダでの生活の妄想が膨らむばかりー笑

うーん楽しみ♪


This is for my friends in Canada.

As you know, I'm planning to go back to Canada this year. I was thinking about leaving here in Oct, but I might leave sooner than that. I'm so excited to go, and have been researching about housing, jobs and other things when I don't have anything to do at work. It just makes me more and more excited!! I can't wait to see you guys! I'll keep you posted on this! Miss you guys!