Bunny Cafe!

One of the many reasons I love living in Japan, places like this exist:



Now all I need is for them to make a guinea pig cafe, and I'll never have a reason to leave!

More "interesting" Japanese commercials

One of my friends on facebook posted this, and I had to share it. I don't think there's much I need to say. The video pretty much speaks for itself:



The comparison to the US commercial makes this even better!

WTF Japan?!

Oh Japan...I love you so much, even when you're a little bit weird. Today's example: Mameshiba.

Ever since I got to Japan, I've been wondering what the deal with these commercials were. In every commercial, a person goes to eat some beans, but then a little bean shaped puppy appears! The bean puppy speaks, then the person loses their appetite. I had always wondered exactly what they were saying in these commercials (my Japanese hasn't been good enough to pick it all up). But now youtube has picked up on these weird ad's, and they have given me an English translation! Yay! The thing is though, they're even weirder now that I know what they're saying. Here are some of my favorites:

Edamame:


Peanuts:


Black Beans:



Adorable, aren't they? Maybe a little creepy too, which actually sums up a lot of advertisements I see in Japan. These Mameshiba things are quite popular here too. They have keychains, purses, stuffed animals, etc. of these bean puppies.

Even with the English translation, I'm still not sure what exactly these commercials are selling. Is it, "Don't eat beans. They may give you usless triva?"


Oh, and just in case you haven't had enough cute for the day, here's the Mameshiba theme song!

Students Say the Awesomest things: Part 3

During the summer festival, one of my 3rd year JHS students (9th grader) came up to Jonny and had a pretty funny conversation with him:

student: (in Japanese) Do you have a perm?

Jonny: (in English) No

student: (in Japanese) No...you must have a perm!

Jonny: (not sure how to say it in Japanese, so he tries to say it in English) Natural style

student: Ohhh! *makes a gesture of a curling iron* style! *nods like she gets it now.*

After that she started touching his hair. She seemed very impressed.


If you ever come to the country side of Japan, you should expect questions like this from kids. "Your eyes are blue! Do you wear contacts?" or they might point at your freckles and go, "Whoa...what's that?!" If they're really young, they might ask you if you dye your hair since it's not black. Forgive them of these things though. They don't see many people like you.

Students Say the Awesome-est Things: part 2

My students are such little punks sometimes! Take today's class for example:



I was teaching my 2nd year (8th graders) junior high students. The kids were given a homework assignment they'll be expected to do over summer break. I went over to a few kids and expressed some sympathy. No one likes homework over break, especially summer break. The conversation went something like this:



me: aww...summer homework?

student 1: yes :(

student 2: yes :(

me: That's too bad

student 1: *points at the teacher and says a word in Japanese I don't recognize*

me: eh?

student 2: *says the word slower for me* sai - a - ku - da

student 1: (in Japanese) Go tell her she is "saiakuda"!

me: (in Japanese) I don't understand

student 1: *gets the "I'm up to no good" grin on his face* "saiakuda" mean...."good".

student 2: *also grinning* It mean "very good".

student 1: yes! "very good!"

me: *repeating the word to see if it helps me remember it*

student 1: (in Japanese) yes! Now go tell her she is "saiakuda!"

*Both of the kids pull the teacher over and say that I have something to tell her*

student 1 and 2: (in Japanese) say it! say it!

*the teacher looks at me waiting*

me: umm...they want me to say a Japanese word to you, but I don't know what it means

*the teacher rolls her eyes at the students then walks away*


Right after this, I grabbed my electronic dictionary to look up the word. Basically, the kids wanted me to tell the teacher she is "the worst". I'm actually surprised they didn't try something more insulting. Still, it would have gotten me in trouble had I been naive enough to follow them.


Little punks. I love them.

Students say the Awesome-est things!

Recently, I did a few lessons about shopping. This was for 3rd years (9th graders) in Junior High School. For the lesson, we had the students make up skits. We taught them the standard phrases like, "how much is this?", "may I help you?", "that's too expensive", "it's a gift, can you wrap it for me?", etc. Here are some of my favorites that the kids came up with (I include spelling and grammar errors, but this time there weren't many):


1.)
Clerk: May I help you?
M Yes I'm looking for a jaket.
C: What size?
M Medium, please
C: How about this one?
M It looks good. How much is this jacket?
C: It's 300 dollars
M Oh, it's too cheap. Could you show me another one?
C: How about this one? It's 5000 dollars
M Very nice. I'll take it.
C: No no no no. It's mine


2.)
K: Excuse me. How much is this cap?
Clerk: It's 95000 dollars.
K: Oh, it's too cheap. Could you show me another one?
C: How about this one? It's a little expensive. 150000 dollars
K: Very nice. I'll take it. It's a gift. Could you wrap it, please.
C: It is no good. Go home, please.


3.)
-May I help you?
-How much is space?
-What? You are crazy
-So how much is rocket?
-It's 50000 dollars.
-Oh, it's too cheap. Could you show me more special one?
-How about this one? It's 100000 dollars.
-Very nice. I'll take it.


And my very favorite one...
4.)
Clerk: May I help you?
S: Yes. I'm looking for a windmill.
C: How about this one?
S: It looks too small. Do you have a larger one?
C: Well, how about this one?
S: It looks very good. How much is this windmill?
C: It's three million dollars.
S: Very nice. I'll take it. It's a gift. Could you wrap it, please?
C: Sure. Please wait a minute.