This morning the panda, named “Ling Ling”, at Ueno Zoo died.
It was on the news. He was 22 years old.
There are eight other pandas in zoos in Japan…but Ling Ling was the only “Japanese” panda. I mean he was the only panda that Japan owned…the others are on loan from China.
Many people went to the zoo to leave condolence messages.
****************************************
A couple people have expressed difficulty in finding particular Guest Comments on my site…so I added “Most Recent Comments” links to the column on the right (click on the name of the post (ie: the word after “on“)).
Does that help?
****************************************
Yesterday my youngest daughter played in a お琴 (O-koto) concert at a local festival.
The “Koto” is a traditional Japanese stringed instrument that my daughter studies. She’s pretty good…actually, the leader in her class!
She wants to stop taking Koto lessons and start taking piano lessons like her older sister, though. So, yesterday’s concert was her final Koto concert, it seems.
****************************************
Just an observation…
Anytime that they show Americans on TV (here in Tokyo), they seem to be dressed in a Polo style shirt tucked into Chino style pants. And have their cellular-phone in a case clipped to their belt.
Is that accurate?
I ask because it’s quite different than the way people dress in Japan.
Tokyo Five 
There’s no photo of the panda Ling-Ling in this post…but if you want to see a recent post that I wrote about the panda in Ueno Zoo…that has a photo of “Ling-Ling”—
go to this post:
https://tokyo5.wordpress.com/2010/02/13/new-pandas-coming-to-tokyo/
LikeLike
Well, big brother, I hate to tell you this, but I think the same people who say ‘chinos’ for khakis are the same people who say ‘dungarees’ for jeans around here. Just poking fun.
We have thin cell phones, too. The reason that at least ‘A’ carries his Blackberry on his belt is that he uses it during work, so, doesn’t have a bag with him during the day, and it seems like the easiest way to access it (better than a pocket). Anyways, we could analyze this to death, but it’s interesting to note the small and large differences between cultures.
LikeLike
MB
>what in the wide world is a ‘chino’ anyhow? Khakis?
Yes, I guess they’re the same thing. I’ve never heard them called “Khakis” before. In Japan, they’re referred to as “Chinos”.
The only time I ever heard the term “Khakis”, it was in the Navy…as a slang term for anyone with a rank of E-7 or higher.
Anyways, I looked at Wikipedia…and according to that site, the correct term for the type of pants actually is “Chinos” (which can be any color), and the most common color is “Khaki-colored” — or tan.
But, it says, just as many people call the type of pants “Khakis” as do “Chinos”.
>the clip on the belt is probably for a Blackberry, like “A” has…probably not a cellphone.
I looked at a picture of a “Blackberry” from Google. Looks unwieldy. Never seen one in Japan. And clipping your phone to your belt is very unpopular in Japan.
Here we use small, thin, fold-able cell-phones for internet, TV, music, email…and occasionally–making a phone call. And everyone carries them in their bag or their back-pocket.
>Is the koto that huge instrument that sits on the ground?
The Koto is sometimes called a “Japanese harp”…although it sounds nothing like a harp. But it’s large with many strings.
It either lays on the floor with the player (often wearing a kimono) kneeling beside it…or on a stand with the player in a chair.
LikeLike
Hehe! This is so funny. But wait, what in the wide world is a ‘chino’ anyhow? Khakis? In any case, I think that the style you’re describing is pretty popular among some white-collar guys who don’t don a suit and tie all the time. Also, the clip on the belt is probably for a Blackberry, like “A” has…probably not a cellphone.
Is the koto that huge instrument that sits on the ground?
LikeLike
>No way. That’s a gross generalization.
OK. BTW, I wasn’t saying that that’s what Japanese TV says about Americans. It was just my personal observation.
Not a big deal, though.
>It’s like the image we have of Japanese visitors: they all wear a camera around their neck.
That is a stereotype about the Japanese, I know. But actually when Japanese go on holiday, they DO carry a camera.
And judging by the tourists I see in Japan, people from all over the world do the same.
Nothing wrong with it, either. I have relatively recently begun taking lots of pictures (I suppose I look like a tourist in Tokyo…even though I’ve been living here since 1990).
I wish I began taking photos years ago!
LikeLike
No way. That’s a gross generalization. It’s like the image we have of Japanese visitors: they all wear a camera around their neck.
LikeLike