Here are the names of some common animals in Japanese. Do you know what animals they are?
Take this easy, multiple-choice quiz.
After you take the quiz, leave a comment on this post to tell me how you did. Also, tell me what you thought of the quiz (Too easy? Too difficult?), and how you knew the answers that you got right (Lucky guess? You study Japanese?).
Thanks.
Here’s the quiz:
(Also, if you liked this quiz, I have another similar one, here.)
One week in August, Ueno Zoo in Tokyo has a “Night Zoo” event. We went to it yesterday. We’ve been to it before too (click here to see my post about it in 2011).
Before we went to the zoo, we stopped for lunch at 東京駅 (Tokyo Station):
An 「駅弁」 (Train station “bento”) shop. Have you ever had a Japanese “bento”?
You can watch them preparing the bento meals.
The 「銀の鈴」 (“Silver Bell”) in Tokyo Station…a popular meeting spot.
「チキンラーメン」 (“Chicken Ramen”)
The one on the left says 「有休とります」 (“I’m gonna take a holiday”) to give your boss or co-workers. The other says 「ごめんね」 (“I’m sorry”) to give someone as an apology.
The Ultraman Shop’s “manager”.
The less-photographed entrance of 東京駅 (Tokyo Station).
Break time
The popular Japanese cartoon character “Doraemon” in the small children’s mini-amusement park outside Ueno Zoo.
I have many memories of taking my kids to this 「こども遊園地」 (Kids’ Amusement Park) when they were little.
The entrance to Ueno Zoo in Tokyo. We went to the zoo in the afternoon and stayed until the end of the “Night Zoo” event.
We could see the pandas eating, rather than sleeping – as they usually are.
パンダ (Panda)
シンシン (メス) … (“Shin-Shin” the female panda).
リーリー (オス) …. (“Ri-Ri” the male panda).
The polar bear was a highlight for us because it was feeding time when we happened to go to that exhibit…and also, Ueno Zoo has added a new viewing area where we could watch him swim!
Huge ゾウガメ (Giant Tortoise)
コビトカバ (Pygmy Hippo)
Sleeping seals.
The sun was setting and “Night Zoo” began.
From Japan Today:
A zoo in Ibaraki Prefecture has taken the catwalk to a wild new level, using some of its fiercest inhabitants to rip and claw jeans to a fashionably distressed look.
The facility in Kamine has unveiled “Zoo Jeans”, styled by the fangs and claws of lions, tigers and bears.
Zoo officials said the material held up well, all things considered.
“We wrapped several pieces of denim around tires and other toys. Once they were thrown into the enclosures, the animals jumped on them,” said zoo director Nobutaka Namae, adding that the pieces were later patched together to create the finished product.
“The denim was actually much tougher than we had thought, and it turned out nicely destroyed.”
The idea came from a Tokyo advertising executive who wanted to give something back to the zoo where he spent time as a child, Namae added.
Two pairs of jeans ripped by lions and a tiger-destroyed version are being auctioned on the Internet with proceeds to be donated to the zoo and the conservation group WWF.
As of Monday, bidding on the tiger-torn denim had soared to ¥121,000 (about US$1,191).
They will be on exhibit at the Kamine Zoo—along with a bear-savaged version—until next week.
We were lucky enough to see this 蝉 (cicada) shedding it’s molt near our house!
When my kids were little, they each had a 「たまごっち」(“Tamagochi”)… the Japanese electronic “pet” toy.
I hadn’t thought about those toys in years.
But I was talking to my kids today. I asked them if they remembered their old Tamagochi toys (they do).
So I told them about some of the “pet fads” that were popular in America when I was young (these never caught on in Japan though).
When I was little, there was always an ad in the back of comic books for “Sea Monkeys”.
I convinced my parents to buy these for me once.
What a disappointment!
They were nothing like the picture!
Another big fad of the 70s was the “Pet Rock”.
I was never interested in having a pet rock. The name wasn’t a joke or ironic … it was simply a stone in a cardboard box!
It was popular for a short time though … so I guess many people had one.
Another pet fad that didn’t interest me was the “Invisible Dog”.
It was simply a stiff dog leash with no animal.
I don’t know if they’re “fads” or not, but I also had a Venus Flytrap (ハエトリグサ) once and an antfarm (蟻の農場) another time.
Do you ever look at the “Huffington Post” website? I have their app on my smartphone. I like animals a lot … so I liked this slideshow of cats sleeping in funny positions that I found on their site: Click here to see it.
Then there’s “Maru”, the cute cat here in Japan that has become a bit of a YouTube celebrity:
In Japan, cute mascot characters are very popular to help promote many stores, restaurants and merchandise.
Even the Tokyo police, fire department and Japanese military have mascots.
Also, cities and prefectures in Japan have cute or funny mascot characters that are related to some local food or animal.
They are used to help promote tourism to the area.
These characters are normally cute … or at least try to be.
So, the new mascot for the northernmost Japanese prefecture of Hokkaido was on the news recently because not only is the character not cute… but it’s actually on there scary side!
Hokkaido is famous for the wild bears (熊 (kuma) in Japanese) and the cantaloupe (メロン (melon) in Japanese)… so the character is 「メロン熊」(“Melon-kuma“).
It’s a bear with a Japanese cantaloupe melon for a head … and has angry eyes and huge teeth!
It’s also fond of trying to bite people!
Quite different from the usual mascots in Japan!
Here’s a video of the melon-kuma trying to bite people and promote tourism to Hokkaido:
Tokyo Five 
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