2016-09-08 04:51 Regional Dialects in Japan
Y (Kuma's owner)
My husband and I had guests from Japan last month. It was fun to have guests, and we enjoyed chatting. It's usually nice and easy to talk in my mother tongue, however my Japanese is standard and the guests' were Tosa regional dialect. This was a bit awkward. Honestly, I couldn't understand 100% of what they said. My brother-in-law has an Aussie friend who had lived in Tosa (Kochi-Pref.). He can understand the Tosa regional dialect more than I do.
I had learnt Spanish a little. One day, I turned on the TV and saw an educational channel of Italian. On TV, two tourists were talking about where the museum was. The surprising thing was I could understand what they were saying.
Then I thought why do we call all the dialects in Japan Japanese? There are various dialects in Japan. Recently, the dialects are replacing standard Japanese little by little where people around the capital city Tokyo speak Japanese. Therefore, everybody understands or speaks standard Japanese but dialects still remain.
I heard that if someone who speaks Kagoshima (South island of Japan) dialect and someone who speaks Tohoku (North part of Japan) dialect meet and talk, they cannot understand each other but we call all these languages Japanese. I don't know why? I guess that the difference between Kagoshima dialect and Tohoku dialect is bigger than Italian and Spanish.
It's interesting that there are so many dialects in such a small country.
2016-09-04 22:25 The wild life around me
Y (Kuma's owner)
Australia is a great place to observe wild life.
I have seen an advertisement which was written as "Let's get into the nature!" How an adventurous and attractive catch phrase! If you would like to see wild crocodiles or dingoes, maybe it's right. You better go into the wild nature. If you would like to encounter smaller and much safer wild animals, you don't have to go there. You are able to enjoy wild life even in a residential area. The wild life comes to see you.
The most common wild animals are birds, especially the Rainbow Lorikeet, which is common in Queensland to South Australia and Tasmania.
I remember that a woman who came from Italy was talking about lorikeets excitedly. She said she saw colourful birds on the veranda where she rented an apartment. She looked happy to have lorikeets.
After a week, she didn't look so happy with them. I wondered what made her change? She said she has got many bird droppings.
I heard similar stories from others as well. Firstly, people who come from overseas are excited to see colourful birds. These colourful birds like the Rainbow Lorikeet, The King Parrot and The Galah easily get foreigners' attention. People tend to pay attention to its colours, and then they will notice what will be left after these birds left. I live in a single house and there is a backyard which wild birds love. I cannot see what they drop on the lawn, so I don't care.
However, I experienced a similar thing as the Italian woman did. When I moved to the house I live in now, I saw a big white parrot flying over the roof. It was a Sulphur-crested Cockatoo and it was screaming while flying. I think it's suitable to use the verb "scream", it wasn't singing or chirping, it was definitely screaming. I cannot describe their way of singing, it's more like a dinosaur. I sometimes think their way of screaming might be similar to the Pterosaur's.
Oops, getting back to what I was writing, I was very happy to see Sulphur-crested Cockatoos. They looked gorgeous and beautiful. They were noisy but still attractive. I had some spare feelings at that time.
Three years passed, and I realised that they are pranksters. One day, I glanced at the window and noticed that two Cockatoos were picking the tulips and hyacinths. Those flowers were the result of my efforts. This area is subtropical, therefore I had to keep the bulbs of tulips and hyacinths in the refrigerator for a while, otherwise they wouldn't bud. I spent lots of time on them and just as they started budding, those pranksters came and bit off petals. Later they also came to our backyard sometimes and bit the garden bed's timber or flowers.
I'm not happy with wild birds biting off the flowers but try to think that this land is originally for them. This is like paying tax for nature. Actually, I love wild birds and I want them to come to our backyard, that's why I change the water in the basin in the backyard every morning.
Well, I want them to come but I don't want them to bite my flowers. If so, what should I do? Things don't go as I want to. That's nature.
2016-09-03 11:00 Show Jumping
Y (Kuma's owner)
Every once a year, the area where I live holds an event. There are lots of fun things, a travelling circus, various kinds of attractions, a travelling carnival, wood chopping, and a competitive exhibition of cattle, dogs and vegetables. I went there together with my friends.
My favorite is show jumping. The horses that are brushed beautifully jump elegantly. I can't ride on a horse. I once tried horse riding at a horse riding club to which my co-worker belonged. I thought it might be fun if I could ride on a horse but it was expensive to learn horse riding in Japan. In Australia, people who love horses are able to own a horse. In Japan, it's impossible because there is no room to keep horses and also it would be very expensive to keep them. I heard that it is expensive to keep horses in Australia as well. I can imagine that because even a cat needs lots of medical care, it is no wonder that a horse needs lots of money to take care of it. Therefore, I'm satisfied with just watching show jumping.
The biggest event in my town is over. I'm going to see a show jumping event again next year.