Otto's blog

Koala Girl

4月

18日

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Poor girl - the shadow makes her look like a koala! Poor me - I missed my chance to cross the road while taking this photo.

Vocabulary:
- 'poor' usually means 貧困 or 下手 , but here it means かわいそうな

Purple Lamborghini

4月

14日

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Right next to our school is an expensive boutique. Right outside it was this fancy Lamborghini. Right away, I got my camera & took a photo.

What do you think of it? Actually, this is not my kind of car. I prefer older, classic cars. Also, the driver`s seat is right down near the ground. It must be difficult to get in & out of this kind of car.

Vocabulary:
- 'Right' has various meanings e.g. 右, 正しい, 権利 but 'right + 前置詞' usually means 'ちょうど___' or　'すぐ___'

Star Wars Car Decals

4月

7日

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I got a new car. It`s longer, higher, & roomier (roomy = 手広い) than my previous one. Now, with these Star Wars decals on it, it`s way geekier too.

I bought them on ebay ( http://www.ebay.com/ )
Vocabulary:
- 'way ___er' = much ___er e.g. Australia is much bigger than Japan, but Japan`s population (人口) is way higher than Australia`s.

JASDF Hamamatsu Air Park

4月

4日

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On the weekend I visited Hamamatsu Air Park. It`s a kind of museum, with lots of planes (including two F-86 Sabres, a kind of jet that I blogged about recently: http://en.bloguru.com/otto/295189/f86-sabre ) and other displays related to JASDF. It`s kind of far from my home, and the park entrance is kind of difficult to find, but my family & I really enjoyed it. Oh, and entry is free (入場無料) - my kind of place!

Hamamatsu Air Park website: http://www.mod.go.jp/asdf/airpark/


Grammar:
- 'a kind of + 名詞' = 名詞の一種
- 'kind of + 形容詞' = ちょっと 形容詞
- 'my kind of + 名詞' = 私好きな名詞の種類'

Horse Sushi

3月

31日

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Do you like horses? How about horse? I tried it last night at スシロー. Yes - horse sushi! I saw it on the menu and thought, "Why not?" (ま、いいんじゃない?) It was a little tough (硬い), but it tasted okay. Have you ever eaten horse? No? Why not (なんでしないの)?

Grammar:
- I like frogS. Do you like frogS? Yes, THEY are cute.
- I like frog. Do you like frog? Yes, IT tastes like chicken.

Ichinomiya Airstreams

3月

29日

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I`ve blogged about this place before - http://en.bloguru.com/otto/98775/cool-caravans-in-ichinomiya - but I thought I would give you an update on their inventory. Nice, aren`t they? I think this is their website: http://www.onyx.dti.ne.jp/~american-trailer/

Trailers aren`t popular in Japan, but they are in Australia, especially with 'grey nomads' - retirees (退職者) who like to travel.

Vocabulary:
- A 'trailer' is called a 'caravan' in the UK, Australia & New Zealand, and a trailer park is called a caravan park

Creepy Cocoons

3月

28日

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A couple of weeks ago I found a green swallowtail (揚羽) cocoon in my garden: http://en.bloguru.com/otto/294414/green-cocoon . While I was gardening on Sunday, I found two brown ones. One of them was in an interesting place - can you see?
Some people think cocoons like this are creepy (気色悪い) & gross (気持ち悪い), but I think... well, yes, I agree they are kind of creepy & gross, but they are interesting too.
Do you have a garden? Do you like gardening?

Vocabulary:
- garden = にわ gardening = にわいじり, にわづくり

Lodekka Curry & Noodle Restaurant

3月

27日

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At this restaurant in Ichinomiya, you can eat your meal inside this London double-decker bus. You can choose upstairs or downstairs. It`s interesting, isn`t it? Of course my kids loved it. Geeky dad enjoyed it too.

This is their website: http://www.lodekka501bta39.com/

Pronunciation:
- In English, 'London' is usually pronounced ランダン or ランデン (not ロンドン )

A Bunch of 70s Stamps

3月

25日

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My wife received a letter with a bunch of old stamps on it. Nice! I`ll add them to my collection. I`ve been interested in stamps since I was a kid. My second brother is crazy about stamps. He has a bunch of albums & containers full of stamps in his house & he`s a member of a stamp club in my hometown of Brisbane - he & a bunch of other stamp-geeks ( オタク ) meet every month at a local church. I`ve joined them a couple of times - it was good, geeky ( オタッキー ) fun!

Vocabulary:
- a bunch of ___ = some/a large number of ___ in a group

F-86 Sabre

3月

24日

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In January I visited the Queensland Air Museum ( http://qam.com.au/ ) in Australia. They have a lot of cool planes, displays, & activities. We had a good time. My second son wanted to buy a plastic model in the gift shop, but I told him, "Not now. I`ll buy you one in Japan." When we returned to Japan, I bought him a 1/72-scale P-86 Sabre, which was one of the planes we saw at the museum, and we made it together.

Vocabulary:
- Sabre = 剣 Sabre-toothed tiger = 剣歯虎