Saturday 13 September 2008

Your Japanese word of the week is...

"yaru". Generally it's means the verb "to do" and can be thought of as a slightly more informal than one of the first verbs anyone ever learns in Japanese, "suru".








In the case of this poster, the last three hiragana say "ya-ro-u", which is a sort of commanding way of saying "yaru", often heard by sports coaches or whenever seniors talk to juniors. And these kinds of posters are endemic to the Japanese rail system. There's lots, especially now, saying stuff like how music that's too loud becomes an nuisance for others. One good one in the smoking areas outside train stations warn of how lit cigarettes are held at the height of a child's head.........



I personally like this one though......



....... largely because of the huge debate that spawned on the site that found it. It says "Please do it on the mountain" (which is does), and people had no idea what "it" is.......... but really, I kinda figured it made sense........ "it" is like camping- hauling lots of gear and, like that seated woman, having your forearm-sized onigiri while on the train and stuff. But I suppose it's more fun to say "Please do it on the mountain" heh....

Anyway, other things I've been doing?? Work....... mostly........ Monday the 15th is the Tobu (East) Tournament, consisting of lots of dojos from the eastern part of Saitama. Check back to see how it goes!

4 comments:

karen said...

where did you find these posters? haha.

Lawrence said...

From some Japanese newspaper's website =P....

Anonymous said...

I like the one with the umbrella/golf club they have up in the metro now. Hilarious!

Lawrence said...

I like that one to, Mr. Unnamed-comments-poster haha......