Japan is familiar with Obama for various reasons. While still running in the primaries, he received a lot of hype because there is a city in Japan called Obama, and everyone cheered him on pretty much for that reason alone. I guess the reverse logic would be true: if there was a city in the world named Cliff, I would think that would be the greatest place ever.
Adults are familiar with him now for the obvious, but the kids also know about him because there is a comedian who dresses up in a suit and pretends to be him. He goes around saying, in English, "Yes we can!". So a lot of my students are now repeating it and coming up to me asking what it means. I also sat in on a few young classes for lunch last week (1st and 2nd grade), and the kids are saying, "I know who the new American president is...Barack Obama!". I reply with, "and who is Japan's Prime Minister", which is answered with silence.
Now for a quick Japanese lesson. The word for president in Japanese is 'DAITORYO'. The word for feces (yes, as in 'poo') is 'DAIBEN'. A clever 1st grader of mine put the two together and said "Obama Daibentoryo".
*insert laugh track*
Putting the 大 in 大宜味.
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Tuesday, January 27, 2009
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2 comments:
Nice one. :) I thought "Yes we can" had become a new "it" line for kids when one of the 2nd graders wrote it in my Christmas card instead of the traditional greeting. :)
Yea, it became the new 'it' last week, even though it's been around for a bit. But this one is cute, I think.
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