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pitagora switch (Pythagoras Switch) is a 15 minute tv show on the nhk educational channel, airing since 2002. this show targets children between 4 ~ 6 years old, but it also attracts adults who still have kids in their hearts (yay!).

“there’re various mysteries in structures and interesting ways of thinking hidden in our everyday life. for example, you’ve had waffles so many times - why are the waffles shaped in exactly that way? have you every wondered about that? it’s easy to live without wondering. but if you pay attention, you’ll soon realize there’s a hidden law, “having a shape” behind them. you can find this law in our everyday items such as stamps, prints and various industrial products. everything is composed of the law of “having a shape”. if you notice the “shape”, you can understand the law. in this program, we’ll introduce these “wow!” and “ah-ha!” moments for children. by watching this program, we’re hoping for them to discover and foster the way of thinking with a “switch” in their mind.”
— this is my loose translation from nhk educational channel.

the main focus of this show is a puppet show. but also there’re “algorithm exercises” (featuring comedians called, “itsumo kokokara”), “what are you doing, mister?” (featuring a comedian, “ramenzu” - you know this guy by now. the guy from “the sushi video“!) and more. you can view a short clip here. i LOVE their surrealistic approach!.

my favorite is this “pitagora switch” device. these clips appear at the opening and the ending. these devices were designed by professor Masahiko Satou and the students from his lab at keio university. they are just beautiful devices.

this man is called razor ramon HG. he became very popular as HG on a tv comedy show called Baku Ten in 2005. his catch phrase “hooooooooooooo!” received an award for the the new and popular word award in 2005. he used to belong to a major comedy company, yoshimoto kogyo in osaka.

when i first stumbled upon hard gay video clips a couple weeks ago, i thought my face would turn inside out by laughing so hard. i watched probably 5 or 6 episodes that night. he’s hilarious.

it might be hard to appreciate how funny the way he talks is with english subtitles. he speaks formally in a passionate manner. he’s very sincere, i think.

for making the world harder, gayer, and better in every way. hoooooooo!

i started studying english when i was 12. on graduation day in elementary school, my homeroom teacher, mrs imayasu sensei said to us, “english is going to be very important. with good english skills, you’ll be able to broaden your world.” she was right. now i can talk to people pretty much anywhere in the world and i can read foreign books published in english.

i studied english in my spare time along with taking regular english classes at school. the classes were very strict. i had to memorize hundreds of new words, phrases and grammar for daily, weekly and monthly tests. i didn’t like those tests at the time, but now i look back and think it was one important step. since the classes were strict, i didn’t enjoy them very much. but on my spare time, i was having a ball (do you really use this phrase? it was in my text book).

i listened to NHK radio english lessons for 8 years. i also watched british and american movies and comedies in english on tv and videos. there weren’t any subtitles for those tv shows, so i had no clue what they were talking about. it was useful just to get used to the rhythm of spoken english. in high school, i started listening to foreign music. the beatles were my favorite. i wrote the english lyrics on the left side of a notebook, with the japanese translation on the other. i’d translate the japanese version back into english and compare with the original lyrics. i did this with other bands too - the byrds, the kinks, deelite, otis redding… and for some reason, hanoi rocks (no question allowed). i’m not sure if it was a good way of learning english, because i hardly ever hear people say ‘the groovy!!‘ or the gorgeous!!.

NHK is great. they show a lot of foreign dramas - “doogie howser, MD” (great), full house (terrible), alf (no comment), beverly hills, 90210 (skanky). the contents didn’t matter to me as long as they spoke english. i watched “knight rider” too. it was aired around 2 am. a perfect hour.

you might notice that i didn’t talk to any english speakers. i was just studying. i didn’t talk to foreigners until when i was 19. we had some american teachers from jet program in my high school. i never talked to them. we also had some exchange students from australia. i think i said hello once. i was (am) very shy.

to break this bad habit, i decided to go to an english-speaking country alone. i was 19. i chose singapore. high tech + english + asian + safe = manageable. my spoken english was not very good, but i wanted to see how i’d manage in english. it was difficult but i did pretty good. many people helped me. many people thought i was a thai. many beatiful places to remember. it was wonderful.

it’s ironic that i’m interested in language, because i’m not talkative. i studied a little bit of swedish, chinese and french too. i can’t speak any of the language. but i like finding the similarities and connections in languages. i also studied american sign language. when hands become emotional, they look as though they were individual creatures. language is beautiful.

i’ve come a long way. but i still have a lot to learn. so pardon me, if i don’t understand you. me no english.

thanks to the magical site ‘youtube‘, i can access many music videos from japan. when i was in japan, i didn’t pay much attention to japanese singers. i was always interested in music scenes from overseas. i didn’t have many japanese singers that i liked. but kahimi karie was different. she’s one of my favorite japanese singers. kahimi karie began her career as a music photographer. her musical talent was discovered by her then-boyfriend, oyamada keigo (cornelius) when he asked her to sing with a band on his friend’s label. her first EP came out in 1992. she instantly became a ye-ye girl in shibuya. she is one of the “shibuya kei” musicians. she also collaborates with other musicians including the scottish artist, momus. currently she resides in paris. her sensual + innocent voice melts my heart. my autumn level goes up rapidly in my body. i’m deeply in nostalgia…

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6.6.6. for this special day, i stumbled upon this tv opening video. it’s a tv tokyo’s opening theme which aired at 5:54~55 am in 60s.
it’s very magical. it really made me want to watch tv, only tv tokyo and nothing else….

why me? it’s only mid-may and i’ve already got a mosquito bite, on my palm, right in the centre. it’s itchy. and it makes me shiver to think that this is just the first bite, with thousands more yet to come. you see, i’m doomed — mosquitoes simply adore me.

no matter where i go, the mosquitoes find me. i’ve been bitten literally 50 times in a single evening, even though i had the full protection of a long-sleeve shirt and an entire bottle of mosquito repellant. they bit through my shirt and socks. one time, i got bitten on my eyelid while i was awake, with my eyes open. how they got in there is a mystery. mosquitoes love me so much that they ignore anyone else in the area. paul says he never has to wear mosquito repellant when i’m around, since they’re all going to be biting me anyway.

when i was little, my parents would leave the windows open at night during the summer. we preferred to sleep with a fresh breeze, not an air conditioner. the problem was, of course, mosquitoes. they had easy access to my bedroom. they hung around my ears a lot, buzzing. i did my best to hit them hard, but in vain. i’d light some mosquito repellant incense, but it never helped. i couldn’t sleep. i’d stay up until dawn looking at the dark mountains and the empty streets, the smell of the incense mixing with the cool night air. this could have been romantic, but the mosquitoes would. not. stop. bothering. me. i hate them all.

when i moved to canada, i spent a year in winnipeg. i’d already been informed that winnipeg is a mosquito town. perfect. as expected, i got bitten all over with no mercy. my reaction to the bites was worse than it was in japan. the canadian mosquitoes are fierce.

so why do mosquitoes love me so much? one theory is that i am very tasty. some japanese scientists claim that mosquitoes choose their meals based on blood type, preferring O > B > AB > A. i’m a B-blood-type person. so are my mom and my brother, but they don’t attract mosquitoes like i do. so my tastiness must be more individual. it’s my bad luck to be delicious.
summer is coming. i don’t want to be an ‘all-you-can-eat asian buffet’ for canadian mosquitoes again this year. i need to find better protection!

sing-along! (lyrics from here):

Bzzzzzzzz !
Ne tuez plus les moustiques avec des claques sur vos joues (AYE),
des claques sur vos cuisses (OUILLE OUILLE OUILLE),
des claques sur vos bras (AYE).

SUPER TIMOR EST LA!

Super timor est encore plus fort avec sa nouvelle formule “Super Timor”
Le temps de sentir l’odeur Super Timor, les insectes son déjà mort “Super Timor”.
Super Timor avec sa nouvelle formule, Vraiment vraiment plus fort.

Super timor, le Numero un

en anglais (translated by paul):

don’t kill mosquitoes with slaps on your cheeks, slaps on your thigh, slaps on your arms
Super Timor is here!
Super Timor is even stronger, with its new formula (Super Timor)
When they smell the odor of Super Timor, the insects are already dead (Super Timor)
Super Timor, with its new formula. Really, really stronger!
Super Timor, Super Timor!
Number one!

download the video (windows media).