The Politics of Winnie the Pooh －くまのプーさんの政治－

How well do you know the characters from Winnie the Pooh?  Are you more of a Tigger, or are you more of an Eeyore? 

Tigger is a character based on a child’s stuffed, cuddly tiger toy.  He is full of bouncing energy.  “Bouncing is what Tiggers do best,” he says. 

If you are a Tigger, then you don’t stop to consider a problem.  You just enthusiastically try to fix it, sometimes with positive results, and sometimes making a mess of things through lack of preparation or patience. 

Current UK Health Secretary (the politician in charge of running Britain’s hospitals) is sometimes described as a Tigger.  This can be used both as a criticism and as a compliment.  For instance, here is a description of him from a politics blog: 

“[Matt] Hancock, so often portrayed as Tiggerish…comes across as a decent, likable bloke.  He’s self-deprecating in a very middle class, British sort of way…On NHS matters, you can’t fault his enthusiasm.”

From Salixandco politics blog 

And how about Eeyore?  He is a character based upon a child’s stuffed, cuddly donkey toy.  His speech is slow and gloomy.  He comes across as pessimistic and depressed.  He lives in a place called, “Eeyore’s Gloomy Place.” 

So if you see a problem and say, “That will be difficult to solve,” or, “I don’t like the look of this,” then you are an Eeyore.  The UK’s former Chancellor of the Exchequer (the politician in charge of deciding how much to tax and how much to spend in the country) was described as an Eeyore.  This was a description of Philip Hammond, who warned that Brexit would cost Britain money, and damage the economy: 

“The tabloid Daily Mail, which previously nicknamed [Philip] Hammond Eeyore – after the glum donkey in Winnie the Pooh – declared the Chancellor was Eeyore no more.”

From political blog, Politico 

Tigger used to be my favourite character from A.A. Milne’s “Winnie the Pooh” books.  But sadly, I grew up to be an Eeyore.

 

Vocabulary:

cuddly – pleasant to hug or cuddle, especially because of being soft and comfortable

a bloke – a guy; a man

self-deprecating – modest; tending to minimize one’s own talents, virtues, etc.

“You can’t fault his enthusiasm.” – He cannot be criticised for his (lack of) enthusiasm

gloomy – dark or poorly lit; appearing sad or depressing

tabloid – of a newspaper, having smaller pages, more pictures, and shorter news reports than a broadsheet

glum – looking or feeling sad or depressed

 

You’re not Recording, Are You? －録音はしていないんですよね？－

Has everyone gotten used to having work meetings on Zoom and Skype?  Because so many companies are encouraging their employees to work from home, many more meetings are now being conducted on line. 

In many ways this is convenient.  In Britain at least, some fashion companies have focussed on selling very casual pyjama-style bottoms along with a smarter shirt, since people can’t see your legs in a Zoom call. 

In other ways, an increase in on line meetings is bothersome.  For example, lots of people seem to be forgetting that Zoom calls and Skype calls can be easily recorded.  One of your colleagues can just click a button and they will have a record of everything you have said.  So you had better not say anything too controversial.

For instance, the UK head of a big accounting firm, KPMG, had to resign recently, when his recorded comments were made public. Bill Michael criticised his colleagues for raising problems caused by the effects of the coronavirus.  He said, “You can’t play the role of victim unless you’re sick,” and, “If you’re not [sick], take control of your life, don't sit there and moan about it." 

I’m not sure quite how the comments of Yoshihiro Mori, who was the head of the Tokyo Olympics organising committee, were recorded.  But it is becoming easier for such silly comments to become public knowledge.  Mr. Mori was forced to resign after he said that, “Women talk too much,” and, “If we increase the number of female board members, we have to make sure that their speaking time is restricted somewhat; they have difficulty finishing, which is annoying.” 

Zoom and Skype also have a mute button.  Perhaps Mr. Michael and Mr. Mori should practice using it.

 

Vocabulary:

to conduct (a meeting) – to carry out (a meeting)

to be bothersome –to be annoying or troublesome

to moan about something – to complain about something in a way which seems weak or annoying to others

 

The Little Sumo and the Huuumh, part 3 －小さなお相撲さんと、ふぅぅぅ～ん パート3－

In parts 1 and 2, the Little Sumo heard something small flying past his ear, making a Huuumh noise.  It wasn’t a mosquito, but was a green alien with three eyes, which was flying around in a doughnut-shaped ship.  It landed on a mini tomato, and when the Little Sumo looked at it through a magnifying glass, he was shrunk down to the size of a mosquito.  The green alien then started to talk to him in a strange way, giving his answers before the Little Sumo had asked his questions. 

* 

“Thank you so kindly,” said the alien. 

The Little Sumo was really confused now.  The conversation seemed to be in the wrong order, all twisted like a doughnut.  Perhaps the alien was giving his answer before the Little Sumo could ask his question.  The alien had just said thank you, so the Little Sumo had to say something which would make him say thank you. 

“So you want to meet my leader?  Well, I’m not sure which one is the leader, exactly.  But I could introduce you to Mummy and Daddy,” he said. 

The alien stared at the Little Sumo, and blinked with all three of his eyes.  “Kill them, of course,” he said. 

* 

Part 3: 

The Little Sumo thought carefully.  He was in a very dangerous situation!  Because the conversation was the wrong way round, he had to say something which would make the alien say, “Kill them, of course.” 

“Umm, What would you do…?” said the Little Sumo, before he paused to think some more.  “What would you do if you were attacked by some angry blood sucking mosquitos?” he asked. 

The green alien blinked with his three eyes again.  He didn’t seem to be happy.  The Little Sumo’s question had worked, and had saved Mummy and Daddy. 

The alien spoke again.  “Cut them into little pieces with a knife.” 

The Little Sumo thought very carefully.  “What should you do with vegetables to make a salad?” he said. 

The alien frowned.  He hadn’t cut anyone into little pieces, so the Little Sumo’s question had worked again! 

The alien spoke once again.  “Trying to invade the Earth and become its leader!” he said, sounding angry. 

What a difficult answer to find a safe question for!  The Little Sumo started to think, but he was distracted by a very strange sight.  Behind the alien and his ship, Daddy’s face had appeared high in the sky.  It was the size of a mountain.  His eyes were like lakes.  His mouth was like a black hole.  Daddy’s mouth was like a black hole, because he had opened it.  Just then the ground started to shake.  Daddy had picked up the mini tomato, and he was going to eat it! 

Quickly, the Little Sumo turned to the alien and said, “What crime deserves the greatest punishment?” 

That question answered the alien’s answer, which had been, “Trying to invade the Earth and become its leader.”  The green alien was jumping up and down now, and seemed very angry. 

But the Little Sumo didn’t have much time to think about the alien.  He had to act quickly, or he would be eaten by Daddy.  He had been shrunk when he looked at the alien through his magnifying glass.  Perhaps if he ran to the other side of the doughnut ship and looked through the magnifying glass again, the change would happen the other way round.  He might become big again. 

The Little Sumo ran as fast as he could around the alien’s doughnut ship, and pulled out his magnifying glass.  He looked up to see Daddy’s giant teeth coming down on him from above.  He looked through the glass. 

Crunch! 

“Where have you been,” asked Mummy.  “Did you run off to the toilet?” 

The Little Sumo was full sized again, and was standing beside his high chair at the dinner table.  He watched as Daddy chewed the last of the mini tomato. 

“I thought you were hiding under the table,” said Daddy.  “By the way, I ate your mini tomato – the one you had left on your napkin.  I don’t know why you didn’t want to eat it.  It was tasty, lovely and crunchy.” 

“Pfthlimnani!” said the Little Sumo, happily.  Pfthlimnani was a good sound that he had imagined.  The little green alien with three eyes and a doughnut ship, who made a Huuumh noise, who had conversations the wrong way round, and who wanted to invade the Earth was gone. 

“Who wants to eat a doughnut,” said Daddy.  “I’ve got a strange desire to eat a doughnut.”

 

Vocabulary:

to frown – to squeeze the muscles of your forehead, to show disappointment, disapproval or concentration

to invade somewhere – to forcefully enter a country or area to try to take control of it with weapons or force

 

The Eyes All Around －周りの目－ ジャパンタイムズに記事が掲載されました

I wrote an article for the Japan Times about the Japanese phrase, “hito no me.”

My wife warned me to put a mask on our young son in case people around us got angry that he wasn’t wearing one.  I tried to find some other examples of “hito no me”, including my sister-in-law watching my increasing weight, and strangers watching the length of my shoelaces.  You can read it here:

ウィルのジャパンタイムズの記事リンク（2021/2/1）