I read in today’s news that a giant panda called Shin Shin, who is housed at Ueno Zoo with a male panda, has given birth to twins. The news article said that the share price of restaurants near Ueno Zoo surged. This was in anticipation of a huge increase in the number of visitors to the Tokyo zoo.
People seem to get really excited about pandas. The Japanese language even has an expression which encapsulates this panda popularity. “Hito yose panda,” literally means, “A panda to draw the crowds.” You might describe a television celebrity, who suddenly decides to become a politician as a “Hito yose panda.” They don’t actually have to have any skill or knowledge. Their fame alone will draw attention to the party.
I think Boris Johnson, the British Prime
Minister, might be a panda to draw the crowds.
I can imagine him doing nothing all day but munching on food, and
occasionally rousing himself to try to make babies.
Vocabulary:
to surge – of waves, prices, etc. to
suddenly move upwards or forwards
to do A in anticipation of B – to do A, expecting to get or find B [eg. I went to university in anticipation of finding a good job after graduating.]
to encapsulate something – to neatly sum
up the essential features of something [eg. He is late again. His lateness encapsulates his bad attitude.]
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