Daruma-san Ga Koronda

In Japan, there is a game that kids play called “Daruma-san ga koronda”. The game features one person who is “it” and that person turns her back on all the other players who are waiting in a line (all facing her) a few meters away from her. The “it” girl says “Daruma-san ga koronda!!” and the line of kids starts to advance. After she yells the words (quickly or slowly for dramatic effect, as she prefers), she quickly turns around and everybody has to freeze. The point of the game is to get to the “it” girl without her seeing you move.

The following video is of a kitty called “Moire” who seems to have a good grasp of the rules of this game.

Here is the original post on the More Moire website.

“Daruma” means dharma doll and “” means “the dharma doll fell down”. You can read more about daruma on Wikipedia.

Do You Speak Cat?

Original

Translation

Hamster Meets Broccoli

A 13-day old hamster named Mocha meets broccoli for the first time. Be sure to watch his feet.

More videos from the same hamster owner available here.

You Oughta Watch Some Otters

We don’t really have a category for otters on this site, but we try not to exclude animals of any persuasion. This video is just really heartwarming, so I thought I would share it with you on a lazy Saturday morning. (Not much happens, so don’t expect car chases or even scene changes.)

Definitive Introduction to LOLCATs Phenomenon

Here is an excellent video (set to The Cure’s “Love Cats”, which if you squint your ears sounds just like “lolcats”) that will give you a sense of the lolcats phenomenon.

Funniest Japanese Pets of 2004

I found this video about the funniest Japanese pets of 2004 when I was searching for something else. Japanese TV has all sorts of ranking shows, so I might be able to find other examples of this kind of thing if I dig around some more. It seems like this segment might be from a New Year’s special or something. (I tried to embed the video in this post, but it didn’t work, so please click on the above link to watch it.)

Here are the winners.

5. Tape Dog
4. Big Stick Dog
3. Sit-up Walrus
2. Dancing Cat
1. Floating Dog

Neko Nabe

Apparently neko nabes are quite popular in Japan these days.

Makes me want to go and buy a full-sized nabe for my little furball. (I’m sure she would probably prefer the small one even though there is no chance that she would fit. Ever notice how cats have difficulty admitting to their size?)

Lolcats and Cheezburgers

Have you heard about lolcats and the i can has cheezburger website? If you are looking for a way to waste a few minutes (or hours if you find that you like this kind of humour), hop on over to the site and browse a few days’ worth of pictures.

A “lolcat” is a picture of a cat with a caption on it saying what the cat is thinking or describing what is happening in the picture. (“LOL” is internet slang for “laughing out loud”.) The icanhascheezburger website is a place where you can share such pictures. You can read more about the genesis of this idea on their about page.

The cats use a special language in the pictures that has its own syntax. It might take a while for you to follow what is being said and find common patterns (e.g. ur = your, incorrect conjugation of verbs, etc.). If you like computer programming, you might find lolcode funny too.

(And if you like lolcats, you might want to try dogslol too!)