Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Kojima Yoshio : English Teacher!


Comedian Yoshio Kojima trys his hand at teaching English...

During my last trip to Japan, I must have heard "Sonna no kankei nai" a million times -- at restaurants and izakaya (Japanese style watering holes), on the streets, and from Japanese friends. It wasn't long before I got my first taste of the speedo-clad Yoshio Kojima, a half-Brazilian, half-Japanese graduate of the prestigious Waseda University, singing and prancing around half-naked, jumping, humping, pumping his his fist towards the floor and stomping his foot. Now you, too, can enjoy this Japanese comic fad at it's finest.(Translated below).

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Woman: (Hoping for help from Kojima, she reads him her homework)
Kojima: Wow, you're horrible! That's not even close!
Woman: It's been so long since I read English...
Kids: Well then, you read it!
Kojima: Shall I read it for you? That's not smooth at all, and there's so much space between the words foreigners will never understand you!
Woman: Well then, Mr. Kojima, if you would, please...
Kojima: (Brilliant English-- no translation needed!)
Woman: What language is that?
Kojima: It's English!!!

♪♪♪ Acutally I can't read English、but that doesn't matter! ♪♪♪
Hai, OPPAPI!

*(Note: Oppapi supposedly stands for "Ocean Pacific Peace". Does that explanation sounds dubious to anyone else?)

...And Japanese!

Kojima attempts to help a young boy learn a kanji, or Chinese character...

Koijima: This is the character "naku", "to cry," Ok?
Boy: Naku (to cry).
Kojima: Naku. To Cry. This is easy. Umm... (baby cries) will you be quiet? Uh... first, WHOA! Don't pull my undies down, OK?! That's dangerous!

(Begins to draw) This is a crying... Do you got it? It's a crying person. Crying. He is crying. Crying. Cryin'. Cry crai cra crr cr... CRYING!

(Kojima shows the progression of the kanji from picture to pictograph)

Boy: I still don't quite understand...
Kojima: You still don't understand? Ok, but this is how I got into Waseda...

Wow. When you explain kanji like that, it really starts to make sense! I bet naku is one kanji that boy will never forget.


Much thanks to Japan Probe for always bringing the best of Japanese TV to the blogsphere, and for being a much cooler blog than this will ever be. m(- -)m

1 comment:

Abbey said...

3B at my so-so school (you know who I'm talking about) has "Oppappi-!" as their recent motto - as an acronym for Opinion, "Passtion" and something else with a P. It actually works though, to encourage them to speak up in class - if I ever say it, they laugh and raise their hands! Thanks, Yoshio!