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Column no. 170 - 161

You will see columns in the past; what I noticed about/in Thailand, about differences between Thailand and Japan and so on.
I'm wondering how long I can continue writing a column... :D

190-181

170-161

no. 170 - facebook page started -	26/Aug/2011
We have started a facebook page, mainly in Japanese, though. :D We put update information of this website and some other articles. ThaiSmile.jp facebook page We are going to put update information of this website or other information. If you have time, check it ! :D

no. 169 - Thai for Japan -

04/May/2011

Not only people in Japan but people from all over the world try to help the disaster suffers and the area of the catastrophic earthquake, the Tohoku Earthquake or the Japan Earthquake (March 11,2011).
If you know Thailand well, you already noticed this but messages from Thailand are shown on the net like below.

A lot of people, that is, students, policemen, people in stores, children to adults, tourists, etc, various people send cheering messages in Japanese, English or Thai. Deeply touching and also encouraging.

Thailand has provides various assistance to Japan and also is going to provide an entire electric generating facility to Japan. The facility is going to reach in Japan by the middle in May and run by August for the increase (or shortage) of electricity in summer. Entire facility ! Unbelievable.

Thailand to send electricity generators to help quake and tsunami-hit Japan
http://www.mcot.net/cfcustom/cache_page/188147.html
Thailand Sending Two Diesel Power Generators to Japan
http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/news_asia/2011-04-27/
Embassy of Japan in Thailand
http://www.th.emb-japan.go.jp/en/index.htm

no. 168 - Bus and other vehicles -

21/Mar/2010

Talking about transportation that is useful / convenient when you go out, what comes first ? Bicycles, cars, buses, taxies, or trains ? Now, let's talk about buses today.

When my wife's family visited Japan, her mom and dad used a bus and thought, "Buses in Japan are very nice to passengers !" That's because the bus kept stopped while passengers riding on, and started/stopped slowly.
(In Thailand, buses sometimes start running while passengers are still riding on or drivers drive wild.)

Thinking of buses, her mom said, "It must be really hard to ride a Shinkansen (bullet train) because it runs very very fast !". Of course, it was a joke. I got to know that later, though. :D

no. 167 - Bear and Panda -

05/Mar/2010

Did you have a good sleep last night ?
You didn't ? Oh, yeah ?
So you must have dark circles under your eyes. Right ? :D

In Japanese, this kind of dark circles under eyes are called "Kuma", and the word "Kuma" sounds similar to another word meaning "bear" in Japanese. You might see small bear faces are drawn under eyes in Japanese comics as a joke.
In Thai, the circles are called "panda eyes" like:
Taa pen mee pandaa loei na ?
(You have panda eyes !)

Talking about pandas, Thailand has pandas in Chiang Mai Zoo (north of Thailand). A baby panda was born last year in May, 2009 and panda fever spread across Thailand !
(I didn't know that. Her name is Lin Ping. The name means "forest of ice".)

related links: Lin Bing
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

no. 166 - Nobody - WonderGirls -

23/Feb/2010

Do you listen to other country's music ?

When we visited Thailand in May last year, kids of my wife's brother showed us their favorite group during our trip together with them.
The groovy rhythm, kind of old styled melody, simple but fascinating dance that drives you to copy it, they were a group with five cute girls and the video was not only music but a funny story and my wife and I became their fan in that moment.

You might know that but the group name is "Wonder Girls" and the music in the video was "Nobody". I thought they were Thai group but actually they are Korean. They are very popular in Thailand as well and even boys try to copy the music "Nobody". (very funny. :D )

If you like music, try and listen to them once.

Nobody (Wonder Girls) - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yz9LQy0rmq0
Nobody (Boys in Thailand) - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=031N31B4EvM
Wonder Girls Home Page
http://wondergirlsworld.com/blog_mu/

no. 165 - A long long break -

23/Jan/2010

I almost couldn't update this web site last year.
At first, it was supposed to be a little bit break but in the end, it was a long, long break. Only one or twice updates last year. :D How have you been, everyone ?

Last year, I felt I was getting busy at first, then, had to stay in a hospital in Bangkok, after that, in Japan also, and had to go overseas for business. Hmmm, It was a busy year ... ?

I really hope I can update the site.
When you have time, please drop by and check this site. :D

no. 164 - Lonely at night in Japan ?

01/Dec/2008

I guess many of visitors to Thailand go to Bangkok.
The first time when I visited Bangkok was a long time ago. I already got used to it but you'll see a lot of shops which sell food, clothes, shoes and so on, along sidewalks and the city is busy up to late at night with that kind of shops.

On the other hand, we live in the suburbs of Tokyo, Japan and shops like in Bangkok are not along sidewalks. At night, shops close around eight or nine o'clock and cars still come and go but not so busy. When my wife came from Bangkok to Japan, it made her feel like nights in Japan were a bit lonely.

She is already used to her life in Japan now and looks forward to events of each season such as Lucky bags for New Year's. Even so, walking outside at night sometimes makes her bring back that kind of feeling.
(Looks like she wants to go back home and see her family these days ? :D )

The next year is coming soon while I didn't notice that.
Take care, everyone. :)

- Lucky Bag:
Lucky bag, called "Fukubukuro" in Japanese, is a sealed shopping bag sold at stores on New Year's in Japan. The bag is full of various stuff (very discounted) such as clothes, groceries and accessories, depending on stores. It's quite popular especially among women like fantastic New Year's gift.

no. 163 - When did you come ?

18/Nov/2008

Everytime my wife and I go back to Thailand, we visit her family in Bangkok. They live with other families in the same area. Her mom's older sister lives next to her family and when I see her, she talks to me and asks me at first, "Maa Muarai ?" (When did you come ?) while smiling.

The first time when she asked me the question, I didn't understand it at all and I didn't know what I should do. Then my wife's dad came by (perfect timing !) and told her when I had come or my schedule in Thailand. I was really relieved. Whew ! :D "Okay, I'm sure I'll be able to answer her next time !", I thought strongly in my mind....

Next time when I visited there, then, she asked me again "Maa muarai ?" while smiling. Wow, the question came as I expected ! I got you ! Okay, that question ! I know that ! However, the thinking "the question came as I expected !" was too much strong and the answer didn't come up in my mind at all ! Can you imagine how I felt at that time ? What a shame ! In the end, I couldn't answer her again and I thought again, "Okay, I'm sure I'll answer the question next time "...

In Thailand, when people exchange greetings, the "Maa muarai ?" (When did you come ?) or "Gin khao rue yang ?" (Did you already eat ?) are sometimes used. (The second one is sometimes used by older people or in the countryside). It's wonderful to answer them with a smile even if it's not fluently. :)

no. 162 - four-leaf clover

26/Oct/2008

Do you ever try to find four-leaf clover in a field or a park ? Four-leaf clovers are the symbol of happiness and I often tried to find it in my childhood.
According to some information on the net, it looks like there are not four-leaf but five-, six- or more than that - leaf clovers. (I can't believe it.)

In Thailand, instead of four-leaf clovers, there are small flowers called "Dork Khem", like in the picture right, which usually have four red petals. People try to find five-petal flowers of it. If you find it, it will bring you good luck. (Wow)
I didn't notice that but it looks like a five-petal Dork Khem is trying to hide in the picture. Can you find it ? :D

I was wondering what people were doing but many try to find five-petal Dork Khems in a park or so. See Ayutthaya 1 - Wat Yai Chai Mongkol.
By the way, not only red but there are white coloured Dork Khem.

When you go to Thailand and visit a park, let's try and find it. It might bring you good luck during your trip. :D

no. 161 - Sweets box with a photo of someone's face

21/Sep/2008

In Japan, you will see food products like vegetables are wrapped with a farmer's photo who produced them to show and send you safety and trust at department stores.

One of what you notice in Thailand when you go to buy sweets is some boxes of sweets have photos of someone's face who look like the president or the owner of the company.
(Picture right: Sweets like buns. A woman's photo is printed on the box, not sure if she is the president or the owner, though.)

When I saw this kind of boxes for the first time, they were not familiar with me and I was wondering who they were. (I asked my wife, but she didn't know.) I felt curious or funny but it's maybe good to print like that to see who makes the product and this makes you feel safer.

Let's go and try to check sweets department when you visit Thailand. :)