Tierpark can fix that

There's nothing in the world a visit to the Tierpark can't fix . . . well, except for my hay fever.

Tastes like banana

Is it just me . . . ?

(*weizen = wheat beer)

Small World

He was one of the project coordinators at the gallery. Boggles my mind.

Squirrels are complicated

Why's it so impossible to pronounce in every single language (except for Japanese)? Is it as weird-sounding in other languages too?

Fun Times with German Bureaucracy

Bah! But hardly the end of the world. I'll get it all figured out!

Happy 500 Posts!

Whoop whoop!

To celebrate my 500th post, I made a very Japanese-y Yonkoma (literally, four panel) comic about weird English apartment names in Japan. The address system in Japan is super complicated (I was also trying to explain the Japanese address system to G, and it was way more challenging than I imagined it would be. Maybe I'll get a comic out of that too.), so these stupid apartment names actually come in handy when it comes to finding the right building.

It would have been slightly weird to have to ask official documents from overseas to be sent to "Urban Royal Palace". I'm glad my building had a significantly less obnoxious name.

Oh, and here's an example of one of my favourite 4-panel comics, Kobo-chan:

Whoops

Yikes! I don't know how I did it, but I apparently forgot to save the changes I made to the all but one panel for today's comic. D'oh! Alas, I'll have to post them tomorrow. Sorry! But here's my first panel! Obviously set in Japan . . .

We've just met

I babysat these really awesome girls aged 7 and 9 last night. I think I got really lucky because they were really, really sweet and we spent a good chunk of the time together playing Wii and drawing comics. It's been so long since I've last interacted with kids and I'd forgotten how fun they can be. I also got about a week's worth of comic material . . . ha!

昨日はすっごく明るい７歳と９歳の女の子たちのシッターをしてきました。本当に良い子達でラッキーだった上、彼女たちのおもしろ発言だけで１週間分ぐらいのネタゲット。笑　子供ってホントに面白い！

Nyan Waits

Nyan Waits!

Deep Profound Thoughts

Running still makes me say weird things

I have no idea where this came from.

「ランニング中のやっぱり謎な発言」

Previous weirdness here: Running makes me say weird things.

前回の謎の発言：「ランニング中の謎な発言」

Bed Time Bonsai

Bedtime-related comics!

「ベッドタイム・ボンサイ」

Why did you have to say that

Inappropriate mama is inappropriate.

「しらないからね」

Too obscene for my blog

I was all like, "Score! Free comic!" and then . . . yeah. My other dream was that I was Brett from the Flight of the Conchords and was touring with Jemaine around Australia.

「ブログにはちょっと．．．」

I look like a nerdlinger

Bonus Bonsai! Woot!

It's going in the wash anyway

「どうせ洗うし」

Buffet Couture

This is where bag dresses come in handy.

That was slightly depressing

Too many comics, too little time.

Knew it

Every single time, without fail.

「やっぱりね」

Running makes me say weird things

日本語バージョンも：「ランニング中の謎な発言」

Mustard

Ach! 11:58PM! Just barely made it!

日本語バージョン

Productive...kind of

「はかどって...ない」

Aronal VS Elmex

Apparently one is for mornings and the other for evenings.

朝用、夜用はみがき粉と分かれているそうです。ドイツらしい...

Mr. Snufflemuffin

Happy Easter! Frohe Ostern!

G and I also decorated eggs yesterday. Not very Eastery, but it was fun. 

Virgin - バージン

Translation of the comic "Virgin" from March 16.
3月16日の"Virgin"を訳してみました。

Bro

The real reason why I can't leave Facebook.

More Grey

Ahem. And have I mentioned grey is my favourite colour?

「グレー」

The Wrong "Fore"

G's reaction to Josh's guest strip yesterday.

Guest Strip by Josh Bauman!

Moin moin from Bremen!

For today's comic I present to you: my first ever guest strip drawn by the brilliant Josh Bauman of Caffeinated Toothpaste! I've been hanging out with the Josh and the awesomely-talented illustrator/monster-tamer Johan at their studio lately. It's an awesome experience

You can check out Josh's daily comic at www.caffeinatedtoothpaste.com (my guest strip for his site will be featured at 6:00PM CEST today) and Johan's illustrations at http://www.johanpotma.com/.

Now off to go running!

You Hung Up...

Aaaand the Japanese version! 日本語バージョンも！

All righty. Off to Bremen for Easter then!

Bonsai in Japanese?

I have a few friends in Japan who speak English and check my blog now and then, but otherwise I get barely any hits from Japan. It just occurred to me that this makes me kind of sad because I'm Japanese and I'd like some Japanese readers who could relate to my comics. And that it's probably impossible to gain Japanese readership in English.

So yes. I'm thinking of translating some of my comics into Japanese. I'm not really sure why I'd never thought of this. I usually work Japanese -> English when I do translation work, but it's not like I can't work the other way around. Plus, it's my own stuff so I can work freely, and it's good practice anyway.

That being said, I still do want to keep BMB in English, so I'll have to determine whether I want to have a separate site or not. I probably won't translate everything (some things are just pointless to try to translate and there's also panel order...) and I'll want to do the text by hand if possible, but I think I'll give it a try. 

Anywho. Here's my first attempt at translating today's comic. Is it just me, or does it suddenly look all . . . manga-esque? 

[日本にも私のマンガを読んでくれる友達が何人かいるんだけど、それ以外の日本の読者はほぼゼロ（多分）。それってなんだか悲しいな、と今日始めて思いました。やっぱり自分は日本人だし、私のマンガを読んで共感してくれる日本人の読者の方がもっといたらなぁ。やはり英語で書き続けても日本人の読者の輪は広がらないし．．．

というわけで、私のマンガを日本語に訳してみようと思います。なんで今まで気がつかなかったんだろう？大体仕事で翻訳をする場合は日本語を英語に訳すけど、反対が全然できないわけでもないし。しかも、作者が自分だから自由に訳せるし、いい練習にもなるし。

とは言え、Bring Me Bonsaiのサイトは英語のみにしておきたいので、日本語サイトを立ち上げるかどうかも考えなくちゃいけないし。マンガも全部が全部訳して面白いものでは無いし、コマの方向とか順番も違うし、出来れば全部手書きでしたいけど、とにかく試してみようと思います。

とりあえず、今日のマンガを訳してみました。日本語にしたら急になんだかすごく日本のマンガっぽく見えるのは私だけ？日本語になってもあんまり違和感が無いかも？]