2/25/2005: Writing sea lion
 

http://cellar.org/2005/writingsealion.jpg

This is Jonao, a sea lion, and he's writing the Chinese character for
"rooster". This entertaining display was developed for the new year
celebration at the Sea Paradise aquarium in Yokohama Tokyo.

I bet even though he's asked for fowl, they're feeding him fish again.

We have to take their word for it that that means "rooster".

Yeah. Looks just like it.

Charlie Tuna?
 

maybe at least they'll give him this.

Somehow, animals with only one head seem kind of pedestrian after the last couple IotDs.

It looks more like the symbol for "door" or "gate" to me... that's what I thought before I read the caption.

Ah, he must be saying, "How the hell do I get out of here?" :)

By the looks of his eyes & teeth he'd rather be killing than writing........

Freudian slip, he's planning on making abreak for it. :)

NO WAY is that rooster, this is taking place in Japan. Rooster is usually written in Hiragana like this おんどり　(I hope that shows up), pronounced ONDORI.

I'm sure it is NISHI 西 (west). I can tell because my written Kanji (Chinese characters used in Japan) looks about as good!

Gate 門　(mon) was a good guess though.

I never thought I would install Japanese characterset into my computer
(I'm swedish),but now I couldn't resist it... I just had too see them.. :)
And yep, looks like Nishi.
You know what.. I gonna keep this set installed. :)

Thanks Izanagi for enlighten me. :D
Oh, forgot.. Welcome to the Cellar Izanagi. :)
(hope I don't get beatup by xoB by taking his job.)

Wormfood Thanks for the welcome! :thumbsup:

Plus you answered my question, I guess nobody can see the Japanese characters unless they have the right software.

So for anyone who is else who is interested and doesn't want to download a program;

nishi:
http://www5.big.or.jp/~otake/hey/kan...ji/f2/nisi.gif

mon:
http://www.ofin.com/kanji/f3-014.html

Sorry there is no way to show ONDORI as it is multiple Hiragana characters, but here is a Hiragana chart:
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~IF2N-SZK/hiragana.html

O: The last character in the top line
N: The last character in the 10th line
DO: The 5th character in the 13th line
RI: The 2nd character in the 9th line

As you can see ONDORI looks nothing like what the sea lion is writing. :confused:

OH WELL!!! He can join me in remedial Kanji class this semester ;)

I'm on OSX here, they all show up perfectly, thanks for the more informed opinion.

Hmm, I guess it is nishi.

On another topic, calligraphic ink is extremely permanent if spilled on fabric... Jonao looks extremely black to me. :)

it's rooster
 

hi, it's "rooster", of course.
This character is used only for this meaning.
酉
it's similar to "west", nishi.
西
Usually, to mean rooster (animal, meat, etc) the character
鶏
is used.
The symbols for the other animals of year also differ from the normal ones.
mouse...子(for the symbol of year)...鼠(for the animal)
cow...丑...牛
tiger...寅...虎
etc.

Oh,they use a different character so you can tell the difference between a symbol of national importance and dinner. That's a good idea :thumbsup:
Do most characters have multiple meanings depending on the context they used in? If so, since the characters for denoting the critter of the year are often standing alone, they should be unique.
Hmmm....inscrutable comes to mind. :biggrin:
Thanks lorcafed...and since Wormfood is goofing off somewhere, let me welcome you to the Cellar.

Yeesh, ya can't get good help these days I don't know what will become of these kids they're never around when ya need