Rice production cow

I have discovered a wonderful resource, which will guarantee you hours (or at least minutes) of entertainment (or at least befuddlement). It is Honyaku Yahoo, a page that will translate Japanese into English for you. Now you, too, can read Japanese web pages!

When I found this page I decided to test it using the Japanese version of the Asahi Shimbun, even though it has an English version as well. They don't put everything into the English version, and I've always been convinced they're hiding the most interesting stories from us resident foreign semi-literates.

It appears I was right. In the English version we NEVER get stories with headlines like these (give it time to translate):

A rice production cow self-restraint does not reach an in-flight meal for infants

It is acquittal district court Hachioji branch office to a summary order, an office worker with "a pervert"

There are no rice production cows in the English newspapers, nor any office workers with perverts. They don't want us to know, obviously.

Unfortunately the translation page itself is in Japanese. It's easy, though. Just go to Honyaku Yahoo and select the fourth option from the left (the one that says 日⇒英), then paste in the url you want translated and hit the obvious button. The translator gags on pages that are too long, so if you get an error message you can't read, that's probably what it's telling you.

If you want to see what your blog looks like in Japanese, you can do it the other way, too. One blog entry at a time is all it can handle, I discovered. Here is one of mine: The Dance in Japanese, to bewilder my Japanese readers.