Oregon-Senshu Fall '97:
Professor "Tok" Iwabuchi's Mystery Photo



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Name: Leslie Opp-Beckman
Date: Oct 20 1997
Email: leslieob@oregon.uoregon.edu
Answers: I have no idea who this little dude is. Is he from a cartoon? Is he from an advertisement? I have never seen him in the U.S. on any Japanese products..... What do the rest of the tutors think?
Comments: Guessing, definitely! Iwabuchi-sensei: Please don't give the answer yet! (Let's let the discussion run 10-14 days and build a body of comments/discourse, okay?)

Name: Kyle Watt
Date: Oct 21 1997
Email: kwatt@gladstone.uoregon.edu
Answers: I have absolutely no idea!
Comments: What in the world is this supposed to be? I'm guessing that this little guy is some company's symbol? Or maybe its just some cartoon character for children? I don't know....

Name: Tok Iwabuchi
Date: Oct 22 1997
Email: tiwabuchi@gkk.senshu-u.ac.jp
Answers: Thank you for your response, Kyle.
Comments: This is not a company symbol nor a cartoon character. This is not a human but an imanigary and traditional animal. Look at his hands and feet carefully although they are not depicted 100% correctly. There are both male and female of them and b oth children like this one and adults. They symbolize something very important for humans to live in. Their color is green and their skin is just like that of frogs, but they are as large as humans.

Name: Austin Bush
Date: Oct 22 1997
Email: abush@gladstone.uoregon.edu
Answers: KAPPA!!!!!!
Comments: This is funny because I just recently learned who that is! I live in the International Dorm at U of O, and am friends with many Japanese students. There is one girl (whose name I won't mention) who they call "Kappa" as a joke. I asked what i t was, and they described it and drew a picture!

Name: Nicole Kuwahara
Date: Oct 23 1997
Email: nykki@gladstone.uoregon.edu
Answers: It's a froggie turtle dude with a sunflower on his head with big ears =b
Comments: I'm just guessing... because I have no idea what this green guy is. He's cute though. I think he might bring goodluck to people as well as bring a smile to their face!

Name: Tok Iwabuchi
Date: Oct 23 1997
Email: tiwabuchi@gkk.senshu-u.ac.jp
Answers: You are lucky, Austin. Yes, this animal is called Kappa. The one I drew is a little boy. "Kappa" is often used as a nickname.
Comments: There is a little human girl's hair style that is called o-kappa. (o- is an honorific) This animal has no hair on top of the head but has long hair all around the head. "O-kappa" comes from this hair style although human little girls have hair on top. This animal has something vital on top of the head instead of hair.

Name: Nobuyuki Kawasaki
Date: Oct 28 1997
Email: c080550@gkk.senshu0u.ac.jp
Answers: This is a famous action movie's star.
Comments: This is a member of Ninjya "Tutles" in American movie. Really?

Name: Atsuko Hamazaki
Date: Oct 29 1997
Email: W090145@gkk.senshu-u.ac.jp
Answers: he lives in a pond and he is a mysterious living thing.
Comments: He is proverbial among Japanise.But nobody see him. He is a imaginary living. Thing which is on his head is important for him.Because it is source of life. there is water in his head. If water run out, he will die. Since he usually live in a pond

Name: Yoichi Mizushima
Date: Oct 30 1997
Email: c080353@gkk.senshu-u.ac.jp
Answers: "Kappa"
Comments: This is an imaginary animal. But real corpse remain in a Shinto shrine. I don't know this corpse is true or not. He is an amphibious animal, looks like child, has a bill with a sharp point, and has a shell and scales on his body. The plate on hi s head pour little water. Although he looks aborable, when the water remain on the plate, he drag other animals into water and suck blood. And "Kappa" means "raincoat" in Japanese.

Name: Tok Iwabuchi
Date: Oct 30 1997
Email: tiwabuchi@gkk.senshu-u.ac.jp
Answers: A piece of advice to Senshu students. Don't give answers. Let Oregon tutors guess.
Comments: Mizushima-kun is right. "Kappa" can mean a raincoat, but this "kappa" came from another source, a Portuguese word that means "cape," a long coat that covers your head. This word original means 'head' and can be found in English in the form of c apital, for example. Therefore, this animal called "kappa" has nothing to do with a rain coat. This animal used to live all over Japan, and there are variations from place to place, but generally speaking, it was a man's good friend and it symbolized so mething very important for people.

Name: Norio Sanbonmatus
Date: Nov 04 1997
Email: kouki@kt.rim.or.jp
Answers: This is "Kappa"!!
Comments: This is "Kappa" Kappa is very famous in Japan. They like to play "SUMO" with human being,and they are very strong. So if you want to win Kappa when you play SUMO, first you had beter to bow each other. Maybe you can see a bowl on Kappa's head. When some water is in the bowl on his head, Kappa become very strong. But if you bow before playing SUMO, the water will go out of that bowl on Kappa's head. If there is no water, Kappa become very weak. So you can win them easily.

Name: Ai Mori
Date: Nov 11 1997
Email: w080170@gkk.senshu-u.ac.jp
Answers: He is Kappa.
Comments: Kappa is Japanese imaginary monster The carapace on his back and the plate on his head are characteristic of his body. And these have important role for Kappa. He cannot be active if his plate is thirsty because of living in liver. So he keep water in his plate. His hands have a web. So he swim very well. He like a cucumber and alcohol. He like to do mischief, drawing children and horses into liver.