Hannah Jane's school has a birthday party for all the kids birthdays for that month all in one day. Held on a Saturday (during school hours, no doubt), Rick and I could both go and catch a little video footage (below). After parading the birthday children around the room to the sound of game-show-y music while the other students clapped, the Sensei's led all the birthday children up on stage to stand one-by-one under a little birthday arch and be clapped for. After some song and dances, the children each spoke, telling everyone their names, how old they were, and what they wanted for themselves (a japanese version of "what you want to be when you grow up") Here's what Hannah Jane said:
In case your Japanese is rusty, what she said, according to the English-speaking Japanese mother next to me who assured me Hannah Jane spoke pretty clearly was this: "[When I grow up]...I want to be a pink frog."
After translating this for me, the Japanese mother says to me, "REALLY?! She wants to be a frog?!?"
Now while I'd like to think this answer may have been inspired by Disney's movie "The Princess and the Frog" which she'd just seen, I'm guessing not. But who cares, while I may not have understood a word she said, (and while not being the loftiest goal to have) I'm just happy she said something in Japanese.
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