A time-lapse video of Shukkeien Garden, in the centre of Hiroshima.
This word is a shortened form of 土壇場キャンセル（どたんばきゃんせる）. It means ‘cancelling (or going back on a commitment or promise) at the last minute’.
土壇場 itself means ‘at the last monent’ or ‘at the eleventh hour’.
Today is February 2, 2010.
So what?- you might ask. Well, 2010 is, in the Japanese ‘nengo’ system, Heisei 22, which means that today is 22.2.2.
To commemorate this, Saijo Station (amongst others) has been selling special platform tickets today. No doubt there will be more such tickets on sale in just under three weeks, on February 22- 22.2.22.
If you need to write formal or semi-formal letters and emails in Japanese, then this page is a useful resource. It’s all in Japanese, but, if you’re writing letters in Japanese, that shouldn’t be a problem.
After Tomato Chocolate and Spinach Chocolate comes… Pumpkin Chocolate.
Similar to the tomato and spinach varieties, Pumpkin Chocolate comes in a packet containing two sticks. It has the same crunchy bits as the tomato and spinach varieties, too. What it doesn’t have, at least in my opinion, is any obvious pumpkin taste. There is some taste over and above the chocolate, and that taste is not entirely unpleasant, but I just wouldn’t recognise it as pumpkin.
So far, the spinach chocolate still has my vote.