"you haven't seen nothing." Could that be more Mockney??

The Tanuki is a major character in Tom Robbins' book, "Villa Incognito". He drums on his testicles, "Thump, thump, thump."

Delightfully funny.

From Wikipdia entry on the book:

One of the most quoted lines from the book is the very first, setting the tone for this Tom Robbins adventure: "It has been reported that Tanuki fell from the sky using his scrotum as a parachute."

In fact, now I have to check tonight if I still have a copy and re-read it immdiately!

I can't decide my favorite woodblock print. I've got it down to two:

1) "Catfish mallet"

2) "Cause of chronic abdominal pain"

Here is the link to the video of the most famous tanuki on the web.

http://www.gamespot.com/users/CrashSpyro123/video_player?id=dyZgljL95bgLuzHW

Yes, the raccoon-dogs use their testicles to fly around and perform household chores. Even better, it's an environmental film, seemingly aimed at a child audience, where the cute little woodland creatures band together and KILL the construction workers about to destroy their homes. TCM showed it at midnight during their Ghibli marathon. As one friend said of it "It's tragic that American children don't get to see shit that is this fucked up." She meant it as a compliment.

It is on DVD.

Girl with 56 stars tattooed on face admits she asked for them

A teenage girl who claimed 56 stars were tattooed on her on her face as she slept when she asked for three has admitted she was awake the whole time – and lied because her father was "furious".

http://tinyurl.com/l3xuqa

Kids do the darndest things.

:)

This is great stuff Andrew, but never in America..

Heh, funny part is, Studio Ghibli is a branch of Disney whose sole purpose is releasing Hiyo Miyazaki's films in English, including Pom Poko. Which means, yes, there is an honest-to-god Disney movie about raccoons with magic testicles.

Sorry, Pom Poko was made by Isao Takahata, a frequent collaborator with Miyazaki.

Disney has "video rights to all of Ghibli's output that did not have previous international distribution". To say Studio Ghibli is a branch of Disney is rather thoroughly wrong.

Now go see Pom Poko, readers.

Mario's tanuki suit did not have giant balls. It's a shame; I suspect they would have been rather functional.

Tanukis rule! Every time I pass one of those little stands all over the New York City metropolitan area that sells Asian figurines, I look for a tanuki, but I can't find one. Buddha and those dopey nekos, and even apes, but no tanuki. It's a travesty.

The Japanese are far from ideal in their outlooks, but I do enjoy their nonrepressive attitudes toward things that are considered beyond the pale in the U.S. In Tochio, a small mountain town, they have a penis festival every year. A bunch of young maidens ride a 12-foot penis carved from a tree trunk, and carried by the men, through the streets. Everybody gets drunk. The old men seem to favor fish saki, which is saki with a cooked fish in it. I have a priceless photo of my gaijin daughter riding the penis.

It was there I first (and for the only time, thank god) drank garlic wine and onion wine. Which are, actually, made from garlic and onion.

They also love English slogans, though it does not seem they are always are of the English meanings. The first t-shirt I remember seeing when I arrived in Nagaoka read (in English): The Raccoon Dog Sleeps Tonight.

I'm the guy who imported "See you later, Alligator; after while, Crocodile" into Japanese. Since they don't have either creature, only something similar, the call and response are the same: "Mato Ato, Wanisan."

My wife reports:

I learned the song as a kid – we were told that the “raccoon” played his tummy like a drum… Years later I found out the truth.

. . . but they are part of the canine family.

I second the posters recommending Pom Poko. It is one of our family favorites. And, even though the children don't speak Japanese all that well, the environmental message comes through loud and clear.

In any case, these prints, because you can't really tell what they are, are pretty tame compared to shunji.

Tom Robbins, a NYT best-selling author begins his novel, Villa Incognito, with the following line:

"It has been reported that Tanuki fell from the sky using his scrotum as a parachute."

That's a fun one for you. Tanukis remain an important element for the folklore in the remainder of that novel.

Tom Robbins wonderful novel "Villa Incognito" (for the record, EVERY Tom Robbins novel I've read is wonderful) is all about tanuki and their rather volumunous testicles. Not terribly relevant to your story, but I can't see a mention of tanuki without thinking of Villa Incognito with a smile :)

My daughters and I love the movie, Pom Poko, and discovered it in our pursuit of Hiyao Miyazaki's films (although this one is done by Isao Takahata, a Miyzaki collaborator). My favorite way to watch this beautiful film is in Japanese, with English subtitles. If you only watch it with an English soundtrack, you will see that the Disney folks "sanitized" it for young viewers, calling it something else, a pouch or something. The Japanese is translated exactly to mean "testicles". It is a beautiful film with an excellent message about the environment. You'll love the superior animation, although the attention to detail varies between typical cartoon fare and realistic interpretation. My kids are high school and college age, but I wouldn't have hesitated to show it to them as young children.