Thursday, November 24, 2011

Really? Was There A Question Here, Really?

In yesterday's newspaper, there was a report that Wakao Ayako (b. 1933) has been named a special adviser to the National Police Agency on the prevention of bank transfer fraud -- which means that Wakao Ayako will be featured on posters this year warning the elderly to not immediately wire money to persons claiming to be friends, relatives or bill collectors -- a burgeoning crime (at least in monetary terms, if not in the number of reported incidents).

Here is the photo that accompanied the story.

Check out the caption at the bottom.

If you are a Japanese speaker, you are probably, as I was, laughing your tail off.

For the benefit of the non-Japanese speakers, the caption reads:

"Named an adviser to the National Police Agency on preventing bank transfer fraud, Wakao Ayako (second from the right) and others. Photo provided by the National Police Agency."

No...Wakao Ayako is not the African American dude.

She's not the dog.

And she's not the middle-aged policeman.

Someone in the editorial offices has a very dry sense of humor...or no sense of humor at all.

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6 comments:

  1. F.11:12 AM

    you shouldn't be too sure about the dog, though...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous11:26 AM

    After reading your lead but before the comment about the photo, I thought that the joke might be the first half of the caption:

    Named the National Police Agency bank transfer fraud prevention adviser, Wakao Ayako (second from right) and others

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous10:41 PM

    Hey, isn't that black guy the one in the Softbank Wi-Fi commercials (and talking with a talking dog, both in Japanese)?

    ReplyDelete
  4. MTC9:03 AM

    Anonymous #2 -

    Yes, and Wakao Ayako plays the grandmother in the same series of Softbank commercials.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous4:02 AM

    Some dogs have two names. Wakao Ayako could have been the dog.

    ReplyDelete
  6. MTC9:30 AM

    Anonymous #3 -

    Yes, but then in dog years she would be 476 years old.

    ReplyDelete