WIT Life #138: Kaikai and Kiki Thanksgiving Parade Debut
Events, Translating/Interpreting, WIT Life, Writers 
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WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03). She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and here she shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! And for those of you are who are on the Japanese calender, I hope you had a relaxing 勤労感謝の日（kinrou kansha no hi or Labor Thanksgiving Day) this past Tuesday. Though there is no turkey or cranberry sauce on this Japanese holiday, it resembles our Thanksgiving in that it is an occasion to commemorate labor and production and give one another thanks.
This year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has a new addition from Japan, balloons of artist Takashi Murakami’s Kiki and Kaikai creations. They are following in the footsteps of Japanese predecessors such as Pikachu and Hello Kitty who have made appearances in past parades. This NYT article describes how Murakami carried out a Shinto purification ritual as the balloons were being blown up, and clearly captures his excitement regarding their debut. He was also interviewed on the Japanese news this morning, and spoke of Kaikai and Kiki like a proud papa. “Kaikai is the more stable, older brother, and Kiki is a bit rambunctious. I hope she behaves today.” (Incidentally, Kaikai Kiki is also the name of Murakami’s art production company.)
He also e
xplained the rationale behind writing their names in Japanese. “These days you often have local culture prized within international environments. I purposely avoided writing their names horizontally, and I would be happy if people were curious and wanted to know what it says.” Here you can see Murakami’s original design, which was then turned into clay models before being made into actual balloons. Murakami will be joining his offspring in a colorful turkey costume, so make sure to catch all three as they parade down the streets of Manhattan this morning!
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