I saw these masks for sale in the market surrounding the temples in Asakusa, Tokyo and managed to snap a quick photograph.
TOP LEFT: Miyuki Hatoyama is a former member of the legendary Takarazuka Theatre Troupe who claims to have been abducted by aliens from Venus while she slept. In the cartoon, she says to the alien, “Let’s go to Venus in the spirit of friendship!” In the background, Hatoyama races after her shouting, “Take me too!”
TOP RIGHT: Yukio Hatoyama is the current Prime Minister of Japan (as of November 2009) and characterised as being connected with ‘peace’ in this cartoon. That might be because of his name (‘hato’ means pigeon or dove), but either way he’s riding a giant dove and shouting “All right! Attack!”
BOTTOM LEFT: Michelle Obama says, “I’m the SUPER LADY! I ♥ OBAMA.” Obama clutches her arm, shouting “Honey~!”
BOTTOM RIGHT: Barack Obama is President of the USA and internationally renowned politician. If I need to explain who he is, you might as well give up on this post. In any case, he simply says, “YES WE CAN”. In English.
I remember reading about Miyuki Hatoyama’s, er, extensive travel experiences. At least she smiles about it.
I also read that there’s a “learn English with Obama’s speeches” book, although I’m not sure that talking about healthcare is going to help when you’re trying to find the subway in New York.
She’s certainly distinctive. Like Koizumi, in a way.
I presume that’s for more advanced learners. And, let’s face it, subway directions aren’t particularly exciting. I made my biggest advances in Japanese by trying to do read/listen to stuff that should have been too difficult for me.