A wonderful day down by the Yodo river in Osaka.

Oh? What’s this important looking sign?

Why, there’s a sleepy frog on it, and look! He’s sitting on a lily pad!

「ゴミはもちカエル」 

「公園利用者の方が心地 よく過ごせるようにゴミはすべてお持ち帰りください。」

First let’s look at「ゴミはもちカエル」, or,  bad  Japanese puns!

「ゴミ」means “trash, waste, rubbish, litter, etc”, and is usually written in hiragana.

「持ち帰る」is how 「もちカエル」is usually written. The verb 「持つ」means to hold, have, or carry, and the verb 「帰る」means to “go back”. Together, 「持ち帰る」means to “carry something back with you”. On this sign, 「帰る」is written in katakana, as 「カエル」, and there is a picture of a sleepy looking frog next to it… As you probably know, in Japanese, 「蛙」is pronounced 「かえる」and means… Frog. So it’s pronounced the same as 「帰る」, which makes it funny.

Bad Japanese jokes are like this. When you hear them the proper response is… 「さむい！」

I’ll break down this next long line for next time!

「公園利用者の方が心地 よく過ごせるようにゴミはすべてお持ち帰りください。」

So long for now!

- Harvey