(no post today.  The Wordsman is taking a holiday.)

Just kidding!  Sure would have been ironic, though, wouldn’t it?  (NOTE: please don’t overload the comments with debate on the definition of “ironic.”  We’ll be here all night.)

A. 敬老の日　B. 建国記念の日　C. 憲法記念日　D. 成人の日

E. 体育の日　F. 天皇誕生日

This week Theoman, who had the hardest task ahead of him, bravely set first foot into the fray.  He correctly identified the two characters forming the compound kinen, which means memorial or remembrance.  This narrowed his intimidating field down to two choices, and, as generally happens in KYPC, he picked the wrong one.  Instead of finding his way to C, when everyone celebrates the Constitution (which the Japanese love for some reason even though the Americans wrote it for them), he ended up at B, the ever-controversial National Foundation Day.  Depending on whom you talk to, it commemorates the day when the fictional Emperor Jimmu–who was a symbol of State Shinto, which, er, was rather a problem around the middle of the 20th century–first came to the throne in 660 BC.  But some people like controversy, so I guess I can’t argue with his choice.

At the other end of the controversy spectrum we have E, Health and Sports Day, identified by Scott (we’re going to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume his finger slipped when he typed “D,” because we’re pretty sure he knows better).  Ping-pong is an excellent sport because you don’t need a lot of fancy practice or expertise to play it (you just need these things to play it well).  This means that E is not Coming of Age Day, as Shirley thought; you don’t have to be a certain age to play sports.  Nor is it A, the Respect for the Aged Day that so alarmed her.  And the only answer up there that has to do with a birthday is F, the Emperor’s Birthday.  Kind of like Presidents’ Day in the U.S., I guess, except that it changes every time there’s a new emperor.  Also, there probably aren’t as many used car sales.

It seems I can’t write a paragraph this week without mentioning controversy.  When A Fan identified D as Coming of Age Day, he aroused a certain amount of debate regarding the difference between “cheating” and “research.”  While the Wordsman chooses to withhold definitive judgment on the subject, I will say that if you’re going to make the argument that you did research, you’d better go the whole ten yards.  For example, at what age to the Japanese come of age? (It’s not 18 or 21).  When is Coming of Age Day?  What can you do once you’ve come of age?  Come back with that, and then we’ll talk about research.

But anyway, on to a topic which everyone can always agree on: football.  Now that we find ourselves in the midst of the football season, I felt like doing a puzzle on NFL teams.  Since there are 32 teams we’ll split it up into two puzzles, with this one being about teams that are named after animals.  For those of you not up on your football, the possibilities are as follows: Bears, Lions, Rams, Seahawks, Cardinals, Panthers, Falcons, Eagles, Ravens, Bengals, Broncos, Chargers (arguably), Colts, Jaguars, and Dolphins.  A Fan, I think you already know what to look for.  Everyone else is on their own.  And if you want to do any “research,” be prepared to turn in an essay.

A. 海豚　B. 雄羊　C. 熊　D. 獅子　E. 猩猩紅冠鳥　F. 鷲　G. 渡烏