Comments for blog.limedaley.com/post/rube-goldberg-in-japanese

Comment #680

2006-05-08T10:51:29Z

Hey guys, I was intrigued to find out what those words mean.. so I also asked my Japanses friend at university in the UK. Likewise, he told me that su-i-chi means "switch" (we can see the Western influence there) and was a bit unsure about the other part - since it is just a name for the show. I have however found another website which explains that pi-ta-go-ra means "pythagorean".

Really does remind me of the time that I studied Japanese at school! There are so many Westernisms for example.. Fu-to-bo-ro = Football!

Comment #679

2006-04-15T14:47:29Z

Aha! Thanks to your writing it out as "pitagora suitchi," I found an explanation on someone's blog:, and from there what is apparently the show's site (in Japanese).
(Now I'll send this and see if the links work right....)

Comment #678

2006-04-15T01:58:18Z

I don't watch Japanese TV, and I don't know what pitagora suitchi mean (something switch?), but I know NHK is like our BPS, so it's something produced by them (at the vern end of the video it says NHK). I'll try to remember to ask a friend.

Comment #677

2006-04-13T16:50:07Z

Wow indeed! I really liked the setup with the bridge that swung around and the tire that rolled the bridge into place!

Comment #676

2006-04-13T13:10:40Z

Awesome! The katakana symbols say "pi ta go ra su i chi" (I don't know how to write what the little "tsu" between "i" and "chi" does, but it makes the breath stop.) You can hear that's what is being sung at the end of each part. Since it's expressed in katakana, this is a foreign word (foreign to Japan, that is), but I haven't been able to make sense of it yet, if it's English, which it might or might not be. Nor do I have a clue about the song in the middle. JANET?

Comment #675

2006-04-13T11:46:11Z

Oh, I guess there is one other thing - What is this TV show, and can you translate the words of that little ditty?