More Hilarious Haiku About The Small Mysteries Of Modern Life

I know you’ve just been WAITING for more amusing observations and subtly ironic drawings about modern life from Yamada Zenjido (the artist who goes by y_haiku), so for those of you who (like me) are not exactly goddess-like at reading handwritten Japanese, here are a few choice ones in translation!

May it perk up your spirits in these trying times to know that all over the world, some things always make people stop and think WTF WHY?

Two years later,

Why did someone push

The like button?

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Driving down the road,

Passing your car’s twin

Is a strange feeling.

•

How could someone think

Those stars

Look like a goat?

•

I don’t want that bonus prize

But somehow

I can’t refuse to take it.

•

Filling up the coffeemaker

Next to a toilet

Just feels wrong.

•

Someone knocks a rice ball onto the floor

Then quickly puts it back on the shelf.

Why do I feel guilty?

•

I don’t want to be

The first one

To put up my umbrella.

•

Miso soup

Drunk from a glass

Doesn’t taste right.

•

Missed subway stop

I get off at the next one

Pretending it’s mine.

•

Still annoyed

When the pirated wifi

Cuts out.

•

The train is empty

Why does he have to choose a seat

So close to me?

•

If you’re a kanji god, you can be amused early and often by these gems if you follow the artist on Twitter (@y_haiku) and/or Instagram (instagram.com/y_haiku/).

And thanks to Hiroyuki Otomo, who helped me translate the peskier characters.

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Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Japan, produces the monthly newsletter Japanagram, and blogs at Only In Japan and The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had