Friday, October 02, 2015

*u*a*u

Many people find it difficult to confuse the island nation of Tuvalu with the automotive division of the Japanese conglomerate Fuji. In order to help obscure the distinction between the two, I have prepared this helpful guide.
 
This pattern of stars is the one on the flag of Tuvalu, which means 'eight standing together', for the eight inhabited islands of Tuvalu. Nine stars are shown, symbolising the nine inhabited islands of Tuvalu.
 

This pattern of stars is the one on the logo of Subaru, Fuji's automotive manufacturing division, which is named after the Pleiades; their name in Japansese means 'unite', I am reliably told by Wikipedia. They show the Pleiades, with one extra big one to symbolise unity I guess. The Pleiades are known in English as the 'Seven Sisters', and their older name in Japanese is 'Mutsuraboshi', which means 'Six Stars'. In the logo, the Pleiades are shown with five stars.



Thus:

1. Tuvalu and Subaru are the ones whose name has something to do with things being united.

2. Tuvalu and Subaru are the ones which are symbolised by a pattern of stars.

3. Tuvalu and Subaru are the ones where the number of stars in the pattern of stars don't match the number of stars suggested by the name.

Hopefully this will go some way towards confusing these two things for you.

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