The English may say, 'where there's a will there's a way', and the Japanese, 'a concentrated mind pierces even a rock', but the meaning is clearly the same; 'too many boatmen sail the boat up the hill' may be the same as the English, 'too many cooks spoil the broth', but the Japanese version has a delightful absurdity about it which is illustrated in Kathryn Lamb's witty cartoon.