How to Read “A flying bird’s menu”
tobu tori no kondate
Meaning of “A flying bird’s menu”
“A flying bird’s menu” is a proverb that warns against making detailed plans for uncertain future events that may not go as expected.
This proverb is used when someone makes detailed plans based on uncertain assumptions. It points out situations where people count on things that haven’t happened yet or are beyond their control, focusing only on what comes after.
Even today, some people spend hours planning how to spend lottery winnings. Others create promotion plans for companies where they haven’t even received a job offer yet.
When you say “That’s a flying bird’s menu,” you’re advising them to focus on what’s right in front of them first.
The essence of this proverb isn’t to reject planning itself. It teaches practical wisdom: don’t get the order wrong.
Thinking too far ahead without a solid foundation is meaningless.
Origin and Etymology
No clear written records explain the origin of this proverb. However, we can make interesting observations from how the phrase is constructed.
Let’s focus on the expression “flying bird.” Birds flying freely through the sky are unpredictable creatures. One moment they’re on a branch, the next they’ve flown far away.
Their movements depend on the wind and their mood. They don’t care about human expectations.
The idea of planning a “menu” for such a bird contains a certain absurdity. You’re planning how to cook a bird you haven’t caught yet.
In fact, you don’t even know when it will fly by. This clearly reverses the proper order, like counting your chickens before they hatch.
Japan has long had many proverbs warning against the foolishness of counting on things you don’t have yet. This proverb belongs to that tradition of teachings.
Using the everyday word “menu” made it relatable wisdom that everyone could understand. It likely spread because of this accessibility.
This proverb expresses the danger of premature planning through familiar subjects: birds and cooking. It’s folk wisdom born from common sense.
Usage Examples
- You keep planning your business, but that’s a flying bird’s menu—you need to save money first
- Choosing furniture for living alone before the acceptance announcement? That’s a flying bird’s menu if I ever saw one
Universal Wisdom
Behind the continued telling of “A flying bird’s menu” lies a fundamental human psychology. It’s the pleasure we get from imagining an uncertain future.
Everyone feels a special excitement when daydreaming about things they don’t have yet. Time spent free from real constraints, imagining only ideal outcomes, may be the happiest moments.
The days before lottery numbers are announced are often the most enjoyable. This perfectly captures this psychology.
However, our ancestors also recognized the danger in this sweet fantasy. When you become too absorbed in future plans, you neglect what needs doing now.
Without taking a single solid step, you climb several flights of stairs in your mind. When reality differs from imagination, deep disappointment strikes.
This proverb teaches that imagination, a wonderful human ability, can become a burden when misused. Dreaming and keeping your feet on the ground—balancing these is key to a fulfilling life.
As long as humans remain beings who hope for the future while being tossed about by reality, this wisdom will never fade.
When AI Hears This
Viewing counting your chickens before they hatch through information theory reveals a striking contradiction. Suppose the probability of catching the raccoon is 50 percent.
At this point, the information entropy of this event—its degree of uncertainty—is near maximum. In other words, the information content about the future is still zero.
Yet the human brain, the moment it visualizes this 50 percent possibility as “the world after catching it,” starts treating it as a 100 percent certain event.
This is completely wrong from an information theory perspective. Not a single bit of information is confirmed, yet the brain generates thousands of bits of detailed information.
This includes the hide’s price, its uses, and what you could buy with it.
More interesting is this: the more specific your prediction becomes, the greater the informational shock when it fails. If you don’t catch the raccoon, you don’t lose an actual raccoon.
You lose the massive amount of virtual information your brain generated on its own. You feel disappointed about losing information that never existed—a very strange phenomenon from an information theory standpoint.
This proverb exposes a cognitive quirk: humans can’t calmly hold uncertainty as a numerical value. They immediately convert it into confirmed information.
If we could correctly recognize the information entropy of the future, we’d experience less pointless expectation and disappointment.
Lessons for Today
What this proverb teaches modern people is a simple but easily forgotten truth: “Focus on what you can definitely do now.”
In our information-saturated modern society, we have infinite material for thinking about future possibilities. When we see successful people’s glamorous lives on social media, our imagination runs wild.
We think we might achieve that too. But what matters is taking that first steady step to make that imagination real.
Having dreams is wonderful. But rather than just talking about dreams, accumulate small actions you can do today. Instead of planning what to do after passing the exam, figure out how to secure study time today.
Instead of planning how to celebrate when the project succeeds, figure out how to meet this week’s deadline. Facing such practical questions is actually the shortest path to your dreams.
Right in front of you, there must be something you can definitely do. Rather than planning a menu for a bird that hasn’t flown yet, think about what you can cook with the ingredients at hand.
That accumulation will eventually bring you true abundance.
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