The Sign of the Red Hair

I've had another English text book make reference to Sherlock Holmes at a junior high school here in Japan. Some kids do seem to be aware of him, mostly through the popular anime and manga Detective Conan. The character was named after Arthur Conan Doyle. This time, the text book specifically references "The Red-headed League". So I read it again to make it into a presentation for the class.

I love the slightly implausible strangeness of it. I don't think it's a story that could be translated to a modern setting. I think now someone setting up a bogus fund for red-headed men would draw too much attention, especially with a line of red-headed men lined down the block. But on the streets of Victorian London, I can picture it working.

It's fascinating seeing the description of the neighbourhood around Jabez Wilson's pawnshop. A vegetarian restaurant is mentioned. I suspect it would've been like the vegetarian menu options here in Japan which usually have chicken broth or bonito flakes.

I started reading the next story, "A Case of Identity", in my copy of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. It starts with one of my favourite quotes from Holmes. It's part of a longer speech about how "fact is stranger than fiction", a sentiment I don't really agree with. But I love this comment from Holmes;

"If we could fly out of that window hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and unprofitable."

Twitter Sonnet #1572

Enshrined in carrot tubes, the golfers sleep.
With boredom, Holmes could seal a letter tight.
The camping kids were counting ghostly sheep.
Then something strange obscured the forest night.
The room could shake but not dislodge the song.
Emboldened pants would cut the flow of blood.
A sandy path would lead the river wrong.
But hardened salt could stand in rainy mud.
A Gremlin sat alone among the cars.
Electric sparks began the model storm.
A stamp sufficed to sign for absent Mars.
The nurse forgot to fax the patient's form.
A common fire burnt a shadow pan.
The field of metal wheat was made by man.

The Last Blossoms

I took this picture at Shin-Osaka Station this morning. I was in Osaka for a meeting, in a part of northern Osaka called Ibaraki, one station north of Shin-Osaka by Rapid Express.

Here's a street in Ibaraki from an elevated platform.

The meeting involved a whole room full of foreign English teachers like myself. It was strange being in a room with so many native English speakers. The majority of the teachers seem to be either Australian or Filipino but there were a few Brits and Yanks. There were also a few whose first language isn't English. Japan is even more desperate for English teachers now due to Covid.

The cherry blossoms are famously short lived. I noticed some trees were already starting to turn green when I left.

Twitter Sonnet #1569

The easy eyes were rolling tens or twelves.
We counted more than cash to crack the scales.
The heavy tree was thick with Keebler Elves.
The violent sea was choked with screaming whales.
With heavy hair the climber gripped the snow.
From mountain heights connexions froze the frame.
Discussions turned around the things we know.
The wind and rain revealed a second name.
Dessert attacked before the dinner rose.
A field of cake was easy not for sweets.
A candy button pressed the guarded rows.
Assume the kitchen salts the larder meats.
Across the city, green consumes the pink.
The flames await beyond the falling brink.

Another Last Day

Yesterday was pretty amazing. It was my last day at one of the schools I work at, possibly my last day ever since the company that employs me hasn't told me where I'm going next. So I felt pretty heavy-hearted in the morning. It's amazing how much this school has come to feel like home after two years. But one reason I love it so much is that the students are absolutely amazing. The art club students made those two books above, one from first graders and one from second graders (13 and 14 year-olds, respectively). Many students gave me artwork and special messages. On my desk, I found two thick packets of letters from most of the second graders (about 300 students). That's quite a bounty. I felt terrific reading them.

I received some gifts from teachers, too. One of the teachers I work with gave me some incredible artwork by her mother as well as some t-shirts from the company her husband works for, Capcom.

I'd told her I still like to play Rock Man (aka Mega Man) sometimes which may explain this shirt.

The judo teacher invited me to join him at an izakaya after school to celebrate his retirement and 60th birthday. We were joined by another teacher and had some incredible food and alcohol. I had whiskey while he had beer and sake. The izakaya was run by a former student of his who evidently loves The Beatles because that's all we heard all night. We had plate after plate of tempura, sashimi, karaage (Japanese style fried chicken), tofu, and various creative items including some kind of cut roll with bacon and avocado wrapped in lettuce. It was quite a send-off for me but I still dearly hope to return.

Squash Debate

This is the latest comic I made for students. It's the first one I made for third year, 15 year old, students. I was surprised to find they were a little more reluctant to do it than the first and second year students. I guess hormones are starting to make them too cool for this kind of thing.

A few of them did produce some interesting things, once I explained what a squash is. For the third panel, one student wrote, "This is God's food!"

Third year students are supposed to be learning how to debate, a difficult thing to introduce into Japanese culture. Many of the teachers are also reluctant to broach the subject. I thought this might be a fun, very unconfrontational way to at least get them used to some of the language of debate. I was glad some of the students took to it. I had help from one student whom I regularly have long conversations with about horror movies. I tend to have one or two favourite students in every classroom who seem to appoint themselves my lieutenants and who go about making sure people stay on task.

The students finally prevailed upon me to come up with example dialogue so this is what I came up with on the spot.

1. "Eggplants are great!"

2. "An eggplant is like a baby."

3. "And like a king!"

4. "But eggplants are smaller than pumpkins."

5. "Shouldn't the pumpkin be king?"

6. "That's right!"

7. "Eggplants are too small!"

8. "Pumpkins are fat."

9. "You're a bad man!"

10. "Eeeeeuauuugh!"