In my last lesson today I chose to have my students work on an article about the cherry blossoms in Kyoto. Apparently this year the first day of blossoms broke a 600 year-old record for the earliest day that they've been sighted. Fittingly, I happened to glance at a display of lit cherry trees lining a section of Mamigasaki River in Yamagata city on my drive home after work. While the display certainly looked pretty, I have no desire to set foot in Yamagata city right now thanks to the COVID-19 emergency that was declared last week.
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Last night I was following a truck on the stretch of Route 13 that runs through a low mountain pass between Kaminoyama and Nanyo cities. At one point I witnessed the truck making a quick harsh swerving maneuver. I spotted a dead tanuki on the edge of road as I approached the spot where the truck had swerved. I assumed the deceased animal likely wasn't a victim of the truck ahead of me. Yes, that dark stretch of Route 13 is murder for the local fauna....
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Last week I had reminded a couple of grade 6 elementary school students that they were soon to be first year junior high school students...at which point one girl started singing the "Ichinen-sei ni nattara..." ("Once I become a first year student...") song. The humour behind that being that the song is intended to be sung by preschoolers as they look forward to entering elementary school.... XD
