His name is Shintaro. On this occasion he produced some custom-cut disposable chopsticks from his pencil case - custom-cut for the purpose depicted above. If only he had applied such ingenuity and fore-thought to his English! Oh well, in the life of a 12 year old going on 16, study is often going to be the casualty - I've since lost this bright spark to his love of basketball. I will miss his antics.

This is the inaugural 40th post of Last Spamurai - as promised, an all keitai issue... no quality lenses were used, just the little pinhole in my phone, hence the underwater charm... enjoy!

Her name is Tsubame, or 'swallow'. She was barely a few weeks old in this photo. She's being held by her cousin, my student Kokoro (means 'heart'). I smile every time I see her - she's tops.

Sadly this was one of the last times I saw Haruka. Her mum wasn't too happy with the company's pricing and procedures. I don't blame her! The amount of money some parents spend on their kids' extra-curricular activities is astronomical. One 12 year-old boy I teach goes to juku (cram school) 3 nights a week. A girl I teach dances 5 nights a week. Another boy I taught did speed skating 4 nights a week. Some families are very wealthy, but others are more working-class and take out loans.

Siblings Mei, Rui and Ryuho. I teach all of them in separate classes. Ryuho is a great little artist. Mei is very good, but a little too precious (likes to have a good whine) and Rui is a specialist at drooling, lying down at inappropriate moments and being cute. Their mum is a legend, despite her 'Selfish' brand sneakers. (Her T-shirt, "I'm gonna hold the dog" is somehow more befitting of her nature... maybe she bought it at the same store that our ex-assistant manager bought her "Tender Puppy Dept" T-shirt).

This is where I teach Thursdays, in the north of Kobe. It was a goodbye photo of the boy, Sena. He was super-smart. Tamaki, the girl, is super-cute and repeats nearly everything you say (a conversational language teacher's dream! ...well, it sure beats sitting in a room for an hour with kids who won't speak at all!). And now some student-drawn whiteboard art...

I think we can safely read the word 'cool' inbetween the lines here... Or am I having myself on?

A lot of kids here are really visually literate. Not all kids can draw, but some are really good... I particularly like this offering. No wonder the markers keep running out of ink.

I could really learn from the economy of this little picture. The girl who drew it was trying to explain why she was sleepy - the reason was that she had taken a cold tablet. I think it's perfect.

What a great little character!

We recently (7/7) had the festival called Tanabata. It celebrates a Chinese legend that tells of two lovers, the stars Vega and Altair, who are separated by the Milky Way as a punishment (Is that where the term "star-cross'd lovers originated!?"... oh hang on, that was that English dude). Anyway, their one night when they are allowed to be together is the 7th of the 7th. Hence, children write their wishes on paper and hang them off branches of bamboo on the night of fulfilment.
I wouldn't mind this on a T-shirt.

Inside this curtain is an incredibly smart, but cheeky thing called Ami.

This is her drawing illustrating my weakness in comparison to her superior strength. How like me, being hassled by an 8 year-old girl! She's hilarious.