Photo/Illutration An elementary school teacher plays rock-paper-scissors with her students in an online lesson on May 11, 2020, in Nirasaki, Yamanashi Prefecture. (Hiroshi Kawai)

A student nodding off in class and being poked awake by the teacher is a familiar classroom scene. But that’s not the case with online remote learning.

“I fell asleep during an online lesson/ And woke up to find only myself on the screen,” goes a tanka poem by Rintaro Murakami, a third-year junior high school student.

Around this time every year, I receive “Gendai Gakusei Hyakunin Isshu” (One Hundred Poems of Modern Students) published by Toyo University.

This year’s annual poetry contest begun by the university in 1987 is the 34th in the series, and many of the 65,000-plus entries bore an imprint of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

But it appears that even the constraints this crisis has imposed on the daily lives of students have not stifled their youthful poetic sensitivities.

Fumina Fujiwara, a first-year junior high school student, recalled her experience of meeting the teacher in charge of her class for the first time: “After days of seeing the teacher in charge of my class only on the screen/ I freaked out on the first day of in-class learning/ Because he was so huge in person.”

Some schools adopted a staggered in-person learning schedule, separating students by the even and odd numbers of their “shusseki bango” (class attendance numbers).

Riko Fukazawa, a first-year senior high school student, wrote: "You, an odd number, texted me, ‘Off I go to school.’/ And I, an even number, respond, ‘Take care, stay safe.’”

And here’s an introvert’s reaction to the government’s repeated “stay home” orders, as penned by Hibiki Watanabe, a first-year student at a technical college: “‘Please refrain from unnecessary outings,” asks the government/ Looks like the times have finally caught up with me.”

Cooped up at home every day, some kids saw their parents in a new light for the first time. “My father’s working from home/ His mobile keeps ringing nonstop/ His forced laughter suggests the caller must be his boss,” observed Shinnosuke Ide, a first-year senior high school student.

The desire to keep a photo of one’s crush is timeless. Riko Nakamura, a third-year senior high school student, wrote: “Saw your face captured by a camera on the virtual sports day/ I saved the picture/ This’ll remain a secret.”

There also are days of uncertainty and anxiety, as expressed by Sakurako Ishikawa, a first-year senior high school student: “Neither Plato nor Socrates can tell me/ Which school I should advance to/ Nor how you feel about me.”

And as graduation day nears, a twinge of sadness is mixed with a sense of great anticipation. Here’s a piece by Koki Kanaji, a third-year senior high school student: “What I consider our reserved seats/ Taken for granted every morning/ I wonder how many more times I’ll be seeing all these familiar faces.”

--The Asahi Shimbun, Jan. 16

* * *

Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

Related News