Tomomi's Crazy Love Life

Thursdays usually mean fun kanji lessons and reading passages with Ichikawa-sensei. Maybe it was because this is the second-to-last week of classes for spring term, or maybe it was because today was Jess and Kellie's final class before they leave for Tokyo (and eventually Indiana), but Ichikawa-sensei saved the best passage for today.

Lesson 22 in Genki Book II is about "Tomomi's Diary," a look inside the horrible love drama in which protagonist Tomomi is engulfed. Her boyfriend, Kenichi, lives in Tokyo while she lives in Osaka, so they can only meet once a month. She plans to introduce her friend Natsuko to Kenichi's colleague, Kuroki, and asks her boyfriend to officially bring the two together. Suddenly, her best friend doesn't talk much around her and Kenichi doesn't answer her phone calls.

Finally, the cowardly Kenichi writes Tomomi a letter 10 days later, explaining that he "couldn't forget Natsuko even after he had left" and had lied to Tomomi about not being able to visit her in Osaka.

To better understand this dilemma, Ichikawa-sensei drew a chart on the board:



We were also prompted to explain what we would do if we were the characters. My answer is directly left of Sensei's infamous drawing, and it basically reads: If I were Kenichi or Natsuko, I would definitely apologize to Tomomi. If I were Tomomi, I would no longer speak to either of them.


Then we ate donuts from Mister Donut, a "Goodbye, Kellie and Jess" treat from Sensei.


Jess, Kellie, me and Jordan with Ichikawa-sensei. We're laughing and pointing at Kellie's Mandarin orange juice bottle (mikan juice) because it reflects her nickname, Mikan-chan.


We also had our farewell, end-of-semester photo for the Japanese culture class Wednesday morning. Forgive the angle; it was shot on top of one of the classroom lab computers using self-timer. Obviously, people weren't ready. :P

BLOG SOUNDTRACK: KAT-TUN "Rescue"