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[Edited, pictures added 6/2/22]

This book from 1906, translated from the Japanese, is kind of a “Tom Brown at Oxford�� set in Japan, and, in fact, the author did attend British schools, so maybe that’s where he got the idea for the book.



A young man from Tokyo finds a job as a math teacher in a boys�� school out in the boondocks. He is a complete and total (insert your favorite anatomical word here, I’ll say - ass). He is arrogant, looks down on the villagers, finds fault with everyone, talks down to his servants and landlords, can’t make friends, etc.

Naturally he is the perfect target for pranks by the boys and intrigues by his colleagues to get rid of him. He seems oblivious to it all.

So of course, there is a lot of opportunity for humor in this setting and it is basically a humorous book. “I always disliked one subject as much as another.�� and “…remember when someone apologizes to you, he doesn’t really mean it, and therefore you should only pretend to forgive him. The only way to make someone really apologize is to beat him until he truly regrets what he’s done.��

The book is kind of a Japanese classic, shown frequently in adaptations on television. I found it interesting for the local color of Japan in the late 19th-early 20th century.



During his relatively short life (1867-1916) the author wrote about two dozen novels and became Japan’s most famous author. He is credited with bringing the modern realistic novel into Japanese literature. Haruki Murakami said he is his favorite writer. He is most famous for a trilogy: Sanshiro, And Then, and The Gate, of which I have read the last two.

Japanese schoolboys, early 1900s, from alamy.com
The author on Japanese currency from bbc.co.uk