Suzuki Sensei

I don't really think it's a good idea to watch TV and dramas when you're caring for a baby, but last weekend my husband and I made an exception for five episodes of Suzuki Sensei free on Gyao through the weekend.

Suzuki Sensei, the story of a junior high school teacher of Japanese language and his interactions with students, started out as a manga (2005-2011) but became a drama in 2011. It's broadcast was short-lived as it was interrupted halfway by the March 11, 2011, disaster. It is receiving a second life on Gyao and will come out as a movie in January 2013.

The drama stars Hasagawa Hiroki (the husband in 家政婦のミた) as the glasses-wearing, highly perceptive, and popular Suzuki Sensei. The problems he faces in the first five episodes include: a student in his class may or may not have destroyed a pillow made by another class with a butterfly knife, and the same knife is used to kill a cat; one 12-year-old male student is accused of raping a fourth-grade girl; an attractive girl in his class may or may not have a crush on him; and so on. While these are heavy, and indeed to an American kind of gross topics, the show is actually pretty funny, especially when you hear Suzuki Sensei forming thought bubbles about how to interact with the involved students.

I actually found the show pretty enlightening about Japanese junior high schools. I've never actually been to one, after all. For example, I hadn't realized that students stay in the same class all day long even in junior high. (The teachers switch classes, but the students don't.) This is completely different from my junior high experience. I switched classes, so that I experienced Math class (for example) with a different group of people than English class. To some extent, I think the Japanese practice of keeping kids in the same class all day long contributes to bullying in schools. (This is another topic, though...)

Anyway, I recommend the drama if you have a chance to catch it.