Hot mess

Christina and I just got back from being interviewed by a local school's English club. At first I thought the highlight was going to be the free sponge cake we received as thanks for participating in the club's weekly meeting, but that was topped when I shook hands with a giddy, five foot tall eggplant.



One of the students hand-made this costume, using material like felt, old T-shirts, and what looked to be a huge oven mitt. The animated aubergine jumped up and down, hugged us and kept rubbing our hands, like it was trying to warm us up. Its creator, a smiley 17-year-old girl, apparently has a thing for the veggie, as she also made a big sign of an eggplant (saying "JOY" in a speech bubble) in multicolored magic marker. What the sign's purpose was, I have no idea, but I loved her enthusiasm. (An eggplant couldn't be the school mascot--then again, I don't put much past Japan these days.)

As the club escorted us to the front door to say goodbye, the principal walked past us, and triggered a fit of embarrassed giggles. Our entire entourage (including the supervising teacher), scurried behind lockers and pillars, squealing, "Kocho-sensei! WAAAAA! Hehehe!"

Maybe he's not a fan of limbed vegetables?