The Great Challengie

A bit of background information is required to effectively tell this story. I work in one school that houses an elementary school and a junior high. Though they are in the same building they are completely separate and I have two desks in two teachers rooms. I tend to get along with my junior high teachers better because they are younger and they are not as busy as the elementary teachers and thus have time to answer my inane questions. The junior high teachers and the elementary teacher have a bit of a rivalry going on but I am not sure the background for this. Anyhow, I was at my elementary school desk and I decided I was quite famished so I opened my drawer to get omiyage. Time out for Omiyage...

Omiyage is a gift given to co-workers after going on a business trip or vacation. It seems they only give omiyage if they go out of the prefecture (province) and it tends to be food. This can range from unappetizing crackers coated in soya sauce to yummy cakes and cookies. Apparently, this is done to keep the harmony of the office environment by showing that the vacationing worker was thinking of the people back home while they were toiling away in their offices. Anyhow, we receive omiyage quite frequently and I keep it in my desk drawers for those times when I can't make it to lunch without my stomach loudly protesting.

... So I went into my drawer to eat a yummy looking apple pie and I noticed the wrapper was shredded. I was a bit disappointed figuring it would be stale so I went into a different drawer to get the Japanese equivalent of an Oreo. One of my team teachers gave me a box of them and the three that were left clearly had little teeth bites out of them all. Now I am not, nor have ever been afraid of mice but for one I do not want them popping out of my desk, two the damn things are eating my cache of sweets and three Canadian mice carry diseases so I figured Japanese mice might as well and thus was not pleased. I thought to get help in exterminating this problem. I showed the clerk and she said oh and laughed. I then asked "do you kill mice?" to which she replied "No, it is okay" in a very limited English exchange. I was not happy with this answer so I went up to the junior high teachers room evidence in hand and asked one of the teachers I really like if it was really okay and is it common in Japan to let mice run amok in peoples' desks. She was shocked and proceeded to tell the vice-principal about the situation. It was very amusing because they considered catching my mouse a challenge (they say this word in Japan but pronounce it challengie) and produced the oldest looking trap I have ever seen. It is a rusty cage with a piece of metal wire dangling inside that a five year old child could build. You affix food to one end of the wire and the other holds up the door. I was skeptical of the effectiveness of this trap but decided to give it a go.

So we set the trap and as soon as I got to school this morning my junior high teachers asked me to go check the trap in the elementary office (because they don't willingly go there themselves unless necessary). The porky little mouse ate all the food and escaped unscathed. My kyoto-sensei (vice-principal) reworked the trap and is positive it will get him next time. I just found out however, that the third grade hamster is on the loose, so perhaps it is not a mouse I will be catching. He surmises this is the reason the elementary teachers did not want to catch it because the kids might be upset if it was harmed in the process. He clearly stated, however, that he did not care so gambatte (go for it)! Updates forthcoming!