Notes

1. She had something to do at school. The school year in Japan begins in April, so summer vacation takes place in the middle of the second semester. Most schools remain nominally open during summer vacation for sports and other club activities. [return]

2. Grade 1 - Room 4. Junior high and high school classrooms are identified by grade and class number or letter. This is a first-year junior high school classroom (grade 7), probably their "homeroom" classroom. [return]

3. It was during opening day ceremonies. All students attend a matriculation day ceremony on the first day of class in April. [return]

4. Gata. The sound gata comes from a sliding window. A little later, the similar gara is that of a sliding door. Most school classrooms in Japan have sliding doors. [return]

5. He wasn't in my homeroom class. Japanese school students are taught all of their core courses in their homeroom class, with teachers moving from room to room. So while students can become quite close to their classmates, they may remain unfamiliar with others in their same grade. [return]

6. Sugiyama's card. This type of hagaki is the summer counterpart to the New Year's greeting card. What Sugiyama has written (clumsily) is Sansho mimai, a standard expression used on such occasions. [return]

7. Kouji's card uses the same expression as Sugiyama's, though with a more polite form of the verb and better calligraphy." [return]

8. Baseball field. Modern Japanese written horizontally is read left-to-right. In classical texts it was read right-to-left. Left-to-right, the characters read Yakyuu Chi, a homonym for "baseball field." Right-to-left it reads Chikyuu Ya, or "Earth" + "Shop." [return]

9. Geta. Women's lacquered geta are quite stylish when worn with traditional kimono. This type of square-soled sandal is distinctly retro, especially when worn with "western" clothing. [return]

10. Sugimura. These section breaks usually demarcate the installments as the story was originally published. [return]

11. Monitors. Class monitors take attendance, make announcements, and present the teacher to the class at the beginning of the period. The school week includes a half-day of class every other Saturday morning. [return]

12. What's the mistake in what I just said? The "mistake" is one of semantics, not physics, and can't be translated without making the mistake obvious. [return]

13. basha. General upkeep of the "homeroom" classroom, known as o-soji, is also the responsibility of the students. [return]

14. Yamazaki Senpai. is here used to refer to a fellow student a grade or more ahead. Senpai/kouhai (senior/junior) relationships may persist throughout the rest of a student's life. [return]

15. Kinu-chan. The diminutive chan is used by children and girls to refer to close (female) friends. Boys use kun. [return]

16. Lunch is here. Japanese junior high and high schools don't have cafeteria. Lunch is served by students in their homerooms. [return]

17. Ushiwakamaru. Better known by his clan name, Minamoto no Yoshitsune, Ushiwakamaru was a brilliant general who vanquished the ruling Taira at the battle of Dan no Ura in 1185. The emperor then installed his brother, Yoritomo, as Shogun of Japan. But Yoritomo saw Yoshitsune as a threat to his own ambitions and had him exiled and later killed. [return]

18. Cleaning duty.General upkeep of the "homeroom" classroom, known as o-soji, is also the responsibility of the students. [return]

19. It's not about sausages. The pun is on the similarity between the first syllable of Seiji's name and the second syllable of "sausage," or saaseeji. [return]

20. The tanuki or raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides), belongs to the dog family. Like the fox (kitsune), the tanuki is a trickster animal who often disguises himself in human form. While the tanuki prefers to get drunk, seduce farm girls and raise general havoc, the fox is more of a siren, craftily leading young men to their doom. They're the stars of the Studio Ghibli film, Pom Poko. [return]