Frank to the point of bluntness, a young man from Tokyo accepts a post as a maths teacher in a small town on Shikoku. On his very first night on duty at the school, his pupils slip grasshoppers into his bed. His colleagues turn out to be even more devious, and he gives them nicknames, such as “Red Shirt”.
As incapable of lying as of scheming, he takes sides and makes enemies. It is one of the best loved novels in Japan: its author, Natsume Sōseki, taught in Matsuyama himself, and the town has made the novel's hero its own.
Told by the hero himself, with humour and plain speaking, this short novel is easy to read in the language you are learning.
