I spent a lot of time studying the desks in Mr. Nakamura's classroom, because they were literally full of graffiti, accumulated over years and years of students coming to classes there.
Here's a picture of one of the tables (there were five in all.) Thanks to Noriko Ichihara for helping me with the Japanese.


Here are a bunch of close-ups.



"This is boring, isn't it?"


"I don't understand!" The little face is hard to make out, but it's grimmacing, with little beads of sweat (or tears?) coming out.


This has intrigued me for a long time. I have asked several people what it might mean, and no one really knows. Underneath the word "LOVE" read horizontally, is "Sugita Genpaku," the name of a Japanese anatomist who lived in Japan a little over 200 years ago. Maybe his name was chosen because the characters vaguely resemble the letters L O V and E.
Under the "L" is written "shine" or "die!." Above that, something has been scribbled out. Under the "O" is is a half-scribbled out "shiro" (white) and under that, "nikibi," or "zit." Under the "V" is "to" (door), and then "busaiku" -- meaning ugly or plain or clumsy. Under the "E" is "uzai," which could mean "noisy" or maybe "nonsense", or maybe even "shut up." And next to it, the enigmatic "san byou nante uso" -- "three seconds, what a lie." It's definitely bitterness about love. The scribbled out characters have been a name. "Shirato" is a family-name. And maybe three seconds is how long it takes to say the words "I love you?" If anyone can say any more about this, please let me know.



"I want sex!!"


"Are you happy right now?"



"A pig that can't fly is just a common pig." I've asked people if maybe this is a song lyric, or an expression. Or maybe something just made up. I'm pretty fond of this. It's a weird little riddle to chew on.


"airabuyuu" spelled out with kanji (i.e. "I love you.") "ai" is the kanji meaning "love," "ra" means silk gauze. "bu" means "warrior," and "yuu" means "courage."




More evidence that people are just people, and not a whole lot different than monkeys. I'm not sure what "daigo" means, but there was one word with Buddhist connotations "daigo" 醍醐 in my dictionary, translated as "the finest thing in this world." If this was what the graffitist meant, it's a weird pun! the two kanji that make up "daigo" mean "whey," and "clarified butter," both made from milk.



This design , the "aiaigasa", or love-love umbrella, is really common - basically the same as a heart with an arrow through it. On one side is your name, and on the other side, the name of the person you have a crush on.



This is a crush that didn't work out.



"Do you have a boyfriend?" The answer has been scribbled out.



This is one of the first pieces of graffiti on Mr. Nakamura's nicer, newer table. There's something striking about it, with its pink feminine letters, and the fact it was done by a junior-high school girl.



This is etched on the sandy wallboard of the large classroom. It's hard to make this out, but it says "KILL YOU KILL YOU TOMORROW". The "tomorrow" part strikes me as funny. I think it's intended to be threatening, but it sounds like the person is procrastinating.



Yaseanpanman. Anpanman is a superhero whose mission is to fight hunger in the world. Whenever he finds a hungry person, he gives them a chunk of his head (made of "anpan," bread filled with bean paste.) "yase" means "thin," or "skinny."


This just serves to show how old these desks are.