Mr. Ito and I went on a wonderful trip to Kyushu in the middle of September. As we were riding the ferry from Unzen to Kumamoto, I noticed that Natsume Soseki's house was within walking distance from our hotel. Students at BIG BOW often check out Botchan from the library, so I was very interested in visiting this historic spot.

This was one of the six houses he rented during the short time he lived in Kumamoto. He was working as a high school English teacher at a school that later became part of Kumamoto university and wasn't writing books yet. However, the tour guide said stray cats often come and make themselves home in this house, especially in the room he used as his office. As I sat seiza in front of his desk, I wondered if this inspired him to write I Am a Cat?

The tour guide also told us that soon there will be a morning drama on NHK about Lafcadio Hearn's wife. We asked what the connection was between Hearn and Soseki. Hearn lived in Kumamoto for a short while and taught at the same high school Soseki did a few years previously. He told us that Soseki went on to Tokyo Imperial University to teach English and replaced Hearn, a popular professor. The students were very upset they no longer had Hearn as a teacher and rejected Soseki! I wonder how these students felt when he later became one of most famous writers in Japan.