There’s a nice sunny Home Ec. room on the third floor of my junior high school. I’ve been wanting to stop in. Today, I went for a wander in my free time and heard noise and smelled food right up the stairs. Excellent, I’ll just go check it out.

Home Ec. is taught by the youngest female teacher at this school. At 27, she’s the closest to my age. I’m the youngest person in the entire staff by over 4 years. And she’s the youngest of the regular teachers by far. Home Ec. must be an elective. There were only two boys in the class. I wonder what their motives are. To be around so many girls? To learn how to be a chef? Because they actually like cooking and want to learn how to help around the house? Because all the other classes were filled? It’s still extremely strange for a Japanese man to do housework. I read an educational book in the school library (it was both in English and Japanese) about a fictional Japanese girl staying with a family in the US. She was positively floored that the father of the family was making breakfast. In my middle school, a brief term of Home Ec. was required of both boys and girls. (more…)