Dammit, this is not LA.

Today the elementary school principal called a staff meeting between 5th and 6th period. I tried my hardest to catch every word I could. It didn't seem like they were going to send the students home early due to weather--it wasn't raining by then. I caught something about my grocery store and this really awesome tonkatsu restaurant. They're about 10 minutes away from my house by bike, and that's being generous. Unlike most staff meetings, everyone was looking at the principal, opposed to grading papers or nodding off.

Turns out a man was murdered there, perhaps during 5th period--in the 1:45-2:45 range. He was 28, from Kochi, and worked at the parking lot near the airport. The guy who did it wasn't caught. The kids weren't being sent home early, but all after school activities were cancelled. I even think the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders were driven home.

It's a bit eerie, that someone was murdered so close to my town. On the news, there was a chalk outline on the asphalt, and a faint spatter of blood on a car fender.

Back home-home, the biggest thing that happened in the neighborhood was a dead guy found in a trunk, or a really big drug bust. And this is semi-inaka Japan! The worst thing that happens here concerns kids breaking bones and forgetting aprons at home. Mendable things. After the announcement, I finally got around to laminating some old teaching materials, because I felt like I had to do something productive instead of thinking about this guy I don't even know. Interesting that I thought more about the murderer and how he used to be a kid in a school like mine. I guess it's because I worry about the random kids that don't fit in here, too.

I am rather irritated that I don't really want to go near the area. The guy should be long gone by now, or at least laying low. I want vegetables, I want to drop off my dry cleaning. But I think finding out in the elementary school staff room made me a lot more sensitive to the potential dangers.

I guess today will be laundry day.