A Snake In The Hand Is Worth Two In The Bush

Good news for Aomori ophiophiliacs! Hot on the heels of my declaring the prefecture void of all wildlife comes my foot, which, as of this afternoon, seems to have taken up residence in my mouth. I was sitting around in the teacher’s office of Momoishi Middle School today after lunch when I noticed a circle of second grade boys crowding around the front entrance. The principle stood in front of the window observing them and shaking his head in disapproval. When I walked over, I noticed that a boy standing in the center of the circle seemed to be prodding an object on the ground with a stick. I opened the window and stuck my head out just in time to see the brazen lad seize the object by its tail and hold it up for all to see: a snake. “Put that snake down! You don’t know where it’s been!” shouted the usually reserved principle in a surprisingly parental tone. The snake, now curled up against the school’s front door in fear, glared at me as I walked out of the school and into a waiting car. “Abuneee!” (“dangerous!”) drawled Tachibana-San in his homely Nambu accent as he reversed out of the parking spot.