Pencil Cases

I've been paying attention to how many kids have pencil cases with pot leaves on them. It's ridiculous. It seems like it's more than two years ago, or maybe I'm just noticing it more. I remember in Takayama I pointed out a pencil case with a pot leaf on it and all the kids protested because they were so sure it was a maple leaf. Whatever.

But now, it's not just a simple picture, the designs go all out. Look at these I found online:



What is "RASTER DRUGMUSH"? I'm curious.


[SMOKE DOPE AND ADDICTS. IS REARRY BUD FOR ME?]

They don't always have those same ugly colors. But today there was a kid that had one that said "CANNABIS ISLAND" in kooky letters and I finally was so curious that I asked him if he knew what his pencil case meant.

He said no, did I know? And I said yes, and he asked what it meant and I shook my head and laughed and walked away.

As much as I would want to enlighten them because I think their reaction would be hysterical, I wasn't going to be the one to teach them about drugs and ruin all the fun of having a pencil case with awesome colors and English writing on it. Also because it might have the effect of making them think wee is really cool which is NOT what I want to do at my job. Did you know that weed is treated as if it were a hard drug? No tolerance whatsoever. I saw a brochure once to "educate" kids about drugs, and one page said that if you smoke weed you will forget how to write kanji, and they had a picture of a letter written by a "pothead," and there was no kanji in it because he smoked weed! Did you know that it can make you forget how to write?! I didn't! There was another page that said if you smoke weed even once you can die instantly. Well!

So now I know it's not some countercultural thing, it's just because they don't know! I want to know who started this trend, though. Very interesting. I am a little tempted though to get all of my supplies with this motif, and see if anyone notices. "Wow, Kim, you sure do like the maple leaf, huh?"

Today I went to the import foods store and bought some cheese that wasn't soft mild stuff, and then I went to the grocery store and found a loaf of bread that wasn't white, and I ate about half the loaf because I was so excited. Now I'm full and feel gross.

Also, at the import foods store I bought: coffee, popcorn, curry powder, dried cilantro (!!!), garlic powder, chicken stock, cheese, pesto, mustard, red pepper, and jam. Tiny little things of each, and it came out to $45! That's ok. It's worth it. Mmm, cheeeeese.