Today we address the problem of Japan's declining student population. If you teach at a university like I do, you are well aware that classes have gotten smaller and smaller over the years. At the women's university where I teach, the classes are half the size they were five years ago.
The Ministry of Education blames this on the overall decrease in Japan's population. But I disagree. I blame it on the current fashion: superslim. In the quest to become superslim, students have lost so much weight that we can no longer see them.
I know this is true because when a student asks how many times she has been absent from my class and I tell her, she always says, "Ehhhh? But, I was there!" After all, if you're even the slightest bit farsighted, you may have missed the speck sitting in the back of the classroom. Even the girl sitting up front wearing the black sweater, you may have mistaken for a piece of lint.