Summary

In “The Moon and the Batteries,” at a bar one evening, Tsukiko ran into her high school Japanese teacher Harutsana Matsumoto. Unable to remember his name, she simply “called him ‘Sensei’” (3). Over the following years, she and Sensei continued running into each other. She continued calling him Sensei.

Tsukiko and Sensei developed a rhythm. They incidentally met up at the same bar, ordered the same drinks and similar foods, and paid their “separate checks” (5). “Every so often,” they left the bar and visited Sensei’s house (5).

The first time Tsukiko went to Sensei’s house, she was surprised by all the “things piled up in every dark corner” (5). After pouring them drinks, Sensei remarked upon the cherry trees and the birds. Suddenly he became engrossed in the newspaper. Then he rummaged through his drawers and extracted his...