Imagine opening a student’s homework and finding what looks like a message from an archaeological dig. That happened to a teacher in Japan in 2020. Instead of handing it back, the teacher got out a red pen and started working through the symbols. Three and a half hours later, the “ancient manuscript” had been graded.[1]
A secret alphabet, not a secret message
The student had noticed that the assignment permitted writing in a language other than Japanese. So they submitted a Japanese essay disguised with runic letters. Runes are a historical writing system; in this case, the trick was mainly swapping written symbols, not translating a modern essay into an ancient language.[1][2]
The surprise came after the decoding. The essay itself was earnest, reflecting on everyday life during the pandemic. The delivery was mischievous. The content was thoughtful. A spectacular amount of trouble for a very normal school assignment.
The punch line came from the teacher
The teacher’s feedback essentially said: good points, but write normally next time. They even used a praise stamp for their own decoding effort and joked about overtime pay.[1]
That response is what makes the episode memorable. The teacher played along once, then made it clear that three and a half hours of decoding is not a reasonable homework routine.
Anyone can reject a prank immediately. What is rarer is accepting the challenge, reading the actual work, and still having the confidence to say, “Never make me do that again.”
There is no lesson here that teachers owe students unpaid detective work. The charm is in the exchange: a student committed fully to the joke; the teacher committed to the answer—and landed the better final line.
