As a student of senryu, I was very much interested in "Salaryman slog/ gets satirized in senryu" in the Bilingual section of the Aug. 21 edition.
When I was a university student, I was encouraged to compose haiku by an American teacher. But my haiku have not improved at all!
A friend of mine is a senryu student and sends me a lot of senryu every month. I have come to realize that senryu are much easier than haiku to compose. For example, there is no need to use kigo (a word or phrase associated with a particular season) and above all, we can criticize society or the Abe government!
The senryu form has three major points — wit, satire and humor. One of mine is: "Shimbun no/ wagaku ajiwai/ hitorizake"("Reading my senryu in the newspaper, I sip sake by tasting my own work many times."
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.