Graduation.

 In Japan the school year ends in March and begins again in April and last week my school had its high school graduation for my san-nensei students.

In many ways Japanese ceremonies are much more formal but also much more everyday than western graduations. They are more formal because the students practice graduation for about a week before. Including how to stand, sit, and bow together. The entire school attends the graduation ceremony as well as parents family and friends. The ceremony is also a much more serious affair. There are no light hearted jokes, chuckles of laughter, or silly string. I was reminded of Catholic mass at points during the ceremony. However, it also felt much less formal than western graduations. For example, students wear their uniforms and It took place in the school gym.

I'd heard that in Japan graduation ceremonies are quite somber events so I, being someone known for crying at practically nothing, was not looking forward to crying in front of students and teachers. I gave myself a small pep talk before the ceremony started. During the ceremony the student giving the address on behalf of the graduating class did go through some extreme sobbing in the middle of her speech and many of the teachers around me joined her. Luckily, crying ended up not being a problem for me because I couldn't understand enough of what she was saying to feel emotional. I could only catch the topics of what she was talking about and completely missed what she was trying to communicate. The ceremony lasted all morning and after it was over the students were free to go home. The students however hung around and joyfully snapped pictures with their friends and favorite teachers. Many students came to their closest teachers and also gave out little gifts and presents.

It was a bitter sweet day because I, unlike most SHS ALT's, actually teach 2 very small san-nensei classes. I taught them 3 times a week! So I got to know these students better than any of the other students that I taught this year and I'm really going to miss them. especially my 3-2 girls.

Another thing I noticed was that students had definitely taken advantage of the freedom of not being in high school anymore. The dress code for schools here is super strict. Not only do students have to wear their uniform exactly right down to the color of their socks, but they cant wear colored contacts, dye their hair, wear makeup or jewelry, or paint their nails. Before the ceremony all the girls were in the bathroom basically spray painting their hair black before graduation ceremony started. They had all in their month of freedom in between classes and graduation gone out and dyed their hair crazy colors. The bathroom was a mess by friday afternoon.


I'm proud of my students who graduated and I hope nothing but the best for them next year! Right now we have tons of junior high school students running around taking entrance exams to come to Kanazu in April. I cant wait to meet my new ichi-nensei kids. I have some exciting ideas for next year!