Graduation and my Apologies

So first off, allow me to apologize for my tardiness in posting. I have had a wonderful 2 months and wish I could document everything, but the fact is if I were to go back it would just get me further behind. If you are itching for pictures, you could check out my flickr site which is updated much more regularly: http://www.flickr.com/photos/origamikid

Monday was graduation and I took a few pictures. I thought I would write an entry about it since it is quite different than what we have in the states.

First of all, you might have noticed that I said graduation was Monday, March 13th. This is not a mistake. Japan has the most screwed-up school calendar year that I can think of. Graduation in mid-March, but school keeps going for the 1st and 2nd graders. They finish up at the end the month. Then everyone has a break for about a week and a half. At this time, 3 or four teachers are transferred out of schools, uprooted from the city they live in, and placed somewhere else. I think the reason for this is that they don't want (?) teachers being at a school for more than 4 years. WTF?

So some teachers move out, and we import new teachers and start the "new" school year off on April 6th. Less than a month later is Golden Week. This is a string of Japanese National Holidays that basically give you a week off. Then, school is in session for two and a half more months and then they have summer break! This starts at the end of July (when I will be leaving to come back to America and the new ALT will come in). Kids are off for a month, although teachers still come in for some of that time. Then, in September, things pick back up again. There are the occasional single day holidays, but things stay pretty steady until around Christmas and New Years. Then kids have another 2 weeks off or so. They get back in January and run straight through (more or less) to graduation in March.

Maybe it's just that I'm used to the American School system, but this schedule just seems weird.

So, more about graduation. It is a very solemn and tearful event. The homeroom teachers promenade down the isles, leading their respective graduating classes into the gymnasium. All things are coordinated. Standing up and sitting is to the point of an almost military fascism. How do the students achieve such accuracy? Practice. They have an entire day dedicated to practicing for a graduation that lasts roughly an hour and a half. The Principle gives an address which he reads off his notes made on an accordion-like stock of paper. The students are individually called up to receive their diploma, and bow to the principle. After all students are called, the head of the Board of Education for the area gets up and makes a speech which is also written on the same style of folded paper. Then the PTA head comes up and does the exact same thing. After all this, the kids sing a song that has a typical Japanese bittersweet taste. The student council president comes up and gives a tearful goodbye speech (written on the same paper), and the kids sing another bittersweet song.

By this time, everyone is crying. I must say that I teared up when the class rep did her speech, but I did not bawl. Maybe if I could have understood more than the 50% that I caught... Anyway, the waterworks are flowing and the last bittersweet song seems to put everyone over the edge. After the song, amidst a pattering of sniffles, another PTA rep gives an address (same paper) and breaks down in the middle of it. I felt sorry for all the kids who had to be perfectly rigid during the entire ordeal. But, I guess that's all part of Japanese graduations.

The PTA woman finishes up and we all sing the schools anthem. Then the graduates process out to thunderous clapping. After they leave, they all go up to their classrooms to cry and congratulate each other. They also get their things together and pack up because that is the last day they will be at the school. The only other time they came back was briefly the next day to for each student to announce to the teachers what high school they got into and were going to be attending. (That's right, there are entrance exams for High School).

Once everyone is ready, the graduates process out the front doors of the school and are handed tulips and they exit. They walk between two lines of teachers parents and students and mill around at the end for photos and general congratulations.
After that, they all head home.

So that, my friends, is a Japanese Junior High School Graduation. I hope it has been enlightening for you.

And now, pictures!