Junior High School Graduation

For a country of people who frequently feel the need to either repress or minimize their emotions (despite the fact, or perhaps because of, they are very passionate people), the graduation ceremony, which took place last Wednesday, was quite a tearjerker. My position here as a foreigner, and my relative newness to this position, made the event all the more emotionally confusing for me.

The grand event had been in the planning stages for several weeks, I think. The third graders actually finished their classes in early March and began focusing on their high school entrance exams. After the exam day (which is the same all over the area), they returned to school and began to concentrate on preparing for graduation. Last Monday was the rehearsal, and I could see from the practice that this was going to be a very serious event.

On the day of the ceremony, students and teachers arrived a little later than usual. Shortly after our morning teacher meeting, every one began to finalize the preparations. The tables in the common room were arranged neatly, schoolwork and artwork were displayed prominently, and refreshments in the form of tea and coffee were prepared. As I sat in the office waiting, I had a good little giggle at Kocho-sensei (principal). He was, apparently, very nervous about today. I finally was able to understand that this was to be his first graduation ceremony as a principal. Kocho-sensei doesn’t speak much English, but he’s a terribly nice fellow and I like him a lot. Students, as well, were quite nervous.

Soon enough, parents and Important Village People began to arrive. The first grade students greeted them and offered refreshments to the parents. The Important Guests were shuffled off to Kocho-sensei’s office. I spent my time laughing at the first-graders and their seriousness mixed with a silly excitement. Their English has improved enough that I was able to ask them which parents belonged to which third-graders. At the appointed time, I saw the Important Guests (who included the mayor and police chief) filed past us and made their way to the auditorium. The parents followed, and soon everyone was seated in their appointed spot in the gym.

First, the music teacher played three chords on the piano. As the second chord was played, we stood, and bowed with the third. This was a very serious bow; low and long. When a fourth chord was played, everyone stood up straight and prepared to sing the national anthem. After this mournful song, everyone sang the school song, and was then seated. Next, Terada-sensei stood to introduce the graduates. He is their homeroom teacher and has been with these kids for three years. Even the process of the students walking to the stage was involved. The first student of the group stood (they were all in the front row of students), walked forward a bit, then turned and bowed low and deep to the Important People. Then, turning 180 degrees, he bowed to the teachers, then turned and bowed to the Japanese flag which was hanging on the back of the stage. This done, he ascended the stairs and took his place in the center of the stage while Terada-sensei said something about him. After Terada-sensei’s short speech, the student turned, walked across the stage, and received his diploma from Kocho-sensei, who also said a few words. The student them left the stage and returned to his seat via a very circuitous route. This procedure, minus the bowing to the Important People, teachers, and flag, was repeated for each student. The last student bowed to the above-mentioned groups. As he read a statement about each student, I could tell that Terada-sensei was getting a little choked up. His back was to me, but when he later turned, I could see his eyes were red, and he was pausing often while he spoke.

After the diplomas were handed out, several different people spoke. A song sung by all the students followed these speeches. When the song was over, the third grade students remained on stage, and were given the opportunity to say something. Some of the kids looked happy to be leaving. A few, including one of my favorites, Takuya, were having a very hard time speaking. Even I got teary-eyed when Takuya found that he could barely talk. Much to my surprise, though, I never once saw a single parent wipe away a tear. How odd! After speaking, they returned to their seats and we all bowed in unison like we did at the beginning of the ceremony. The third graders filed out, and passed out flowers to the teachers as they lined up for their final bow.

It was very emotional, even if most people didn’t display their emotions. After the ceremony, the teacher returned to the office and we milled about for a little while. The next bit of time was spent walking aimlessly about or cleaning up after the event. Once everything was put away, we returned again to the office for a short teacher meeting. While kocho-sensei spoke, I tried to make out what he was saying, but with little success. As usual, I studied everyone around me to try and read on their faces what was being said. Finally, when he was finished, I asked Mr. Kurata to translate it for me. I had begun to suspect that the principal was announcing which teachers would be leaving, but no one looked affected by his news, so I was uncertain. I was right, though. Mr. Kurata casually told me that four staff would be moving (remember the post a while back about being a teacher in Japan? Click here for a refresher). One of the teachers leaving will be my buddy, Ayaka. Others may hide how they feel, but she doesn’t; I know she is sad to be leaving. I don’t know why these teachers were chosen, or if they asked to move, and I don’t understand all the dynamics behind it, but four people will leave. In April, we will welcome four new people and life will go on. It’s so common here for people to get moved around in their jobs that everyone just takes it in stride. For me and my emotional self, however, it was almost too much. I felt like someone had parked a large truck on my chest. I can’t fully describe it. It was an odd situation to be placed in. Tomorrow we will have one of the many parties yet to come. When all is said and done, I will likely attend about seven parties. I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s, though. It will be one last chance to have fun with the four who will be moving on.

On a last note, I wrote earlier in this post that I had no pictures. Rather then delete and re-write, I decided to just add this part (it’s been two days since I wrote the first part of this post). I have recently acquired a large number of photos taken by the other middle school teachers, so I will include some for you to check out. Here they are, with a very brief description.

The students enter

Everyone bows together

The Important People

Kocho-sensei's speech

The teachers

Students, staff, and parents