Pre-School Graduation Photos

Here's a couple of photos from pre-school graduation. I'll post more and explain them in a few days. Sorry for the delay, Lupe! I know you are dying for me to write more. I've got all morning on Monday to write, so I'll come up with something for you then.

Pre-school Graduation

Yes, that’s right. Pre-school graduation. For the kindergarten-aged kids, this is a pretty significant event. They’ve been preparing for it for a while now, practicing where to walk and what to do, learning a song, and memorizing “messages” for each other. This is the event for which we bought suits for Ridge and Holt. Yesterday, the special day finally arrived. What’s funny to me is that for the most part, all the elements of the pre-school graduation ceremony are the same as those of the elementary and middle school ceremonies, just on a smaller scale.

The pre-school has a large multi-purpose room that is sort of the heart of the building. At the front of this room was a curtain with decorations on it, and a small stage. The floor in front of this was decorated with tissue paper flowers, arranged in a square. This also served as a guideline for where the kids should walk. On the far side of the room, to the right of the stage, were ten chairs, one for each graduating student. Opposite these chairs, on the left side of the stage, were chairs for the parents. The mothers sat facing their children, and the fathers sat behind the mothers. Completing the square, sitting across from the stage, were chairs for all the other kids and their mothers.

The ceremony began with everyone being seated in their designated spot. The ten graduating students then entered ceremoniously to the sound of some very engergetic Japanese children’s music. The students entered opposite the mothers, then walked all the way around the square of paper flowers before finally taking their seats. Oh…I forgot to mention that even this ceremony had some Important People: the mayor, the head of the pre-school, the Nishiokoppe Elementary School vice-principal, and the Kamiokoppe Elementary School principal. Once everyone was seated, we made the same super-formal bow that we make at all other important ceremonies. The head of the pre-school then assumed his position on the stage and, assisted by one teacher, began to award the students their certificates. Each student’s name was called, they stood and said, “Hai!” and then walked to the stage. They then stopped about two or three feet away from the adult, who bent down and read the certificated. Both of them bowed as the child took the certificate. The student then turned to face the audience, bowed, and walked down from the stage. Up to this point, it could have been a graduation ceremony at any other level of school. But, here, there was a very smart deviation: after leaving the stage, each student turned and walked to their mother, to whom they then gave their certificate. I thought this was a good idea, because it seems that asking a six-year old to keep track of a paper during a ceremony is asking too much. So, after giving their certificate to their mom, they returned to their seat. Ridge did all of this, except you can tell he hates bowing. He did it, but it was more like a “suggestion” of a bow rather than a typical Japanese one. He was very cute.

After all of the kids had gotten their certificates, the man and teacher then walked along the back of the room to deliver certificates to all the other kids. With a little prodding from the mother sitting behind him, Holt also stood to receive his certificate. He was so proud of his suit! Once all the certificates had been passed out, the mayor and head of the pre-school both made very short speeches. Again, this is just like in the ceremonies for the older kids.

The next part of the ceremony required the kids to recite messages they had memorized. So, the older students stood in front of the audience and recited a message to the other students. Parts of the message were delivered individually, but most of the messages were delivered in unison. I think they said things to the effect of, “thank you for being our friend …etc…we are going to work hard when we go to the elementary school...etc.” It was amazing to watch Ridge recite all this along with the other kids.

After the message part came the song. All the kids in the school learned to sing this “Sayonara” song. Ridge told me that since I didn’t know the words that I should just watch his mouth and sing what he is singing. I wish it were that easy!

Finally, after the song, the ceremony was declared to be officially over, and we all bowed formally again. But, we were not done yet! Now we had moved from the graduation ceremony to the “good-bye” ceremony. Apparently, each year the graduating students put together a big photo album to present to their mothers. So, now, each student rose and proceeded to shake hands with everyone, moving around the room in a circle. After shaking hands with the Important People, they crossed the room to where their teachers were positioned next to the mothers. The teachers handed each kid their photo album, which the children then gave to their mother, and continued shaking hands with all the moms and all the other pre-school students. As they moved in a circle around the room, they made their way back to the entry point, and left the room. This was the official, “we are leaving” part.

Once all the kids had left the room, everyone clapped and the ceremony was over. The kids were all given gifts and loads of pictures were taken. I’d say all in all, the event lasted about an hour. It seems like quite the event, doesn’t it? Especially for six-year olds!

Hopefully I’ll have some photos to post for you soon.

A few weekends ago, Aaron, the boys, and I went to Asahikawa. Again. We’ve been suffering a bit from cabin fever due to the snow and isolation inherent to Nishiokoppe. This time, I took the camera, for fun, with the idea of snapping a few photos of Japanese Fashion. Here’s what I found. The man photo here is Aaron checking out a motorcycle with the boys at the mall in Asahikawa. They were having a cycle fair of some kind. Ridge is trying to push the horn.

This young lady is dressed in a very typical fashion for her age. Actually, skirts this short can be found on some high school girls. Short school uniform skirts are very popular in Honshu (the main island of Japan), and not frowned upon by school officials at all. I particularly love the knee socks and shoes in this picture. I think she was working at this clothing store.

Miss Twenty-something

This young Japanese fellow is sporting, believe it or not, an FFA jacket. For those of you not “in the know”, FFA stands for Future Farmers of America, and is an agricultural education group popular in high schools (in some areas). I have a jacket just like this one in my parents house, except for the fact that it says, “Smithson Valley” on the back. I couldn’t believe it when I saw this guy wearing it. Aaron said he’d seen some other FFA jackets for sale in a shop once, in Asahikawa, but this was the first time I’ve seen one. He also said you can buy letter jackets and old military gear.

Mr. Future Farmer of America

Here are some photos I’ve taken of T-shirts worn at the elementary school. It’s totally common to see English on shirts here, and it’s usually very, very wrong and/or funny.

Shirt 1
Shirt 2
Shirt 3

The last photo I have is not about fashion, but it’s remarkable nonetheless. It’s a pair of melons and their price. The price show is for ONE melon. The exchange rate, to give you an idea, is about 115 yen to one dollar. Check it out!

You want HOW much for that melon??

Graduation

Today was graduation day for the third-year students at the junior high school (which is equivalent to American ninth-graders). It's an odd event, partially due to the fact that all over Japan the same sort of ceremony has been happening this week. So many things in Japan are really quite uniform; even down to the containers used to hold the food for school lunches. Let me explain that comment for a minute and digress: School lunch in Nishiokoppe (and I assume in many other schools all over Japan) is prepared off-site in a separate kitchen. It is then transported to each school in large stainless steel containers. Some are tall and round, for soup. Others are rectangular and hold a variety of other foods. The dishes used for eating are also brought in each day and taken away when lunch is finished. The reason I know they are the same all over Japan is due to a news report. Last week, a report on the English-broadcast news described the theft of some food containers used to transport the school lunches in a city somewhere else in Japan. Lo and behold, judging from the photo, they looked just like ours. I swear, the uniformity in Japan is astounding at times.

Okay, back to my original subject: graduation. It was a sort of bittersweet day for the kids. The four students who will be starting high school in April have actually been together a long time. Two of them have been together, in the same class, since they started pre-school about 11 years ago. Now they will go to separate high schools. Here, high school isn't mandatory. You have to take an entrance exam, and you can choose which high school(s) you apply to. Last year, one student applied (and was accepted) to a high school in Sapporo, which is a five-hour drive. He lives in a dorm and only comes home during a few holiday times. I can't imagine sending my fifteen-year old off like that! So, lots of students were crying, but they were excited as well. I wasn't feeling too teary until I saw the homeroom teachers weeping. Both teachers have been very close to this group of kids for the past three years. They get really attached, I think. Being a homeroom teacher in Japan is almost like being a substitute parent, as they play a very important role in the lives of their students over the three-year period that they are with them.

Graduation is a rather solemn and serious occasion. The students have been practicing for it for several days, a bit like you would expect to see in high school. Everyone wears a dark suit and the students, of course, wear their uniforms. I think I described graduation last year, but I’ll do it again, since I understand things better now.

1. Students, parents, and teachers file into the gym and take their seats.

2. The principal files in, followed by the Important People (the mayor, police chief, school superintendent, PTA representatives, and others).

3. After being announced, the graduating students and their homeroom teacher (in this case there are two, one being the special ed. teacher) enter. Each person stops at the doorway and bows, and the audience claps. They very formally walk in straight lines to their seats, which are placed in the front, facing the stage.

4. A pre-designated teacher rises, comes to the microphone, and cues everyone to stand and bow. The music teacher moves to the piano, plays two chords, and then everyone bows in unison (to the national flag). Another chord is played and everyone straightens, then sits.

5. The same teacher then announces the National Anthem, which is played via tape recorder (wired to the sound system, so it’s nice and loud). Only the older men sing along.

6. After the national anthem comes the school anthem, which students and teacher alike all sing.

7. The same teacher then cues the vice-principal, who rises from his seat and walks towards the stage. He bows to the Important People, then to the flag, and then approaches the podium, where he then bows to the audience. After the triple play bowing, he announces that the graduation ceremony for Nishiokoppe Jr. High School will now begin.

8. The principal and once teacher (who is holding the diplomas) then go to the stage. Meanwhile, the homeroom teacher approaches the mike and calls the name of one student. The student rises, bows to the Important People, turns and bows to the teachers, then walks up to the stage, and bows to the flag. The homeroom teacher then reads a “message” to the student. This inevitably brings the teacher to tears. The student then walks across the stage, bows to the principal, and is given his or her diploma. They walk to the other side of the stage and wait at the top of the steps until the next student is on the stage. Then they return to their seat and the procedure is repeated for each student.

9. After all the students are seated again, the announcer-teacher announces the principal’s speech. The principal rises, does the triple play of bowing, and goes to the podium to give his speech. The is repeated for the mayor’s speech, the head of the PTA’s speech, and Mr. Tao’s speech (I don’t know his role, only his name). It’s interesting to note that when an Important Person rises, the principal and vice-principal rise and return his bow. After the adults give speeches, two students from the student body give a speech. The last speech is from a representative of the graduating students.

10. The graduates them move to stand in front of the student body and each student gives some sort of a message. By this time, most of the girls in the student body are weeping visibly, the homeroom teachers are choked up, the parents are crying a bit, and the graduates themselves are having a hard time speaking.

11. The graduates then sing a song for the student body.

12. The student body then sings a song for the graduates.

13. The graduates and teachers file out and line up near the door, everyone facing the audience. The audience then claps, music plays, the graduates bow, and file out. The doors close behind them.

14. A teacher then rises to the mike, cues the vice-principal who repeats Step 7, only this time he declares the ceremony to be finished.
The Important People leave.

15. Everyone else relaxes and/or leaves.

Complicated, isn’t it?

This is the Japanese national anthem. It is called: “Kimi ga yo”. “Kimi” refers to the emperor. Here are the words in English.

May the reign of the Emperor
continue for a thousand, nay, eight thousand generations
and for the eternity that it takes
for small pebbles to grow into a great rock
and become covered with moss.

It sounds like a dirge, for some reason. It’s very solemn and it seems that only old people can sing along with it.

On a final note…a word on the photos. One is just Holt sleeping in my lap and Ridge listening attentively as I read to him from a book of original Thomas the Tank Engine stories. The other is just a silly photo I took of Holt at the same time I took the Lost Tooth picture of Ridge. Holt likes to make sure he gets equal photo time.

Lost Tooth

After an eternity of "looseness" Ridge's tooth finally fell out at school today. Apparently the teacher stood him up in front of everyone to announce the big event, and they all gave him a round of applause. It's his first lost tooth, and he's very excited about the tooth fairy coming. He told me that Japanese people are silly because they don't put their teeth under their pillows; they throw them. They just go outside and throw them. I think if they are rotten (a common occurence here) they throw them really far away.

Tarako Photo

Well, here it is - the Tarako group photo. It's a photo of a photo, so the quality isn't great. I still can't believe that one of the moms made all those hats and skirts!

Ridge Playing

Here’s a clip of Ridge playing by himself. He’s sitting on the futon that he and Holt currently share, and he’s playing with some lego toys. What makes this so interesting to watch it that he’s playing in Japanese. I can only understand a few words of what he’s saying, but he is evidently amusing himself just fine!

I’m not sure how well the clip will play for everyone. It isn’t a “mpg” file, in case you know what that is. Instead, it’s an “avi” file, and when I play it at home, I have to use the DVD player function on my computer. If you can’t see the clip, but you really want to, please, please, please leave a comment on the blog or email me. If I need to, I can try and change it around so it can be more readily viewed – but I need to know first if folks need me to change it.

Ridge Playing

Pre-School Event

As I’ve mentioned before, Ridge’s group at the pre-school (called “kirin-gumi," which means “giraffe group”) has been preparing for graduation for some time now. As a part of their preparations, they have been practicing certain activities off and on for several months. Ridge has learned how to jump rope, play hand bells, and jump a vaulting horse. The kids had a chance to show off these skills last Thursday.

The event began with the kids all assuming their normal positions on the floor, reciting their morning greeting, and bowing. The younger classes were then moved back and out of the way, followed by a greeting recited by the Kirin-gumi kids.

Sitting in place
Welcoming recitation

First came the “tobibako” jumping. I’m not exactly sure what we would call this piece of equipment in the U.S., but there, it is a tobibako. The word “tobi” is related to the idea of flying. “Bako” means box. So, literally, it translates to something like “flying box”. The kids run and leap over it, adding height as they improve. Some of the kids at the elementary school can jump a tobibako that is more than eight levels high. It seems to be a very popular P.E. activity here. The kirin-gumi kids started out low, with only three levels. That done, they raised the first box to four levels, and finished with everyone jumping the box with six levels. Ridge was awesome, as you can see from the photo that I posted yesterday.

Preparations
Chizue-sensei making sure things are ready.
Ridge running
Ridge preparing to vault

The second event was the jump roping. Throughout the year, the kids have been jumping and keeping track of how many times they can jump without stopping. A chart is hung on the wall of their room illustrating everyone’s progress. The usual procedure is for one child to jump while everyone else counts. As a result, Ridge can count better in Japanese than English. In fact, the other day he was pointing out numbers on signs while we were driving, and he would then tell me what that number was in Japanese (the number 40, for example). The only problem was that he couldn’t tell me the number in English! Some of the girls can jump upwards of one hundred times, so the kids have had lots of practice in counting. Ridge jumped fifty times, and worked very hard to do it. He refused to give up, and eventually made it to his goal.

Jumping

After everyone had jumped rope individually, the group broke into a boy group and girl group. Each team had the opportunity to jump collectively, with the teachers turning a long jump rope. Apparently, in the past, the girls had been able to jump twenty or thirty times without tripping up, but on Thursday they had no such luck. After several attempts, they had to be satisfied with only one turn. The boys, after one try, settled with three consecutive turns. It sounded like their record had been ten.

The final event for the kids was a hand bell performance. The group was broken into two smaller groups, each playing a different song. It was very cute. Each child had a bell of a different color, and Chizue-sensei (the head teacher) had initially taught them just by pointing. They used some giant sheet music for the performance and it was fun to finally see Ridge perform what he had been talking about for weeks. He was so excited!

After the kirin-gumi had their moment in the spot light, all the younger kids stood up to perform a song and dance as well. Holt loves to dance, and was cheerfully singing away until he began to complain of his tummy hurting. So, unfortunately, we have no photos of his performance. At the completion of this song, Chizue-sensei complimented everyone on how hard they had worked, especially kirin-gumi. Then, the older students lined up so the mothers could give each one of them a special (plastic) medal. They were all so proud. It was after the “award ceremony” that all the kirin-gumi mothers disappeared to dress for our dance.

Proud kids

I must say, I think the dance went off without a hitch. It was hysterical, and the kids screamed and laughed like crazy. They loved it so much that we ended up needing to do an encore! All in all, the entire event was a lot of fun, and we were very proud of Ridge and Holt!

Holt bowing during the morning greeting

Ridge jumping the "tobibako"

This photo is from the pre-school event that occured on Thursday (the one where I had to dance). I only have time post some photos today. I'll write more explanation later.

Tarako

There’s going to be a lot of information and pictures for me to share over the next few days. As sort of a preface, though, I need to explain “Tarako”.

“Tara” is Japanese for cod. “Ko” means child, or baby. Put them together and what do you have? Raw cod eggs. I’ll pause here for a minute so you can savor that image. In fact, if you want to rush out to the store and find yourself some, go ahead. I’ll wait.

“What do raw cod eggs have to do with anything?” you may be asking yourself. Well, there’s a brand of food products in Japan called Kewpie (as in the doll). One of their products is a sauce made with tarako. Yesterday, while practicing the phrase, “do you like --?” I asked some fourth graders if they liked tarako. When one student replied negatively, the boy sitting next to him was shocked. He then went on to list the apparent virtues of tarako, and he smiled hungrily at the thought of tarako spaghetti. Yuck.

Anyway, in a now famous (in Japan) commercial, the Kewpie company proudly presents the Tarako girls. These two pre-pubescent girls are dressed in red dresses and sport some unusual hats. Turns out that the hats are supposed to be actual cod eggs. During the commercial, the girls perform a cute little dance. These dances – simple choreographed moves that most people could easily copy- are immensely popular in Japan. The reason is: people love to copy them for just about any occasion.

Therein lies my point. Today, I will be dancing the raw cod egg dance, otherwise known as the Tarako dance. I won’t even try to describe what will we wear, but instead, I’ll post a picture later.

Now, if you normally don’t bother to check out any of the links I post on my blog, really must check this one out. The Tarako girls really defy description, and must be seen to be believed. This is a link to a YouTube video. It’s four minutes long, but you don’t have to watch all of it. If you allow the video to load completely, it will replay much better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kooS8iTqo1w

Let me know if the link didn’t work for you.

I’ll write more later. I have to go dance now!