Bittersweet. Sigh. Nothing is quite like graduation time. You’re happy that the students have graduated and are moving on with their lives, but a part of you is upset that this may be the final time you see them. You don’t want to say goodbye, but you’re excited for these young people to grow-up and move on.
The graduation ceremony in Japan is not like Canada. At all. I was told today that the graduation ceremony for the 9th grade students is a bigger event than what happens at High School, and that surprises me even more.
All of the students attend this event. The grade 7s and 8s are seated before the ceremony begins. They sit in the back rows, split by class and split by gender (girls are on the right, boys are on the left. Each row is arranged by class). The parents sat behind the students or in the back-side corner of the gym. The front-side sections are for the teachers on one side and the other side was reserved for the “special guests” of the town (I think), like the Superintendent. The front rows were reserved for the graduating class of 2012 – the 9th graders. (Ok, so in Japan they call grade 7 “first grade,” grade 8 “second grade,” and grade 9 “third grade.” I was typing “Grade 7-9” so that my family and friends back home didn’t get confused. But now that you know this fact, from now on I’ll refer to the students as 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade students.)
The 2nd and 1st grade students.
The important guests.
The empty seats up front were for the 3rd grade students.
When the ceremony finally began, the 3rd grade teachers led each of their classes to their seats. The students wore their normal school uniforms, but they had silver ribbon-flowers pinned to their heart.
Speaking of clothes, all the teachers wore black suits and very formal black dresses with flowers pinned at the shoulder or heart. Here’s a picture of a couple of teachers who I work with. The lady on the left is the Head Supervising English teacher. She is wonderful!
Also, the third grade female teachers wore kimonos. Here are the pictures of them announcing the names of their students. (I wanted to take a picture of the two of them after the ceremony, but they changed after the ceremony and I missed the chance of taking a photo of them).
I’m getting off track, as usual! So the students came in, and sat down…at the same time as their class! This whole ceremony was interesting because all the students sat, bowed, moved their feet apart to sing in their chorus group, and turned all together, like one big unit. Keep in mind there are 6 classes of 3rd grade students, and the smallest class has 35 students in it. There are 6 classes of 2nd grade students and 7 classes of first grade students…and the entire student body bowed and moved at the same time throughout the celebration! It was awesome! I used to be in a couple of Marching Bands when I was in High School and University, so I can really appreciate the precise movements of the students and staff. In saying that, everything was quite rehearsed and robotic. Everyone bowed at the same height, everyone spoke in one big loud voice. It’s neat and eerie at the same time…like Marching Band;-) I’m kidding!
The 3rd grade students would follow their teachers, in pairs, to their seats.
Anyways, once the third graders were in the gym (sitting in rows organized by class and boys on the left, girls on the right), the speaker said a few words. We stood up. Bowed at the same time. Sat down. Stood up. Bowed. Lather. Rinse. Wash. Repeat.
We sang the National Anthem (I know the melody and the Japanese language has only 5 vowel sounds so I fake it well. It’s a beautiful anthem, although it sounds a bit melancholy to me. A teacher-friend of mine later explained that many Japanese people do not like their anthem because of it’s subject matter – fighting and dying for the emperor without questioning your orders. To my understanding, some people don’t like it because it is about the lower class protecting the upper class without question as if their lives are not as important. I need to stress that this is what my friend told me so I don’t know if this is true…I don’t know the lyrics of the anthem, remember? Anyway, I told her that maybe they could change the meaning of the song so that it is symbolic. So sing the same words, but maybe change the meaning through symbolisim; maybe the “emperor” could symbolize the country of Japan and the action of “fighting and protecting” could represent being proud and protecting your country. Just a thought…because I like the way the anthem sounds. But no wonder it sounds a bit sad…) HEY!! I’m getting waaaaay off track here! Let me continue…
We sang the anthem, and then we got right down to business. The homeroom teacher from 3A went up to the microphone and read out the name of each student. Once read, the student would stand up and say a big, “Hai!” (The English equivalent is “yes” or “here”). When they finished reading all of the names and the entire class was standing, a class representative walked up to the front towards the principal. The student representative walked in perfect 90 degree angles. I’m not kidding! The turning, bowing, walking is very precise and perfect. The student bowed to the teachers, bowed to the “special guests,” continued to walk up to the stage where the principal was. He said a few words and then passed the certificates to the student in a very precise manner. The student held the documents in his/her hands, took a step back while raising the certificates up high, and finally bowed. When he/she bowed, the entire class bowed in unison. Then the student walked back, each step in line with how he/she got there in the first place, and put the certificates on a small table that was behind the last third grade row. Then the teacher from 3B went up to the microphone and announced the name of each student from 3B. Lather. Rinse. Wash. Repeat. Even though I am joking, it was quite interesting to watch. So darn precise and perfect!! Crazy! And kind of creepy. Here are some pictures and videos (I’m sorry if the videos don’t work, I’ll try to work out the gliches if I can):
Then the principal gave a speech, three of the important people spoke (I didn’t recognize anyone except for Superintendent Watanabe.) The students gave some speeches. I guess they were talking about their school year and the teachers they had. Here is a picture of the superintendent giving his speech:
Finally, after 45 minutes to an hour of listening to speeches where I can only pick up a few words here and there, (“….Fuwa Junior High School blah blah blah blah student. Now we are blah blah blah High School blah blah blah…” Boy, I really need to work on my Japanese!), the students sang in their chorus groups. The first and second grade students, who were sitting patiently this whole time, sang first. They stood up and sang a song to the third graders, who were now standing up at the front on risers. It was quite touching.
In fact, I could start to hear sniffing. Sniffing among the third grade students, sniffing around the teacher section, sniffing in the parent section, and even sniffing amongst the first and second graders! Some people were starting to get emotional!! But the people who were getting emotional were doing their best to contain it and not show it. Students used their sleeves and hands to wipe their cheeks and eyes. Teachers and parents used hankerchiefs.
And then the third graders sang two songs. And then if people weren’t tearing up before, they were tearing up now! Even I teared up! In such a disciplined event, the music released the emotional tension that everyone was holding in their hearts.
Yesterday I was reading on Facebook how many of my ALT/AET friends were sad and started crying during graduation. When I read this, I thought that I only had six months with the third graders and I saw over 300 third grade students every three weeks. I wished I had gotten to know them better, because I still didn’t know many of them on a one to one basis. So when I read these posts, I thought, “Aw, that’s sad. But that won’t happen to me. Some of my AET friends have been in Japan for many years so they’ve had years to get to know these students in Elementary School and Junior High School. I only had 6 months. I won’t get emotional.”
But the music played. And the students sang through their tears. Boys cried, too. And you could tell they were really sad. And you could tell that the teachers and parents were really touched. And I suddenly realized that this was the last moment that I would see these students again. As soon as they were finished singing, they would leave the gym, have their final, brief homeroom class with their teacher and their parents, and that was it. No party. No dance. Junior High was over. And for some of them, school was over. And this is the biggest celebration they were going to get…from what I heard. (High School has a smaller graduation ceremony.) This was the last time we would all be together. And then I started wishing that I had more time with them again. I wish I had gotten to know many of them better. They were in front of me singing and I felt like this was our final goodbye. I would return to Canada in July and never see these kids again. In fact, I would return home and never see all of my students and new friends again!
Yeah, I started sniffing, too! It was pathetic! I started wishing I was more prepared because all I had to use for my tears were my long sleeves. I’m even getting emotional typing this up and I’m sitting at my desk in a very busy office. SHESH!! But it was nice to know that I had the time I did with these students, and that I have had this time in Japan. Japan has been the breath of fresh air that I desperately needed and it has been an experience I will always cherish (…and it’s not over!) And I will never forget my new friends. That’s what Facebook is for!
There are two things I have truly fell in love with in Japan, and one of those things are the people. I truly admire the people here. They are so kind, friendly, respectful, and hardworking. Right from day one I have always felt welcomed and safe in this beautiful country. So when I speak about the Japanese people, please understand that I speak out of great love and respect.
Yeah, and I won’t forget my crazy ALT friends, too!
Anyway, I’m getting a bit sappy, so here are some pictures and videos of the chorus groups:
Here are the parents taking pictures of the chorus group.
After the singing, the third grade students left with their teachers. Everyone clapped the entire time. That just might have been the final time I would see some of those students ever again. I hope nothing but the best for them…even the ones who slept through my lessons;-)
Today a teacher gave us some special Manju she had bought from a store. Manju is a Rice Cake. Here’s a picture:
The red bean center was very sweet and the leaf that wrapped around it was a bit sour and bitter. It was bittersweet…just like graduation.
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