Daito High Graduation

Today we enjoyed long and emotional ceremonies in celebration that the 3rd graders are finally free from mandatory education. Yep, that is right, it is graduation time in Japan. The school year goes from April to March (quite different from the US system). The celebration was also a little different from US high school graduations.

We started today by first having cleaning time. Why this is necessary I have no idea. All the teachers are dressed up and parents are arriving, but we must clean?!? Then we assembled in the gym for the ceremony where lots of people gave speeches and there was a ton of standing and bowing. We sang the national anthem, school song, all the students names were read, and then speeches were given. Then we went back to the 3rd grade classrooms where the homeroom teacher gave each student their diploma and all the students gave speeches about their time in high school (that means standing for 2 hours while 40 students speak!!). Then they all stood outside, gave each other presents and took pictures. It was great! My supervisor, who was also the homeroom teacher of 3-1 class wore a kimono for graduation. It was really pretty! She had to go to a kind of salon to get dressed in it this morning because you can't put it on by yourself. I think wearing a kimono was really cool.

I keep thinking about how important this moment is for them, but at the same time how these last four years are insignificant in the scope of their life. They were still children while attending Daito High and therefore had not the opportunity to stretch their wings and really make something of themselves. Now they will ascend into the world and finally become who they are going to be. All the trauma and triumphs of high school are over. For some that is a relief and things will look up from here on. For others they enter the twilight of their life sooner than they would have liked. I, for one, was glad to graduate high school and never look back. I enjoyed it but at the same time I knew there was so much more out there and I was more than ready to get to it. I wish the graduates luck.