Celebrations
Spring is a time of rebirth. When the flowers emerge from their hibernation and herald on a new year on glorious splendour.
Schools in Japan are the same. I had to dust off my tie and suit jacket (I only have the one of each), because lets ceremony!
1. A few weeks back we had to farewell the 3rd year students at our school. They were really a great bunch of kids, and everybody wanted their graduation ceremony to be perfect. However, before this ceremony, the younger students put on a Thank-you ceremony for the graduating class. This was rehearsed for several days, as far as I know. It was sweet. They all seemed so shy, as if they didn’t want to do it. The younger students performed skits, which were so terrible, it made them funny. There was more elbow nudging than 12 rounds of Thai kickboxing.. Following that was a quiz, and an over-sentimental slideshow, which would’ve been nice, except the projector wasn’t functioning properly.
2. Then came the graduation ceremony. Even I was present for the practices. Well, they weren’t “practices” as much as “full dress-rehearsals”. I did well to disguise the fact that this was highly amusing. The students and teachers were fully dressed up, as was the hall- right down to the bonsai up on stage (maybe it was graduating too). Every single detail was rehearsed: The school brass band, the speeches by the students, the speech of thanks to the parents by the Vice Principal and the Principal’s speech of advice to the graduating students... The graduating students were at the practice too! That kind of deflates the speech, don’t you think? Furthermore, the graduating students practiced accepting their diplomas. The actual diplomas!
On the actual morning (after a half hour of learning how to stand up, sit down, and how to clap), it all went off perfectly. There were the 4 groups of people: teachers, parents, students, graduating students and the distinguished guests (including, I believe, a fireman). Some of these dignitaries made some boring speeches from deep down in the beaurocracies. In the end, I actually felt slightly bad for making fun of the rehearsals, as it was a very tasteful, and at times, tearful occasion. I actually found myself shouting to myself “noooooo”, as my favourite student accepted her certificate... (yes I have favourites...).
That night, we teachers all had a drinking party... Just the usual: a lot of alcohol, and food I wouldn’t normally eat on purpose. Of course, this was on a school night.
Now, this was only the beginning of the ceremony season. For sanities sake, I will quickly skim over these, but just keep in mind, the same attention to detail was taken in each one.
3. I also go to primary (elementary) schools. See, in New Zealand, when we finish school one year, we just don’t come back the next. We certainly don’t “graduate”. For us, the word “graduate” is a very important word used in times of great achievement and is celebrated by wearing a ridiculous hat. We generally feel that not choking ourselves on a crayon should not carry this honour. However, this is why Japan is so much ahead of the rest of the world; even 11 year olds “graduate”. The ceremony was mostly the same as before. Or, I assume I didn’t miss anything by dozing off.
4. I go to two primary schools. Both ceremonies were held on the same day, so I quickly drove off to the 2nd school. Perhaps on behalf of oversight, I had no designated seat with the teachers at the 2nd school, so they put me down by the dignitaries. The dignitaries, speakers and speeches were exactly the same; I simply had a different viewpoint to sleep from.
5. The school term finished a few days later. This, naturally, required another ceremony. Speeches and bowing..
6. I am also gaining another elementary school. Hence, I needed to be present at their New Teacher Ceremony. This time, I actually had a part to play, as I had to make a speech. The students had been forewarned about having English lessons from a genuine foreigner, and the effect of me entering the hall and being seen was electric. Gasps of “kakkoii” accidentally emerged from many mouths. It was the only time I can remember at any of the ceremonies (and there are several more to come) that the formal atmosphere was broken.
7. The new teachers at my main school also needed to be initiated. Bowing and speeches, and another drinking and eating party followed that night.
8. With the short spring holidays over, there needed to be, of course, an opening ceremony. Speeches and bowing.
9. Naturally, as our school is getting a new shipment of new students, we need them to be initiated too. Since they were all from the same school in this small town, it was basically identical to the 2nd elementary school graduation, except the uniform had gone from 3 years too small, to 3 years too big.
10. The teachers who left our school, came back to give a final farewell speech.
At the end of it all, I think I can see the value in all these ceremonies. An ignorant outsider might say that it’s a waste of time, and they may as well condense all these ceremonies into one super ceremony. But I’m not an ignorant outsider. I’m hoping that I can ride out the rest of my remaining 15 months left on my contract by going to these ceremonies. Although, with all the bowing, sitting and standing up, I don’t think my vertebrae could handle it. And really, neither could my sanity. I don’t want to jinx myself and speak to soon, but I am glad that ceremony season is over, and that my suit and tie can go back into hibernation.
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