Yasuura JHS Graduation Ceremony

March signals the end of the school year in Japan and my third graders from Junior High School had their Graduation ceremony this past Saturday. I have literally seen a lot of these kids grow up and by far, they are my favourite grade that I have had the pleasure of teaching. (Picture Below: A few of my favorite students and the office lady, Ms. Ohtani)

The ceremony was pretty normal by Japanese standards, to a westerner though, they are a lot of differences. First of is probably the amount of singing, you sing the Japanese anthem, school song and then another two goodbye songs the graduating students sing to the teachers and parents. (Picture Below: The kids walking up to pick up their diplomas)

When the students were singing their goodbye song and they pause to say little speeches, a lot of the students were crying. Interestingly enough, some of the “tougher” boys or the ones who have been the most troublesome, were the ones who were crying the hardest. I really connected to a large number of the students and I even had to fight back some tears as I saw some of my students bawling. (Picture Below: The graduates singing their goodbye song)

The ceremony went smoothly and I’ll really miss seeing my students at school as they were the friendliest of the Junior High students I have taught. (Picture Below: Two of the smartest girls in school from the student council)

At night, all the teachers met at a hotel in Kure and we had a thank you dinner for the graduating student’s homeroom teachers. The dinner was really good and as usual I had a great time. I was able to chat with a few more teachers that I hadn’t spoken much too before and just spent the night pouring drinks for my colleagues. After being here for almost two years, I really do feel apart of the school and essentially as a teacher. (Picture Below: A picture of all my teachers at Yasuura)

I also had to give a speech in Japanese, which was a tad scary but ended up going really well. The P.E teacher had asked to explain the differences between graduation in Canada and Japan and I was able to list of a few examples. I don’t think I’ll ever be completely fluent at Japanese, but I hope to keep at it so that I can always converse. It was a good night as all the teachers were really loose and I had a great night eating and drinking. (Picture Below: Moritaka, Kenshin and Dekitani sensei listening to the speeches during dinner)

After leaving the hotel, I was going to just grab a beer with Masato then head back, but somehow ended up going home at 6am. I ran into Rob at our local bar who came in with his principal, and then met this Japanese couple kept on buying us drinks at another bar. It was a great night, expect that the long day managed to take a toll on my immune system and I’ve been sick the past week. (Picture Below: Taken at 6am, with Su-san almost passing out)

Well, I am going to try and take it easy this week, seeing that next week I am going to spend the week touring Kansai with a few friends. It should be fun as we will be driving along the Wakayama coast and plan on visiting Wakayama-shi, the sister city of Richmond. Hope all is well back home.

Japanese Factoid #44- Well, fruit in Japan is delicious. Not only is it great, but it’s also incredibly expensive compared to fruit back home. One apple can easily cost you two to three dollars. Most fruit is price100 dollars for one. The reason why fruit costs a lot here, is the quality control is so high. All the fruit that is sold is essentially unblemished and near perfect because if the fruit is bruised or not sweet, they won’t sell it.

The box of strawberries was sent my Asuka’s friend Aya from Yokohama. Each strawberry costs about 2.50 cdn. They were huge and each one looked immaculate. These strawberries are custom ordered by the emperor of Japan every year.