Graduation extravaganza

Graduation from Primary School here is a big deal. I can't really remember graduating from Gowrie, but there wasn't all that much to it, all I remember is standing in the classroom performing Monster Mash, which I then thought, and still agree, that it wasn't appropriately refined for the event of a graduation.

Over the last few weeks of school, I attended any number of graduation related functions, culminating in the graduation ceremony itself last Monday.

• I have made waffles with the Yr. 6 students and their parents (mothers).
• I attended a school thank-you ceremony to the Yr. 6 students, where each grade presented a song to the Yr. 6s. The teachers also performed. I was given a crash course in the period before, and gave it my best shot, although mostly I just tried to look like I was a part of the teachers team, and kept fairly quiet.
• I came to the viewing of the Yr. 6 DVD, and got a couple of free cream puffs.
• I attended two different Oiwai Kyushoku, which is a celebratory lunch for the Yr. 6 students, where they get extra food over and above the ordinary kyushoku.
• I went to watch a rehearsal for the graduation ceremony. Yr. 5 and 6 spent quite a bit of time rehearsing.

Finally came the graduation ceremony itself. I picked my favourite group of Yr. 6 students, which was by a small margin Makami, and more or less invited myself to the ceremony.

The Yr. 5s played music, while all 113 of them (if I remember correctly) marched in in well spaced pairs. There were speeches, which to my surprise I understood quite a bit of, but none of them were particularly interesting. The Yr. 5s sang, and so did the Yr. 6s. Then each child, all 113 of them, were called up to receive their graduation certificates. This had definitely been drilled. Receive with the right hand, then bring the left hand up to hold it also. One step back, and bow. Certificate under the left arm, and march back to seat. The only child to vary from this routine was on crutches.

Then graduating group made a speech. Each child would say only a little bit, half a sentence or so, with many parts being said by all the children together. In the middle of that, I was surprised and touched to hear a reference made to English lessons with me, and then four kids rattled of the last thing we'd worked on together. "I want to be a comedian", "I want to be a doctor", and so on. I grinned, and teared up.

After the ceremony ended, they went back to their classrooms, and the teachers and Yr. 5 students assembled in the driveway to send them off. The lower grades had the day off school. We cheered them as they left, and then they milled around the gate for ages getting photos with everyone. I was pulled into quite a few.

Also worth a mention are the outfits sported by the graduating children. They don't have a school uniform, but this was a solemn occasion that needed appropriate attire. Most of the girls were in relatively short pleated tartan skirts, with knee-high socks, a white button up shirt with tie or big bow, and a sailor-style jacket. The boys were a bit more of a motley bunch. It seemed that the ideal was dark pants, shirt, tie and sailor-style jacket. Quite a few boys had these, but in the mix were jeans, casual jackets, and a large number of hoodies under the sailor-style jackets, with the hood hanging down the back. It was cold, but I couldn't believe that the boys hadn't been told to hide the hoods, by mothers, teachers, anyone.


I was expecting that it would be hard to go back and say good-bye to children I'd already farewelled. It was, the kids were so happy to see me there, and it tore at my heart to know I'd have to say good-bye again so soon. Unexpectedly however, the ceremony also gave me a sense of closure. It drove home the point that even if I was staying in Japan, I'd still be saying my farewells. The Yr. 6s were moving on, and as for the Yr.5s, I'd be at a different school anyway, so it would still have been good-bye. I left a little sad, but also feeling lighter and more comfortable with leaving than I had for weeks.