Last Monday, March 20th, I attended one of my elementary school’s graduation ceremony for the sixth graders. Unfortunately I couldn’t go to my other school’s since that one was on the same day, but I’m glad I was able to experience the vibe at this one.
The graduation ceremony took place in the school’s gym, with the sixth graders’ chairs up front, the school staff on the left side, the fifth graders in the central left, and the parents and guardians on the right side. All the staff wore suits, and most of the families of the graduating class. Most of the sixth graders wore their future junior high school uniforms, with the exception of one girl, who wore a hakama, similar to a kimono. The fifth graders wore pretty casual clothes.
Everyone except the sixth graders were seated in the gym first. Then everyone was told to stand up, and then the sixth graders walked in, in a single file line headed by the homeroom teacher, with soft instrumental music in the background. Once they all arrive at their seats, the national anthem plays, and then the first verse of the school’s song plays. The principal walks to the stage, bows at the flags in the back, and makes his way to the center to announce that a member of the PTA and the BoE are in attendance and commence the giving out of graduation certificates.
The sixth graders start standing up to one by one go up on stage to receive their graduation certificate. The homeroom teacher reads out the name of the student at the corner of the stage. Once the student says “hai”, they walk over to the principal in the middle, ready to hand over the certificate. The principal reads out their name, and flips the open certificate so it’s now facing the student. They receive it, close it, hold it at their side, and then walk out, followed by the next student until all the kids are done. Only for the first and last student does the principal also read aloud the prefecture, county, city, and school the student is receiving from. At this ceremony, there was one sixth grade class of 33 students (one was absent). My other school has 2 classes, with an average of 35 students per class, so I’m sure that one took longer.
Then the principal makes a speech, and then calls upon the 5th grade representative who also gives a speech. I’m not sure if the fifth graders being there is normal or not. The 1st through 4th graders are off from school today, but at my other school, its the 1st through 5th.
After this speech, the sixth grade representative gives a speech, and then the ceremony ends. The sixth graders walk out as everyone claps, the families are dismissed to go hang out in a separate room, and everyone else leaves. The staff cleans up later.
My main takeaway is that the ceremony itself was very structured and rigid. There was a lot of bowing, which was very Japanese, but what I found the most interesting was that the walking itself was also very planned. I know everyone rehearsed many times, but essentially anyone who walked on and off stage took a very certain angular path, stopping at corners to turn to keep walking.
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