It was finally san-nensai graduation today. It was really good to see all their smiling faces again, as it felt like such a long time since they finished school nearly a month ago. I missed having them around since then. The school really felt empty without them, despite there still being nearly 600 students around!

The ceremony itself, as I had guessed, was standard Japanese :) AKA extremely formal, hahaha. It started around 9:45am, so I spent the morning preparing little contact cards for my OC students. Although the students are now no longer my students, I figure I'm still their 'senpai' and I still have a role to play as a mentor in their lives, if they want me to. So I decided I'd make little cards with my email address on, so they could get in touch with me if they wanted to. I figure I can help them practise English or help them out if they ever plan to go to Australia, etc. I also wrapped up the CD I'd bought as a reward for the student with the best journal/attitude in the class, and wrote a little note to go with it.

I'd just finished when I noticed the staff room was empty. As usual, nobody had told me anything, but it didn't really bother me too much. I knew the ceremony didn't start until around 10am, and it was only 9:30am. Kotani-sensei was still around and told me to be at the gym by around 9:40am. So I ran up the stairs and into the throng of san-nensai students on the second floor. It was quite amusing, because instantly a whole heap of them started wanting to take photos with me. It was exhausting, as most of the girls are a good 30 or 40cm shorter than me, meaning I had to actually bend my knees ridiculously to even be able to have a decent photo taken, hahaha. It was hilarious. I don't think I've ever made so many peace signs in my entire life. Eventually, I managed to escape the crowds and bumped into the student I had the gift for. She was very happy when I gave it to her, and ran off excitedly to open it with her friends.

At about 9:45am I went into the gym, and a little while later the ceremony started. We'd done a practise the day before so I knew what would be happening, but there were still some interesting things going on. One thing I hadn't experienced before was a secret signal that all Japanese seem tuned to. The music teacher would suddenly play three very slow, loud notes on the piano. On the first, everyone would just instantly, without needing any further instructions, stand up. On the second, they would bow. That bow would be held until the third, when they would return to standing. I was caught completely unawares during the practise ceremony, but was prepared at the real one. I wondered how many parents were watching the tall gaijin standing amongst the teachers, only to be surprised when he somehow knew the secret Japanese bow signal. Muahaha ;) The whole thing admittedly did freak me out a little at first. It's obviously drilled into Japanese people from the time they're young. Scary thought, hehe. I wonder if, later in life, I'll instinctively bow at that sound/the right command words. Could be interesting outside of Japan, haha.

The ceremony progressed slowly with the students entering to continuous clapping over the course of about 10 minutes. The principal then called the name of all 300 and something students, and there were various lengthy speeches from him, other important people and the san-nensai student representatives. I could hardly understand any of it, so admittedly I tuned out a little and just listened for the calls to stand up, bow and sit down. Of which there were many, hehe. I like it - besides the respect you're conveying by doing it, it gives you something to do and keeps you awake! Very cool. Eventually, the ceremony ended with a tearful speech by one of my favourite OC class students, thanking everyone for the role they played in the success the san-nensai students had had at Ako SHS over their past three years. With that, all the san-nensai students left the gym, to the rather amusing musical selection of the hymn version of 'Hallelujah!'.

A short while later everyone else was leaving too, and that was graduation over and done with! Extremely formal, no cheering or yelling or talking by the students. I was a little concerned, but was glad to see that that was happening in the san-nensai classrooms! :) Some classes were yelling and some singing, some dancing and some crowding together for group photos. It was a lovely thing to see, and reminded me of my own high school and university graduations. I don't feel old, but it certainly took me back. These kids have quite some future ahead of them ;)

I wandered between the classrooms, chatting to the students and wishing them congratulations and good luck for the road ahead. As they are now no longer students, I felt it was appropriate to take some photos with them, so ran around trying to find members of my OC class. I found about half of them and grabbed as many photos as I could, and got swept into many other photos along the way, hehe. Gradually the madness died down as all the young adults (yay, not students any more ;D) slowly left, off to final club and friendship group parties.

I realised that the impact of graduation here is slightly larger than in Australia. At least if you live in somewhere like Perth, where most people a) stay in Perth to go to uni, b) have really only 3 unis to choose from and c) are never really that far away anyway, regardless of where they go to uni. Here, it's not uncommon for people to go to Tokyo, Hiroshima, Hokkaido and goodness knows where else. For many of these young people, this was the final day they would be seeing each other, possibly for the rest of their lives. Most of them took it pretty well though ;)

So that was it, then. I ate my special bento lunch, and my first Japanese senior high school graduation was already fading into the past. I took some time to reflect, and realised that I feel safe having these young people coming along behind me. I know that might sound slightly strange, so let me explain. I know I'm only 6 years older than these students, but I think that's already long enough for me to make a comment like the one I just did. They're never going to be the 'young generation' moving up into leadership positions when I'm ancient and worried about my pension, but they're going to be the generation of people my generation is going to be managing, once they hit the workforce. My experience with the san-nensai students here at Ako SHS has been a fantastic one. Most of them are very energetic, enthusiastic, hard working and concerned with their future and world issues. They're strong, smart and have wonderful spirits and natures. That's why I can say that I feel safe with them coming along behind. I'm certain that most of them are going to have bright, wonderful futures. I really hope my path crosses with some of theirs again, sometime in the future ;)

But until then, there's another year of new ichi-nensais coming, and another year of new san-nensais to help reach the same spot as those who have just finished. Ganbarimasu!