There is wildlife in my tea!

*shrug* Seemed a better way to start this off than most of the other (cliché) thoughts I had. Said wildlife was actually a special occasion brew. Mornings normally are accompanied here by a cup of green tea from (you guessed it) Tea Lady, but as today is the ceremony of Kosaka Junior High School’s 61st graduating class, we get freaky tea. It was…unique, and not at all in a bad way. It was slightly salty when it first hit my lips, but it quickly faded into a light, almost-but-not-quite sweet aftertaste that made me ponder the meaning of existence for a good few seconds.

I had already been awake for a while by this point, as before coming to school I did some quick interpretation for the mayor because he had some foreign guests who were leaving that morning. So, arrive at school, drink the super tea, and before long the ceremony is under way. I’m not going to waste much space on this – if you’ve seen one graduation ceremony you’ve seen them all, and this one was not in the least bit different. Songs were sung, tears were cried, names were called, etc, etc. We had a few visiting dignitaries including the mayor (hey, long time no see!), the president of the Parent Teacher Mafi…*cough* Association¹, and some alumni who had gone on to lead exciting lives as salarymen…but nothing really worth pooping a brick over. One of them actually had an interesting factoid to share, though: when he graduated from KJH 45 years ago there were over 1000 students here, and his classroom had 55 people (about the size of today’s entire graduating class). This is actually hinting at a much deeper topic, but you’ll have to wait until a future post for that one. Trying to cover it here might result in me writing a four-page tangent.
¹If you work in the Japanese education system, the PTA owns your soul. They influence the school’s budget, the curriculum, and the length of rope you will hang yourself with if you fuck up. Do not defy them or you will be lucky to merely have your kneecaps shattered.

So, the ceremony was…ceremonial, the kids finished signing each others’ yearbooks, and my hand was about to cramp up and fall off. From the start I had been writing a few meaningful sentences to each kid who asked me to sign, and then when they started lining up in droves I of course couldn’t skimp and seem like I was playing favorites, so everyone got a few sentences. Everyone. Hands much more accustomed to typing than writing were not happy with me after that. The obligatory picture time followed, as kids poured out the front of the building to congratulate each other, shoot the shit, and throw each other (and some teachers) into the air.

Lunch was awesome. It being a Saturday we had no prepared school lunch, so we called in a box lunch strike and had these amazing bentos (that I really should have taken a picture of) airdropped to our immediate location. I <3 Japanese food.

After that, though, things got a little iffy, by which I mean complicated…by which I mean Japanese. All of us teachers and the principal gathered in the gymnasium again to hold a second graduation ceremony for one girl who couldn’t make it to the first one in the morning. Had she been sick? No. Did she have some unavoidable conflict or crisis? No. This took place because she is so incredibly shy that she cannot deal with appearing in front of a large group of people. This is actually somewhat common in Japan – at least compared to other countries – and there are some people in this country who literally have not left their homes in years because they suffer from this disorder. I don’t know how much research has been done on it, but I know that it is curable; I recall actually seeing some news about it recently in which one guy surmounted this hurdle by getting involved in the martial arts. Anyway, while it was certainly compassionate to hold a special ceremony to adapt to this girl’s difficulties, I had to wonder whether she should be graduating from a normal junior high school.
If you recall waaaaay back to the post called Compulsory English and you! you may remember how in Japan, everyone graduates. One need only show up on the first and last day of junior high school to walk away with a diploma. I personally remember this girl coming to class only once in my 7 months here, and even then I was asked not to call on her because this would “make her uncomfortable.” I know for a fact that my school is equipped to deal with special needs students, and my opinion of the special ed here has only improved with time. I also know the two special ed students, and she was not one of them. As best I can tell, this girl sat in her house and hid under a blanket for the last few years, and now she has a diploma. Sigh.

Most of the women (teachers) wore full dress kimono for the event, and so we had a little photo shoot afterwards to commemorate them getting all dolled up. Ms. Giggles was kind of funny; she was constantly adjusting and fretting over how her kimono (incidentally the least form-flattering garment on the planet) made her chest look small. She even shouted at one point something akin to, “Damn it, I’m Japanese! I already don’t have much to work with! Who thought up these stupid things anyway…”

I present to you here the ladies of KJH:
And really, what would this post be worth without a few photos of my graduating class on their final day? Ladies and gentlemen, the class of Heisei 20 (2008):
And another, this time celebrating outside:
And finally, in dress uniform (1/2 the bunch, anyway):