It's Time for Graduation -- Yes, In March

The Japanese fiscal year starts on April 1. So does the school year. Which means that graduation is in March.

I got my first taste of Japanese-style graduation not at my school but rather at Takachiho High School, located about 10 miles east of Gokase. Why? Well, according to a guy I spoke to on graduation day at my school, every high school in my prefecture, Miyazaki prefecture, holds its graduation ceremony on March 1. Except for my school. My school always has its commencement ceremony on March 3. I'm not sure why my school goes by a slightly different schedule, but I guess the reason must have something to do with the fact that my school is the only "secondary school" (combined junior and senior high school) in the prefecture.

Anyway, since March 1 happened to fall on a Saturday this year, I had the day off. So I went to Takachiho to see what graduation was like. Graduation was held at the school, in the gymnasium. The graduating class consisted of approximately 200 students. (By the way, high schools in Japan typically have students in grades 10-12, but they are considered to be in grades 1-3.)

One of the main differences between graduation in Japan and graduation in America is that here everyone in attendance will end up going through the ritual of standing up, bowing, listening to someone talk for anywhere from a couple seconds to several minutes, bowing again, and sitting back down at least once. How many times you have to do that depends on whether or not you are a graduating senior, a fellow student, a member of the staff, a VIP, or a guest.

At one point during the ceremony, the students stood up and sat back down so many times within a couple of minutes, I had the feeling they were actually at basic training, being yelled at by their drill instructor: "ON YOUR FEET!" (Not everyone stands up at the same time.) "WHAT THE ...?! SIT BACK DOWN! NOW, LET'S TRY THAT AGAIN! ON YOUR FEET!" Up and down, up and down they go(!), forced to go through the drill several times, until they get it just right. Except here at graduation, there's no drill instructor, just some guy at the microphone. And here there's no yelling, just some quiet commands.

Another thing that one notices at a graduation in Japan is that almost everyone in attendance who is dressed up in a suit and tie is wearing tennis shoes, slippers, or just socks. That is of course due to the fact that you can't wear your outdoor shoes inside the gym. I find that style rather amusing, but by now I've gotten used to the fashion. So when I dress up, I don't bother to wear formal shoes, because as soon as I get indoors, I'll have to switch to slippers. (How do you like those bright blue shoes I'm wearing with my suit?)

Another thing I noticed right away about graduation was the priority given to males. In Takachiho, for instance, the boys who weren't graduating sat in front of the girls who weren't graduating. (At least in Gokase, the girls sat on the left and the boys sat on the right.) And when the seniors marched into the gym, the boys came in first, followed by the girls. The boys also went onstage first to receive their diplomas, at least in Gokase that is. (At Takachiho High School, only six students, each one representing a homeroom, went onstage to accept the diplomas for the rest of the students. And can guess how many of those reps were girls? Wrong. Not zero. But just one.) And there were far more male VIPs than female VIPs. (In Gokase, about 19 male VIPs were introduced before the first female VIP was introduced, and there were only about 5 females among the 50 or so VIPs.) Even the yearbook gives priority to the boys, with their pages coming before the girls' pages (at least in Gokase).

Here a several other notes about graduation in Japan, as least based on the two ceremonies I witnessed:

At least one member of the audience, a parent, addresses the students.

For whatever reason, each diploma is numbered and the numbers are read to the audience. (The numbers correspond to the number of students who have graduated in the history of the school up to that point.)

All the boring speeches come after the students receive their diplomas, not before.

Several songs are sung, not just the school's alma mater.

After graduation, it's tradition to toss the seniors into the air, one by one. The male seniors, that is.