From Grandma and Grandpa

I asked my grandparents to write a little something for my blog, to capture the opinions and reactions of another generation, traveling to Japan for reasons, motives and desires different to mine! :-

Having spent two weeks in Japan with our Grandson,
we now know why you have fallen in love with Japan Christopher.
What an experience for us to share some time with you and have a
tour guide on hand (he didn’t ask for a tip either).
Japan was a great experience for us: the blossom, the mountains, the people, oh everything.

We had the pleasure of meeting your local friends and sharing
time and food with them and really getting the feel of the country.
Having had just a photograph of your house, it was so good to see it
fully and its situation. Akayu is a small town where locally grown fruit
is delicious and where one can relax in a natural hot spring bath.
You can see bubble houses on the mountainside where grapes are
grown.

It was fun to meet some of your JET colleagues and share time with
them. One of the girls performed a tea ceremony which we found most
interesting. We understand that you are able to study the art of performing
a tea ceremony. Grandma still finds it difficult to take the green tea
offered during the ceremony.

We found Tokyo a wonderful city, so alive and clean!!! and at no time
did we feel threatened. Kyoto was another great city and then we
visited the beautiful town of Nara with its roaming deer and beautiful
parkland and then on to Himeji Castle so different from our English
castles.

Having had the opportunity to visit Pearl Harbour Monument we were
anxious to visit the Hiroshima Museum – we were not disappointed. It
was so tastefully laid out leaving a great impression on us and enabled us
to see both sides of a situation that should never occur again.

We are very proud of what you have achieved so far, speaking and
writing the language (no easy task) and trust the rest of your time
in Japan fulfils all your dreams.

Almost caught up!

Yesterday I just uploaded some 250+ photos onto my Flickr page! Please have a look! And don't hesitate to write a comment on any of my blog entries. I'm interested to find out who is interested in my life over here, and what people make of the stories I tell! I'm quite impressed with a visitor count of over 2300 and growing!

My first visitors to Japan!

I've just returned from a lovely break away from work, to spend some time with my grandparents, who successfully managed to make it all the way over to Japan! My first visitors!

On April 9th I caught the night bus down to Tokyo (luckily it wasn't too full so I could stretch out a little bit and get a little bit more sleep than a usually do on the stupid night bus!) - I arrived at 5.30am in Tokyo and then set about getting a train to Narita airport. I didn't quite realise how far away it was! Trying to be a bit of a cheap skate and save some coppers, I took the regular train rather than the express train to the airport. But unfortunately, you literally do get what you pay for in Japan, as it took me near 2 1/2 hours to get to the airport terminal (the express train takes about 40minutes)! I arrived at Terminal 2 about 15 minutes after their plane had landed, and I was still in time to meet them as they came out of the arrival doors! It was fantastic to see them!

We spent three days in Tokyo first - unfortunately they hadn't arrived on a great day in Tokyo. To say 4 days before I was sunbathing in the Tokyo Palace gardens, it was rather cold and rather rainy on the first day. Later I discovered that it had been colder in Tokyo on that day, than it had up in the northern most part of Japan, Hokkaido!! But, never failing to show our British roots, the weather didn't hinder us at all! We marched on still!

The following days were much better and Tokyo adopted a similiar warmth that I had felt the weekend before - much better to enjoy exploring! I showed them all the sights I thought would interest them most, we went to Asakusa to see the big temple there, we strolled the streets of Ginza, drinking coffee outside and people watching, we crossed Shibuya crossing - my grandparents a little stunned at just how busy the whole place was. I think they were really impressed.

Grandma and Grandpa enjoy their first temple of Japan, in Asakusa, Tokyo, in front of a massive lantern!

Wandering through the markets of Tsukiji, marvelling at the nice cuts of fish and the interesting food-stuffs on offer. It was in Tsukiji that my grandparents discovered they weren't really keen on Sushi! It was better than they expected but I don't think they'll be choosing it over some cooked meat anytime soon!

Grandma is ne'er but a young lass next to this 300 year old tree, in one of the gardens in Tokyo. It was a funny experience, enjoying a lovely area of greenery, but being completely surrounded by tall buildings very close by.

After Tokyo, we moved on to other cities. We visited the famous Golden Temple, and ate Shabu Shabu in Kyoto. In Nara we stayed one night in a Japanese hotel - known as a Ryoukan. My travel agent friend in Akayu, had recommended the particular one we stayed at, informing us that it was a 5 star ryoukan (and naturally a little on the expensive side!) - but it really was amazing. The staff treated us like royalty, waiting on us all the time, making us feel like we were very important and special, and plying us with green tea and a real feast for dinner and breakfast! The dinner was Kaiseki, the Japanese equivalent to Haute Cuisine, and we had 10 courses all in all! We were so full we couldn't believe how much food we got. The biggest difficulty for grandma and grandpa was getting down and getting back up from the low seats and the futon beds, but they managed and did their best! Nara was a beautiful city and the weather was at its best whilst we were there.

I show Grandma and Grandpa the impressive Kyoto Station - we reach the high high top, albeit with a little difficult, having to carry our luggage with us everywhere.

The Golden Temple was beautiful as well as the gardens and ponds that surrounded it, and this is a really nice photo I think!

We visit Chion-in Temple in Kyoto, with Japan's highest gate and one of the grandest temples in the country. A really impressive and beautiful place.

The gang.

Grandma and Grandpa get into the Japanese spirit by donning their 'Yukata' and their pyjamas at the Japanese traditional 'Ryoukan' hotel in Nara.

Me and Grandma enjoy the lovely weather and the beautiful sights of Nara.

After Nara, we visited Himeji Castle briefly, before arriving at our final stop Hiroshima. The castle is considered to be the finest original (ie. hasn't been subjected to numerous attacks, fires, bombings) castle in Japan and it is really quite impressive. The weather was a bit rubbish but we still enjoyed being to see such a lovely castle in very good condition! The only complaint was the massive steps everywhere - we were baffled as to how any small Japanese people managed to get round the place, especially wearing long gown-type traditional kimono and such like! Perhaps that was a successful design feature, in that nobody could use the castle, and so it was left pristine and untouched!

Himeji Castle was a proud and prominent landmark from afar. 

The weather didn't deter us from admire the beautiful castle - it was very impressive!

I woz 'ere!

Enjoying the Cherry Blossom (Sakura), which I felt we were rather lucky to see down south, as they blossom down south much earlier than they do up in the North.

My grandparents were very impressed with the train systems in Japan, naturally they experienced the efficient and exact train times - which we luckily had no problems with, even when we reached the platform of Himeji station, just in time to get inside our Shinkansen before it took off for Hiroshima!

Finally, we were very exhausted after a busy day rushing about seeing castles and catching Shinkansen. We ate some delicious Argentian cuisine (of all things!) at a restaurant near our hotel, which was very central to the Hiroshima A Bomb Memorial and Museum which my grandparents really wanted to visit, before a good nights rest, ready to spend a day at the peace bomb memorial.

The museum was very interesting and insightful. We all agreed that it had been tastefully put together - and it didn't fail to mention about Japan's actions in WWII. It was really popular, with plenty of school children walking around it, and people from many different countries (we could hear several different languages as we walked around the museum). Afterwards, we all got a bit bombarded by Junior and Elementary School children practising their English on unsuspecting tourists! A great idea, but you needed a bit of force to stop all of them from interviewing you!

The weather was still a little rainy whilst in Hiroshima, but I went out for a quick walk one night and caught the park deserted, with only the glow of the flame that will never be extinguished until all the Nuclear weapons in the world are discarded. It was a rather beautiful and thoughtful moment.

The 'A-Bomb' dome, the bomb exploded very close to it. It felt rather wierd to be walking around the place where the actual bomb had exploded just over 60 years ago.

And Hiroshima has blossomed into a beautiful and dynamic city. Both me and my grandparents really enjoyed the city, and I hope to visit again for a bit longer sometime in the future!

Hiroshima is a lovely city, it has a very fresh and lively feel to it. We all enjoyed it, and I hope to visit it at another point in time. Finally the day came for us to head up to the REAL Japan, my Japan. We spent about 6/7 hours travelling on Shinkansen from Hiroshima to Akayu, Yamagata (totally baffling the JR lady at Hiroshima station as to where Akayu and Yamagata was!)

My grandparents had a busy few days up in Akayu. We met some of my JET friends, and also visited my travel agent friend Takashi and his wife - both who can speak fantastic English and live in a beautiful house. He had done a fantastic job arranging our hotels for us and helped to make my grandparents stay very special! On the final night before they left, we visited my good friend Marie, who invited some of her (and mine!) Japanese friends along too, and we had a real feast of various different Japanese foods! They were always so stunned by how much food there was, and they tried so much Japanese food, alot of which they enjoyed! They also persisted in using chopsticks! Grandpa got pretty good towards the end, and enjoyed the green tea too! I think he might have started turning Japanese if he'd stayed a little bit longer!

The day I said 'sayonara' to them was a little bit sad. I'd got so used to having some company with me all the time, and for my house to be busy and bustly, that I left them at Akayu station to go to work, a little bit teary-eyed. Then all of a sudden, I was rung up by my colleague and super-helper extrodinaire Mr Hosokawa, who was at the station, and asked me to come back too! Mr Hosokawa had finally managed to see them, gave them a bottle of Nanyo-made Sake and had a photo taken together and I got to say goodbye to them one more time, and see them off as the Shinkansen whisked them back to Tokyo. Unfortunately it was only Mr Hosokawa from the Board of Education who had been able to see them, everyone else was a little bit disapointed and sorry. But instances like the one with Mr Hosokawa were a frequent occaision all the way throughout Japan - they will return to England with a collection of gifts and special memories, and I am so happy that they have been able to experience and sample a bit of my two-year life in Japan, and really see why I fell in love with Japan in the first place, and continue to admire and enjoy it as I live in it.

Springroove '08

On 5th April it was Chrysanta's birthday (The ALT from Iide town, a little near Nanyo), it also just so happened that a big hip-hop concert was happening down in the Tokyo area on the same day. Chrissy invited some of us to go down with her and celebrate. We did a night bus down (once again we regretted it), had an overnight stay and then caught the shinkansen back.

The concert was huge and had loads of big acts both Japanese (Teriyaki Boys, AFRO - a great lively Japanese dancehall band!) and American (Sean Kingston, Rhianna, Kanye West, N.E.R.D - all really big names) spread between three stages. The place was very busy but not overly crowded, meaning we could often get some good positions in the crowd to see the performances. We saw quite an interesting mix of Japanese and Western people attending. Hip-hop culture in Japan has had quite an impact on the younger generation, who have fallen in love with the style of dress, music and dance. Unfortunately, I personally don't feel the Japanese culture and size and form of Japanese people fit well with the American hip-hop image.

Hip-hop in America is predominately produced and created by African-Americans. They are often very big guys, often very muscular, and the girls are typically curvacious. Japanese people are typically small, and the girls are usually incredibly thin, and have no curves! So we saw plenty of Japanese people walking around in huge baggy American import hiphop-style clothing, five times bigger than would fit them properly, whilst the girls wore crazy clothes, brash colours, extreme hair-styles, sometimes in a kind of crazy Japanese/American fusion. (Not always tastefully done!)

Also, Japanese hip-hop is a little wierd. Again, because of the influence from America, it has become quite popular, but the lyrics seem a little wierd - you might think its just because I won't understand them - but its actually because there seems to be too much I understand. They constantly interject the Japanese with English passages - anybody would think they were bi-lingual!

I present to you a sample of the Teriyaki boyz lyrics (in the roman alphabet so you can all understand it more) - why not play a game and see how many English words you can spot in this passage!

You know what time is it!?

Mae wa kimi ni CRUSH tsuuka kataomoi tte

Oboeteru tegami kaiteta

Sono goro wa keitai mo MEERU mo nai

Neru mae ie ni CALL shitara YO MAMA kimi no MAMA

Ga denwa ni dete said donata?

Dakara yuuki wo dashite kimi to hanashi taitte

Ittara kotowarareta I asked WHY?

Shou ga nee Ano goro no ore juu en hage

Demo Times Changed Ima ja mi mo kami mo sarasara de kurabu ROCK shiteruze YEAH

Oshie youka ore no SECRET

Kono BYUUTEIFOO na boku channo hiketsu

Nara mimi wo kasu beki YES! TAKASUKURINIKKU

If this is an example of how popular English is, then why aren't all of my students compelled to learn it!

However, on the whole, the music was great, and again, the beauty of Japan is that you felt completely safe all the time - no fear of gun violence (as can so often be common at American hip-hop concerts) and no real fear of stealing. Plus I had a delicious Donner Kebab there (oh how I miss those!)

The following day the weather was great and really hot, so we walked over to the East Imperial Palace gardens and did a bit of sunbathing (well, some of us did - Siobhan accidently lost her Shinkansen ticket, which was luckily returned to the lost and found, but then I gave her some instructions in order to get to the Palace gardens and meet us....the conclusion is that I am completely useless with 'left' and 'right' and should not be trusted at all to give instructions, as has been observed more than once whilst in Japan, and probably in England too!).

My camera broke half-way through the concert, so I didn't really get that many photos, and this photo isn't one by me - but it capture the concert pretty well!

Deuxieme Cocktail Soriee!

To welcome in the spring, and the beginning of the school spring break, I decided to host another cocktail party, after the success of the other. Fortunately, it was another success, and a lot of fun. Various people couldn't make it because of vacations, holidays, graduation ceremonies and allsorts, but various new people made it round this time. Tiffany from Saitama who I visited a little while before even managed to make the party, meet a few Yamagatians and see a bit of the Yamagata countryside too!

The usual formula of Japanese canned cocktail drinks and buffet food, with a bit of singing and playing the piano from myself remained. Some people made some absolutely delicious food (special thanks to Monica for making delicious fresh Spring Rolls, and to Monique for making a delicious ham quiche style thing - really delicious!!)

The highlight of the night - a new addition to the previous gathering, was the first ever (most likely) International art exhibition in Nanyo City! Held right inside my little house! The room that was previously the poker room, became the art gallery room - and it turned out great in the end! Lots of people contributed with aesthetically nice looking art, to strangely surreal art, to poignantly conceptual art. Following on from that, we had some performance art and some poetry performance too! (and I complain that Yamagata has very little culture in it!?)

At the stroke of midnight, the party coincided with my good friend Brigid's birthday, so I dedicated an improv song for her and some people prepared a little cake for her! Good times were had by all I'm sure!

The Aftermath of Winter

Well ladies and gentlemen, I think by now I can safely say I made it. I survived the Yamagata winter. This years anyway. The snowfall was average this winter (ie. lots and lots), but it was particularly cold apparently - so I think I did pretty well. I'm currently ringing around for the best price and design for a 'I survived a Yamagata winter' T-Shirt, so I can 'wear it'.

I just felt I should inform you all, as you might still suppose that I'm still living like the eskimos. Luckily I'm not. The winter put up quite a fight though. At the beginning of March I invited some teacher friends of mine over to my house for some dinner, and at the time there was an unbelievable snow-storm going on. Then, the following day, lasting for almost a whole month uninterrupted we had beautiful skies and lovely sunshine. It immediately started getting warmer. Occaisionally their were heavy snowfalls lasting a few hours, but by that time the weather had become too warm for the snow to settle.

As soon as that last big blizzard had occured at the beginning of March, I began to see big snow....digging type machines that began to churn up the packed, tall, layered snow on the sides of the roads and throw it out of another tube into a truck to be sent away. It was almost like they knew the snow had finished and they could begin to clear the most of it away.

It took a long time for some of the snow to melt. The last school I was at before the break-up of term still had a knee-deep level of snow on their sports ground towards the end of March. (A very clever idea by the football team coach/English teacher was to make them struggle/run from one set of goalposts to the other, as a way of slushing up the snow and making it disapear quicker!)

Even now there are still bits of snow, but the majority remains on the tops of the mountains, and they look beautiful on a clear spring day!

The sides of the roads in Nanyo! As high as the walls!

Everywhere in Yamagata, you could find massive hills of snow in the corners of car parks and road sides, as proud evidence of the massive snows we survived.

You can see the layers of the snowfall.

A beautiful sunny day, mountains covered with clouds and houses with a pretty coating of snow that look like sugar icing roofs on a gingerbread house!

The view of Nanyo, from Nanyo Skypark.

An Englishman in Tokyo

The day after, Tiffany had to go to work (I got a day off from going to Graduation Day on the Sunday the weekend before), and so I got a chance to do what I liked and explore the surrounding area a little bit. I went down to Tokyo to check out the Museum of Contempoary Art (having had a taste of culture I had been deprived of for quite sometime, I just had to get a bit more!)

The building, as is normally expected of a modern art gallery, was an interesting construction, looking more like the triangular formed girders you sometimes find supporting bridges. Entering the buiding was like entering a peaceful haven away from the busy metropolis. The white walls and noiseless spaces of the art gallery were a pleasant surprise for me, considering Japan is so in love with blips, beeps, noises and sounds.

The Cherry Blossom was starting to bloom down in Tokyo, and I happened to catch a bird making a rather noisy song and dance about the event! Mind you, it looks like quite a Japanese-y picture don't you think?

The impressive and quirky bridge-esque-looking art museum.

Whilst it might be more difficult to say 'Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo', it certainly looks more difficult to write it in Japanese!

At first, I thought they were doing a few renovations to the place....and then it just turned out it was a work of art! That's modern art for you!

There was some great stuff on display, with a focus on contempoary Japanese artists. They had a pop-art exhibition in which the Warhol 'Marilyn Monroe' set of lithographs were on display, aswell as the Lichtenstien 'Kiss'.

There was also a rather stranger temporary exhibition about building bridges or pathways in various places - I couldn't quite see what the aim or intention of the project was, but it required a lot of areas within the museum (and outside of the museum!) to have large planks of wood erected around the place. (All a bit wierd - but hey that's contempoary for you!) There wasn't that much English description for the pieces of art so it didn't help me deciphering the meaning!

Upon leaving Tokyo at about 6.30pm - I was hitting rush hour. The trains were really busy - to the point where you couldn't move at all in the carriages - we were all squashed in together. This was definately something I don't envy having to deal with, and something the Saitama JETs frequently have to deal with!

A trip to a country isn't complete without a customary 'let's find the Apple store' activity! The one in Ginza looks pretty impressive, and has a cool spinning apple sign on the top of the building!

Afterwards, having dealt with the incredibly packed trains, backing Saitama we had an Indian curry with a few other Saitama ALTs (nice and friendly bunch of people I must say!), went to a really nice authentic looking british style pub, and then did a bit of Karaoke at the end! Always a good way to end a day!

An Easter Treat around the urban jungle

One of my 'Things to do while in Japan' was to see the world famous Bach Collegium Japan choir. I'd heard them in recordings a few times, and whilst they occaisionally tour around Europe, its a little tricky to have time to see them. Not that its any easier in Japan considering they never go anywhere near my home of Yamagata (cultural capital of Japan *cough cough*!). Tokyo is never too far away though and I discovered they were performing Bach's St Matthews Passion in Saitama around the Easter period. Saitama is the prefecture above Tokyo - and still on the same Shinkansen line as mine. Luckily, through the magic of Facebook (the social networking site) - I kept in contact with another JET who just so happened to live in Saitama, who I met back in London a year ago at the first JET orientation.

She was interested in seeing the concert too, plus I got a place to stay in and as the concert was on a public holiday - I had a little trip down to Saitama for a few days! This blog entry should be quite an informative one for you on various cultural aspects of Japan! I shall bullet point a few important details should you ever visit Japan:

1). Be wary of the drink 'Shochu'!!! - 'Shochu' is a Japanese spirit, a bit like vodka, I think made of potato (potato wine?). The Japanese like to drink it with water, although you can drink it with any flavour you like (a cocktail called a 'Chu Hai'). It has a very very subtle sweet taste and is quite strong. The Japanese CLAIM it doesn't give you a hangover....however, the night before I was going down to Saitama, I got invited to a little reunion enkai of Marie's past extra English school students. We started drinking beer and later was offered Shochu to drink, something I don't normally accept that much. I didn't drink a lot but for some reason the morning after, I had a considerable hangover and didn't properly recover until the afternoon when I arrived in Saitama (having almost missed the Shinkansen I needed to get!). So a warning to you: be wary of Shochu (and try not to confused 'water and shochu' with 'water'!!! Trust me, it's quite an easy thing to do at first.....!)

2). Don't mess with train times in Japan - There have been quite a few occaisions when I have been annoyed, frustrated and/or angry with the train times in Japan (especially if you come from England!). It is not there fault, but they are EFFICIENT. More efficient than the most efficent thing you can think of, and then add a bit more efficiency on top. They don't wait around for anyone, they arrive on time, and leave on time. So if I set off to the train station with my English 'ahh luckily it'll be a few minutes late anyway' mentality, then I will arrive seeing the train setting off.

Now, I have been conditioned to fear the trains. To constantly fear missing a train, to constantly fear missing the right stop (they don't stop for long before they set off again). The thing is, up in the more remote and smaller areas of Japan, for example, my home - trains are rare. If you miss one train, then you'll likely have to wait another hour for the next. Also, if you need to go somewhere than requires a transfer, you most likely have to wait at least 30 minutes for the next train to set off. Another thing is, trains are not 24 hours. The timetable begins at 6.30am and ends at about 11.30pm - sometimes earlier.

Anway, rant aside, luckily I'm generally good at catching the trains I want, but I do notice that I get considerably anxious whilst waiting for them or on my way to catch them, or getting off them at the stop I need. This point coincides with my next point.

3). The countryside is very different to the urban jungle in Japan - Saitama is considered part of 'greater Tokyo', which means that it is bigger, has more facilities and more shops, better public transport (trains every few minutes, convenient and efficent bus services) and is within 30 minutes train ride of Tokyo. No longer did I really have to fear missing train times, the difficulty of finding foreign foods and decent tasting bread decreased - I was almost in another world!

My friend Tiffany who I met lives in the biggest city in Saitama, Omiya (alternatively known as Saitama City) . With a population of 1.1 million people, it pales in comparison to Nanyo's 34,000 people. It is basically a commuter's place of residence - where they live and travel from to get to their work in Tokyo. We had a pretty interesting discussion about the difference between living in the city, and living in the countryside.

Whilst people are often more relaxed, laid-back and friendly up in Yamagata - where one of the biggest industries is agriculture and farming, people in Saitama are typically seen in business suits, always looking like they have somewhere to go to. Because they spend a lot of time in Tokyo, they are more familiar to seeing foreigners around them, so they can treat foreign residents a little different, perhaps not quite being as helpful or friendly to them (this is not a rule of course). Because communities and populations are typically bigger, it is harder to integrate and form relationships with neighbours.

My visit to Saitama was really interesting and allowed me to glimpse a little bit of what it would have been like had I lived in a bigger city. Personally, I'm glad I live where I am, as I never lived in a big city before I came to Japan so my way of living now is very similiar (in a way!) to what I had before.

The view from Tiffany's house, I wouldn't say is really a 'deal-clincher' in the estate agency world.

The concert was in the city's arts centre. It was amazing! The performance was nigh-on perfect. We got some fantastic seats on the second row and heard some beautiful music. All the soloists were excellent and the interpretation of the passion by conductor Masaaki Suzuki was really interest and well-executed! The counter-tenor soloist had such a beautiful voice.

It seems I didn't do too well on the photography front with that trip, so here is a little clip from youtube - of the same choir, but different singers, and St Johns Passion instead of St Matthews Passion - but you get the idea!!!

小学校卒業式 (Elementary School Edition)

My supervisor asked me if I wanted to attend an Elementary school Graduation ceremony. So far I have visited seven of the eight elementary schools in Nanyo so I had quite a choice to choose from!

I decided to go to Okishou (沖小) Okigo Elementary School, considering I had spent one (long and tiring) week at the school, very unusual for me, as I normally just make one or two day visits at a time to each school. They were obviously very interested and enthusiastic about English, with some teachers who had good English ability, so it was quite an easy choice to make!

Basically the event was in a similiar format to the Junior High School graduation ceremony, only with more cuteness and perhaps a little more energy injected into it! The thing that really shook me up about the event was that I had no idea I would be considered a guest of honour at the ceremony. The children all sit in the main area of the hall, the teachers always sit at right hand side of the hall in rows arranged vertically to the stage, and the guests of the school sit on the other, left-hand side of the stage, in rows vertically arranged. So the teachers face the guests and the guests face the teachers.

I dressed up smart for the occaision (luckily!), but just thought I would be able to slip in amongst the parents and see what happens at an Elementary graduation. I arrived at the school, was ticked off the list and then upon trying to go into the hall, was promptly told to go into the principal's room. Inside this room was the mayor, principal of the junior school, PTA leaders, various important figures from local businesses, and me, the ALT! This shook me up just a little bit because it meant that I would be noticed more and I stood out more, and also during the ceremony the vice principal introduces the guests to the audience and children, after which they all stand up and give a quick 'Congratulations' to the graduation children and their parents. Altogether there might have been 20 guests and I was maybe 18th in the line, but as the introductions began, I had time to think - what should I say?!

As a result of not being prepared for where I was going to be and what I would have to do in this ceremony, I was a little nervous and shakey, so I could sense that my Japanese would be a little bit tongue-tied, but, considering I was the City's native English language teacher, would the parents want, or expect me to use my native language, and encourage their children to familiarise themselves with a language they might understand very little at that moment, but that they would very soon have to learn!

It seems like a minor dilemma, but in time I came up with a quick Japanese 'omodeto gozaimsu' (the usual phrase of best wishes, or congratulations) and then a quick English 'congratulations' (in hindsight I might have been better with a more simple 'Well Done'!) but all in all I think I handled the situation quite well!

What was most provoking and interesting about the Elementary graduation ceremony was that the graduating 6th graders were all wearing their new Junior High School uniforms. I wondered how they would look smart, because in Elementary school they don't wear any uniform. When they started to walk in, it was a bold marker of the transition they were about to make from their first school which they started at the age of 6/7 years old, to the new second school they were about to enter at the age of 13 years old.

It was still a very long ceremony though, with a lot of decorum and protocol, and the other young students from 1st grade to 5th grade did an impressive job of keeping (fairly) well-mannered and looking not too bored!

My view from the "guests" section of the hall!

All the graduating students in their shiny brand new uniforms. It won't be long before they look scuffered and a little bit worn!

Similar to the Junior High School ceremony, the students leave the hall through an archway of lovely...tissue paper flowers!

中学校卒業式 - Graduation Day (JHS edition)

After a quiet period of no long weekends, the end of March finally came upon us and the end of the school year. Things (kind of) started to die down, teachers would move about the schools in more of a 'speed-walk' than a 'mad panic', and timetables would become quieter and quieter, with random events being dotted about the place. And a lot of practising and rehearsing for one of the biggest events in a school's calender - Graduation Day.

The Japanese love it - they have ceremonies for everything! I can't imagine what the produce would be like for a new emporer or prime minister over here, but at a guess I wonder if it would take at least a month, maybe longer!

Anyway, I was a little cynical as to why they were making such a big deal out of the 15 year old 3rd graders leaving to go to High School. After high school exams were over, the third years had one whole week to practise the procedures involved. It had to be perfect - and believe me it pretty much was. The first and second year students also had to be present at the ceremony, to support their older students (older students are known as 'sempai' to the younger students - which just means senior, superior). Students had to bow together, sit together, stand together, walk in a miltary style to receive their certificates, the certificate presentation system of which was flawless and ingenious in its fluidity to incorporate the sufficient amount of bowing required whilst keeping the flow of students receiving their certificates moving.

The hallway that the students walk through to get to the hall. All decorated with doves, banners and murals.

When the actual day arrived (Sunday 16th), I learnt a whole lot more about Japanese society from that ceremony. I discovered that the cermony really was necessary for Japanese schools, because I discovered just how important school is for the teachers as well as the students. It is a very large and important part of their lives - they spend such a lot of time in it, if they're not studying their subjects, then they're spending such a lot of time training and pracitising in school sports teams.

Some of the third graders started crying as they sang a song of goodbye to their younger students and teachers. Some of the guys started crying too, and one of the youngest, coolest looking male teachers, a P.E teacher and home-room teacher to one of the third grade classes, couldn't help breaking down and crying a little bit as he called the names out of his class to receive their certificates. It was really quite a touching moment.

Some of the kids get a little teary as they sing a farewell song.

One of the nicest parts of the ceremony was when the teachers sang a song for the third graders. Naturally I was really keen to sing along with them, anything I could do to feel and be a part of the school and help out with the teachers. Then, one of the English teachers asked if I would, and could, play the accompaniment for the teachers. I jumped at the chance and in the end was happy with my performance for them. It also was a nice surprise for the kids to see and hear me playing piano, and also for the parents too who were very impressed. The teachers were very grateful for it too - I love those little moments where I really feel I've done a good job helping out. I'm so grateful for my music, which transcends all boundaries and limitations of culture and language barriers!

The students walk through a archway of colours as they make they way out of the school for the last time.

After the ceremony, the younger students performed 'cheers' for each of the three classes leaving the school for the very last time. A few photos were taken, with a few students shouting 'KURISU KURISU sensei!' to get a photo taken with me.

The first and second years perform an Cheer for the leavers, and applaud them as they walk past.

The third years watch the performance of the cheer before they walk out of the school grounds.

KURISU! KURISU! Is what the 'cute girls' (self-introduced to me as that name) usually say when I'm around!

The guys trying to act all cool now that they're no longer Junior High students! They might have been the big fish in this pool, but it'll be back to being the small fish again once they start High School. Suprisingly, the majority of kids I asked never said they were a little bit nervous about high school - only excited!

The school I was at was also where my supervisors daughter was graduating from. Very shortly she will be going all the way to the neighbouring prefecture, Miyagi-ken - to go to High School. She is very good at soft-tennis, and so wanted to go to a high school with a good soft-tennis programme. At the age of 15, to move away from home is incredibly brave!

Some students will go to a high school a considerable distance away, whilst some will go to a high school closer to them. Some will move away, some will commute. Junior High School is the last time all the children of the community will be together. They spend nine years together growing up in the schools of their towns and communities, so one begins to appreciate why such graduation ceremonies are so important. From a young age they are encouraged to be extremely proud of their school, to belong to their school and for it to be part of their identity (the typically bold and vibrant colours of their gym kit, always different to every other school, that they wear at least every afternoon at school is a good example of this). I think this is a fantastic thing - the teachers are always surprised when I tell them we have no graduation ceremonies in our schools from primary to senior. Teachers and students alike are quite glad to see the end of each other - and the school year just fizzles out! Mind you, would such ideas and values really work in society back in the UK?...