graduation... at school

Today was the graduation ceremony for the third years at school. I seem to remember it being a bit long and tedious last year, but maybe that was maybe because of the day long rehearsal for it the day before.... Which thankfully I didn't have to go to this year, as I was in Yokohama on a JET conference.It was good- probably the place was better than the conference itself. Yokohama is a really nice place. My hotel was sandwiched between the stadium that hosted the 2002 World Cup final & China town.
On the last day, I didn't bother going to the conference as so much of it had been irrelevant (though it was good and informative in places- but mostly about how to make millions of yen by staying in Japan in business after JET, rather than what to do when you return home). So in the morning, some friends and I rode the big ferris wheel - which you can see from Odaiba/ Tokyo Bay. And from which we saw Mt Fuji on our descent!Fuji is quite a mysterious mountain, as it's often veiled by the clouds, but occasionally they pass and it appears as if out of nowhere!

Anyway, today was graduation. I got up early- a teacher picked me up at 6:50am from my place! To have this done:

Then we went to school to the sound of 'ah, beautiful's and 'cute!' and 'kawaii's. During the graduation ceremony, all the 3rd years (18yr olds) who leave the school [whose academic year runs April-March] march into 'Land of Hope and Glory' played continually by the brass band. Parents, teachers and other students clap in time with the music as the classes parade in one by one. But no-one seems to quite get the tempo change that occurs in the middle of the music, at which point I start clapping louder than everyone else and in time!When all of one class have got to the point where they're standing by their seats, the home room [form tutor] signals for them all to sit down in unison. This is part of the I don't know, symmetry that runs throughout the ceremony. Later, Kocho Sensie [the principal] reads out each of the students' names one by one, a class at a time, and they say 'hai' [yes] in response (there were a couple of raucous replies, kind of shrieked or said jokingly, but mostly this wasn't the case). And then a representative comes up to the stage, is presented with a certicate from Kocho Sensei. It's intricately passed over to the student, who then & with the whole class behind him/her, bow in unison - after having bowed to the stage etc etc.This was all done to light background music like 'Eine Kleine Nacht Musik'. Well, fascinating as this may be (or not), I'd better go and get ready for the teachers' graduation party tonight.But just before I do, here's another pic of me, here with the head.