Beginnings

Spring brings more to Japan than just pretty colored trees.  Spring also marks the beginning of a new school year.  While all around us nature is refreshing and beginning anew, so is our school.  I kinda like that.  Spring has always been used as a metaphor for beginnings, so having the new school year start in the spring makes sense.  With the long break in the summer, it doesn’t necessarily work as well as having the school year start after the long break, but it still makes sense.

Now, for many, a new school year doesn’t mean much more than just a return to the same schedule after a short break.  For others, like the 7 new teachers and 161 new students that just entered my junior high school, it means a brand new life.  And in the case of the students,that includes 2 brand new uniforms, brand new gym clothes, a brand new school bag (which is an official school duffel bag and a complete change from the hard and sturdy backpacks they used for the last 6 years), 2 brand new pairs of shoes, and, of course, new teachers and new classmates.

Oddly enough, at least to me, beginning your time at a new school is so important that there’s a big entrance ceremony to commemorate the occasion.  While it was rehearsed less than the graduation ceremony, it seemed to be much more important.  At least, that’s the feeling I got from the parents.  While there was a good crowd at the graduation ceremony, which was held barely a month ago, the entrance ceremony was packed.  We had to put out more chairs to accommodate the happy and tearful parents.  It also felt like it was more important because a lot more of the mother’s were dressed in kimonos, while the only kimono to be seen at the graduation was worn by one of the teachers.

Actually, now that I think about it, the level of importance of the two ceremonies seems to be complete opposite.  What I mean is, the graduation ceremony was held in great reverence by the teachers and the school in general.  There was a lot of prep time, the teachers were dressed to the nines, and it just felt like a very important occasion.  While there were parents there, and they were dressed nicely, it didn’t seem like that big of a deal, especially when compared to the kind of reception a graduation back home gets.  Then there’s the entrance ceremony.  Very little time was spent getting ready for it, the rehearsal took thirty minutes, while the teachers were dressed nice, they weren’t dressed as nicely as they were for the graduation and it just felt like an average ceremony.  But the parents came out in huge crowds, were dressed a lot more formally, and just seemed like this was one of the most important ceremonies that they could attend. Interesting how the two different parties put different levels of importance on the two ceremonies.

Speaking of the parents, it was really cute to see them get excited about the class placement of their child.  Before a new school year begins, the teachers have a meeting and divvy up the students into equal classes.  Right now, there are four classes for each grade at my school.  Every year, the students are separated into different classes.  It’s fun to watch the students crowd around the board that lists each class.  There’s a lot of commotion; squeals of delight by friends who discovered that they’re in the same class, mummers of unhappiness from the students who are stuck with a less-than-favorite person, and just general pushing and shoving of people trying to find their name somewhere on the giant list.  Today, not only did the first year students act this way, but their parents also did before entering the gymnasium and finding a seat.  Many parents also took photos of their child’s name on the list, or a photo of someone pointing to their child’s name.  It was quite entertaining to watch these groups of grown people act like, well, junior high students.

As for the new students... eee... they’re so cute!  Some of them are so tiny they barely fit into their uniforms.  But I know that won’t last long.  They’ll fill them out before the year is done.  Still, it should be a fun year.  I can’t wait to get started!