Closing Ceremony

At the end of every term here in Japan, the school has a closing ceremony. And as you may have guessed there are also openning ceremonies for every term. The ceremony consists of the Kocho Sensei (or Principal) giving a speech. Usually it's not too long, say 15 minutes. I usually tone it out, it's easy enough since Japanese is not my native language- although every now and then I get thrown off when I hear some English. Like today, Kocho sensei was well into the speech when I the words "plan, do,see" snuck in my ear and disrupted my daydreaming. Had I heard correctly? Did Kocho sensei actually say those three English words? Well, it's not all that suprising. He had been an English teacher, back when he still taught, pre-promotion. If he did, then why? Well, I listened in to the speech for a bit to find out. "Plan,do,see" or "PDS" as Kocho sensei had said, was to be the motto of the students' summer vacation. They were to "plan" not just their summer, but their year ahead after the break, then "do" as they have planned so that they can "see" the results. Kind-of-a plan the seeds and see what grows lecture. Kocho sensei finished, everyone bowed. This is the norm. I know bow unconciously where once it felt odd.

The usual follow-up to Kocho sensei's speech was the singing of the school song. We do this every ceremony, with 6(3 terms so an opening closing ceremony for each) a year- you'd think I'd remember the damn song already. I still don't. I do remember parts, so I sing what I know and pause in places that I don't know. Today's song was probably one of the worst, when we hit the middle almost no one was singing and those that were mummbled through it. Hey don't look at me, I'm just the foreigner-- if they don't know it-- why should I?

Anyway, the ceremony is officially concluded at that-- but there's usually more. I mean, while everyone is in the gym (there's no separte auditorium-- it's an all-in-one) why not get some other shit out of the way. Today the ceremony was followed by a mini award ceremony. Students and teams that placed at the recently held tournaments for school (club) sports teams recieved "awards." Usually it's just an award letter written in calligraphy. If a school team came in on top they get a ribbon of where the game/match was held and the place the team finished in. The ribbon is not given to the students. Instead, it gets tied to a flag. Each sports club at the school has it's own banner. It's kind-of-a neat custom except that I don't think they every wash the banners so their all dusty and old. So the kids that won or the captains of the teams are called. They line up on the side, and then march onto the stage or just in front of it. Ina supper formal version of this ceremony, Kocho sensei hands out the awards on stage, while another teacher calls out the students' names from off-stage. Today, it was less formal, so the students recieved their awards on the sides and then just lined up in front of the stage. A teacher from off on the side called the names out and the students, one at a time, stepped forward and bowed. No one clapped, well.. not until everyone's name was called and then there was clapping that the end. I think they do this so that no one person gets singled out by getting more applause than the others. I don't mind so much, because it cuts out all the extra time and energy for applause, but it's really weird at graduation when you can't applaud anyone until everyone recieves their diploma.

Concluding any ceremony, whether it's opening, closing, sports, whatever-- a teacher comes forward down infront of the stage and lectures the students. This is the lecture/disaplin/ nag the students time. Today's topic-- the school song. The boys volleyball club coach/social studies teacher jogged, (not he jogged-- they never walk out-- well rarely) out to the center down below the stage. He's one of the stricter teachers and often delivers these speeches. He started by calling all the boys from the team he coached to stand and... sing. They did, but it was pitiful so he had them do it a few more times. After that he called the 3rd years (the oldest in the school) then the 2nd and 3rd anf finally the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd years to sing. By the end the song sounded better but it still wasn't right. The teacher "incouraged them" to "practice during the summer."

So how do you follow that? Well, for the last speech- the Head Teacher, kind of like the 3rd in comand (following the Principal and Vice) came forward. If the previous speech was delived by the "bad cop" this one was by the "good cop." It was just a congrats on finishing up the 1st term and all the hard work, enjoy the summer, and look towards what lies ahead. It was a nice speech and a good way to finish. He was about to walk off and then he added, some comments of making sure everyone thanks their mothers this summer and help "her with the housework," spend some time studying, and "Don't do drugs."

So there you have it- your typical closing ceremony. Fun times, ha?