This weekend has been fairly eventful. Yesterday was the graduation ceremony at Hashi middle school and of course today is the anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. Anne and I felt a bit awkward about staying around town today since there were tons of ceremonies, memorial services, and reporters so we went down to the movie theater in Ishinomaki. We saw two movies since the theater was "showing its appreciation to its customers" for being able to stay in business through the year even though Ishinomaki was affected by the tsunami, so all the movies were free. We ended up seeing the "new" Sherlock Holmes, and Hugo (western films come to Japan kind of late so even though these films are available to buy back home already they are still in theaters here, with Japanese subtitles), haha. In between the movies we observed the minute of silence at 2:46; it was a bit surreal to see all the people at one moment moving hurriedly through the mall (where the theater is) suddenly pause almost as one and bow their heads, but it was also moving.
I can't believe it's already been a year... a lot has changed in that time. Mostly things change very slowly; like rubble gets organized and removed leaving only building foundations and scraggly grass in its place, I was looking at pictures from BBC News today that exemplify this well. Next temporary buildings are erected like restaurants and barber shops and laundromats (we now have three of the latter within a couple miles of the apartment). Permanent buildings are being constructed on higher ground (including a new Board of Education). But who knows how many families who left town and moved in with extended family elsewhere will ever return. It will also take many years for the land to heal and the trees to grow back; recently many of the still-standing dead trees have been cut down leaving the lower sections of hills and slopes lonely and bare. Well, I guess all things heal at their own pace.
Anyway, I wanted to say a bit more about the graduation. Since it was so close to the anniversary (and because at this time last year when everyone was preparing for that graduation the earthquake struck) there was definitely a correlation between the two events in my mind (and I think in other peoples' as well). All this past school week was pretty much dedicated to preparing for the graduation. Students cleaned all the rooms (and even polished all the trophies in their glass cases), decorations were created or taken out of storage and hung around the gymnasium. There were only a few classes on Thursday and none at all on Friday as the third-years practiced the ceremony and the first and second-years practiced the songs that they were to sing during the graduation. I tried to help where I could by aligning chairs in the gym and making paper cranes that would decorate tables.
I guess that a middle school graduation ceremony must seem like a pretty odd event for many of my readers (after all in the US there is no ceremony or diploma associated with middle school). But in Japan it's a big deal since many of the students will be going to different high schools soon so the graduation ceremony is when students may have to say goodbye to some of their middle school friends. There were many differences between the ceremony yesterday and my high school graduation (which is the only thing I can really compare it to at all) for example the time of year and temperature. I remember during my high school graduation (which occurred in May that year) the weather forecast predicted rain so the ceremony took place inside the gym instead of outside (then it turned out to be blazing hot and sunny outside and boiling inside and someone turned off the floor fans since they were too loud and I almost fainted since it was so hot). But in Minamisanriku it is still winter and still cold (and there is still little to no insulation in the walls). The day of the graduation it snowed a bit in the morning and it was literally freezing in the gym (or at least I could see the students' breath as they sang their songs). The floor heaters (which were kept on throughout the ceremony) didn't make any difference that I could tell... If only I could have combined the temperatures from my high school graduation and the graduation on Saturday, it would have been perfect...
Most other differences had to do with the order of events and the attendees. The third-years sat in chairs on the stage facing the audience (opposite of my graduation where we sat in front of the stage with our backs to the audience). The first and second-years were required to attend (even though it was a Saturday but to make up for it they will have Monday off from school) and they had to sing songs like I mentioned. All the important people from the Board of Education and from other schools who attended the graduation sat in their own section to the left of the stage (across from us teachers) and each important person was introduced to the audience in turn during the ceremony (there were a lot so it took like 10 minutes). The ALT from last year came to watch the graduation (she visited on Friday as well and got to take lots of pictures, and see all the teachers and students who were very happy to see her) and she sat with the other VIPs. As for the families, it seemed like there were more mothers in attendance than fathers, probably because Saturday is often a working day for salary-men. Also in attendance were several cameramen from various TV stations probably doing special reports about towns and schools affected by the tsunami (apparently there were tons of reporters and such at Anne's school). Anyway, the presenting of the diplomas was very formulaic but also was efficient; for example, when a student came to receive her certificate she would bow along with the student who had just received his and was leaving the stage (to save time with the bowing I suppose). I'll admit I got teary during the ceremony (everyone did, though this again may have had to do with the anniversary as well) and after the ceremony when the third-years were passing in between rows of first-years, second-years, and teachers down the hallways I definitely was teary when one of the third-year girls hugged me (she was the same girl who had told me, "I love you!" on Friday... she's so cute).
Well, I should get to bed soon. I said pretty much everything I wanted to say about the graduation but I'll have to tell you about the cards that the third-years gave me next time since they are amazing!
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