A Formal Affair

We had ourselves a good old fashioned graduation party here in Nagasaka. Japanese graduation is a lot different than graduation in the West. Unfortunately, they have graduation in the springtime (see: winter). As a consequence of the timing and lack of insulation, the graduation ceremony was a 2-hour All-Japanese-Freezeout! 

First off is the chairs we sit in. I don't know if I have ever mentioned this before, but these chairs are the stuff of nightmares for those of us who are actual size. I took a picture so you can get a feel for what they are. Supposedly it is metal, but I can feel the chair trying to betray me every time I sit on them. 

 Only the collective will of all my efforts makes it possible for things not to fold like a napkin. 

Here you can see the gym where we had out graduation. You can hear the super heaters going on the during the video. At the very end, you can see me looking like Dapper Dan. I was wearing cuff links with my suit and I don't think anyone really appreciated just how elegant I looked. 

I asked if we were supposed to stand and clap while they came in, they told me it was more formal than that. I wouldn't say formal as much as I would say funeralesque. Seriously. The whole thing is kind of depressing. 

Here you can see the ceremony. No clapping. No smiles. Just lots of bowing. Lots. Of. Bowing. We did at least 40 standing formal 3 second bows and over 100 less formal nod-your-head-and-look-at-the-floor kind of bows. I firmly believe that it was these small repetitive movements that made it so that no one got frostbite. It was extraordinarily cold. I had cut my head the night before which made the back of my head freezing cold. One of the disadvantages of being a bald guy. 

 The students made a hallway of people to clap their way out of the school for the last time. It was nice for the students that were leaving. 

 For lunch we had bento boxes. Everyone really raves about these, but I have had yet to be impressed by one. 

Here is the spread. Rice, Mocci, tempura and the top left quadrant. I am not totally sure what it was, but to me it was hot acidic vegetables. It was some kind of pickled everything. I couldn't finish it. The tempura was pretty good, but one of the things was fish. Normally fish is really good in Japan. This fish had bones in it that stabbed you in the throat on the way down. I see this as a red flag, but everyone else was having a grand old time. 

It was a good graduation, and we are about 2 weeks away from a weeks vacation. I am headed to Korea on the 27th for a week. I am going to Busan and then up to Seoul. I am also going to be headed up to the DMZ and the other usual sights...whatever they may be.