Graduation.

A ninth grade leader practices his speech before the guests arrived. The hour and a half-long ceremony was incredibly serious (no one in the audience spoke or laughed for the entire duration), but it was also ridiculously moving. At the end, the ninth grade teachers stood at the front of the auditorium as each row of students stood up, bowed, and gave them one final "Thank you very much!" with such intense emotion. I lost it. Definitely one of the most beautiful things I've seen here so far.

The teachers sat on the side, so this is a shot from the ceremony. (Oh, yeah, the school year here ends in March and the next year begins in April. Spring is the time for renewal and birth in Japan, so that explains it (sort of). Then summer is only a month between terms one and two).

After the ceremony, the ninth graders had one last chance to walk through the school grounds under the (crepe paper) cherry blossom archways held up by the seventh and eighth graders. Some were in tears, some were in cheers. Note: ninth graders not pictured here, oops!

Hiroki, Mr. Kobayashi, Takuya, and me. These are two of the most popular boys in the school, so that's why we look so cool here. Obviously.