Graduation Ceremony (卒業式）
Graduation ceremonies in Japan differ from the ones in America. I wanted to know the difference and luckily I was in Japan when a few of my friends were graduating from University. They told me the graduation ceremony (卒業式, sotsugyou shiki) would be long and boring, but that didn’t stop me from attending. The attire the graduates have to wear is kimonos for girls and suits or kimonos for guys. The kimonos were beautiful and made it easier to find my friends. There speeches given by the valedictorian of the class as well as various professors. To pay respect for them we had to stand, bow and sit back down. They said kiritsu (起立) stand, rei (礼) bow, and chakuseki (着席) sit, when it was time to pay respect. I thought they would be walking up to the podium to receive their certificate of completion, but once the speeches and school alma mater were done everyone left the building to head to their department classrooms. That is where they received their diplomas or certificates. Overall the experience was quite different from what I was used to because the whole thing in the auditorium only lasted an hour and a half.