Celebrating Students' Graduation: First Official Drinking Party Since 2019!

Friday was Graduation Day for second year students of the vocational college where I teach English in Hiroshima.

The day began with the graduation ceremony itself. It was quite a busy affair as six departments of the college were all graduating in a single ceremony. That meant the college principal and the departmental heads kept their speeches very short this year, which was a blessing, and so did the six students, one from each of the departments, who give speeches in reply.

Perhaps the brevity of the speeches is what prevented tears from flowing. Usually one or more of the students is overcome with emotion during her speech and struggles to get through it. Not so this year. They all barrelled their way through their speeches without the least hint of the floodgates beginning to open.

After the ceremony, the students flooded out of the hall for photos with friends, family, and teachers. It’s always a colourful site as most of the girls rent kimonos and dress up for the occasion. In the first photo, I’m with a bunch of students, several of whom attended several of my classes. The young lady out front was the star student of the year, attended just about every class I taught, and came second in this year’s “All Japan” speech contest.

Graduation Party - With Booze for the First Time Since 2019!

We crossed the city to attend the Graduation Party at the newish Hilton Hiroshima Hotel (the one that Joe Biden stayed at during the G7 summit in Hiroshima last year).

https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/hijshhi-hilton-hiroshima/

We enjoyed a buffet lunch and alcohol was available for the first time since 2019, so it was fun to toast the students!

From 2020 to 2022 there was no graduation party due to the lurgy, and only a limited graduation ceremony, which was all very sad since students simply disappeared without a proper send off.

Last year, a proper graduation ceremony was held, and a lunch party at another hotel, but there was no alcohol as yet another precaution (even though bars had been open for quite a while by that point, but never mind).

In 2019 one of my favourite students, a boy called “Koki,” got completely rat-faced at the graduation party, but this year, while many of the students enjoyed a drink, nobody pushed the boat out too far.

Evening Party

After the party was over I strolled back towards the city centre for about five minutes to book into a hotel for the night, the good old “Hokke Club” Hotel, which has a large spa-style bath on the second floor. I bathed and sweated out the afternoon’s booze, then relaxed for an hour or two before heading back out to join a bunch of students who’d arranged a private dinner party for themselves and a select few of their favourite teachers. The queen of the party was, of course, our star student, who has arranged the whole thing. 😊

And so we come to the second photo of myself and my colleague posing with a bunch of his students. The only one of those I taught was the one with the big grin and the nails. Since I didn’t know them I gave them random English names that seemed to match their personalities and to delight them since we were at the frothy stage of the evening. So we have, from left to right in the photo, (a little bit of) Erika (by my side) with the big grin, Elizabeth, Katherine, and Vanessa.

Post Party Party

Afterwards, the queen of the party led a small party of diehards to her favourite bar for the “nijikai” (post party party). It was at a bar in the “Nagarekawa” nightlife district of downtown Hiroshima, where we drank some more, played darts, and sang karaoke. I managed to belt out ABBA’s Dancing Queen without mangling it too much, when my turn came.

The Only Casualty of the Night

It was during this part of the evening that the young lady in the black and white kimono came crashing into the bar about half an hour after the rest of us, having spent the afternoon arguing with her boyfriend, apparently. This prompted her to attempt to down a half bottle of champers in one which had a somewhat debilitating effect on the rest of her evening. She was the only casualty of the day that I am aware of.

I think I got back to my hotel room around 3am, but was up by 8am to enjoy a refreshing morning bathe before heading back home.

Taken altogether, it was a rather fine if bitter-sweet day as I said goodbye to quite a few amusing characters whose company I have enjoyed in and out of class for a couple of years.

C’est la vie

Genki de!

Cheers!

DH
#InspiredFocus

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