Graduation + Back in Hong Kong 卒業＋また香港にいる～

My plan on Friday morning was to leave the apartment and bike to the school to attend the graduation ceremony, then leave at 11:30 and bike to the station to catch my Shinkansen to Tokyo. Unfortunately, when I woke up it was a FREAKING DOWNPOUR so I called a taxi ... which couldn't find my apartment building. So I was 30 minutes late to the school ... I still arrived in plenty of time, of course, but STILL.
金曜日の予定は早めにアパートから出掛けて自転車で学校に行くと卒業式に参加して、東京行きの新幹線に間に合う為に１１時半に学校を出てまた自転車で駅に行くと思ってた。しかし、起きる時はすげぇ雨が降っていた！！タクシーに電話したけど、僕のアパートの地が見つけられなかったので三十分遅れていた・・・卒業式に間に合ったけど、もう！！

Everyone was dressed up, but the women were wearing kimono and hakama. Damn, guess I should have gotten one ... guess I'll have to save up, sigh. Here, the vice-principal talks on the phone. Funny, I think she looks like Sakura ...
皆はすごい服を着ていたけど、女性が着物や袴も着ていた。僕も買うべきだったかな・・・さ、お金を貯めよう！こちらで教頭先生が電話で話している。なんかさくらみたいと思う・・・


Ok, so I guess not. But I like the pink.　まいや、そうではないね。でもそのピンクな服が好きだ。


Two women from the office were making special sakura-flavoured tea that is used for celebratory occasions. It's not really tea, as all they are doing is putting a sakura blossom and what appears to be a kind of paste into hot water, but the taste is ... odd but good, if salty.
職員室の女性の二人は特別な祝いの為の桜味のお茶を作っていた。ま、ただ桜花をお湯に入れるのでお茶ではないけど、味は・・・ちょっと変だけどいい。塩の味も出る。

The stage for the ceremony. For ceremonies, Japan really goes all out.
式の舞台。式なら日本は本当に目立つようになるね。
Since it took place in the unheated gym, they rolled out the superheaters which look like the Eye of Mordor. I'm not going to say which has already been said in many blogs, but it was true - the superheaters heat the room to make it unbearably hot, then are promptly turned off for the rest of the ceremony so everyone freezes. In Japanese, this is called 'efficiency'.
暖房なしの体育館で行ったので、サウロンの目みたいの大暖房を出した。もう色んな日本経験なブログで出たから繰り返しかもしれないけど、やっぱり大暖房で部屋がすごく暑くなると、すぐ消されたので部屋がすごく寒くなって皆が凍る。あ、日本の有名な効率だね。

The students are called by name and receive their certificate of graduation directly from the principal. They then announce their intention to be good middle school students, and pass authority to the fifth-graders. Interestingly, they also said they would renounce war and live in a peaceful society. I informed a Chinese friend of this, who responded "Oh, I don't believe them". Sigh, Japan, sometimes we just can't win!
生徒たちはそれから名前で呼ばれて校長先生から卒業書をもらう。いい中学生に成るの意志を言って、五年生に学校の責任を渡す。面白い所は、戦争を放棄して平和な社会で平和な生活をするって述べた。中国人の知り合いにこれを教えてから、「へー、信じにくいね」って答えた。ああ、我が日本、たまに我らが勝てないね！

I had to leave the ceremony early, but I did make it to the station on time. I was damn starving though, so I bought a beef and rice bento. And get this - it's self-heating! Pull the string ...
早く式を出なくちゃ成らなかったけど、駅に間に合った。腹はすごく減っていたけど・・・それで、前沢牛肉の弁当を買った！素晴らしい事は自動発熱！ただ線を引いて・・・

and it gets nice and hot! Lots of steam too!
暖かくなる！蒸気もいっぱい出る。

The heating blocks or whatever are kind of heavy and take up half the packaging, but hey. I wonder how it works ...
発熱のものとかはちょっと重くて弁当の大きさの半分ぐらい大きかったけどまいや！どうやって発熱するかな・・・

Oh yeah. On the way out at Narita I saw this poster reminding everyone that U.S. beef is still banned in Japan, so DON'T EAT ANY OR YOU WILL DIE!!!! They also include Canada in the smaller text even though we've been certified safe by J-land. Bastards!!!
あ、これ。成田空港でこのポスターを見た。米牛（？米国の牛肉かな）はまだ日本で輸入停止されているので、海外で食べたらアナタガスグ死ヌゾ！！！安全だと日本に認められたのにカナダも書いてある・・・あほら！