Friday, February 21, 2003

What I did today Today, I... Went to Takedomi-kun's graduation ceremony; Called in at the office, and then rushed off to Etajima Elementary School, for the fourth-years' 'Arigato-kai'; Went to taiko.

Today was Takedomi-kun's graduation. I met him and his parents and brother at 8 o'clock, and we went for a walk around the base, and had a look at the rooms in the Seitokan- the Officer Candidates' dormitory. As ever, it was spotlessly clean: just from a cursory glance along the corridors and inside one of the bedrooms one can get a pretty good idea of the discipline. Afterwards, there was an inspection by the kaijobakuryocho- the head of the JSDF- and then the graduation ceremony proper. The hall- unheated- was shiveringly cold, but this in no way distracted from the impressiveness of the ceremony. The candidates' recital of Kimigayo, the Japanese National Anthem, was, as ever, stirring enough to make one's hair stand on end. After the presentation of the certificates of graduation- choreographed with pinpoint precision- and the speeches, there was the farewell lunch, and then Takedomi-kun left for the parade from the red-brick Seitokan to the pier and on to his ship. The Naval Band accompanied the parade; as the launches left the pier and they struck up 'Auld Lang Syne' it was, as ever, a struggle to hold back tears. Not because my friend was leaving, so much as because of the extent to which the whole ceremony is loaded with emotion. I know I would feel the same even if I had nobody to see off. As the launches headed towards the three warships moored in the bay, there was a flypast by three sets of aircraft, and then the warships, with Inazuma at their centre, weighed anchor and, almost imperceptibly, headed towards Tsukumo and out into Hiroshima Bay. We watched until they left, with the Naval Officers on the pier doing bofure- waving their hats in the air in the traditional gesture of farewell.

After seeing Takedomi-kun off, I went to Etajima Elementary School for the fourth-years' 'arigato-kai', or 'Thank-you party'. They'd invited all the people to whom they wanted to say thank you for whatever during the past academic year. I was a little late getting there because of the graduation; when I arrived, the children were in the middle of a quiz about how various animals, etc., got their name. Afterwards, there was time to play various traditional games such as 'ayatori' (cat's cradle); I showed some of the children a British trick with a loop of string. Finally the children presented each of the invitees with a letter saying thank you. Kitaoka-kun and Nishizaki-kun, who come to the International Club every month, had written mine. It was a fun hour or so, and I was pleased to have been chosen as one of the people worthy of a 'thank you'.

Pick of the Photos It's not as obviously connected with Japan as some of the Pick of the Photos, but I like this photograph a very great deal. It was taken in Glover Garden, the old foreigners' area of Nagasaki.