Wednesday, March 25, 2009

修了式(shuryo shiki): Completion ceremony

Japanese school year starts in April and ends in March. March 25 is usually the last day for the school year and there is a closing ceremony called shuryo shiki (修了式) at school. Then the spring vacation (春休み:haru yasumi) will start.
March is also the season of graduation. The graduation ceremony of elementary schools and junior high schools are held around middle of March, of high schools are usually held at the beginning of March, and of colleges and universities are usually held around March 25. The women graduates of the colleges and universities usually dress up with hakama (袴), long pleated culotte-like Japanese trousers at the graduation ceremony.
Graduation in Japanese is sotsugyo(卒業). The Japanese title of the movie "The Graduate" by Dustin Hoffman and Katharine Ross in 1967 is also "Sotsugyo" (卒業).

No comments:

Post a Comment