I’m so sorry for the delay in my posting, but I’ve had an incredibly busy week and a half!
PII classes ended on Wednesday with the completion of our Spirited Away text. As it turns out, studying the movie only increased my love for Hayao Miyazaki’s beautiful story and art. I have now seen Spirited Away about 7 times (although this summer marked the first time I have watched the movie in Japanese)! I highly recommend watching the Japanese version with English subtitles, as although the English dubbed version is quite good, I feel that the Japanese voices suit the characters better than the English ones, and watching the movie in its original language really enhances the experience.
The third-year students’ final exam on Thursday was a real marathon of a test, taking an entire three hours to complete. The exam consisted of grammar, kanji, and short-answer content questions related to Spirited Away, as well as a reading comprehension section and essay. In addition, while we were taking the written exam we were called individually to a separate classroom for an oral exam. Afterwards, I felt physically and mentally exhausted, but very relieved to finally be done with my Japanese studies for the summer. I celebrated later that evening by going out to karaoke with Ai-san, the boys, and Masa-san. I initially had a bit of trouble finding songs in English to sing, as I was not familiar with the Western songs the karaoke center had to offer. I finally found a section on the karaoke universal remote entitled ã‚ã®é ƒ, or “That Time,” which featured classic rock and 80s music, which I happily sang along to. (A fun fact: karaoke means “empty orchestra” in Japanese. Sounds a bit melancholy, doesn’t it?)
On Friday morning the PII students all gathered for our graduation ceremony, which consisted of goodbye speeches from the sensei who had taught us this summer and a presentation of graduation certificates. Some of the sensei even cried a little bit when it came time for them to say goodbye and wish us luck in the future, which was pretty touching. In his goodbye address to us, Makino sensei urged us all to continue our Japanese studies and expressed his hope that a PII graduate would someday become the president of the United States (a tad awkward, as at least half of the PII students are international students or were born abroad, meaning that they can’t become a U.S. president).
From the graduation ceremony we went to the Hotel Nikko Kanazawa for our Sayounara Party, which featured great food, presentations from the students, and a talent show. My third-year class performed a dance to the song “Heavy Rotation” by the popular Japanese pop group AKB48 that I had hastily choreographed in my practically non-existent free time earlier that week. Although the dance was incredibly simple, it was really fun to perform and was very well-received by the other PII students, host families, and sensei in attendance at the party. The other students in my class really impressed me by learning the entire routine in under an hour the day before! The other classes presented a skits, a quiz show about PII students’ daily life, and a Japanese translation of the song “Call Me Maybe.” I had to say goodbye to my classmates as the party came to a close, and it was such a surreal feeling to realize that I would not see these students the next day for class. I became really good friends with some of these fantastically intelligent and wonderful students in these past weeks, and although I know it’s likely that we’ll meet again, our parting was still kind of sad.
On Friday evening I went with Ai-san to drop the boys off at Masa-san’s house for the weekend. I had to say goodbye to the boys and their father then, as I would not see them again before I left for Kagoshima on Saturday morning. I said goodbye to Masa-san first, who at first went to shake my hand and then realized he wanted to hug me instead, resulting in some somewhat awkward maneuvering. Haru-chan said goodbye to me with a pout on his face, looking a little sad, but Re-chan assured me that he wasn’t sad at all and that he wouldn’t feel lonely after I left. I took this as typical little-kid bravado, and sure enough, when I arrived back at the house, I found a note on the kitchen table from Re-chan. “You are the best exchange student,” he wrote, “And I also think you are good at singing. I will be lonely when you leave.” At the bottom of the note he had drawn sad faces labeled “Mama,” “Re,” and “Haru.” The note is utterly adorable. I consider it one of the most important and precious items I will bring home with me from Japan. Before going to bed, I wrote the boys a reply letting them know that if they feel lonely, they can always write me a letter and send it to me in the United States. I drew a picture of Pikachu, the ubiquitous and (still) immensely popular Pokémon, on the front of the letter.
I said a teary goodbye to Ai-san at the train terminal at Kanazawa Station on Saturday morning. I know that we will be able to keep in close contact over Facebook and through email, but it was still very sad to say goodbye to the woman who has become something akin to my older sister in these past two months. I am really hoping that I will have the opportunity to reunite with Ai-san and her family in the future and somehow repay the kindness they have shown me during my time in Japan, as they are truly wonderful people.
Updates to come on my week with the Matsushita family during my week in Kagoshima, my final week in Japan. As always, thanks for reading.
