April in Japan is the beginning of the new school year, the new fiscal year for the government, the new work year, and the season of sakura. Most companies have one big intake of new employees per year- in April. I’ve heard that this really puts the pressure on new university graduates as far as job-hunting goes, because they only have one chance per year- if they are not successful for April entry to a company, that’s their opportunity gone for that year.
To add to all this, Japan has a monopoly on ‘new beginnings’ symbolism- the importance of sakura here really cannot be overemphasized. I was talking with another teacher the other day about new school years and she said that Japan will never change its school/work year schedule because people feel that graduation and commencement ceremonies just would not be the same without sakura around. In March, clothing stores start to sell outfits meant specifically for wearing to the numerous ceremonies that take place around this time. Without fail, the displays will incorporate faux sakura. My local mall has a special sakura indoor ‘park’- some park benches and fake grass under the branches of some erstaz cherry trees. Ironically, the real thing is only a 5 minute drive away. But it just goes to show how important it is for Japanese people to be surrounded by as much sakura as possible during late March and early April! Cherry blossom season is such a big deal that I see it as the reason why Easter has never taken off here. True, Japan isn't a Christian country, but that hasn’t stopped them flogging Christmas for all it’s worth. So I was a little surprised that I didn’t see an emergence of bunnies/chicks/eggs/tulip decorations in stores during March (just like I saw an abundance of Halloween decorations in October and Christmas trinkets in December). But now I realize that the national sakura obsession means there’s no room for anything else!
With the approach of the new school year, there have been lots of changes at work. Firstly, every year on a certain day in March, teachers are informed of their placements for the next year. They have just over two weeks until they will be teaching at their new school. Teachers seem to have little control over where they work- the prefectural (state) Board of Education shuffles them around every few years. It almost seems like they are in the military in that sense; theoretically a teacher could be moved to any school in the prefecture, and if that happens to be far away, they might have to uproot their whole family to go work at whatever school the bigwigs have chosen. The average stay for a teacher in one school is three years, but the more experienced they are, the longer they tend to stay. Younger teachers tend to be placed in more rural (ie. less desirable) areas.
A grand total of 17 teachers (out of 40) were transferred from my school in March. This is the biggest staff change-over in school lore. One of the transferred teachers was one of my favourite JTEs(Japanese Teacher of English), Yamada-sensei. He was a very warmhearted guy who was so kind that he had a hard time even telling students off for using cell phones in class. (This of course caused problems of its own – the students walked all over him - but he was a very nice man). No one wanted him to leave, least of all him. He was transferred from our school (a so-called ‘Super English School’ because it has a special English program), with 12 English staff, to a technical high school (focusing on electronics) with only 4 English teachers. Sounded like a demotion to me! At the farewell party, Yamada-sensei told me and the other ALT (with tears in his eyes!) that we were the best ALTs he’d ever worked with, and made us promise to visit him if we ever returned to Japan after JET.
Another of my favourite JTEs, Hiramitsu-sensei (the one who invited me over for seafood feasts) retired. She’s an incredibly youthful woman who vows to spend her retirement mastering the saxophone, doing Yoga, reading and traveling.
With the departure of 17 teachers came the arrival of 17 new teachers from various schools around Gifu prefecture. Plus a new principal, who has turned out to be very friendly and superb at English (almost native level!). Such comings and goings are officially marked by school closing and opening ceremonies... which are less than 2 weeks apart. And which, from my perspective, were practically identical: a ridiculous amount of standing, bowing, sitting, and a few speeches (of which I understood only a few words). Unlike elementary and junior high ceremonies, some of which I hear involve talent-show-esque performances by teachers in an attempt to win over the students, senior high ceremonies are dull affairs indeed. The opening ceremony actually felt a lot like church to me, minus the music (unless you count the school song), gilded robes (everyone wears a black suit)and stained-glass windows (it was held in the gym).
Closing ceremony of 2007 school year, March- saying farewell to the teachers who have been transferred. Had me on the edge of my seat.
Opening ceremony of 2008 school year, April- welcoming the new teachers. Wow, so drastically different to anything I'd ever experienced before. I had no idea what was coming next.
The other big new-year-related change is the annual desk migration. About half the desks in my staff room now have ‘strangers’ sitting at them. We ALTs seem to remain eternally banished to the back corner of the staff room, but my supervisor was moved to a staff room in another building. Well, she's now my ex-supervisor. As of April 1 I have a new supervisor, who's a new teacher that I’ve barely spoken three words to. I don’t even know which office he’s in! I simply heard by word-of-mouth that he’s my new supervisor; we have never been introduced. I suppose I should have figured out by now that if I want to know something, I have to ask, because it’s rare for my colleagues to approach me with information. In Japan especially, I think there is the attitude that unless it's absolutely necessary, giving information is intruding or imposing in some way. Having said that, what I liked about my old supervisor was her approachability and willingness to keep me informed of things. I just have a feeling that my new supervisor might be a little lacking in that department.
Anyway, good, bad, or neutral, I'll adapt. After all, as the sakura tell us, nothing endures, everything is transient.
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