Graduation

The junior high schools in Takayama had their graduation ceremonies this past Tuesday, March 10. I was in Miya, same as last year. I've posted about the graduation ceremony before, so this time around I'm going to talk about something different. One of those odd little things that only happens in Japan. Or anywhere that requires a change of footwear at work.

Graduation is a big, big deal here. Students show up in the same thing they wear every day - their school uniforms, but teachers are expected to dress to the nines. As in, suits and white ties. Women wear black. I broke out the pearls even.

This year I went for the Johnny Cash look, after noticing that my white dress shirt isn't so white anymore, heh heh...

I've cropped the picture since I'm not really supposed to show close-up pictures of my students anymore (sorry!)

Now, the fact that I'm wearing a suit isn't that big of a shock... or maybe it is. But what I really find amusing here is the pairing of this quite dressy look with my school shoes. Which happen to be a pair of blue sneakers.

And this, of course, is perfectly acceptable.