Kansai Gaidai Completion

This past Saturday was Kansai Gaidai's completion ceremony. It seems a little funny to me to have a big ceremony just for one or two semesters' worth of work, but I guess a lot of Japan is centered around ceremony. A lot of women in the program choose to wear kimonos to the ceremony since we're in Japan, so I decided to do the same. I don't think I'll have many other chances to wear a kimono, and I thought it would be a good experience.

I had my host mother help me with the whole process. Kimonos are pretty expensive, so she borrowed a kimono and obi (the part that wraps around your waist) from her friend, lending me the necessary accessories herself, and then asked one of her long-time friends to help me put it on and do my hair.

Putting on kimonos is a lot of work. There are many layers, and on top of that, kimonos are designed so that one size fits all, meaning that it takes a lot of adjusting to make it the right length. In total it took about an hour to do the hair and kimono, and I thought she did a really nice job. Here are some pictures:



The first layer


Obi and everything outside the kimono


Wearing the kimono, minus the obi and other outside parts


Front view of the kimono


Back view of the kimono

Unfortunately it was a pretty hot and humid day, and I had to walk/run to the train station and then from the train station to campus, so I was sweating like crazy by the time I got to Kansai Gaidai. Luckily there was enough hair spray in my hair that it could probably withstand a tornado, so it still looked fine. (Also, the traditional flip flops that go with kimonos: SUPER UNCOMFORTABLE. I don't know why they make them so painful.) Here are some more pictures from the day:



With the host family


With my host mother's friend, the lady who did my kimono and hair


The graduation ceremony hall


With my ceramics teacher, Inomata-sensei


With my cute written Japanese professor, Yuki-sensei


With my funny spoken Japanese professor, Shikaura-sensei

I am kind of sad that my time here is over. It's weird to think that right now as I write this post, this is probably my last time being on the Kansai Gaidai campus, at least for a long time. I'm really glad that I came here. Maybe I will write more of a reflection post later.

Anyway, my mom has arrived in Japan now, and we'll be here in Kyoto until tomorrow at which time we'll go to Tokyo and I will have internet again from the hostel. Then Sunday is back to Kyoto, where I'll be until I finally go home on June 2. Time flies.