Welcome to the new 一年生 (いちねんせい - ichinensei - 1st years)!

As I mentioned a while ago, 春 (はる - haru - spring) is a time of new beginnings in Japan - April is the start of the new school year. Many public highschools here have strict entrance requirements which means that prospective students have to sit an exam and wait for the results to see if they got in. On the day, big posterboards are put up that list the numbers of the students who made the cut. For the ones who passed, this marks the beginning of a string of ceremonies and events to congratulate and welcome them to the school. It's been a very busy few weeks!

I watched the process first hand recently at one of my host schools, 北須磨高等学校 (きたすまこうとうがっこう - kitasuma koutougakkou - Kita Suma Senior High School). Dozens of hopeful students braved the rain to show up with their parents and huddle around the front windows. The crowd lurched forward slightly when the boards were eventually put up and after a loaded pause frantically searching for the right number, everyone erupted into emotional noise. For some, it was relieved happiness - knowing they could continue on with the friends they made in 中学 (ちゅうがく - chuugaku - Junior High School/Middle school). For others, it was sadness and frustration at having not made it. It was hard to tell the difference at first - everyone was in tears and hugging their parents regardless. Since then, there have been several assemblies and ceremonies going over the schedule for the year, optional classes and recruitment drives for 部活 (ぶかつ - bukatsu - clubs/club activities). The 一年生 must be starting to feel a bit harassed!

Fortunately, they had a bit of a break from all this over the past couple of days, at least at my other school 神戸高等学校 (こうべこうとうがっこう - koubekoutougakkou - Kobe Senior High School). Orientation differs from school to school - it may take the form of a sports day, a camp or something else. In this case, we took a hike up to one of the peaks of 六甲山 (ろっこうさん - rokkousan - Rokko Mountains), a famous mountain range that runs through 神戸 and 兵庫 (ひょうご - Hyogo). If you see mountains in the background of any of my photos, it's a good bet that the culprit is 六甲山!

Easy bus and train access makes hiking 六甲山 easy and if you don't want to walk the whole 930m to the peak, you could always use the cable car (六甲ケーブル - "Rokko Cable").

The excursion was called 新入生 (しんにゅうせい - shinnyuusei - new entrant/first year) 歓迎 (かんげい - kangei - welcome) 登山 (とざん - tozan - mountain climbing), which I suppose is a good name for it! The whole school hiked up along with the first years to wish them well and inspire them with some performances, then the 二年生 and 三年生 came back down, leaving the 一年生 to spend the night in a lodge on top of the mountain.

Once we got far enough above sea level and the temperature started to drop, we found ourselves mired in huge amounts of 霧 (きり - kiri - fog/mist) which made it quite hard to get good photos, as you can see. Thankfully, the students were all wearing bright blue tracksuits so it was hard to lose them!

Finally, we reached our stop and everyone assembled before lunch for the presentations.

After a few short speeches, some of the 部活 did short skits and performances to welcome and "rev up" the 一年生. First, the chorus club sang the school song and taught everyone the different parts. Then the 応援団 (おうえんだん - ouendan - "cheering party") came out, which was something else entirely.

応援団 is a particular club that comprises flag bearers and cheer members that chant to the rhythm of a 太鼓 (たいこ - taiko drum). Everyone is dressed in black and the movements and sounds are very strong (but unusual!). It's a far cry from American cheerleading squads, although apparently there are all-female 応援団 too. The idea is to "pep up" the audience and get everyone clapping along. I thought it was great. Other people must too - there are 応援団 games, マンガ (manga) and some footage on Youtube if you're interested in seeing it in action!

The 運動部 (うんどうぶ - undoubu - sports clubs) then came out - their skit was a little less traditional, but they definitely got a reaction! I'll talk more about clubs in another post.

After all this was done, everyone was free to have lunch and enjoy what 六甲山 had to offer. I was surprised at how much space there was - for some reason, having a lake and a park on top of a mountain seems quite strange.

I hope the 一年生 enjoyed their warm welcome and a slight change of pace - this time of year is very hectic with school events (which you'll hear about soon) so hopefully it gave them a chance to settle in a little bit.

六甲山 is possibly not the most exciting place on earth (the website recommends visiting the music box museum), but it's absolutely gorgeous and the whole idea of mountains is fairly unfamiliar to people from places as flat as Western Australia. I would thoroughly recommend coming up and relaxing with a picnic in the park if you have time. With all the hustle and bustle of a whirlwind trip, a bit of a breather will probably do you (and the 一年生) some good. The view of 神戸 isn't bad either!