Things NOT to do at a Senior High School entrance ceremony!

If you've lived in Japan any amount of time you've probably grasped by now that punctuality is very important. So it will be no surprise to hear that being late for a Senior High School entrance ceremony is a no go! But it also doesn't look good if you arrive with just a minute or two to spare. I was very surprised today to see a student arrive to his seat at 9.59 am. Presumably, his parents contacted the school in advance. Because that's what you do, if there is any risk of being late at all. Advance warning can make the teachers more sympathetic. 

Other than that, the other big thing that comes to mind is parking. At my child's senior high school there is no parking lot that parents can use for big events such as the entrance ceremony. They request that where possible people come to the school by public transport. They also put on buses especially for the occasion. If you have to come by car, which was our situation today, you are supposed to use a coin parking lot, which we did. You may be tempted to use the parking lot of a nearby supermarket or business premises with a free parking lot, but I strongly recommend that you don't. And here's why....

Did you know that it is not uncommon for supermarkets and malls etc to contact the school when people use their parking lot to attend school functions? I had heard this several times before so I would never chance it. Because most senior high school's have an unique school uniform staff at the malls can easily recognize students by their uniform. Moreover, as the parents are dressed in a certain way for the entrance ceremony, it is very easy for them to determine when families are using their parking lot to attend an entrance ceremony to avoid paying for parking.

Today, at my child's entrance ceremony they made an announcement along the lines of "The X supermarket requests that parents using their parking lot remove their cars promptly". The teachers then scanned the rows of parents to see if there was any movement of people. When there wasn't, they made the announcement again. This time, a few people got up and headed to the door. If you want to avoid that embarrassment, I recommend you pay for parking and avoid using the free parking lots of unrelated premises in the area!