When school ceremonies overlap

It is the season of school graduation and entrance ceremonies in Japan. Because of the way my four children are aged, we have at least one big school ceremony each year. In fact, from 2013 to 2034 we had / will have either an entrance or graduation ceremony every single year (assuming the kids go on to third level). Sometimes we have both an entrance and graduation ceremony. Moreover, sometimes we have two or more of both the entrance and graduation ceremony. As in this year. 

My son graduated from Junior High School last week and my middle daughter graduated from Elementary School today. They will both have an entrance ceremony in their respective new schools in April. Unfortunately, both of their entrance ceremonies are on the same day. In two different cities! Luck of the draw. 

Within a town or city, it is quite common for public elementary schools and junior high schools to have their entrance ceremonies on the same day. They usually put one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. But most often Senior High Schools try to have their entrance ceremony on a different day to avoid a clash. However, it is not always possible.

Thankfully though, the Senior High School entrance ceremony for my son is in the morning and the Junior High School entrance ceremony for my daughter is in the afternoon. But they overlap for about an hour, so my husband and I will have to split up! One of us will go to the High School entrance ceremony and join the Junior High School entrance ceremony when we can.

The Japanese expression "shou ga nai" comes to mind. "Shou ga nai" means something similar to "it can't be helped". It is what it is and we will just try to make the best of it. We are lucky that we are able to divide and conquer, so to speak, so, while unfortunate, it isn't the end of the world that the school ceremonies overlap.