After a hearty breakfast and getting all made up, we hit the road. Walking toward the kindergarten, we held hands and talked excitedly about the adventure to come. As we approached the entrance of the school, there was a large sign outside that families were waiting in line to take their photo in front of. After snapping a few shots, we were welcomed in by current students who gave us the super important class list. It turns out that 1 of my son's park friends would be in the same class as him and the other 2 friends would be in the other class. At least he would know one kid in his class!
As we walked toward the building, my husband asked for my son's uwabaki - his indoor school shoes. I pointed to his backpack, and then slowly opened it to find his hand towels, case of crayons, and clothing bag filled with an extra set of clothes. His uwabaki were not in the backpack.
My husband gave me an exasperated look and said we needed them. I thought they were in his backpack and announced they were without double checking back at the house, so, I was the one to rush back home to get them. Good thing we live so close. Unfortunately, it has been a very long time since I've worn my heels, and they are never recommended running footwear, so my feet were killing me by the time I got home. Luckily, I didn't need to run back, because I simply hopped on my bike and rode, calf length dress and all, back to the school.
I got back with a couple minutes to spare before the ceremony began. I quickly gave my son his shoes and I sat down in the seat next to my husband that he had saved for me. Luckily I had grabbed a hand fan on my little errand, so I didn't become a huge sweaty puddle.
The ceremony started right on time. Punctuality is a huge deal in Japanese culture, and events actually begin on time here. It's a novel concept. The ceremony consisted of the principal welcoming students, other school officials being introduced, and the teachers putting on a cute skit about making new friends and counting on one another.
Following the ceremony, we took group photos of each class along with the principal, vice principal, and parents. It took almost 10 minutes for our class to get organized. After the photo(s) was finally taken, my husband joked that they would Photoshop the good images of each person into one final photo that would be distributed amongst the families.
Finally, we went to my son's classroom for final tidbits of information. We were given a thick packet of paperwork, filled with instructions and ID badges required for picking up our child.
And with that, we were done. Our son was an official kindergartener. As with many aspects of his life, he met this milestone with enthusiasm and I met it with hesitant tears in my eyes as I watch my little boy grow up a little bit more.
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