March 3rd is a day to celebrate girls.
It’s called “Doll Festival.”
This event is held to pray for the happiness of girls, and involves displaying dolls called hina dolls and peach blossoms.
I remember that my house had a fairly large, five-tiered display of hina dolls, which took up a lot of space.
As housing conditions have changed, miniature versions that can be displayed in apartments where such large displays take up less space seem to be more popular.
March is also graduation season.
Elementary school students wear casual clothes, while junior high and high school students wear uniforms.
At university, the majority of female students wear kimonos and hakama, as did I.
March is especially a season of farewells for students.
As a high school teacher, I’ve been to many graduation ceremonies, and it’s interesting because the atmosphere is completely different depending on the school.
There are emotional ceremonies where most students shed tears, and very peaceful ceremonies where no one cried.
As you know, Japan has four seasons.
March marks the end of the bitterly cold winter and the beginning of spring, so I feel like this turning point in the seasons is a fitting time for graduation ceremonies.
If you’re hoping to see Japanese cherry blossoms, March is still too early.
The best time to go is around the beginning of April.
