Invitations were withdrawn, programs were shortened and seats were moved further apart or even placed outdoors. These and other measures enabled 90 percent of public junior high schools in Tokyo to hold their graduation ceremonies on March 19 amid the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.

Many schools around the nation have remained closed since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe requested a shutdown in late February to help prevent the spread of the virus.

In a notice issued in February, the education ministry said it would not uniformly ask schools to refrain from holding such ceremonies. It did, however, provide examples of measures that would reduce the risk of infection if the schools went ahead with the events.

Although the new coronavirus pandemic has shut down entire countries, only 2 percent of public elementary and junior high schools across Japan have canceled their graduation ceremonies, which are normally held in mid-March, according to the ministry. 

The anti-virus measures taken for the March 19 ceremonies varied among the municipalities in the capital.

At the Sugamo-kita Junior High School run by Tokyo’s Toshima Ward, 89 third-year students wearing face masks attended the morning graduation ceremony. First- and second-year students usually attend the event, but this year, the only guests from the lower grades were ones picked to give messages to the graduates.

The school also limited attendance to two people per graduate, and it separated the chairs by at least 1 meter in all directions.

Kaori Ueno and Ryonosuke Suzuki gave a speech on behalf of all the graduates.

“Let’s be able to overcome any hardship with our bonds of friendship in mind,” the speech said. “We’re able to hold the graduation ceremony without any problems. We’re truly grateful to all of you.”

Principal Hiromi Hiramoto, 59, also gave some sound advice to the students.

“Be a person who always makes efforts and tries to stay positive,” Hiramoto said in a speech. “I’m praying from the bottom of my heart for your future growth.”

All 35 public junior high schools in Tokyo’s Adachi Ward resorted to “outdoor” graduation ceremonies under the same format on the instructions of the ward’s education board.

For example, at Iriya Junior High School, graduates wearing masks entered the school yard around 10 a.m. to the applause of their parents and guardians. 

The simplified ceremony consisted of the singing of Japan’s national anthem and school song, the awarding of graduation certificates and a speech by the principal.

The chairs were placed 1 meter apart from each other, and only one parent or guardian per graduate was allowed to attend.

There were no first- or second-year students at the ceremony, and no speeches by the graduates.

After the 30-minute ceremony, the graduates took photos outdoors because the school itself remains closed.

Public junior high schools in Higashi-Murayama city in western Tokyo banned all parents and guardians from attending the graduation ceremonies held on March 19. Public elementary schools in the city plan to hold their ceremonies in the same manner on March 25.

Some parents and guardians submitted a petition to the city’s education board, asking for permission to attend the once-in-a-lifetime events.

“I’m overwhelmed by sadness that I’ll be unable to attend the graduation ceremony to celebrate my child’s growth,” said a 37-year-old father of a sixth-grader.

Public schools in Tokyo’s Kita Ward also kept parents and guardians out of the graduation ceremonies.

Many parents had asked the ward’s education board to let them in, but a board official said the top priority is preventing the spread of the coronavirus.

The official said some schools plan to give the parents videos and photos of the ceremonies several days later.

To reduce crowding, some schools held two separate graduation ceremonies.

Outside of Tokyo, at Katoh Gakuen Gyoshu Elementary School in Numazu, Shizuoka Prefecture, 74 sixth-grade children were split into two groups on March 19: one for the morning ceremony and the other for the afternoon event.

A cleaning company disinfected the venue on March 18, and repeated the process between the morning and afternoon ceremonies.

The school said it had asked parents to check the health conditions of themselves and their children, including taking body temperatures, for a week before the dual ceremony.

The school has been closed since March 2, and it canceled its March 3-4 school trip.

School officials said they received letters from pupils, pleading for the school to hold the graduation ceremony.

“It would be too sad for the pupils to have both the school trip and the graduation ceremony canceled,” said Seiichi Sato, the vice principal of the school. “I’m glad that we were able to hold the ceremony.”

(This article was written by Tomoko Yamashita, Takuro Negishi and Nobuaki Tanaka.)