New Start

 Hannah just sent me her schedule for next week! Her Entrance Ceremony for graduate school will be on April 2nd! A lot earlier than I thought it would be!

I've often wondered why April is the start of the school year, also the start for many people leaving university and starting work! I had all these poetic ideas. 

I thought that because April is the beginning of the growing season, when new shoots are coming up, cherry blossoms are still in bloom, the weather is getting warmer, and it feels as if the whole earth is coming alive again after winter's slumber. People want to get out and start new things, so beginning school at that time feels more natural.  

I loved that school started in April when my kids were in school, especially from junior high school, as I had to get up early to make obento. It was easier to get up early as the mornings grew warmer and lighter. By the time the mornings were cold again, I was already in the habit of waking up!

So why April?

Money, of course!

The early educational institutes were temple or shrine-run schools that accepted students year-round. After the Meiji Restoration (1868 to 1889), schools moved to having students enter in September.

The shift to April came in 1886. This was when the government fixed the financial year; one reason was to do with rice farmers. They harvest the rice in autumn, figure out their finances during the winter and are ready to pay tax in spring. Having the fiscal year end in March and start again in April made it easier for them.

This made it more difficult to fund and manage schools that had a different schedule. The government ordered "higher normal schools", a kind of historical teaching college, to change to April start. This trend then spread to other schools!

So, April 2nd will start Hannah's new adventure!

Starting university in 2021

Graduating in 2025