entrance ceremony
Light displays, idol dances, motivational speeches, celebrity appearances–you name it, they’ve got it.
We’ve seen what some lucky Japanese students get up to at their crazy cosplay graduation ceremonies, and now we bring you an entrance ceremony extravaganza! New students enrolling at Kinki University in Osaka on April 5th were treated to a stadium-style light show and idol dance performance conceived by Tsunku, the producer behind idol supergroup Morning Musume.
While some Japanese netizens took to social media to question the organisers’ use of funds in throwing such an extravagant party for students who are, after all, only just entering the school, the university offered up an original reason for putting on the spectacular show: to encourage the one-third of incoming students who hadn’t picked Kinki University as their first choice.




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