A new trimester began Tuesday for 176 children evacuated from Miyake Island who are living apart from their families at a Tokyo school some 200 km north of home.
Miyake Island students sing at the opening ceremony of the last trimester at Akikawa High School in Akiruno.Seventy-five elementary school students and 101 junior high school students attended the opening ceremony of the last trimester at Akikawa High School in Akiruno, western Tokyo. The students live in the school's dormitory, which was to be closed but is now housing the evacuees.
In the ceremony, Takao Omori, principal of Ako elementary school on Miyake, told the pupils to help each other to overcome difficulties.
"If you try hard, whatever the situation is, it will help you in the future," he said. "I would like you all to have warm feelings toward your friends and help one another."
At a ceremony Tuesday afternoon, 110 high school students from the island also began their new session.
A series of volcanic eruptions since June forced all 3,850 islanders to evacuate by September.
In September, the start of the second trimester of the April-March school year in most Japanese schools, 350 students from seven Miyake schools -- three elementary schools, three junior highs and one high school -- attended the Akikawa High School ceremony.
Since the end of the second trimester late last month, 24 elementary school students and four junior high school students left the dormitory to live with relatives in various parts of Tokyo, metro government officials said.