◆ Conversation Topics ◆ No.76 Time Travel to High School Days: Walking 30km Overnight to School

　49 years ago, when I was a third-year high school student, I once walked 30km overnight from my home to school.　When I contacted the local Chugoku Shimbun newspaper about the plan, they were eager to cover it and sent a rookie reporter, and the next day, it appeared in the paper.

　Well, well, that newspaper clipping turned up in my diary, so let's go "Back To The Future!" and time travel 49 years back!!

The original is below, but since it is hard to see, I will write out the same content.
Names will be represented by initials.

<Article Content>
May 2, 1976 Chugoku Shimbun

【Walking 30km Overnight to School】
25 students from the Kure Line group of Hiroshima Shudo High School

　Walking about 30km from Kure to Hiroshima, step by step. On the 1st, 25
third-year students of Hiroshima Shudo High School who live along the JNR Kure Line walked to school overnight, taking 8 hours along the Kure Highway.
"As a monument to our youth" was the reason they started, and this annual event is now in its tenth year. Exhausted, everyone completed the walk safely. In the schoolyard, they savored the joy of achieving a goal a step ahead of the actual university entrance exams.

We did it! Radiant faces
10th annual traditional event, also with a "wish" to pass entrance exams

　The event of walking overnight began in 1967. The "founder" was a 1968 graduate. One of them, company employee S.E. (26) from Furue-ue, Hiroshima City, recalls the start: "Before graduation, the Kure Line commuting group decided to walk as a memento of our high school days. There were a lot of eccentrics among us." That was
passed down from seniors to juniors and became a tradition for the Kure Line group.

　This year, they departed from in front of Kure Station at midnight. No one knows the year it started or the motive. The organizer, K.T. (17) from Saka Town, Aki District, tightens his headband and says, "There is a legend that when it started, the entrance exam pass rate jumped up. We also have a feeling of wanting to benefit from that." Crossing bridges and passing through alleys to the national highway.

On the way, "It's so lonely this year," someone grumbled. Last year, they were seen off by female students they met on the train, and there were even refreshments along the way. (⇒ Explanation: It was me, S, who voiced this fresh, youthful truth! Ah, the Kure Line boys were not popular at all with the girls from Hiroshima Jogakuin, and not a single one of us was dating anyone. What a pity!)

　Walking step by step while listening to late-night broadcasts on a transistor radio. A truck stops and the driver calls out, "Field trip?" A young man in a passenger car asks, "A rally? Or a walking exercise?"

In Koyaura, Saka Town, K.T.'s father, K.S. (45), a high school teacher, welcomes them, and near JNR Saka Station, teacher K.T. (42) from Shudo High School welcomes them. About 18km from the starting point. As expected, everyone is exhausted. "My feet hurt so much I can't walk," "I wonder if it's okay to doze off in class?" ...Complaints and worries slip out. Past 5:00 AM, near Kaita. Everyone is walking sluggishly with their heads down. Someone groans, "My lower back is numb."
Arrived at Hiroshima Station at 6:40 AM.

After resting for a while, they head to school. "Well done," "Congratulations." Welcomed by the applause of classmates and teachers, they pass through the school gate and perform the customary three cheers. ""I have no regrets about my high school days. Now, it's time for entrance exam study," says K.T. H.M. (17) from Yoshiura, Kure City, says, "I truly realized how grateful I am for the train." Every face was radiant, even while glistening with sweat.

<My (S) Thoughts>
We started at 12:00 midnight. At first, everyone was in high spirits, running to the front of the line, heading back to the end, and chatting loudly with friends as they pleased. Some had radios hanging from their shoulders, listening to All Night Nippon, while some groups were singing songs on their own...

However, around the 15km mark, everyone started getting blisters on their feet. By 20km, the blisters began to burst, and gradually, we started feeling pain in our lower backs, and the chatter died down. Naturally, there was no one left running around or singing.

We arrived at Hiroshima Station at 6:40 AM, took a commemorative photo together, and took a short break. After that, we headed toward Sendamachi, where the school was located, at a slow pace to adjust our timing. Then, we arrived at the school's main gate,at exactly 8:00 AM, we all stepped into the school grounds together in unison on the count of one!

<What Was Useful>
After joining the bank,there was a training session called the 40km Mount Rokko Traverse for new employees, so everyone was intimidated, but because I had this experience, I wasn't intimidated at all!!

⇒ This content is described below
◆ Conversation Starters ◆ No.19 'New Employee Training: The Crew-Cut Tribe's Mount Rokko Traverse: Bank' |

[Which university did everyone end up going to? The 13 people I remember]
Osaka University (Medicine), University of Tokyo, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo Medical and Dental University (Dentistry), Hiroshima University (Medicine), Hiroshima University (Dentistry), Hiroshima University (Economics) x2, Kyushu University (Agriculture), Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, Keio University,
Doshisha University

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