Auld Lang Syne
By: Brian G. Rubrecht
I have been living and teaching in Japan for quite a long time (in fact, I have been teaching at the university level in Japan for over two decades). In my very early days in Japan, I learned that many stores—particularly department stores and large shopping centers—signal closing time by playing “Auld Lang Syne” over their speaker systems. It is widely known that “Auld Lang Syne” is traditionally sung at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, as people bid farewell to the old year. By playing this song, the stores are telling shoppers in a clear but polite way that they must finish up their shopping and exit the store. It is simple, elegant, and effective.
Since I teach in Japan, the vast majority of my courses consist of native Japanese students who are familiar with this song tradition used by stores. I decided years ago to close my classes using this same song tradition. At the end of the last class of a semester, after students have completed their final exams and I have made a few comments about the just-completed course and about the importance of learning and education, I play “Auld Lang Syne” over the classroom speaker system. I cheerfully bid farewell to the students as they gather their belongings, and I wish them the best of luck for the upcoming semester, the next year, or their lives after graduation (depending on the course). Students often chuckle when they hear the song, as they recognize the association between the song and the polite “it’s time to leave” message it implies.
