お祝い - Celebration

After the graduation, it is time for a big celebration.

...and of course a big celebration requires big bottles!

皆さん、卒業おめでとう！

卒業式 - Graduation Ceremony

Every year, March 25 is the Graduation Day at Waseda University. It is a great day for the students, after long years of hard working. It is also a good occasion (and a tradition, too) to wear some ceremony dressing, like hakama (in the picture on the left) or kimono (in the two pictures below).
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It was also a nice occasion for some people to show off, like the two guys here.

Hina-no-sekku - 雛の節句

In Japan there is no celebration of the Women's Day (which, in my opinion, completely lost its original meaning. There is no sense in celebrating it, but this would be another story). Instead, they celebrate "Doll's Day" (Hina-no-sekku, 雛の節句) on March 3rd.

On this day, families with girls wish their daughters a successful and happy life. Dolls are displayed in the house together with peach blossoms. The doll festival has its origin in a Chinese custom in which bad fortune is transferred to dolls and then removed by abandoning the doll on a river. On Hina Matsuri, sweet sake is drunken and chirashi sushi is eaten.

PS: thank you sam for the beautiful Minosa bonsai.