Setting down roots

I had my last ever Japanese class this week, at least at my current school. It should have been a melancholy moment, but it felt so good. And now I have just one more test to do next Sunday and I am free. Please send out all your positive energy for me on December 3rd.
I have a problem with what I want to blog about today. It's not exactly that I have nothing to say. It's just that the things I have in mind are such downers that I don't want to think about them.
For example, right now in Japan the big news is a terrible trend towards junior high school kids committing suicide. Last year, 115 young Japanese killed themselves. It appears most deaths were a result of bullying or exam stress. But to be honest, the topic makes me so depressed that I can't bring myself to analyze it.
Then I thought I'd tell you about the Japanese movie I went to see on Thursday evening. It was called 手紙 - tegami - The Letters. But it was also pretty depressing.
I had been looking for a nice light story to forget my stress. From the poster, I had thought it looked like a simple romance. I was so wrong. I came out ready to jump under a train and delay some commuters.
The film was about the discrimation and social exclusion Japanese families encounter when a member of their family commits a bad crime and is sent to prison. Heavy stuff.
I must say though, I'm still now thinking about the themes brought up in the movie, so it can't have been all that bad.
I would really like to know if the same discrimination exists in other countries. Tell me what you think: In your home countries, if a member of your family was imprisoned for murder, do you think you would be driven from your home, fired from your job, and denied the chance to marry your loved one? I just don't know.
Another thing the film has done is to motivate me to look out for more books by the same writer. 'Tegami' was based on a novel written by Keigo Higashino. It won the prestigious Naokisho literary award here in Japan. I'm thinking one of his other books will be my next challenge when I finish up the exams next week.
So if all the above aren't cheery enough, what's left for me to write about. Well not much.
The one thing I did find fascinating last week came up in a discussion in my last ever Japanese class. Do you know that in Japan, if you go and visit someone in hospital, you should never bring a potted plant or anything that's alive and has roots? This is incredibly bad luck and quite bad manners. It signifies that you expect the person to be hopsitalized for a long time. The image given is of them setting down roots in their sick bed.
Just another example of the choppy social waters I have to navigate daily. Who'd have thunk a nice Christmas cactus or something would cause such offense.
The irony was that only moments previous I had given the boss of my school a very elaborate potted plant arrangement as a token of my gratitude. I wasn't brought up in a barn! But in this case, it surely didn't cause offense. She was very happy. But it looks like I'm setting down roots in the blasted school. I tell you, if I fail my finals and have to repeat next year, I am never setting foot in a florist's again.
Quick youtube update before I go. My video of the cicadas is now up to almost 12,000 views. My sister's singing... 18!