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Published: September 24th 2007
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During training for and after the day's competitions, students were the walking wounded, sporting bandages and bruises as evidence of their months of preparation. It’s school festival time in Japan! This means two things; one, the students are very busy and two, English conversation teachers are not. Last Monday my school kicked of its festivities with what they called Cultural Festival. It was a day of student choral performances, followed by a student talent show. Unlike in the United States where the students have a choice to join chorus or not, the students at KJH must perform in this event. Each grade performed a song as well as each of the 18 classes. The groups were accompanied on the piano and conducted by fellow classmates. There was very little teacher involvement in the actual performance; although I’m sure they helped in the preparation.
The students were judged on there performances and received certificates at the end, however I can never tell who won what (it’s all in Japanese). While the morning performances were very rigid and technical, the afternoon’s talent show was very un-Japanese-like. I was able to see the students almost act American - which was a bit scary. They were expressive and free, but only momentarily. I was extremely impressed by their brass band, which performed above the standard of most high school
Victry!
No, a student made this one. Jessie kept a low profile during the day, but faithfully stayed to cheer on her students and take in the odd spectacle. bands I have seen. There was also a very long play, which I really didn’t follow.
The following day the festivities continued with Sports Day. The students were divided by grade and then into teams by color. So, each color had a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade team. The students sat under large tents that lined a football-sized field. They waited here between games and waited for their turn to play. Because there are so many students, each game was played several times for each grade level. This made for a very long day! Greg and I sat with a 3rd grade blue team. They didn’t do very well, but they were a great group of kids.
When I think of sports I think of football, baseball, and basketball. Well, these were not the kind of sports being played. Sports day in Japan is used to emphasize unity in a group. Every game that is played must be done as a collective whole in order to win, very much reflecting Japanese societal expectations and values.
So I will try to describe the “sports” played and hopefully the pictures will fill in the gaps. In the first one, the students
Rope jumping
Lots of room for error. The successful teams had no members marching to the beat of his or her own drum. bend over from the waist in a line and one student runs on top of their backs. As soon as you’ve been stepped on you have to run to the front of the line because they race like this the whole length of the field. The teams kind of reminded me of centipedes.
In another one the entire team has to jump rope together and they race to get to a certain number of jumps before the other teams. So the more you mess up the longer it will take you. It was quite impressive to watch.
In another take on a classic game, instead of the three-legged race, they had a five-legged race. The students had practiced for about a month before the event and you could tell - it looked amazing.
There were many elaborate relays that day as well. All the students had to run in one relay, and really, all the students participated in the day’s events. Even after a team won, the other teams continued to play until they finished - it kept the students’ morale up and no one ever looked mad because they were losing, I never saw a student
Yay...
Staving off heat exhaustion was an afterthought for all, as students left the tents at every opportunity to cheer on their teammates. While some became noticeably sick from the heat, teachers and teammates encouraged them to continue participating. outburst because they lost. They cheered for their teams, but the atmosphere was less competitive then I imagine an American Sports Day would be. Or maybe that’s just me.
Both days were once again extremely hot and humid. Sitting and sweating has become normal for me. Greg came along too, hence the pictures, but he doesn’t last as long at these events because he has the option of leaving. He missed the opening ceremony for the Sports Day, which I have to mention because it was so bizarre. At one point the principal stood on a platform and the team representatives with their team flags stood in front of him in a line and put their hands out like the heil Hitler salute and chanted something in unison. It really looked like something out of a Nazi movie. I really wanted to know what they were saying.
Anyway, it was a great couple of days, but it is nice that the schedule is now back to normal.
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Sports Day
I found this most interesting! Thank you for taking us along on this very unique sport day which is so unlike anything we do here. The pictures captured everything well. You're an excellent photographer, Greg! I'm sure glad Jessie brought you along on this journey!!