Sports Day !

First of all, I would like to start out by saying that MY TEAM WON!! We rocked. Secondly, Sports Day -- in Japanese 'Undokai' and at Higashiyama Jr. High, 'Toukonsai', for reasons not clear to me -- is not like anything we have in Canada. It is Track and Field, Play Day and the Olympic Opening Ceremonies mixed vigorously with a pinch of North Korean Mass Games and a liberal serving of Japanese tradition, pomp and ceremony.

Actually, it's not very complicated. At my school, all 450 students were divided into 3 teams: Yellow, Blue and Red. (I was a member of the Yellow team. Who won *cough cough*) Each team had one main leader (a 3rd year student), and several more team leaders who provided competent leadership that the rest of the team could look up to. The students started meeting at the end of the first term and came in every day through the holidays to make props, costumes, practice routines etc. Hmm... Ok, I think pictures would be far more interesting.

The three teams gathered out on the field. Each student wore their sports uniform and a headband (which made for some pretty funky tan lines at the end of the day!)

Parents, grandparents, locals, dignitaries etc. all gathered for a day of friendly competition and to see how the youths of Takayama are progressing. There were sun umbrellas, hats and bentos (packed lunches) a plenty.

A horn was blown (or a bell rung, I don't remember) and all the kids came runnin'.

The team leaders saluted the Kocho-sensei (Principal who is out of this particular shot) by screaming at him.

Everyone did their morning excercises, including the teachers (and yours truly - I don't know how I managed to take this picture)

And then all the students ran away screaming because they could no longer take the super genki and super irritating exercise music.



And then the events beain! This is when it becomes clear that one is in Japan. The students participate in large groups - sometimes their entire team!, everyone participates no questions asked, and during each event crazy, whacky back-ground music is played. (Think the Can-Can plus Jingle Bells plus insane cartoon music with a touch of the opening theme of Saturday Night Live) The only serious event was the group relay, although the students take every event seriously. The other events were as follows:

Mass-team Tug of War


The 15 (?) Legged Race

The 'That Log is Mine You Wicked Wench' game. (Ok, so I don't know what it's called. But two teams - girls only - lay down along two ropes on either side of the field. A shot was fired and they all got up, screaming, and had to try and throw as many logs as possible on their side of the rope. The whole point of the game was to watch Jr. High girls wrestle each other to the ground and/or get dragged through the dirt. Fun times!)


The Running With Logs game. Fairly self-explanatory. There was a lot of screaming involved with this one too.


The Drag a Kid Around the Track on a Tire event. Exactly what it sounds like plus screaming.


The Carry a Kid Around the Track While He Hangs Like a Monkey event. You'll notice they're wearing helmets. They were needed; many kids fell or were dropped, generally on their heads.

The Mukade event (yes, that's it's real name. Mukade are gross, disgusting,and poisonous centipedes that you need to boil to kill. They're nasty creatures, but I enjoyed watching this event)

The kids who weren't participating cheered on their teammates, ran around with big flags, and beat on a Taiko drum

The giant flags


Just before lunch the girls got together and performed their dance. They used this rather odd music with lots of shouting and wailing in it, and their moves and actions were like a more vigorous version of a Bon Odori dance. This year they decided to wear costumes. I tried to be supportive, but quite frankly I think they look like wannabe superheroes. And all of that synthetic material was making the girls sweat!

Another shot of the dance

After lunch the boys got to perform their dance. They took off their shirts and shoes, grunted, sweated and acted all manly.

Observe the manliness

Yet more manliness


Next came the cheering contest, and I was asked to be a judge. Each team had 2 mins to perform a cheer using various props; my students used pom-poms, fans, their shirts and their hands. And their voices. They were judged on how loud they were, their creativity, their energy and their timing.

The Blue team using pom-poms

The Red team doing a wave with their pom-poms

The Yellow team spelling out "No. 1" with pom-poms

... and spelling TOP with their fans

Next there was a hand-held hanabi (fireworks) show! It was pretty cool.





Then there were more events! In this one, kids from each team had to race across the field but on the backs of their team members.

Only the boys did this event. Two teams started on either end of the field. Half the group crowded around a long pole with a flag in the top while the other half started running around the track. When each team had run half way around they suddenly stormed the other team and tried to grab their flag. The first team to capture the flag was the winner. Inevitably there was a great deal of tackling, grappling and violence. Boys were seen limping off the field with battle wounds. The Yellow team was totally creamed in this one.


And finally, after being outside in the sun all day, after running and dancing and pom-pom waving, after fighting, cheering and generally exerting themselves to the fullest, these poor children had to jump rope. And if they weren't jumping, they were sitting in the sun, dripping and melting and yelling encouragements to their teammates. Gambatte.

At last it was 3:30. Time to get in formation, salute the Kocho-sensei again and then scream out the school song.

Awards were handed out. As previously noted, my team won :-)

The team leaders gave their final speeches, and every one of them burst into tears. It was all very emotional and there was hardly a dry eye in the crowd. Except for me. Desite wearing a hat, long pants and a high-cut t-shirt I got horribly sun- burned. I got the worst sandal and t-shirt tan of my life!

There was time for one, last victory cheer...

And then all the teacher's got thrown into the air in celebration (?). This isn't me, it's of my JTE's Ms.Yamaguchi, but I imagine I looked much the same. At least the student's didn't drop me on my head like the teachers did later that evening.

And so that was Sports Day. Everyone had a great time and went home tired, sunburned and hoarse. Except for the teachers who went out that night for a big dinner and lots of drinks. :-)


p.s. I apologize for the spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. I may or may not fix them at a later date.