Long Overdue Post about Sports Day

It's been a long time, again! I was working all weekend, with meetings galore, so I found it very easy to make excuses about updating my blog.

Sorry about that! (I have a sneaky feeling this will happen a lot...)

Sunday was Sports Day, and as promised I took many photos and videos! Which means that it took more than a few hours to get this blog post together. I suppose this makes up for taking so long between them... (and I apologize for any quality issues. Japanese internet isn't designed for uploading videos, which means I have to really compress them down... The RAWs on my computer look great, though!)

And as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. This must mean that a video is worth a million of them!

The Sports Day started at 8:30am, and it was open to members of the community and family. And many of them showed up! It was very cool!

The Sports Day began with all of the student body marching by grade and class (there are 3 grades, 6 classes each. The students stay with the same class all year long, and take every subject together, so their class bonds are very important). Their flags are adorable!

The marching was followed by some speeches by the Principal (all in white) and a few others. Then the students did warm-up exercises together.

Then there were many, many races. The students were all required to participate in a race, so it took quite a while to finish these events. The students were very fast, and they really tried their hardest! Apparently one of the 2nd-year-students broke a school record during the event! The victories counted as points towards each class' total, with a winning class at the end of the Sports Day. 

I had to race, too! All of the teachers participated in relay races against the students. It was pretty fun! (Although we were really there for the comic relief, I think. The students beat us all easily!) 

Then we had the class cheers. The students of each "class" (there are 6) choreographed their own dances and spirit routines. The parents would vote for the winner, so this was a big deal. I filmed all six, of course! They all looked great! (Note: Each class is wearing a different color. Sadly, I still can't quite remember which is which.)

By about 12:00, we were able to break for a very long lunch. This was waiting for me at my desk: 

I liked it all, except for the octopus. I've discovered I'm not a big fan of suction cups. All of the other mystery meat was delicious, though!

After lunch, the students marched based on the Sports Clubs they were a part of. They would display the trophies and awards that they have won so far this school year (which started in April).

 (Boys Baseball)

 (Girls Volleyball)

 (Boys and Girls Gymnastics)

 (Boys and Girls Track and Field)

 (Boys Basketball)

 (Girls Basketball)

 (Kendo)

 (Boys Tennis)

 (Girls Tennis)

 (Boys Table Tennis)

 (Girls Table Tennis)

(Boys Soccer)

After the Club Marches, there was a giant match of Tug of War between the students and the parents. The rope was about as long as a football field, to give you some perspective. The parents won handily in both matches, sealing their victory over the kids. 

And then, finally, we have the final performances of the Tsoran Bushi and the Boys' Pyramids. I finally got a good spot near the front and center of the performances. The final products were definitely worth all of the practice!

Finally, we end the day with a closing march, and a few more speeches, and awards to be handed out. The day ended at about 2:30, though some students stayed behind to help put everything away.


Sports Day Enkai

Apparently the saying here is that "no one parties harder than teachers at their Sports Day enkai."

I don't think I'll disagree with that statement. The downtown area was chock full of teachers from many middle schools, celebrating the end of two weeks of very hard work. (We worked through the weekend, which made for a very long week!)

Hirohata's first round of the enkai was at a Chinese Restaurant. The food was served on large platters, and you served everyone at the table around you before you served yourself. Seating arrangements are based on hierarchy, with those who are more important (like the Principal, and Gym Teachers) seated furthest away from the door; those at the bottom of the totem-pole, myself included, were sat near the door.

The custom in Japan is to never let anyone's drinks get empty. As soon as they start getting low, you're supposed to pour and refill their glass with whatever they've been drinking. And you never fill your own glass. The only way to stop this is to cover the glass with your hand, and to be very insistent; but if you do, be prepared to be constantly asked if you are okay.

Also, you're supposed to get up and go to the other tables and pour drinks for those who have particularly helped you out. So there was quite a bit of moving about during the enkai, as teachers would get up to pour drinks for their coworkers.

The food was fantastic! I took photos of everything... as I seem to be doing a lot of, lately. I think it's becoming a known quirk of mine. (And I was drinking orange juice, just to throw that out there!)

After all the lovely food, the second party involved renting out an entire Karaoke Bar for more fun! I'm a big fan of Karaoke, which is great, since it was invented in Japan. They do it way better than we do!

Surprisingly Popular American Song to Karaoke to: Call Me Maybe.

I think I'll be singing that every time I karaoke now. Good thing it's a fun song to karaoke to!


Sports Day is a pretty cool event. I keep having to explain that we don't really have anything like this in the United States. In some ways, I think it'd be cool if we could. But in other ways, I don't think it'd be possible, due to American Culture. That, and the logistics of getting a few thousand kids to do something like this would be a nightmare.

It might be fun to try, though. I think American students can do some really amazing things, when they want to. It'd be a great event to really raise school spirit!