Sutorenjaa In Japan

Most Extreme Elimination Challenge- High School Edition!!!!

Wow. I think that this day has been the apex of my time in Japan thus far. I have truly been amazed by the Japanese school system… or at least my school in particular. Let me explain… today was day one of back to school festival: sports day.
Sports day started with an assembly of students into their groups (red, yellow and blue teams) and presenting themselves to the school. It was so cool. They had made giant mascots in the back of the field (see pictures). The mascots were as follows: blue= Stitch from Disney’s Lilo & Stich, yellow= Tiger mascot of the Osaka Tigers (baseball team), and red= Muck, some children’s TV show character monster. All the students and teachers belonged to a color team (I was yellow) but I think sports day is the only day that they use these colors so there’s pride but pretty much just for this day.
The first games were sprints and then a relay. It was pretty standard. But then... the first on many an interesting competition, they had a jump rope contest. All the seniors for each color tried to do as many jumps together (with one rope per team) as possible. So, they had to jump together… it took a few practices but when it was go time it was actually pretty impressive cause they got a good lot in. Then another relay and THEN… a 3 legged race!!! So funny. They had about 4-5 races of this and then went on to another relay. However this relay had a twist. They would run 1/8 mi, then pick up a piece of clothing, put it on and then run to the next station and take exchange it with a teammate, and then that teammate would go on to pick up another item of clothing, exchange, etc. By the end, the boys were wearing a whole judo outfit with a belt and a medal! After that, they had a tug of war and then another relay. Again, another twist. It was an inter-club relay so each club had their members as the runners. Poor kyudo (Japanese archery) girls had to run in their full regalia (long shirt and skirts)! The boys clubs were fun to watch because each added a little ‘show’ when they switched runners. The gymnastics teams did flips and then started their next lap walking on their hands! Kyudo boys shot arrows at a nearby target, Kendo boys had to duel with their teacher, judo boys had to throw each other and computer boys were running around with computer parts and assembled a computer (just the shells). The sports teams did the same sort of things. Basketball club dribbled around the track and power passed at the exchange and baseball kids slid to the exchange. It was a pretty good show. I think the girls liked the gymnastics and baseball teams’ … they were going nuts. "YATA!!!! SUGOY DESU NE?!?!"


For a little break from athletics (I think they had fun but it was pretty damn hot too), the kids got out and performed a cheers for their teams. I think it was a competition so the kids all had costumes and special moves for their cheers. It was pretty awesome and way "genki". It was mighty entertaining to see these kids sweating it out and yelling at the top of their lungs. I was only too sad that I couldn't understand a word. I think I missed some pretty good jokes. Rats.


After thatm there were a few more games... 2 of the funniest ones I have ever seen! 1) 'Capture the Flag' but a bit different from home. First, the flags are on giant poles and each team (on either side of the field) has to support it upright (obviously to make it hard to get at). So, part of the team is supporting their poles, and more are just surrounding it to protect the flag from "attackers" from the other team. The rest of the team is on the offense and trying to grab the other team's flag. It was pretty funny to watch these kids throw themselves at the pole and climb over each other to get the flag. Madness.
2)They also played chicken fights. Here, 3 boys acted as the base, while one boy rode on top (it was an interesting configuration... a boy in the middle, 2 boys on either side w/ arms on shoulders of middle boy, top boy sitting on the arms of side boys). Here they all wore red caps and the goal was to try to steal the other team's caps. It was fabulously brutal. I could hear the head slaps from the side lines! it was also interesting seeing them go blindly at it at first and then work out more of a strategy (ganing up on one target at a time). I don't think i could have paid for better entertainment.
Anywho, a good time was had by all and I think that my team (BIG YELL-OW!) won overall points. Woo Hoo!

posted by KidBach @ 10:31 AM