Okie JET

Undokai or Sports Day

Well, it was great. Sports Day went off without a hitch. These kids have put so much of themselves into the show that it was just pure magic. In the slideshow there are tons of pictures.

TUG of WAR
So I don't know about you all...but it's been a while since I've been out to go tugging on a rope. And I don't think I've ever seen something like this. Each side had about 30-40 kids on it. When the gun went off, they heaved and hoed so much that I thought the rope (which was about 4 inches in diameter) was going to snap. Oh, how I prayed for that...it would have been hilarious. Some of the matches were so unfair, but most of them were almost too close to tell. In fact, two of them had to be done over, which sent the kids into a tizzy since their hands were being chewed up by the rope.

DANCES
I was flat out amazed at this. It's one thing to choreography a song to music that lasts about 4 minutes with a small group of people. These kids did it by entire grades.
First Year (equiv to US 7th Grade): They had about 180 students or so. Theirs is the dance with all of the pompoms, coincidentially that's the same word in English as it is in Japanese. I think it's the only place in the world that it might be okay for 7th grade boys to be holding pompoms, let alone twirling them. But the show was pretty impressive. It culminated at the end with all of the boys (about 100 or more) creating a human pyramid. In the US, I've only seen a human triangle, though we like to be more dramatic. Here in Japan I saw a huge two story human pyramid complete with width, height, and depth. Of course, watching them get down was probably the best part.
Second Year (US equiv 8th Grade): Again with about the same amount of students, these kids pulled off an amazing show. They created towers of humans, three tiers tall. Just about the coolest stuff I think I've seen...until they did the Titantic scene with only boys. It was strange. One boy would stand on the other boy's knees. With knees straighten, the boy on bottome would hold the knee caps of the other boy and lean back. It was sort of cool, but still too much like the Titantic. Their human wall was less impressive than the First Year's pyramid, but it was more entertaining. When they were done showing off, the entire wall of people collapsed with a huge groan.
Third Year (equiv 9th): With what seemed to be at least 200 students, the Third Year put on a rather interesting show. They started off with the boys dancing to a Japanese psuedo-rap song. The dance was just side-splitting. Then the girls kind of did a traditional dance. Then the really great part came. There is a really famous dance, but I haven't a clue as to the name. I will call it Soran, because in the song the singer yells Soran and Yakushou. But Soran sounds cooler. It's amazing to watch because the dance mimics a turbulent sea (the meaning, not the translation, of the two words). It was amazingly well done. I've seen that dance at least half a dozen times and none were so large.

PTA MIXED RACE
So the local PTA, and interestingly enough they do call it that, put on an adult's race to kind of join in the festivities. I was excited because I was asked to be on the teachers' team. However, I was soon very shocked to find that my part was to do hoop and stick. Now, I have never played this. Please everyone go out and try this; get lots of practice. You never know when you'll be at a Japanese junior high's sports day and commanded to perform a task such as this. I did have a strategy though. I figured I'd do it like I saw on old timey movies, stick on top pushing it alone. But when I tried that I got yelled at, probably because it would have worked great. But I guess here they push it along from the bottom back. I honestly did not see the logic in that...other than to make the foreigner look entirely ridiculous. It was fun though. But I think I lost the entire race for my team. They didn't seem to care though. And one of the other teachers had to do it as well and said that it was super hard for him too. It was nice to hear, even it was a lie. The other pictures are of our team coming in last at the end of the mixed race doing the centipede. Here they tied all of our feet together. We have to use a lot of team work and get through about 250 meters of this hell. It was mostly hell because I was behind the principal and vice princpal, going incredibly slow, with everyone else pushing me faster. Let's just say, I was glad to be finished with it. Now to find a hoop to practice for next year.

CLUBS
A little background first. Most all of the clubs that kids are a part of are through the schools. There really aren't many after school activities, as we know them, outside or seperate from the schools. The one exception is probably martial arts. Since most all of the clubs are through the school, it was definitely an addition to the day. There are many clubs that are sports that we have: baseball, soccer, tack and field, basketball, volleyball, and tennis. There are some clubs that we share in our school system: band, computer club, and maybe art club. Then there is an assortment of many others: (martial arts) kendo, shorinji kempo(it was formed here and its international headquarters is like two blocks from the school...cool), judo, karate, (sports) ping pong, soft tennis (I have no idea), badmitton, and finally (misc catagory) flower arranging and tea ceremony club, only girls allowed...and yet they say nothing about boys and pompoms.
All of the clubs walked around in their really cool uniforms. They performed a little bit and then went on. The band is absolutely incredible. They sound and perform to the best ability. But just a side note, since all of the clubs are thru the school and practice immediately after school everyday, there is no such thing as multiple club-participation. Kind of simplifies life down. And consequently, they are highly skilled at their particular club.

RELAY RACES
This goes out to Amanda and all of the track people. Japanese relay races are not quite so formal as the US's, but they are amazingly competitive and interesting. The guys's races were absolutely insane. Those guys were so fast. Not just quick, but lightning fast. Some of them nearly lapped the other guys. It was just a bit embarrasing though when they dropped the baton on the hand off or just while running, it happened twice.

3-LEGGED RACE and EVERYTHING ELSE
I had forgotten how funny 3-legged races are. We just don't do them enough in the US. Some of the kids practiced alot and it showed because they were at almost full paced runs. But the vast majority of the students just put the straps on that day. End result, as they went to hand off the baton (relay race), they won't be able to slow down enough in time...kaboom! A huge wreck of adolescents would try to scramble out from the pile with the prized baton and bloody knee caps. I was honored with a seat on one side next to the nurse's station so I got to see all of the battle wounds (to the other side though, I sat next to the principal and vice principals).
They had two events there that I had never seen nor will likely see again. The first was the Centipede race. But unlike the PTA one where we were all tied to the same rope by our legs, these kids alternately had each leg tied to one person in front and one in back. It made for the most amazing race for the winning team. Then the ensuing next 10 minutes of waiting for the other teams to finish grew tetious. But good sportmanship. The second event was a "carpet pull," or so I have named it. The entire class, save four, stands on a tarp. Then the four give the order to jump and pull the tarp toward the finish line. Trick is, that all of the team, except the four, must stay on the tarp at all times. Another one of these great unless it takes 10 mor minutes to finish for good sportmanship.
I'm only going to preface it because it's in the filmstrip. Miki and some other people came over for a BBQ. But I realized after they got here that I didn't have any lighter fluid. (Me)On the verge of busting open one of the 45 lighters my predecessor left, Miki gets the idea to light it on my gas stove. It worked alright, but the charcoal kept popping and shooting off bits into the air. Nothing caught fire, but it did appease the pyro nature in all of us.

posted by Christopher Brashears at 9/25/2006 06:43:00 PM