Sports, Sports Everywhere

Friday most of the students got to participate in various sports tournaments in place of going to class. All of the different events were held in a various small cluster of places, so I could hang out with the other foreigner teachers while I watched the students compete. My school is the biggest in town, so more often than not it seemed that they were victorious.

The most interesting to me were the sports that I can't frequently see in the US, namely the martial arts. The two that I saw were Judo and Kendo. Judo seems to be about throwing and subduing rather than striking opponents, while Kendo is sort of a samurai-looking form of fencing. I think I might join the judo club at school, just for some added exercise and maybe throwing the occasional student.

I think that Kendo is particularly cool due to the armor and other equipment involved.

The practice of Kendo is fairly noisy, as the participants yell sort of battle cry things when they strike each other, with a lot of stomping as well.


Here is a good view of the front and back of the competitors.


Judo always ends on the ground, with someone getting choked out or otherwise immobilized.




I was just amused at the huge pile of cans next to the trashcan-less vending machines.

All in all, this was a pretty enjoyable day. Next up, I'll talk about the Tokyo Game Show 2007!!