10/4/07 Sports Day Preparation

I've been so busy the last couple of days... things are very hectic at school this week. A big reason for the disruption was the upcoming day-long sports festival. Monday and Tuesday were also both half days as a result.

Monday afternoon's exercises were a bit scary. Everyone lined up in a huge mass and practiced their marching and whatnot. They are pretty hardcore.



We should probably be worried about this.


Tuesday was for setting up lots of tents, tables, and chairs. Quite a lot of work went into this thing. I was pretty surprised, I didn't initially realize how important this was to everyone.

Many of the students were tasked with picking up rocks from the playing field. This reminded me a bit of a prison yard scene.

Maybe even more than a week ago the students started practicing group jump-rope incessantly: in the morning before school, at lunch break, many times a few groups were still doing it when I left to return home after work. About 12 students all line up and attempt to stay in line as they jump their little cares away. More on this sporty business next time.

On a related note, here is an average school lunch. Little bowl of fruit with some chunks of gelatin stuff, a bowl of mixed meat, tofu, and vegetables, a couple of little chinese dumpling things, and a little milk box. The little metal box keeps the rice warm. Yummy.

Ok, now for something fun. I'd like you to look at the following picture and try to guess what it is describing and where it is located. No cheating!

think... think... why would a person put a bag over their own head?

No, its not Abu Ghraib. It's a fitting room at a Japanese clothing store! I can only read a couple of the words on this sign, but I can with out a doubt read "face cover". It seems that trying on a sweater with your dirty little face uncovered is unacceptable. Who knows where your faces have been. Oh man. I had a good laugh at this one. Thoroughly ridiculous.

Here's the basket of honorable face covers.

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!!