Sports Day!

When: Saturday
Time: 5:30 am
Location: My bedroom
Weather: Warm, the sun is about to rise
Inner monologue: What??? What the F#@$ ???

BOOM! BOOM!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
BOOM!

What the hell is actually going on? Sports Day has just officially begun. The teachers have been planning for months. The children have been practicing for weeks. Leaning is almost brought to a halt in preperation for the big day. Welcome to the biggest non-learning event in the Japanese ciriculum. Sports Day!!!

Because there are 5 elementary schools in Yachiyo-machi, It would not be fair for the the schools if I was to attend only one event, nor was it fair for me to have to drive around town all day. Therefore, I had the day off. However, my favorite school (the biggest in the town and the one closest to my house) gave me a personal invitation weeks in advance. I wouldn't have to help set up (I could sleep in. In theory.) and I would get a free lunch! I couldn't pass us the offer. Plus, I really wanted to go.

So, after every firework in town was set off (around 6:30), I attempted to go back to sleep. Before I knew it... my alarm was beeping and it was time to get up and put on my sneakers and track pants (Can you believe I don't own one pair of shorts!!?).

Everyone is there! Parents, Grandparents, big and little brothers and sisters. Hey, even the neighbors come! It is going to be a long day.... so there are even vendors selling yaki-soba, octopus balls, shaved ice and hot anko pancake things and other such stuff that is common at these japanese functions.
There are the normal things you would expect at a sports day. Running races, relays, tug o war. But there are also some other sports that are common over here. There are races where you have to collect matching objects. Sometimes, you need to collect a specific teacher. (this is the race I was in... I kicked butt, but luckily no pictures of me running have surfaced at the school). There are competitions for each grade as well as for all grades. The school turns into a sort of color war. WHITE vs RED!!! My favorite event was the 5th and 6th graders. They rode each other into a mock battle. THe goal is to knock the general's hat off, but you can kill other warriors and horses by taking off the hat of the rider. I found a picture I took on my cell phone. Sorry for the bluryness. TOTALY COOL!


All the grades also put on a little dance. Some with pom-poms, others with flags. The older kids did this statue/pyramid making. In the end there was a huge tower completly made of students. (fuzzy kai-tai picture) .

It was an amazing day! The kids were all out in brand new gym clothes. It was hot, but I can't complain to much... I was sitting under a tent drinking japanese ice tea (sweet wheat tea). Lunch was fantastic (bento box). And evnthough I got really dirty helping to clean up. I went home with 4 boxes of yaki-soba, and extra bento box and several anko cakes. Needless to say, I didn't have to go grocery shopping for the remainder of the weekend.