IrishOboe

The second day of the school festival was just as much fun for me as the first day, but in a different way. The first day was great because I got to see the creativity and hard work of the students, and the second day was great because I could participate in a more direct way. Despite ominous predictions the rain held off until the closing ceremony, so the fun wasn’t spoiled by going inside to watch a movie.

Each class had a tent to retreat to when they weren’t competing and all 17 tents lined the big field. There were a variety of events, and they usually followed the form of first ichinensei competing together, then ninensei, then sannensei then the finals. The first event (after the opening ceremony and warm-ups) was the relay. Each class has 40 students and everyone runs in the relay (unless their sick, in which case someone runs twice), so to keep it short each person only runs a half lap on a track that isn’t even 800 meters (I think). The girls and boys track overlap so that the girls take the inner curve and the boys the outer. I think the difference between the two was too great because the class that won ended up winning because the class has about 30 girls and ten boys. Anyway, as is often the case in Japan, it’s the game and team effort that matters, not so much winning or even selecting the winner on completely fair grounds. There’s something to be said for that. Anyway, at the last minute I was able to join in the race with class 3-4 (sannen 4 kumi), which was great fun. It was my first race ever! I remember winning the lap around the track during P.E. class in elementary school, but I don’t think that counts. Anyway, I ran my hardest and didn’t mess up passing the baton, which is all I wanted.

After the relay was class jump roping. This is truly a sight. Two of the class members hold a huge rope and the other 38 members line up in two rows and jump all together. I think the winning number was in the 20’s. They can try as often as they need to in a given period. It’s actually a lot of work! As they jump they count together as a group. I have some good video, but you’ll have to wait until I come home to see it because I can’t post it on Shutterfly.

The next event was a huge tug-o-war. I think that explains itself. The different round of relay happened in between the events, too, though I can’t remember exactly how. The final race was fun to watch because it came down to the class with lots of girls and a sannensei class with an unusual number of track members and the rest of the class wasn’t bad either. They had their main hero, a boy on track team that is a sprinter by trade and is very fast. The two classes were neck in neck the whole time with sometimes one leading the other. In the end the long string of 2-5 girls was too much for 3-5 to keep up with. The last run was between the 3-5 hero (Genki – a great name) and a 2-5 girl (Yuka) who is also a sprinter on track team. Genki was fast, but Yuka could take the inside track and was handed the leading position, so 2-5 won the day. It was a great race, though. If a class decided to practice passing the baton then they could cream everyone else. Most teams lost time in the switch rather than gaining it, and since the distance is so short, the transition makes a big difference.

I spent some time walking around talking to students and taking pictures. It was great to see my ninensei again (last year’s ichinensei). It was also in fashion to try double dutch jump roping. I’m sure this was inspired by the stunning performance of class 2-4 the day before. At one point the experts themselves were going at it and I went to watch and eventually figured out how to hop in myself. I have a great video of it! I don’t think I ever did it growing up, which is too bad. It’s lots of fun!

After lunch each grade of students had a different event to compete in. The ichinensei had a kind of scavenger hunt where they had to run in pairs (boy and girl pairs and they had to hold hands!!!) up to someone with an envelope and draw a piece of paper with an item on it. They then had to find that item and bring it back before running back to their team and passing the baton. The items were fairly easy, like class flag (they all made one and had them on the grounds), a student from class 3-5, etc.

The ninensei had a five legged race where two boys and two girls had to go through a series of tasks with their legs tied together. They first had to run to a rope and jump rope together! That was funny to watch. Then they had to answer a question, then run to a line and do some squats, then run around a cone twice and run back. I have a good video of that sequence, too. I also have a cute picture of the back of quartet practicing jump rope before the game.

The sannensei event was simple, but my favorite. The boys and girls competed separately, so the boys from one class (about 20) lined up in pairs on one end of the field and the boys of another class did the same at the other end. Long bamboo rods were placed in the middle of the field with one end pointing to each pair. At the start the boys ran to the rods and did a tug-o-war. When one pair succeeded in dragging one pair to their side of the field they dropped the pole and ran to help their teammates. In this way the game was dynamic and changed every time. Often a helping hand would come from one side before the other got there so it was briefly two boys against three and quick progress was made. Of course there was strategy in where you put your extra men and how long you fought before going to the aid of someone else. The girls did the same thing. It was quite interesting!