Alex Quinn's Japan Journal

10/15/2004, Sports Day (field day) at school

Today, there were no classes.  The whole day was devoted to a field day with lots of fun sporting events.  There were three legged races.  There was sprinting (e.g. ≈100 meters).  There were relay races.  There were kids riding around a track on skateboards, scooters, and tricycles.  There was a tug-of-war tournament with maybe 20 matches.  All kinds of whacky and/or rigorous events.  Results were all tallied on big posters.  The whole thing was a tournament, really.  Students did most of the organization.  Anyway, here are some pictures.

I was involved in one event.  After starting the clock, two students draw the name of a teacher from a hat.  They then have to run and find the teacher, drag them onto the track, and tie their legs to the students' legs for a four-legged race.  Then, they have to race roughly 60 meters (66 yards).  It's a relay race, so at that point, they tap the next guy who does some other whacky feat.  Anyway, I was quite startled when these students ran up to me and pulled me onto the track.  I had to literally throw my sunglasses into a crowd.

Another picture of the same.

Other people doing the four-legged race.

A student riding a skateboard around the track.

In one event, they have a school desk out on the field.  They put a bunch of candy at the bottom of the drawer.  Then they dump a sack of flour on top.  The students have to fish the candy out without using their hands.  Since, they have black hair (to start with), it's pretty funny to watch.  Here's a student who just did this event.

and another...

and another...

Tug-of-war

and from the other side...

The whole tug-of-war.

Walking with boards attached to feet.

and again...

Sprinting girls.

Sprinting boys.

The start of sprinting.

The finish of sprinting.

A different kind of tug-of-war using bamboo poles.  In some cases, somebody would stop pulling, run around to the opponents side, and try to push the pole.  I saw one pole break from the strain.

Riding a tricycle around the track.

Riding a tricycle and a skateboard around the track.

Walking on cans.

We got free lunch in the middle of the day.  It was a pretty good lunch.

There was a parade of the regular sports teams.  Here's the basketball team.

and the swim team...

and the tennis team...

and the tennis team with the volleyball team...

and the soccer team...

and the kendo (fencing) team...

and the baseball team... (Note that the baseball team in Japan is a lot like the football team in the United States.)

and the badmitton team.

Here's our vice principal and head office manager watching the events.

Jump roping.

Many teams jump roping at once.

Spectating (another popular sport).

again....

Our vice principal on stilts.

Modeling (another popular sport).

more modeling...

I did some modeling, too.

Movie making (especially popular among the many parents who attended).

They had a flag ceremony before and after.  The Japanese take their play very seriously.

The flag ceremony again.

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