Sports Festivals and Athletic Meets
May 20, 2008 • Japanese Culture
It is the time of sports festivals and athletic meets and as I watch from the shaded window of my apartment, sipping a cool ice tea, those little kids sure are working hard for their cardboard prizes.1 Actually, I went to this elementary school last year and the school I promised to go to this year is having theirs next weekend. Plus, I don’t get a make up day like the rest of the people and well, I’ve got cleaning (and blogging) to do. But I digress….
Before I continue, I should note that all images here are taken from the Japanese Wikipedia page. I realize that it would probably be okay if I posted my pictures but I don’t want to run the risk.
In my area, the elementary schools have sports festivals and the junior high schools have athletic meets. The only real difference is the kanji for the event names (I’m going to just use sports festival from now on to save typing time). The actual events are similar: various races, dances, musical performances, all ending in the ever-popular relay race. They are held on a Sunday so both parents can attend and during the lunch break, there are many nice bento lunches that I could never possibly make. However, the spring sports festivals should not be confused with the national Sports and Health Holiday (体育の日), which is the second Monday in October.2 This is also not to be confused with company, town, or neighborhood athletic meets.
The kids prepare a few weeks beforehand, creating decorations, working on their cheers, practicing their dances, and doing other things to get ready. The school day may be shortened to 4 or 5 periods or they may take the entire day to rehearse the sports festival routines. Some of these rehearsals go right up to the day before the sports festival.
What kind of events are there?
There are many events that can occur at the sports festival. It varies, depending on school and school district. However, some of the more common ones in my area are:
- Short distance running of various lengths
- The relay race
- Obstacle courses
- Parent-child races (cooperatively or competitively)
- Food grabbing races
- Tug-of-war
- Horse races (looks more like a game of chicken)3
- Cheer competitions (basically, how loud can you yell, no gymnastics needed)
- Traditional dances
- Marching band performances
- Taiko drumming performances
Points are awarded in each competition and whichever team has the most points at the end wins.
Other notes
There are 2 teams, generally red and white. Each team has a different cheer but they have the same dance routine (performed together) and the same musical performances. However, this elementary school is small by Japanese standards with about 250 kids total so perhaps at larger schools, the teams will do everything separately.
Between events, bright, happy, peppy music is broadcast from the speakers. This music is happier than the Speedycake remix of “Caramelldansen”4. No joke.
- Yeah, it’s good to be an adult now. [↩]
- http://japanese.about.com/b/2003/10/13/sports-day-taiiku-no-hi.htm [↩]
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_%28game%29 [↩]
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caramelldansen [↩]
Comments
Is it true that bloomers have been abolished from most Japanese schools? ):
@Ryan A: Awesome! The kids really get into it and I’d love to see more group-activity things in public US schools. I don’t feel the kids get into them as much, which is a shame.
@Shin: I believe so, yes. None of my schools have them and I believe none of the schools in the nearby counties also have them.
Happier than the Speedycake remix of Caramelldansen? This I gotta hear ^^.
I’m with lanie-emon on this one! One little link please? ^_~ Help me recover from a state of mild disbelief that such a song exists…
But the track idea is very much what my homeschool group used to do for our end of year track and field. Except, we were in teams of about 7, with ages ranging from 6-16.
Apart from the fact that there was nothing that needed rehearsing - it was all just track (long jump, sprints, potato sack races, etc.)
It was seriously fun though!
(I think it’s some kind of human reaction to go out after winter and run around like lunatics. XD It’s fun!)
That and it’s an awesome way to make the kids get outside and be physically active, albeit for a short period. (But it’s better than most North American schools manage! We seem to have a system built up - sit in classroom, sit in lecture hall, sit in grey fabric covered box. A lot of sitting, and not a lot of doing. Hard to break out of that cycle.)
And apologies - I kind of hijacked your comments thread. Sorry. D:
So these are the sports festivals commonly seen in animes with school settings, eh?
@lanie-emon and Philip P.: I will try to find some of the songs but no guarantees. I have no idea why the music would exist online…except on iTunes JP which I can’t get to. T-T
@Nagato: Yup, same ones.
Eh, how bout those embarrassing scavenger hunts where you have to look for ’stuff’ like “idiot” and “the one you love” XD As someone who’s athletically challenged, don’t tell me that the only event I could’ve qualified for (assuming I was like, 10 still) only exists in anime???
I’ve never observed a scavenger hunt but other areas might have them!
Eh? Sports Festivals are in May? I thought that they have always been held some time in September/October.
It may be different in other areas but I know the preschools here have their simplified sports festivals in the fall. I think it really depends on region and the weather.
Yessah! Sports fest! Seems really fun. I’m glad at the FL private school I attended we did similar stuff this time of year. Oh Joy. :)