Last Saturday, I was invited, by another JET Programme
teacher, to visit her school for their sports day. I had never been to a sports
day at a Japanese school before so I was excited to see what it would be like.
It was also interesting because I have gotten used to being at an all-girls
school but the other school was mixed. The boys reminded me a lot of the
students at Fujimura because there was so much energy! It was really cool to see
all the different activities, relays, and games the students did, but it was
especially amazing to see their dance performances. I had two favourite
performances. One was when some girls and their homeroom teachers all wore
yukatas and danced with these wide flat hats they had made and decorated
themselves. The second was the boys’ (very loud!) performance with taiko.
Apparently the students had practiced a lot for sports day for a week or two
before so it was nice to see it go well. At my school in New Zealand, we had
two different sports days; one was called Athletics Day and the other was
called Tabloids Day. Athletics Day was a little more “serious sports” but on
Tabloids Day, everyone dressed up as anything they wanted, in their house
colours (red, blue, green, or yellow), and we played fun games and relays to
try get points for our houses! I’m looking forward to seeing how Fujimura’s
sports day will be!
