Sports Day
Where i come from, sports day consists of running around a track handing little colourful batons to your team mate. Trying to jump as far as you can without getting sand in your pants, seeing who can jump the highest and of course who can throw the little pointy stick the furtherest. Well here in Japan they take sports day to a whole other level. Are these kids human?A normal day for a student in Japan consists of getting up at 05h00 to make it to school by 08h30. They spend the day learning normal things children in High school should be learning. 15h00 hits and its time for after school activities- caligraphy classes, kendo, soccer, rugby, baseball and basketball to name a few. Seems like a normal school day for most kids right? Wrong. Most afternoon activities end around 18h00 then the children go home...yeah right. This is Japan and thats too easy. In order to get into a really good university here you have to go to evening school to further your studies. So this lasts until around 22h00. Now the kids can finally go home to do their homework and make sure they get enough sleep inorder to wake up at 05h00 the next day to start the routine all over again. If Japan had a military they would easily take over the world.
My impression when Taz invited me to sports day was 'Ah man, they are going to run around the field and thats pretty much it'. Wow, was i wrong. Seven layered pyramids, tug of war, piggy back fighting, capture the flag, martial arts dancing, traditional dancing. There was so much happening all the time that most of it has escaped my mind. I wish that we were asked to build pyramids and play tug of war. Damn boring education system.
Broken bones, dislocated shoulders, the skin scraped right off their faces. Just a normal sports day for some and yet they carry on without a winge, a whine or even a second thought. It's what their fathers did before them and their fathers before them. 'Pain is temporary, Glory is forever'.
Is all this hard work good for the children? Japan has the highest teenage suicide death rate of all first world countries and has it maybe got something to do with the pressure placed on them by their parents and schools? Maybe. But I just couldn't see it today. Every single student there, whether they were the water boy or the all conquering 'jock', loved their school and they loved being there, performing infront of the crowds.
1 month and 9 days
posted by Verge Das Neves @ 3:08 AM
Comments: 5
