うんどう会

This happens to be the slowest week ever. My schedule is strange due to the fact most of my schools are planning, preparing and practicing for their respective sports festivals. I, on the other hand, have been spending lots of time in the office. It has also been overcast for over a week now; with only slight glimpses of the Sun as often as it rains. This trend continues into next week but the threat of rain is low for Sunday when I go to Shikaoi Elementary School’s Undoukai.

The first events of Sunday are individual races. However, the events are not strictly traditional track-and-field events nor, in typical Japanese fashion, focused on individual success. The school is split into two teams; red and white. Various fun, but physical, events are planned. Because the teams are so large, events become large as well; human pyramids, beanbag toss, yosakoi performance, a huge tug-of-war, etc. (You should have seen the rope!) I’m toying with the idea of doing an all picture post for it to make up for the lack of images lately.

Yearly sport festivals are meant to promote healthy, active lifestyles; this is in strong contrast to Canada where rarely would class be cancelled (like English class, for two weeks) in favor of preparation and practice for a sports festival. Lack of focus on sports where all students participate is, of course, linked to the increase in childhood obesity (and related health effects) we are currently witnessing in Canada. In Canada we have romantic feelings about individuality and feel the role of government in teaching children should be limited. Somewhere along the line, Japanese parents became just fine with the large role schools play in raising children. Already the reader will have noticed the question is more complex than I have quickly sketched, but I believe trends we see in Canada can be traced to this topic (but I will spare the reader the details).

Daily on the nightly news there is a barrage of panic over Japan’s changing demographics. Some of it is fascinating: the fastest growing demographic involved in crime is over fifty (not foreigners as some radical elements have liked to portray). Eating habits are also changing quickly, becoming much more North American based; eating more corn-based food, switching fish for other meats, and an increase in fast-food consumption. No where except in modern times with modern science can the change in diet be tracked so minutely (and it’s results). Even with that, my youngest students understand that large portions are unhealthy. I know this is something, that while perhaps enforced at home, is also discussed at school.