Japan has a few school festivals, with the biggest ones being Culture Day and Sports day. Generally one is held in the fall, and one in the spring, and different schools will have them at different times.
Culture Days are alright, and kids certainly get into them, but there is nothing quite as anticipated as the Sports Day. Banners are drawn, schools are cleaned, families are invited, and heads are generally spun into a fine frenzy of fervour, at least at Junior High School, where they run track, throw things, dance, and sometimes wrestle, all for the glory of their arbitrarily chosen teams. They love it, and competition rears its sometimes ugly, but certainly motivating head. It's a serious event, and there for both fun and character building.
They have these days at Elementary School and Kindergarden as well, albeit with a little less competition involved.
These, may I say, are my absolute favourite. Some of the more legendary games are the "Push-the-ball-six-times-bigger-than-you Obstacle Course" or the one where the children sit around the baseball field with their faces completely covered and a swarm of parents have to choose a child. Winners are the ones who jackpot and end up with their own flesh and blood. As for the others, they get to laugh at someone else's Mom for choosing young Sakura when all she wanted was her Kouki.
Anyways, my favourite part is that with the younger grades the families are really involved with events. It's a great time, and I'm excited for my next one in a few weeks!
C
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| Ko-rin Sensei! Ko-rin Sensei! I see them all the time and I'm still an attraction |
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| THEY WEAR BOW TIES! COULD THEY GET CUTER? |
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| It seems that yes, they can get cuter. |
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| Parents vs 6-year-olds relay |
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| Kiddies vs. Grandparents Ball Throw! |
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| And I made a new friend! |
