2008 Tsushima Tai Iku Tai Kai

Today my main high school had its field day. I was looking forward to this one much more than the last one I went to. We were given last Monday off in exchange for this.

We began with our normal morning meeting, and then everyone scattered to help set up the field. I helped pitch the tents under which chairs were placed for the visiting parents and other townsfolk. It had rained the day before, and everyone was concerned about today's forecast. I noticed that somebody had made a teru teru bōzu, which is something Japanese folks make to ward off the rain. It did the trick: we had beautiful weather, with an occasional pleasant breeze.

The activities began with the students parading onto the field. I use 'parade' in its military sense: each group of each year of students marched in ranks around the track, keeping time with the band's rhythm. The students assembled on the field, divided into three teams: red, blue, and yellow. Each team had an equal share of first, second, and third-year students, creating three balanced teams. The principal gave some opening remarks to the students, and everyone watched as the Japanese flag and the school flag were raised on flagpoles.

Before going any further, the students did their warm-ups. Japan has a warm-up song that's broadcast across the country every morning. It's called "rajio taiso," which means "radio calisthenics," and the practice has been implemented in schools and many businesses since World War II. Here's a video of students doing it. That's exactly how my school looked today.

I'm a little fuzzy on the order of the events, but there were lots. Everything was a competition, and each place was worth a number of points. When they finished an event, the students would receive a number, and would drop that off at a booth where scorekeepers were tallying everything.

There were several track events, such as the 50m, 100m, and 200m dashes; the relay race; and hurdles. Each of those was divided into boys' and girls' races. There were other athletic events, like tug of war. The most fun, though, were the silly races. The hurdles were part of a triathlon that ended with a sack race. There was a version of the three-legged race, except they call it the mukade (centipede): six people run single-file, with their legs tied together such that they have to synchronize which side moves when. (The teachers participated in that one, too.) Students also did the running-down-the-track-with-a-ball-in-a-basket-strapped-to-your-back-and-you-can't-drop-the-ball race.

In pairs and small groups, the boys performed some maneuvers demonstrating balance and strength. The corresponding activity for the girls was a coordinated dance. The boys also did some pretty intense battling: first, they did a full-scale version of a chicken fight.
One boy was held up by two to four others, and he would try to knock down other similarly held boys. For the next event, each team divided into an offense and a defense. The defense was given a ten-foot post to hold up, and arrayed themselves around it to best prevent its being toppled. The offense would charge the other team's post and attempt to knock it over.

For obvious reasons, the girls didn't participate in those events. Their corresponding activities included a coordinated dance, and a race where four girls would carry a ten-foot post, and run down a track such that they weaved around cones and generally got very dizzy.

We all broke for lunch, and I made sure to get a shot of all the shoes the students left outside the gym.

The second half of the day was a lot more laid-back. (It might have been planned that way in response to the temperature, which by that point was in the high 80s with lots of humidity.) None of the afternoon's events counted for points for the teams.

Each team had prepared an intricate dance. About ten people from the team were dressed in costumes. The rest of the team--about 100-150 students--was seated in bleachers across the field from the spectators' tents. Those students were clumped together and held different colored pieces of cloth. They held up different pieces at different times to create designs and spell words, also chanting things and cheering in general.

The last event of the day was a repeat of the dashes and relay races, but this time with students grouped by their club activities. To make it even more interesting, they were dressed in their club's uniform. This looked great on the more athletic clubs, like basketball, volleyball, track and field, and baseball. The martial arts, kendo and kyudo, looked a little more uncomfortable, since they cover the whole body.

Afterwards, the students formed ranks, and closing remarks were given by the head of the PTA. The final point tallies were announced, and the principal presented a certificate and trophy to the captains of each team. Everyone then sang the school song.

After every major school event, we have a faculty party. Tonight was no exception. In fact, it was exactly the same as last year: everyone got together at the Grand Hotel Tsushima, and had a party on a patio overlooking the sea. (One of the benefits to getting forty-plus teachers together is that we get to charter a bus.) Each table had its own grill with a tray of fish, meat, and veggies arrayed for self-service cooking. Everyone drew numbers to determine the seating arrangements, and I landed next to the principal. That was awesome, because he used to be an English teacher, and this is his first year as a principal. We talked for a little bit, before he had to go shmooze with the PTA bigwigs.

The dinner ended with various teachers guzzling pitchers of beer. We formed into a circle, and people called out a couple of the male teachers. Each one stood in the middle of the group, and, at the top of his lungs, yelled a cheer for good luck, while we all clapped along. We officially ended the party by singing the school song arm in arm.

The first after-party was at a local snack bar, and featured several teachers singing karaoke. The girls' P.E. coach sang the Mickey Mouse Club March, in honor of her conducting the girls in their dance to the song earlier. Eventually, they goaded me into singing something. I couldn't find an English song that struck my fancy, so I just sang Astro Boy.

Several teachers went on to the second after-party, even though by this point it was close to midnight, and we all had work the next day. I politely declined, and followed the rest of the deserters to the local convenience store for some late-night shopping.

All the pictures can be seen here.