Ensoku

Today was Tsushima High's school picnic, called ensoku. The English teachers like to use the term "excursion," but for me that connotes a trek through perilous terrain, so I hesitate to use that word. Anyway, last year I missed it because of my Indonesia trip. (Though it had been clearly indicated on the school calendar, handouts had been given out, and it had been mentioned during the morning meeting several times, I wasn't paying attention.) After I decided not to stay a third year, I made sure that my travel plans wouldn't make me miss this year's.

The... excursion consists of a two-hour hike from the school to a park, followed by a picnic and general revelry. Most of that hike is off the road, through hilly forest. The weather forecast had us worried: 20% chance of rain may not sound like a big deal, but having a 1 in 5 chance of being caught in a downpour one hour away from shelter was cause for concern.

This morning, despite the cloudy conditions and light drizzle, everyone gathered on the school field. All the kids were in their full P.E. uniforms: t-shirts and polyester two-piece track suits. It was kind of chilly, but I went ahead and wore a t-shirt and shorts. Not surprisingly, this got a big reaction from all the kids, with everyone asking me the classic "aren't you cold?"

After some announcements, everyone divided by grade level and homeroom, and we set out. I'm attached to the first-years, and the third-years get to lead the pack, so we chilled out for a while. Takahira-sensei invited me to walk with his homeroom, the 1-3s.

The beginning of the walk was exactly the way I go from my apartment to the school. From there, we crossed the street and headed up a road I haven't used much. It gets pretty steep pretty fast, and Takahira was huffing and puffing before too long. I've been good about going to the gym over the past few months, so it didn't bother me as much.

Along the way, I talked with the students. The boys jankenned to see who would ask me a question. I pretended to be offended when I learned that the loser had to ask me something. I also talked to Yoshihara and Hamasuna, both of whom were not enjoying the exertion. I learned that Yoshihara had been in art and guitar clubs, while Hamasuna had been in the biology club.

The road we used gets pretty narrow and curvy, which is dangerous enough without 600 pedestrians marching along one side, so we got off the road quickly. From there we took a trail more or less paralelling the road. The path led us through beautiful cedar forest. It's still too early in the season for birds, much less bugs, so the forest was almost silent. At one point, a student behind our group broke out a bar or two of the theme to Mononoke Hime, which got a laugh from everyone.

We finally arrived at the park. Though the drizzle had stopped, it was humid and cloudy enough to feel like the rain could come back at any minute. For all that, it was a reasonably pretty day.

The second- and third-years headed into the park, while the first-years lagged behind. The upperclassmen needed a few minutes to prepare for the freshmen's arrival. We marched the rest of the way into the park amid polite applause.

Next, Tomomatsu-sensei and the student council gave some introductory remarks. That done, they explained the first activity: double dutch. Each homeroom class had a long rope. One student took each end and began swinging it. The other students would jump into the rope. After the first three students, everyone else began shouting out how many people they had going at once. The top 3 teams got candy.

After that, we broke for lunch. Most people had bought normal bentō lunches, but I had planned something different. Knowing the bentos from this place aren't very good, and that I would want something more appetizing than pickled vegetables and oden, I brought my own lunch: a sandwich and chips. This week when I went shopping for today's lunch, though, I bought some extra. I made five peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and cut each into quarters. I made my rounds, offering them to teachers and students alike. They were a pretty big hit.

The clearing everyone occupied for lunch was at the top of a hill. I noticed birds overhead, but that didn't surprise me; kites are common in Tsushima. What did surprise me was seeing the kites start dive-bombing the picnickers, trying to snatch their food. This got shrieks from the girls and laughs from the boys. Thankfully, nobody got hurt or even hit, though the kites kept it up for a good fifteen minutes.

After lunch, the three new teachers--Ms. Yonekura, Mr. Tomino, and Mr. Kusano--performed for everyone. They danced to Chocolate Disco, a J-pop song by Perfume. Everyone found this highly amusing, especially because of the cute little ribbons they wore.

Once this was done, everyone was free to play around. Students had brought soccer balls and volleyballs. I brought my baseball glove and three frisbees. The first-year students had heard me talk about frisbee in my introduction, so several of them ran up to borrow one. I ended up throwing the frisbee with several teachers and students, and then tossing the baseball around toward the end.

We ended the day by breaking into groups and scouring the park for trash. Once this was done, everyone was free to go home, which meant that most of the students headed back to school for club activities. Matsushita gave eight of us a ride in his van, including Nanami, a second-year who had sprained her ankle the week before. As we rode down the hill, he tried to get her to make fun of the students as we passed them.