It is June already (!!!) and time for Clara's first Sports Day at Higashi Hagiyama Elementary School.
Of course, in true Japanese style, a lot of effort was put into organising the event and if an alien from outer space (as opposed to one from Scotland) had landed for a split second, he would have been suitably impressed. All the students were dressed perfectly and had equally impressive behaviour. The timetable of events ran to the minute. The events themselves were choreographed perfectly. The students cheered and jumped in unison when their team won an event.
However, for all the positive impressions, somehow it just did not feel right. Perhaps I'm just being my usual Calvinistic self but the fun element was hard to find. Anyway, arriving at the school on Saturday morning, I became slightly irked when I tried to park my mountain bike. One volunteer in charge of bicycle parking found it slightly unsettling that my mountain bike did not have a stand on it. Therefore, instead of it resting on a stand (for the purposes of conformity), I had to prop it against a wall. No big deal to most people I should think but it seemed to have caused a major international incident. I left my bike propped up against the wall whilst the qualified bicycle parkers called an emergency plenary meeting of the United Nations.
Clara did not seem to be very excited about Sports Day and she hardly mentioned it in the days before the event. She seemed disinterested about the whole event before, during, and after. I can totally understand her feelings. Sure the event was very well organised and visually impressive at times, but every aspect was controlled with military precision and nothing was left to chance. The result? No spontaneity and little in the way of fun for the students. Every student followed the rules of the group and expressions of individuality were nowhere to be found.
The real competition was occurring off the field. Dads turned up and joined the Who's Got the Biggest Zoom Lens Competition, mothers joined the Who's Got the Most Impressive
Bento Box Competition, and other family members joined the Let's Grab the Best Seat at the Front Competition. The Let's Grab the Best Seat at the Front Competition involves people arriving at the school from about 5am with plastic matting to ensure they get a prime view of events from the edge of the sports field.
All the events on show were team events. We were treated to marching, dancing, relays, singing, and a display where teams of students made human pyramids up to a height of about 3m. I was sitting watching the pyramid building events with interest and some degree of trepidation. If the students at the top of the wobbling pyramid had fallen off, there would have been potential for serious injury. I did not agree that it was worth risking injury for the students just so that the parents could get some kicks and the school can demonstrate what a good team of students they were literally building. As I was watching, I was silently debating whether I would let Clara participate in similar demonstrations when she's older. My concerns on safety were proved justified when one girl about 11 years old fell from the second tier as they were dismantling the pyramid. She seemed to land on the base of her spine and was grimacing in pain for some time after.
Injuries seem to happen a lot throughout students lives in Japanese schools. Training is taken to the extreme where pain is seen as a requirement, not as something you might experience occasionally through extreme effort. The theory is that if there's no pain, your're not training hard enough. The result of this extreme punishment are young bodies which have experienced a large number of injuries from an early age. I have a friend who works in a high school who has stated that it is not too uncommon for students to be turned down from some physical jobs because of injuries sustained at school. I also think this is another reason why Japan punches below its weight in international sporting competitions.
I was pretty happy for the event to end and get back home to do things that might actually be descirbed as fun. However, my return home was delayed as it turned out that the Bicycle Police had moved my bike somewhere less offensive. After a couple of minutes, I found it entangled with other bikes at the foot of a stairway. We all got home eventually and discovered that Clara had some fairly uncomfortable sunburn on her legs as she and her classmates had been made to sit through all the events without any shade against the beating sun. Overall, I feel that the day was of more harm to Clara than good.
At least it will be another year before I have to witness another display of automatons being told exactly how to perform and how to have fun.
My next blog will perhaps be about my new working life in Tokyo. Commuting in packed and sweaty trains during the height of the summer fills me with dread.
