Last week Sumikawa Junior High School held its annual Track and Field Day. Every Jr. high school in the city has one, and most are scheduled for June and July. My school's was held on a beautiful, sunny Wednesday morning at a sports complex in Maruyama Koen. It lasted all day and included a number of different events so that everyone could participate. (Check out the photos here.)
The day started with a somewhat comical group stretch routine, set to weird piano-instructional music. (Conjure up images of Japanese corporate calisthenic routines you may have seen on TV, and you'll quickly realize what this looked like.) An entire school of 600 people, plus staff, were doing these light stretches to a recording, which featured a crazy Japanese guy's voice. I can't describe the music or his voice very well, but it was sort of like a Japanese Sesame Street character's voice, followed by a lot of spoken numbers, set to a Socialist-era piano composition. He instructed everyone what to stretch and how many times to do it. And the scratchy recording sounded like it was coming from a record player.
The music was strange, but the stretches were sooooo pointless and physically unhelpful. In typical Japanese fashion, the stretch routine simply looked good and was well-coordinated, but it actually offered little benefit to the participants' health. Ask any physical therapist or athlete and they'll tell you that you don't get much benefit from a stretch unless you hold it for at least 20 seconds. This routine focused more on twirling around, spinning arms and not really stretching any of the major muscles groups and tendons, especially those that the students were about to use: the quadriceps, hamstrings, calf muscles and groin muscles. But the routine looked good! And I guess that's all that really matters....
After "stretches" and a very long, boring opening ceremony (complete with a bullhorn!), the day could officially start. I was assigned to the girls high jump competition. Myself and an English teacher kept records of who was jumping, how high they jumped and how many attempts each person had left. My job was to measure the height of the bar and re-set it whenever someone failed. There were about 50 students total participating.
I did that job for about three and a half hours. During the first half hour I became bored, but then I took it as an opportunity to just "zone out" and relax for a bit. (Doing repetitive work like this is a great way to help you chill out actually!) Soon I got into a rhythm of: set bar, check height, reset. Rinse. Wash. Repeat...
But towards the end of the event, one of my ninth-grade girls was doing really well! So I "pumped her up" a bit by cheering, high-fiveing, etc., which really got her and her teammates going. Sure enough, she was able to clear a 130cm bar! Needless to say, all her classmates were sooooo excited, as was I! She couldn't clear 135cm, though, but she did an excellent job and won first place. After that exciting bit, it was lunchtime!
When I got back to the teachers' area, I noticed just how hard the organizers worked to make this day mirror a typical day at school. Everything and everyone was carted out to the sports complex. For example, the tea lady (a person who serves tea in the morning to the staff and takes care of some administrative stuff around the staff room) had to be there, even though she was absolutely unnecessary and could have stayed at school to answer the phone or been given the day off. Instead they had her haul a complete tea and coffee station out to the sports complex, and she had to just sit there until lunch time.
Also the AV geeks had their own area off to the side of the teachers' room, just like at school. And teachers were stationed at all the typical places where kids might get into mischief, such as the entrance to the bathrooms, the water station and each class section up in the stands. Oh, and the tea lady was also responsible for handing out the lunches, as she normally does in the staff room at a typical day of school. In sum, it was uncannily similar to a normal day at school...
At first this level of "replicated exactitude" surprised me. Thinking back to my school days, whenever we did something off school property - such as going on a field trip, doing a sports day, or even just going over to the local swimming pool - the day looked and felt very different. And that's why we looked forward to those special days. We would often think, "Hey, we're not tied to a bell schedule today! It's nice to be out of school for a change. Teachers are different outside the classroom. I don't have to do the same old boring crap that I do every day at school!" etc.
But in Japan, a different approach is taken. The goal is to mirror "the norm" as much as possible so that nobody freaks out or gets confused. So the AV geeks had their little are right next to the teachers' room. All non-essential staff (except the janitors) had to show up at the sports complex that day and sit there and do little (or nothing), as usual. Meanwhile, teachers who are not qualified to -or are even interested in- taking down sports scores were forced to do so, while other teachers and staff just milled around in the hot sun and kept an eye on the students. In a nutshell, it was like grafting the dull, daily routine of a normal school day directly onto Track and Field Day. Where's the fun in that??
Maybe I'm coming down a bit hard on this point, because many of the students and myself did actually have a fun day. The morning was boring and quiet (as usual), but after lunch there were events where everyone participated. For me, the highlight was the group relay. I was asked to run a part of the relay for the special ed class, which I gladly accepted. (I love those kids!) I ran a 60m section and handed off the baton to another teacher who was running with the team. Thanks to our strong start and finish (done by the students, not us teachers!), our team won! We beat every other 7th grade class! My heart filled with joy as I watched the student with Downs Symdrome bolt past every other student in the final stretch and break through the finish line, winning first place. You should have seen the joy among all of us at the finish line! Everyone hugged and high-fived and literally jumped for joy.
I was so proud of the special ed class because they showed the rest of the school that they are fast, capable and know how to do teamwork. Running with them was a great honor and joy on my part, and for the rest of the afternoon I was really happy. After the race, many other students applauded the special ed class and me, and I had many students saying (in Japanese), "Michael-teacher is very fast!"
The rest of the afternoon was more fun because there was some downtime for me to float around and talk with students. My "core" group of seventh grade boys, for instance, surrounded me and spoke as much English as they could. (Typical basic, broken English conversations about sports, "Do you like X, Y and Z?" "What's your shoe size?" etc.) Then I went up into the stands and sat with my special ed kids for a while, and they snapped this wonderful picture of us:
After all the events were over, there was (naturally) a boring closing ceremony that took 25 minutes (complete with a bullhorn, again!). Then I helped return the students' wallets and valuables, which were collected in the morning so they wouldn't have to worry about leaving them in the stands while they participated in an event.
Most of the students came to the sports complex via the Maruyama Koen subway station, so we walked them back to the station. This was actually a lot more fun than it sounds, because the students were happy that the day was over, and teachers could let their guard down a little and joke around with students.
Once I knew it was appropriate, I also started joking with some of my seventh grade boys. They love my big aviator sunglasses and black hat, so I put them on one of the boys. He ran around, showing off to all his friends,shouting (in English), "Terrorist! Terrorist!" I had to laugh, because I guess he kind of did look like some sketchy Taliban dude, hiding behind big sunglasses and a black cap. The sunglasses and hat were passed around and worn a number of times.
After I got them back, one of the boys (who's quite touchy-feely, even for a Japanese male) held my hand. Soon another boy held my other hand, and myself, two seventh grade boys and an English teacher were all smiling, walking hand-in-hand through Maruyama park. Behind us, there was the chant of "Terrorist! Terrorist!" It was one of those "only in Japan" moments, I guess...
So that's how my Wednesday was last week. Pretty interesting, eh? Sometimes I can't believe I get paid to do things like this. But each moment is an opportunity of a lifetime, and I'll gladly accept each one as they come!
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