Yochien Sports Day

Sports day at the Yochien, Japanese preschool/kindergarten, is a big deal.  I didn't really know what to expect.  I knew the kids had been practicing and the school was sending out papers about it for about a month.  They even had a half day the day prior to set up.  When the day came I was excited to go to school with Beatrix.  Parents were invited to come int he morning with their child and stay for the entire thing, about three hours long.  Then school was dismissed for the day.  When I got there I saw that most kids seemed to have at least two parents there watching them and everyone had video camera's and tripods set up and ready to go.  It was like a combination of elementary school end of year music performance mixed with field day.

I was amazed at how they had 150 preschoolers standing quietly and in their positions.  Before this I've never seen anything like it.  It is difficult to get my six to stand still and in a certain spot.  But they all ran out to their spots and stood quietly just like they were supposed to.  

Beatrix was not very into it at first.  But she was having a rough morning.  She skinned her knee the day before and was refusing to walk ever since.  I had to work hard all morning to convince her that she could stand and walk.  Once she got out with her class she seemed to forget about her knee and was walking normally.

I've noticed before that she doesn't really understand anything the teachers are telling her.  At one point everyone sat down and she just stayed up.  Even the other parents were noticing and pointing it out.  I only got a video of the tail end of it because I had put my phone away.  I feel a little bad for her that she goes to a school all day where she doesn't understand anything.

Aside from singing the kids did races and then each age group seemed to have their own events.  The race was really cute and organized. The older kids did a relay race and a few other things.  They even played instruments.

Below you can see Beatrix having a water break.  Notice how all the other kids have words on their shirt fronts and backs?  I read something about it in one of the flyers they sent home, but I thought the school was going to put the words on.  Or send the material for me to write on it.  But nope, now I know we were supposed to buy a 20x20 cm cloth somehow write or print or buy stick on/iron on letters to write their name.  Then sew it onto their shirts.  Beatrix was the only one without it.  She didn't say anything to me though, so hopefully she didn't mind.

We also made banners to support our kids.  I wasn't sure what to put on it so I drew a picture of Beatrix.  I don't think they kids looked at these at all.

The hat stealing event looked so fun.  The kids got on their parents backs and then the parents ran around and the kids had to steal each other's hats.

I wish I got more video's of this next event.  The kids were making these crazy formations with each other.  It was pretty interesting.

I'm glad we got to participate in sports day here in Japan.  It was such an interesting day.  I love it when I get a glimpse into a different culture.