Athletics Day

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Athletics Day

• Hokkaido
• Japan

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I teach at a Junior High School in Hokkaido
Japan. I work with the Japanese teachers to
motivate the students to learn English. This is
my story about an athletics day in Japan.
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In Japan athletics day is not just about
competing but it is also a day to celebrate your
class spirit and friendships. A month before the
day students get together in their classrooms to
decide on a slogan which best represents their
class. It is considered cool to have the slogan
in English. So this year I was asked to translate
many obscure ideas. You see the Japanese
expression does not always translate perfectly
into English so sometimes you have to add your
own ideas to make it sound right.
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The inventive slogans are then painted on to
colourful banners and flags. On the morning of
the athletics day they are displayed around the
field. This year there were sayings such as
MENTAL CONCENTRATION and WE ARE ALL ONE.
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However the one I liked best was written in
beautiful Kanji writing. In Japanese the banner
said KIZUNA. Kizuna means bonds or ties. The
slogan in full said Don't break the bonds of
friendship let our spirits be pure!"
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Athletics day begins with an opening ceremony
where the students march proudly with their
lively banners and promise to compete in the
spirit of fair play. The banners are presented
and each highly excited class has to explain
their slogan and the images painted into their
design.
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Every student wears a Hachimaki... (a coloured
head band.) It shows easily at a distance which
class they represent and helps their classmates
to recognize the people they need to cheer for.
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And there is a whole lot of cheering. Fluffy
Pompoms and noisy bottle shakers as well as
bright flags and rousing songs are prepared
before the big day. Students stand on the
sideline and yell and sing for every person in
their class who is competing. It doesn't matter
if that person is coming last they keep cheering
yelling GAMBARE! until the brave classmate
finishes the race.
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On athletics day it is also considered cool to
decorate your body with slogans and messages in
felt pen. Now in Japan, tattoos are considered
quite bad as they have connotations leading to
the Mafia. But on athletics day, body graffiti in
pictures and words is considered ok. This year
the students even made their home room teachers
take part.
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Throughout the day points are tallied and a
scoreboard is kept of all the results. Lucky
students who do well in their individual events
will go on to the regional competition so there
is an added bonus for coming in the top three
placings.
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As well as normal athletic events there are also
fun races. The two legged relay race is run at
normal speed. The competitors practise fiercely
before the day to make sure that they
are synchronized. I tried to practise with a
couple of exuberant students but called it quits
after awhile when my instinct for self
preservation kicked in. The students however had
no fear of falling at a sprinting speed and raced
around the track like seasoned professionals.
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There is also a centipede race where the students
have to run in a team with rubber bands and ties
around their legs.
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The fun part is it's a relay race so the
students have to take off the rubber bands then
pass them on to the next group in the relay.
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It's great fun but if you aren't in synch it can
be a nightmare when you fall, as one unlucky
group found out.
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Wherever you go on athletics day class groups are
cheering and planning their strategies for the
next race. There are group huddles
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pep talks
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and gaudy pompoms being waved about. As well as
the commiserations for those who didn't do so
well. Everyone is united in their efforts to
support their classmates whether the outcome is a
win or a loss.
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I watched as a young girl who was running the
1500 metres struggled to finish the race. The
other faster competitors had already finished and
she still had 2 long laps to go. Her classmates
cheered her the whole time telling her "you can
do it, keep going". And even though she was
exhausted she managed to reach the finishing
line. It didn't matter that she was the only one
still running and everyone had to wait for her to
finish. What mattered was that through the
support she got she didn't give up. 
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To me that symbolized the feeling of the day.
When students competed they were not out there on
the sports field by themselves they literally had
their classmates with them in spirit. There was a
real sense of togetherness or as you say in
Japanese "kizuna"...bonds.