minami youchien sports day

today is a national holiday in japan - instead of columbus day, they are celebrating national health and sports day.  you can read about its origins here.  to celebrate, most schools host some sort of sports day or field meet - and peter's youchien put together an incredible event held at the lovely iwakuni sports park.  it was an all day affair, and while our little trooper (and admittedly the rest of us too) was wiped out by 2 pm and we left before the closing ceremonies, a great day was enjoyed by all.  just over a month after beginning his japanese preschool adventure, our boy did a great job - we were so proud watching him follow along with the program the entire morning.  it began with an opening ceremony, then the games began as classes competed at different activities from foot races to choreographed dances and all sorts of creative get-you-moving games in between.
some interesting notes that stuck out about the beautiful culture and norms of our host country: like many other public buildings, we removed our street shoes in the lobby area. some donned the traditional slippers (yay, we were prepared and brought ours) while others walked around in their socks and a few went barefoot. i'm sure your initial reaction is a little grossed out - but i can assure you that the facility was impeccably cleaned and there was not a speck of dust out of place when we arrived. in the lobby were shelves like you'd maybe see at a roller skating rink (do those still exist) where you could leave your street shoes or you could carry them along with you.  another lovely difference in japan is the way they manage their trash - there really are very few public trash cans so people tote their trash home with them, kind of like camping. the trash cans that are around vending machines are neatly and religiously sorted by type of trash (most japanese homes have like seven different trash cans to sort different types of trash into and several types are collected throughout the week). while in the us there are trash cans everywhere and usually overflowing with a pile of trash on the ground around them (and loads of litter to boot), here that problem just doesn't exist. another difference highlighted during the sports day was the request by the school that everyone brings lunch. in the states, a few people would pack a lunch and would probably sit in their car to eat. most people would probably load into the car, whip out to the nearest fast food place during the lunch break. not so here in japan. it was just lovely - when it was time for the lunch break, everyone exited the building in a cordial, orderly manner (switching into their street shoes first, of course) and proceeded onto the lawn outside the sports park. it was picnic heaven. every family gathered together on their own beautiful picnic blanket and seemlingly from nowhere they produced these beautiful bento boxes full of incredible food. we were walking across the park (without our picnic blanket) with our (sad) american style packed lunches (sandwiches, apple....) and i was having some seriously picnic envy. i wanted to just pick a family to stop and dine with and see what kind of treats they were producing. anyway, it was just lovely to see families eating delicious, healthy meals together on a picnic blanket - just sitting together, eating!

opening ceremonies. peter's class (and a few other classes with kids his age) are on the left in the blue hats. the oldest kids (kindergarten age) are on the right in the red vests and yellow hats.

older kids leading everyone in some greetings

foot races - there's peter at the bottom

another race some other classes participated in - each pair carried the giant sushi together down and around a cone and back. it was so cute.

they performed a choreographed dance using the pompoms - this was just about the cutest thing.

another game - that's peter's class gathered around the red hoop in the middle. they had to pick up the bean bags and toss them into the hoop. at the end the moderator counted to see who got the most in the period of time.

view of picnic-ers from our tree stumps.

sweet curtis happy as can be

proud little guy

after lunch the teachers performed a dance

this is what 3 year olds do when you say "smile!"

some of the kids from base waiting for their turn to start up again

this was quite impressive: the older class (4-5 year olds) went through a series of poses like this. they would gather into a group, when the moderator blew the whistle they would get in the ready position. when he blew it again, they would move into the pose and hold it. then they would come out of the post when he blew it again. it was executed flawlessly. i was just flabergasted by the performance. you could tell the kids were quite proud of themselves. i'm always awed by what kids are capable of if you give them the skills and confidence to do it!