Today…

Today was my youngest two daughters’ 運動会 (Sports Day Event) at their Junior High School.
It was originally scheduled for last Saturday, but was postponed until today because it rained last Saturday. (I wrote about it on an earlier post. Click here to read it.)

I wasn’t able to attend their 運動会 (Sports Day Event) because I had to work…but my wife went and videotaped it. So I’ll be able to watch it.

Today is also the 20th anniversary of the 六四天安門事件 (4 June 1989 Tiananmen Square protests) in 天安門広場 (Tiananmen Square) in China.

Tiananmen Square protest of 1989

And tomorrow will be my oldest daughter’s High School 運動会 (Sports Day event).

Also tomorrow is the 57th birthday of Nicko McBrain.
Certainly you know that Nicko McBrain is the drummer for the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden!

Iron Maiden's "Eddie" mascot.

運動会

Yesterday was my youngest daughter’s 運動会 (Sports Day event) at her school.
She’s in the sixth grade (which, in Japan, is the highest grade in 小学校 (Elementary school)), so this was the last Elementary school 運動会 (Sports Day event) for my kids.

運動会 (Sports Day events) are usually held from kindergarten to high school in Japan in September or October…but my oldest two daughters had their 中学校 (Junior High School) 運動会 (Sports Day event) last June (it was the first of my kids’ 運動会 (Sports Day events) that I didn’t attend because it was held on a weekday due to rain on the original day it was scheduled. (Click here to read my post about it)).

運動会 (Sports Day events) at Japanese 保育園 (Nursery Schools), 幼稚園 (Pre-schools) and 小学校 (Elementary schools) usually are decorated with strings of world flags hung over the school yard (中学校 (Jr High) and 高等学校 (High School) usually don’t decorate this way for their events).

My daughter played the trombone in the marching band for the commencement of the 運動会 (Sports Day event), and she ran in a couple races and other events during the day. As they usually do, the 運動会 (Sports Day event) started at 9:00AM and went until noon and we stopped for lunch (my wife and daughters had prepared an excellent lunch for us) and after lunch, the games re-started and the 運動会 (Sports Day event) finished at about 3:30PM.

I participated in the PTA 綱引き (Tug-Of-War).

A long day. But, as always, alot of fun!

This was the last 運動会 (Sports Day event) at the 小学校 (Elementary School)…next year, my youngest two daughters will be in 中学校 (Junior High School) and the oldest will begin 高等学校 (High School)!

Rained out

Yesterday was supposed to by my oldest two daughters’ 運動会 (Sports Day) at their Junior High School, but it got postponed due to rain.

I knew it was forecast to rain today…but I hoped that the rain would hold off.

But now their Sports Day event will be held on Monday (June 2).

I’m not gonna be able to go and watch it because I have to work on Monday. Of course, I’ll watch the video of it that my wife will take.

This will be the first of any of my kids’　運動会 (Sports Day Events) that I’ve ever missed since they were in 保育園 (Nursery School).

A　運動会 (Sports Day) is an annual event at Japanese schools from Nursery School / Pre-school until High School. It’s often held in October to coincide with the Japanese holiday 体育の日(Sports / Exercise Day), (See my FAQ page about this holiday), but will sometimes be held in other months (usually Spring or Autumn, though).

Pre-school, Elementary school, Junior High, and High school events are all different, of course. There are some similarities, as well.

They all start and end with speeches from the school principal and “warm-up” and “cool-down” stretching.

At all of them (even Nursery School), the school band performs and it’s a well choreographed event for the parents and grandparents who are in the audience with cameras and video-cameras.

At the Nursery School / Pre-school Sports Day Events, there are lots of dances, games and races…many of which involve “Parent and Child” teams.

From Elementary School on, the events are more “conventional” team events with no “Parent / Child” teams anymore (the parents, though, can participate in a “Parents tug-of-war” event. I always participate in that every year…except this one 😦 ).

The kids in Junior High run really fast! When my oldest first started Junior High, I was surprised how fast the kids run the races at the Sports Day. I can imagine what they’re like in High School!

You can always tell when a school in Japan is getting ready for 運動会 (Sports Day)…Japanese Nursery Schools and Elementary Schools put up strings of flags of the world. It’s a Japanese Sports Day decoration like pumpkins at Halloween.

Also, from Elementary School on, some of the students design and paint giant banners for their class’ “team” flag.

This year, both of my two oldest daughters helped paint their respective class banners…and my second daughter is the person who designed her class’ banner herself!

I was really looking forward to seeing their artwork.

Anyways…I’m really disappointed that it rained today and I missed my daughters’ Sports Day, but I look forward to seeing the video of it on Monday. 🙂