Sports Day and More

This Saturday my school had a sports day. I was disappointed to find that it was exactly the same as the sports day last fall, and that my role in the proceedings was the same -- video cameraman. But it was still good fun, and I had Monday off in compensation. And the goal of the event was for the students to have fun, and it succeeded in that. Each home room class (there are two per grade at my school) competed in a series of races and games. They prepared in the weeks before, designing t-shirts and painting giant posters (the cartoon girl in the poster is the same teacher in the photo with me, Momoko). They did tug-of-war, long jumprope, a many-legged race, and even a cool traditional dance. And there was a series of normal races and relays.

Also of note, this weekend was Yoshiko's birthday party. First we hit the prestigious Gusto, the Japanese Denny's, and then we were off for a night of karaoke. Good times. Click here for a frightening image.



This Sunday was yet another party, a goodbye to Mito-san and a few others, our friends we met at Maizushi who have been transferred to the other side of Japan. Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera or cell phone. The Maizushi crowd are some of the coolest people I've gotten to know in Japan, despite the facts that they are way older than me, they rarely speak english, and they are often drunk. I'm a little sad to see Mito go.