Sports

     I think in Japan, sports play a very important role in education. There are two reasons why I think so.

     First of all there are many school events related to sports year around. For example, most elementary schools and junior high schools have athletics meets, we call it undokai. It’s an annual event, and you can see sports festivals held in schoolyards. It is usually held on the second Monday in October because this is ‘Sports Day’ holiday in Japan although some schools hold it in May. Students take part in competitive sports, fun games or track and field events. Parents and relatives of the students and local people attend undokai and sometimes they also join in light-hearted games like ‘tamaire’ and ‘tsunahiki’. So I think undokai is a good opportunity to socialize for students. In fact when I was an elementary school student, I and my classmates wrote some invitations for local people. Most high schools also hold athletics meets, but we don’t call it undokai. We call it kyugitaikai, taiikusai, etc. This picture is from my yearbook of high school. These photos were taken on the day of kyugitaikai. It was one of the most popular events among our high school students. We were very exciting and enjoyed it!!

     Another is club activity, we call it bukatsu. It is not compulsory, but most students, especially junior high school students, belong to a bukatsu. We can communicate with other year students and students from other schools through bukatsu. When I was a junior high school student, I was a member of volleyball club. Our club sometimes has practice game with students from other prefectures, like Iwate, Yamagata and high school students. So I could meet many people and make friends. This photo is also from my yearbook. Most of my friends belong to bukatsu.

Thus I think sports is very important in education in Japan.