Opening Ceremony

Some of the students listening to the Opening 

Ceremony of the day.  I can't elaborate on this,

because the only thing I understood was 

"ganbarimasho!" - Let's try our best!

"Try to get the hat of your opponent's head 

while trying to balance on three other students and 

keep your own hat"

Our beautiful and talented announcer.

One of the female students takes the mike.  

She did a wonderful job of keeping everyone 

informed  of what was going on.  

Not an easy task!

"Try to pull three tree trunks into your area while 

preventing your opponents from doing the same"

So, there are five tree trunks lined up in a central area, 

and two teams at each end of the pitch.  There are 

maybe 20 students on each team.  When the gun goes

off, the teams have to run to the logs, and try to pull 

them to their end of the pitch, whilst stopping 

the other team from doing the same.  First team with 

three logs wins.

Nagai (centre) helps with the scoring.

(and doesn't look too happy about this!)

From left: Tamaguchi-sensei (Home Ec.), Nagai (3rd 

Grade student), Uesugi-sensei (Head of English)

Wanpakupaku

This was a great event!  Some kindergarten kids came 

up to the school to play a game with the third grade 

students (basically 17 and 18 year old boys).  I can't 

ever see this event working at home, but just take a 

look at  the photos, and you'll see how much fun all  

the kids were having!

Kindergarten kids teach 3rd graders their dance

more dancing

The event: Teams had to fill paper cups with water from 

a  big tub then transfer this water into big bottles with 

brightly coloured goo inside. 

Each 3rd grader was paired up with a kindergarten kid

And they all seemed to be having fun!  I mentioned to

my supervisor that I was surprised that the 3rd graders

were having such a great time, and she said "But they

love kids!"

Like I said, I can't imagine this working at home!

Nagai seemed to be paired up with the smallest of the 

kindergarten kids.  A bit ironic, since he is by far

the tallest student in the school!

More celebrations

Students give kindergarten kids a ride on the vehicles

they had made

The little kids seemed to be enjoying it...

but maybe not as much as the drivers

Obstacle Race

More-or-less the same as at home - students had to:

1. stick their head in some flour and pull something out 

with their teeth

2. crawl under a net

3. jump over a hurdle

4. drink some cola

5. bite a cake (still in it's wrapper) suspended from a pole

Interestingly, it was task (4) that gave them the most 

difficulty!

Tug-of-war

Much the same as anywhere, I guess...

 "Get instruction on what or who to run with, find 

that thing or person, and race to finish line"

Students run to a table, and grab an envelope.  Inside 

is written the name of the thing they have to cross the 

finishing line with.

Yes, my name was inside one of the envelopes.  

And yes, I did actually run the 50m to the line

 (and for the first time in my life, I wasn't last!)!

Students Performances

The four teams (Red, Blue, Yellow and Green), but on 

performances for the spectators entertainment.  

These were all hilariously funny.

A bit of Yosakoi

Another performance, with Itou on taiko (drum)

Look closely at this picture.  They are all boys.

Finale

(yes, they are still all boys)

Boys pose for photos!