Garrison Family Blog: Japanese Sports day at ASIJ

The girls celebrated Japanese Sports day on Friday, October 7th. Officially called Health and Sports day, it is a national holiday in Japan held annually on the second Monday in October. It commemorates the opening of the 1964 Olympics being held in Tokyo, and exists to promote sports and an active lifestyle.

ASIJ Separates each class and then grade into red (Aka) and white (Shiro), then divides the grades into groups (K-2, in the afternoon, 3-5 in the morning). They then compete in three events- tug of war, bean bag todd and the ball roll. All red in all three grades vs all white in those same grades. It is supposed to be non-competitive, but everyone, from the kids to the teachers to the parents is out cheering and working hard (well, maybe the parents aren't working so hard, but they do yell and cheer!).

Hanna's group (K-2) was energetic, but yet, the kindergartner's seemed completely lost for the first part of it. Both sides chant cheers for their respective teams (Aka Ganbatte (do your best red) and Shiro Ganbatte (do your best white)) and she and her friends looks completely bewildered. Hanna was on the white team with her friends Tessa and Saraa. They did end up catching on, and it was very fun to watch. It was Hanna's first year participating, and though she said for days prior that she was "Not doing the tug of war because she wasn't any good at it", she had a blast. Her favorite game? The TUG of WAR!!

Hanna and her friend Saraa rolling the white ball

Tug of War

Hanna and I

It was Maya's first year in the 3-5 grade bracket, and I was amazed at how competitive and into those kids get. Her group was a lot louder and rambunctious than the first group, and surprising to me, Maya was cheering, yelling and completely competitive compared to last year. She wanted to win, and that in itself was really cool! :) Maya was on the red team with her friends Sarah and Ainsley.