中体連 - Sports days!

Hello everyone! I would like to apologize once more for the delay and large gap in posting! I
have been exhausted lately and terribly busy since school has begun and is in full swing. I
wanted to update you all on what I have been up to lately. I have not had the chance to go
out and explore much more because of school.

BUT, I did just get the chance to participate in Hirosaki’s 中体連 (chuutaiden)！A chuutaiden
is a city-wide sports festival where all Hirosaki junior high school sports teams compete. It
is not a tournament or competition so there is no prize for the winning teams. However, it is
a really fun way for the students to compete with others and show off how hard they have
all been working! Plus, if you get bragging rights over the other ALTs, that’s just a bonus! I
was not able to go around and see everyone compete, but I did cheer on our softball team
both days. Softball is not my favorite sport (let’s be honest, I don’t really like sports much at
all) but teachers and students are assigned teams to cheer for if they do not participate with
one in particular. I had no problem going to cheer on our girls with three other teachers and
close to 50 students!

That is another thing about this type of event. All staff and students are required to go
unless they are taking a test at school even though this event occurred on Saturday and
Sunday! In Japan, many students (especially junior or senior high third years) go to school
on a weekend to take tests, study, or participate in club activities. So, my Saturday and
Sunday were spent out in the sweltering heat and sun with my children! It was very hot and
sunny both days, so we sat the children and ourselves in the shade as much as possible
and made sure everybody had drinks. Side note, another amazing thing I have found in
Japan to keep the heat away (though they are meant for fevers) are these beauties! They
are fever reducing patches for your forehead and they are very cold when you stick them
on! Many of us used them that weekend. Now, I do not want to sound like I am complaining
about having to participate because it was quite fun! I also received Tuesday and
Wednesday as compensation days off, so it isn’t like we were working extra-long weeks
either.

We all used little yellow megaphones and cheered our girls on, did school chants, and I got
into it. The students and team really enjoyed (read: found it funny and encouraging) when
their bad-at-Japanese American ALT cheered and sang along in Japanese! I was proud to
be able to loudly tell my students “いいよね！” (iiyone – That was good!), “ドンマイ！”
(Don’t mind), and “頑張!” (Do your best!). I also noticed more of the children watching got
more into cheering when us teachers joined in so it’s true that they tend to follow by
example.

Our softball team won the first day but lost the second. Our baseball team also won all but
their final game that weekend (one game they won was four hours long!). I am not sure
how our other teams did (tennis, boys’ and girls’ basketball, volleyball, soccer, badminton,
and track and field) but they all had their own cheer squads too.

So, even though I ended up giving up a weekend, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with my
kids and got to speak with them a bit more. I have also found that, so far, I really enjoy the
teamwork and support aspect of Japanese culture. Though it may be a bit inconvenient
sometimes, these students and teachers give up much of their free time to support each
other and cheer each other on. You can see how grateful everybody is that receives this
support and they show their gratitude by bowing to the cheer groups at the end of each
game. They are all very hard workers and my first ever chuutaiden was a great, fun
experience!

That’s all until next time! My school will be having their yearly festival next week so I will be
able to update about that experience as well so please look forward to it!