Schools in Japan, from elementary to high school, hold ‘Undoukai’ (Sports Day). It's usually held on around October. Recently, some schools have started to hold their Sports Day in May because Japanese students are studying for exams in October. My Japanese school also holds in May, too.
There's a small opening ceremony where all the groups march in a line, similar to the opening ceremonies at the Olympics. It looks like a mini-opening ceremony at the Olympics, but it doesn’t look so fabulous.
There are some reasons why we have Undoukai in Japan. The reasons are to get the children interested in exercise, to teach them about working together with others, as well as to give them a sense of responsibility and solidarity.
On Sports Day, we participate in lots of different group sports. Most of the sports are a competition between the classes. We have our own classrooms, which means we take classes as a group. In my Japanese school, we can dye our hair. So, some of us dye our hair their group colors. That makes us feel like more “We are the team!”. Of course, We don’t want to be defeated by another class, so we try our best. There are performances to cheer on your team, which is called ‘Ouendan’.
On the morning of Sports Day, parents try to find a good spot to watch the event so they can take photos of their children competing.
Popular Undoukai events include mukade kyoso (a three-legged race, but usually involves more legs), kumitaiso (students create some shapes with their bodies, think human pyramids), tama-ire (students and guests throw lots of small bean bags into an overhead basket), dance (students do traditional dances, hip hop, or anything), tsunahiki (a tug-of-war, there’s also one held for parents as well), and relay.
Undoukai isn’t just a competition. Under all the blood, sweat, and tears lies the fact that we get together. To build an interpersonal relationship, Undoukai shows us how to work with and support each other of our friends. Teams prepare for dances, shirt designs, their own flags, and marches.
To lots of Japanese students, Undoukai is just a break from studying. In Japan, we do study a lot. We usually go to school for 7 hours, and we study by ourselves or go to cram school till 9 or 10 p.m. after that. I was one of them, too so Undoukai was a really fun thing for me. But also, the event teaches us to ‘work together’. At the end of Undoukai, we would have many memories with our friends, and it makes us get greater connections. Even if we win or lose, all of us smile then because we had a very satisfying time.