Katsuga Junior High Sports Day

School Sports Days in Japan are a very different beast to those we would recognize in the UK. In Japan, the undokai (literally "athletic meeting") is a huge and important event within the school calendar that takes weeks of preparation before the actual event.

Last year, I missed Katsuga Junior High's Sports Day due to a scheduling conflict, but this year I was set to go and very much looking forward to the experience. Attending the event on a Saturday meant that we would have an extra day off of work on Monday, too, as it counted as a work day: a win-win all around!

The events themselves include the usual array of track-and-field sprinting races and relays, etc. However, there were also dances, tugs of war, skipping ropes, and strange races where the students had to carry objects on a wide board without dropping them.

There are also opening and closing ceremonies complete with recitals of the Japanese national anthem (with the Japanese flag being raised and lowered), as well as several marches with flags (which all appear a bit militaristic, truth be told). Speeches from the school principal and the head of the PTA were also held.

One particular highlight was the "novelty" race, where all of the students wore the uniform of their various school clubs. Other events involved racing each other while doing things such as kicking a football and jumping in a sack. It was mind-boggling, but very entertaining.

The entire school participates in the events throughout the day, unlike my own school experiences at high school (where only the athletic kids did the events and the rest of us sat around and enjoyed picnics and ice cream).

One of the most impressive displays are the ones where the students clamber on top of one another to make various shapes and forms; it's something I can't even dream of teenagers back home being able to do.

There was also an obligatory PTA sporting event (I swear, those guys get about everywhere; what the heck are PTA members doing taking part in a sports day?!). Additionally, the third year girls all did a particularly impressive Okinawan dance inspired by their recent field trip to Okinawa. Definitely a highlight.

The turnout of parents was quite unbelievable. Unlike my school experience, where sports day was usually only attended by parents at elementary school, here almost every student had someone from their family there to watch the day-long spectacle. I honestly wouldn't have believed it without seeing it for myself.

I was also lucky enough to witness a small afternoon sports day at Tsuru-Uchi elementary school. The school had unfortunately been subject to an afternoon of rain when they'd attempted to do their sports day on the previous weekend, and as such their afternoon events had been cancelled. Luckily, they were rescheduled for the afternoon of Wednesday 22nd May, so I was able to enjoy watching the final events of their sports day during my weekly visit. I even wore my best Scotland football gear for the occasion.

Another type of activity was held at Tsuru-Uchi was held, where two students in opposing teams sat on their teammates shoulders and attempted to steal the hats off of their competitors. Supposedly these are based on battles in Japanese history, but rather than being a bloodthirsty spectacle of violence, they were probably the highlight of the day for the kids. I was also treated to their own dance routines.

It must be said that the timing of these sports days are very peculiar. The heat is incredibly intense, as we begin moving into the very hot summer months (especially in Kagawa prefecture). The sun was incredibly intense throughout, and despite wearing plenty of sun-screen I still felt absolutely cooked by the end of the day. It was so bad, in fact, that at Angie's school some of the students ended up fainting during a few of the races and had to be carried off of the field via stretcher. Personally, I don't know why this event is scheduled at this time: it would make far more sense to do it earlier in spring or in autumn to avoid this heat fatigue.

Regardless, it made for some very interesting viewing. I took along my Canon 60D on the day, and managed to capture some fantastic shots (although I did get told off on one occasion for apparently getting in the way). It must be said that the kids certainly seemed to enjoy themselves! It's a marked difference from my own sports days back in Kirkcaldy, where we basically used the day as an opportunity to have a massive skive.

Eiji Yoshikawa's 'Rumble in the Jungle' Movie Screening

Eiji Yoshikawa.

Eiji Yoshikawa is a fascinating man. A trained boxer who lives in Kagawa, Eiji has travelled the world on what he calls his quest to "fight for peace". He has lectured internationally and runs a fascinating blog on his website where he shares his views, which I highly recommend. I've been lucky enough to have met Eiji a handful of times, and he really is a lovely guy with a lot to say about modern Japan, international relations and global humanitarian concerns. He also runs an English school in the Ayagawa area.

I recently attended a film screening hosted by Eiji in the Ayagawa area, where I watched a cut of his film "Rumble in the Jungle". You can watch the trailer below.

The film is the story of a boxer Eiji met from the Philippines, named Cirilo Espino. Eiji trained with Cirilo in the Phillipines, and filmed time together over a series of events covered throughout the documentary. The documentary touches upon the poor quality of life for many in the Phillipines, and their struggle to try and improve their quality of life against their adversity.

I can't say too much more for fear of giving away the full story, but it's quite an emotional journey with a few shocking moments where tragic living conditions are spotlighted. It's an inspiring film.

I was thrilled to attend the screening, as an enthusiast of independent film-making myself. I popped along with Stephen Branston and Angela Fukutome, who also gave our feedback following the film. It was a very enjoyable afternoon, and quite a moving and revealing one.

You can find out more about Eiji on his website, here.

School English Board Updates!

Here are some updates to my English Board, at place in Katsuga JHS:

 London 2012! A brief overview of this year's Olympics for the kids.

 A small list of some English speaking countries.

The latter is actually a large photocopy, as the original board I made is actually part of an all-new board I made for Tsuru-Uchi Shogakkou:

An all-new board for Tsuru-Uchi Shogakkou!

Rather than take the existing boards down at Katsuga JHS, I've decided to leave all four of my current ones up for the Summer holidays, to give the kids a chance to look at them all in detail. Of course, I'll be making some new ones as soon as the Summer time is up.

Here's the current display as it stands:

 My full English space at Katsuga JHS.

Hopefully plenty for the students to read over this month.

I'll be looking to keep these updated once a month. Let me know what you think (and for my fellow ALTs, I'd love to see some of your own English boards, too)!

Water-Rafting in Tokushima

First published: 10 Apr 2013

Water-rafting!

A well-known and famous past-time in Tokushima is the water-rafting, something which I have always been keen to do but until recently had never had the chance to. Many of my friends in Kagawa had already experienced it, but until last year I hadn't had the opportunity to pop over to the prefecture next door and try it for myself.

Chilling with Taylor.

Meet the team.

That all changed last Summer just a few weeks before my birthday. My friend Taylor-Gabrielle Moyer, with whom I'd travelled to Hiroshima and Miyajima back in January (and whose blog you can read here), wanted to try water-rafting in Tokushima with the 'Why Not' group, operating with the company 'Happy Raft'. It was a fantastic opportunity, and I happily agreed to be her companion.

Wet-lense.

Coming along with the 'WhyNot' group, there was a great mix of both Japanese and foreign participants. Starting just after mid-day, we headed down in groups of six or so down the Yoshio River in Iwahara, Ootoyo-cho (which, according to the Happy Raft website, is right in the middle of Shikoku!). Each raft was assigned an instructor / guide, who made sure we made our way safely down the river. Instructions were provided fully in English, as were life-jackets and helmets (thankfully!).

Pre-rafting lunch!

If you look carefully, you can see that I'm caught staring at the camera.

Needless to say, it was brilliant. There was splashing a-plenty, and lots of deliberate falling / pulling into the water. The party also stopped for a brief bit of high jumping from a small cliff edge into a deep pool of water. The fall was much longer than anticipated, and every one created a high splash (I may or may not have screamed when I flailed in).

Dignified.

There were also plenty of rapids for us to travel down, where the river steepened and the water rushed down dips and splashed against heavy rocks. At times like this, we'd almost lose complete control of the raft and have to simply duck in anticipation of an inevitable collision with the waves as we raced down with the flow. It was thrilling.

Exhilarating!

The 'Why Not' trip actually took place over a full weekend and encompassed a lot of sightseeing in Tokushima, too! More on that later, though. For now, here's some photographs of our time water-rafting (as well as falling in the water!).

This really was a fantastic experience. I loved it, and would recommend this day out to anyone (so long as you don't have a heart condition, pregnancy, nor mind a bit of water!). Check out Happy Raft here if you're interested!

A fun day out for all.

For more information on the WhyNot group and some of the activities they organise monthly across Japan, check out their website here too!

Finally, you can read Taylor's blogging on the subject here and here!

School English Board!

One of the ways many ALTs try to further engage with students outside of the classroom is through the use of an English Board. Basically, this is a noticeboard which is periodically updated with information by the ALT, usually on cultural activities within their own countries, in order to get the students to practice reading and learn about the ALT's home culture.

I'd been wanting to set up one of my own for a while now, but for various reasons was unable to. However, with the start of the new school year, the fellow English teachers at the school were keen to try out the concept at Katsuga JHS. After finding a suitable location where all the students could see it (in the shoe locker / lobby area), I set to work during my free periods over the last several days prepping a board.

Here's what I've come up with.

Gavin's English Board;

in the lobby area of Katsuga Junior High.

This is only the left-hand side board which I'm intending to leave up permanently, as a general introduction to both myself and Scotland. There are a few modifications I intend to make, too (I'll be buying white labels to add small annotations to some of the pictures, and I'll be sticking the URL up for my English blog). Everything was put together over three days, pulling images from Google and my own archives. The plan is for the top half to be easily read by the low-level readers (with BIG letters), while more advanced grammar and writing is below, hopefully drawing in interest with the pictures. After a bit of juggling around to get everything in place, I glued it all down and pinned it up this afternoon.

That's a big photo.

A brief introduction to Scotland!

Preparing this section of the board took hours.

In retrospect, the face is a bit large... I think I come across a tad egotistical due to it's size (ie. "Look at my giant face, kids!"). Regardless, at least they should remember who I am. My first intention was also include a little bit about the United Kingdom, but I simply ran out of room! Hopefully it's eye catching and intriguing, as that's the main priority. I'll refine it as it goes on.

I haven't fully decided upon my plan for the second half of the board yet for this month, though I'm leaning towards doing a splash page complete with flags of the different countries that speak English. I'm planning to keep it updated at least once a month, focussing mainly on cultural holidays and any interesting currents in the UK. Luckily for me, the imminent arrival of the Olympics should prove to be a gold mine.

Let me know your thoughts, and if you have any suggestions. I'll keep you posted with the new boards as they're updated.

Eikaiwa Fun with Stephen Branston!

Recently, Canadian ALT and friend Stephen Branston came along to my eikaiwa group to do a small presentation on his home country and his culture. Everyone had a great time - including myself! Having only been to Canada once in 2006 (Toronto and Niagra Falls), it was great to learn a little bit more about the place.

Additionally; we also had a small challenge that evening for the eikaiwa members: using four random words picked from a hat, teams had to create small English skits and perform them to the rest of the group. Stephen and I decided to kick things off with our own demonstration. Our words were "donuts", "sleep", "romance" and "Help!".

Here's what we came up with...

Nagoya

First published: 28 Feb 2013

The Mode Gakuen Spiral Towers in Nagoya.

The interior contains both educational and shopping facilities.

Nagoya is Japan's third-largest city (though fourth in population); a huge urban area with some absolutely stunning scenery. It's much closer to my home in Takamatsu than Tokyo, and only a stone's throw from other revered cities like Osaka, Kobe and Nara. Despite this, Nagoya has never seemed to have had quite the same level of hype or enthusiasm attached to it, and people in my local community often seem somewhat indifferent towards it.

I find this surprising.

In my limited experience, Nagoya is one of the premier destinations in Japan, and my time there is certainly one of the highlights of my travels in this country thus far.

 The busy lobby of Nagoya JR Station.

The famous golden clock in Nagoya station; a popular meeting point.

My first and foremost reason for visiting Nagoya was to catch up with an old university friend of mine named Henry. We had both worked together at the University of Stirling on the student newspaper, 'Brig', where he held the position of Sports section editor at the same time I was editing the Film section. I remembered him fondly from my university days, and was very happy to hear he had moved from England to Japan to work as an English teacher (though not on the JET programme). As such, I'd made it a point to ensure catching up with him while we were both in the country. As the best opportunity happened to be May, a plan was made.

However, one slight hiccup! It transpired that Henry would need to spend the Saturday of my visit at work, and that I would only be able to catch up with him in the evening. No matter. It was still a great opportunity to see a new city on foot; particularly one I knew so little about. As I may have mentioned before, I enjoy exploring Japan by myself, and this was a great opportunity to do so.

Travelling from Takamatsu early on Saturday morning, I arrived in Nagoya just before midday with a rumbling belly. I was overwhelmed by an urge to eat, but luckily, the train station provided the perfect location. The large JR Central Towers were a huge structure built directly upon the central station. After getting slightly lost walking around the perimeter, I was moving several stories high to see gardened verandas and fine dining aplenty on the upper floors. The grandeur of the facility is impressive, and certainly puts the facilities of train stations within the UK to great shame.

The JR Central Towers in Nagoya.

Inside the JR Central Towers.

Quite something to think this is above a train station!

Climbing to the highest floor, I took sanctuary in a small cafe named 'Café Du Ciel', where I enjoyed a very indulgent lunch of waffles, berries and ice cream with coffee. Seated directly next to a pane-glass window while eating on a transparent, glass table was initially daunting but ultimately exhilarating. The view was simply spectacular, with completely, unobstructed exposure to the city skyline. After indulging in lunch, I stayed to treat myself by taking a few photographs.

Café Du Ciel in Nagoya JR Towers.

Not a bad decision for lunch!

After exploring the station area, I made my way towards Ōsu Kannon; a huge temple in central Nagoya with a bit of a complicated history. Originally built in 1333, it was moved to it's current location in 1620, and despite heavy fire damage in the 1800s, was fully restored in the 1970s into it's current form. It's incredibly popular - the place was full of visitors, tourists and pigeons. The scale and structure are very distinct and impressive, while the interior was packed full of Japanese men and woman making Buddhist prayers by ringing the large bell.

Ōsu Kannon temple in Nagoya.

Breathtaking.

I stayed for quite some time without realizing it, only remembering belatedly about the time. I had also wanted to visit Nagoya Castle, though time was quickly getting away from me, and so opted instead to visit somewhere a little different.

After a bit of a trek on the trains, I arrived at the Toyota Techno Museum.

It's technical.

This was quite a unique and interesting place.Not knowing much about cars, or Toyota as a brand in particular, I thought it was a unique opportunity to learn a bit more about something I had no knowledge of prior to to my visit. My visit was brief, as I had a lot to see in only a short space of time before the museum closed for the evening, but I certainly managed to take more than a fair share of photographs and learn a few things.

Cars!

...wait, Toyota made this too?!

Two particular bits of information struck me completely unawares;

(1) Toyota started life purely as a textile machinery manufacturing company, with archaic spinning weaves and different types of cotton on display from the company's formative, pre-car years.

 

It all makes sense now.

(2) The founder of Toyota was actually a man named Sakichi Toyoda. With a "D". His son Kiichiro Toyoda subsequently moved the business into automobiles.

Pretty interesting!

Old school Toyota.

Special highlights included full scale replications of the assembly line in action, and a whole cost of classic Toyota cars on display. I especially enjoyed this little concept car near the end of the exhibition;

This is a car...?

I'd thoroughly recommend exploring this museum to anyone. It really caught me unawares as perhaps the highlight of my time in Nagoya. I would say that finding the museum was a bit of a challenge, though! While only a few stops away from the central Nagoya station, I got slightly lost on foot trying to find the museum. Google Maps on your smartphone is recommended.

Leaving the museum in early evening, I made my way over to a couple of final destinations which happened to be right next to one another; the Oasis 21 complex and the Nagoya TV Tower.

Oasis 21!

The wide, open floor space of Oasis 21. It's quite something.

I decided to head for the tower first, as the light would be fading soon, and I wanted to see the view before it got too dark. However, I couldn't help but take a quick look over the balcony towards the floors of Oasis 21 below. The large open floor space was architecturally striking, but what struck me most was the presence of large dinosaurs formed out of hedges. Normally this would have been completely bizarre, but after all this time, it felt perfectly at home within Japan.

Rarrr!!

After taking a couple of snaps of the impressive, oval-shaped architecture, I made my way to the tower.

Nagoya TV Tower.

The upper floors offered a spectacular view over the city, perfectly aligned to the grid system below. As the night started to creep in, I managed to see some beautiful images as the people became silhouetted against the sky and the lights of the city began to light up the dark. It was mesmerizing, and beautiful (and somewhat romantic, thanks to the appearance of a giant wire-frame love heart that was present).

Inside the Nagoya TV tower at nightfall.

The tower offered equally as stunning imagery from the ground level. It was like a mini-Eiffel tower. Definitely a worthy travel destination (though it is worth noting there are several TV towers of this nature throughout Japan!).

Nagoya TV tower at night.

Nagoya by night; as seen from the Nagoya TV Tower.

Returning to Oasis 21, I only had time for the briefest of walks around the shops, pausing again for a few photos here and there (particularly of the dinosaurs). My priority lay on the roof; a stunning transparent floor of water which looks down upon the centre beneath, distorted by ripples in the water.

Women in kimono stroll on the roof of Oasis 21,

with the Nagoya TV Tower visible in the background.

Peering through water and glass to the floor below.

From the roof, the stunning view of the TV tower was breathtaking, with a peaceful atmosphere away from the busy city life. The bright city lights (including a ferris wheel in view) were being enjoyed by only a few small parties of people walking by, including few women walking around in kimonos. Relaxing with the sights and a cool breeze, I felt perfectly content within this city. It was around this point that it cemented itself as one of my favourite locations within Japan.

The roof of Oasis 21, as seen from the Nagoya TV Tower.

At last, I made my way back through the train lines to find Henry.

Henry had just finished work when I found him outside of his work; wearing a formal suit and with surprising energy for a man just off shift. Having not seen him in years, I was greatly looking forward to catching up. He led me to his local yakiniku restaurant, only a stone's throw from where we were. We relaxed and chatted about Nagoya, Japan, work and university days gone by.

Dinner time!

When we made it back to Henry's house, there was time for only brief video-game amusements (of the Mario Kart Wii variety - clearly inferior to it's N64 sibling). Henry had a mission; the West Ham game was on, and as a massive fan, it was the evening's mandatory entertainment. While I was rather passive towards the game (I only really care for Raith Rovers or Scotland international games), Henry's ongoing change in facial expressions were fun to document. He maintained an ongoing Skype text chat with his father throughout, and their shared burning enthusiasm was palpable.

Despair. Hope. Passion. 

The next morning, Henry and I had a small jaunt around town. Henry had intended to take me to Ōsu Kannon, but of course, I had already seen it. Despite this, I decided it would be fun to go again, regardless. And so we found ourselves back at the same location as the previous day, which I didn't mind at all, as it was a great chance to get even more photos of this particularly beautiful location.

Henry tries his hand at Buddhist prayer in Ōsu Kannon temple.

Ōsu Kannon is located right next to a very busy network of intertwined shopping arcades, which Henry had also wanted to show me. We made our way along the bustling streets, bearing witness to all manner of shop fronts and interesting locales. There was plenty to navigate, which took up a huge chunk of our day!

The busy streets of Ōsu.

Something for everyone, it would seem...

For lunch, Henry and I popped over to a chain of restaurants he insisted upon showing me; "山ちゃん" (Yama-chan). This local chain (which I have never yet seen outwith Nagoya) specialised in tebasaki - essentially chicken-wings with a spicy seasoning. Henry tried to convince me this chain could eventually take over the world a la McDonalds, but I have my reservations. I'm fairly certain the brand wouldn't fare as well internationally as KFC, and it's yet to even spread further outwith Japan itself! Having said that, the food was fantastic - some of the best chicken wings I've ever had. I thoroughly recommend anyone in the Nagoya area to make a stop here for lunch.

 

I approve.

Our main highlight of the day was the evening's rooftop Futsal tournament.

Futsal!

As I said before, Henry is a passionate fan of football, and plays it's 5-a-side variant - futsal - every weekend. Henry had invited me along to get involved in a mini tournament that was taking place that evening; including teams representing Scotland and England. Naturally, I found myself playing for Scotland and Henry for England.

Henry and the England squad.

It is often said that Nagoya has one of the largest foreign communities in Japan, and on this evidence alone, there were quite a few. There was a great turnout of people for the tournament - including several ex-pat Scots who now lived in Nagoya that were playing for the Scotland team. It was fantastic to meet them, listen to their accents and talk about their experiences since moving to Japan.

Passionate players.

I'm not particularly good at football, despite having a lot of affection for the game. I was slightly dreading the experience, as I've always found a few people can take these tournaments very seriously, and was worried a poor performance from me would let my side down (whilst representing my country, no less!). Happily, I don't think I performed all too badly - as I voluntarily kept myself in goals for most of the night. I didn't score any goals, but I kept a few out for our opponents, so that's all that counts!

Staying somewhat out of trouble.

These guys are pretty good.

In our international friendly against England, I'm pleased to report that the Scotland team was victorious! It must be said, of course, that Henry was a far superior player to myself.

Skills.


The evening winds down.

Leaving the tournament, it was a bit of a mad rush to get to the station in time for my late train that would take me back to Takamatsu. I had school the next day and was departing Nagoya around 9pm, so the Shinkansen would be my only sanctuary. After a small jaunt over to the station, which was thankfully not too far away, Henry and I said our farewells. He would shortly be heading off to London for the 2012 Olympics, and I wished him all the best on his travels. It had only been a brief reunion, but a very enjoyable one. Though I haven't seen him since, I'm hopeful that I'll be able to see him again before I make my final departure from Japan.

Luckily, I made it home in time thanks to the marvellous speed of the Shinkansen. Wonderful.

Nagoya's AKB48 variant.

It would only be a few more weeks before I'd be back in Nagoya, as I would be heading back in July to see a Sumo tournament for the first time (!). On this occasion alone, however, Nagoya had impressed me. It truly is a wonderful city, filled with excellent tourist destinations and plenty of chicken wings.

A damn fine place to visit.

Don't overlook it.