Every fall the school holds "Sports Day." The students practice for weeks, before & after school, during lunch, and in P.E. classes. The 650-member school is divided into 3 teams: blue, red, and green. Friday was the big day for everyone to run, cheer, dance, race, and play tug-of-war. They also have these funny Japanese games that get pretty intense. The girls form two teams of about 80 girls each, stand on either side of a big field with 10' bamboo poles laying in a row in the middle of the field. The girls race to the bamboo and try to haul as many poles to their respective sides. Not surprisingly, they get very competitive and sometimes even mean, scratching, hitting, and trying to 'pants' the other team! The boys play a game with 4 people to a team. Three of them hold the other up on their arms & shoulders and try to grab hats off other groups. They too can get very physical so the big male teachers bravely stand on the field ready to intercept fights or other unacceptable behavior. From the sidelines, it's extremely entertaining! :)
The Blue Team marches in during the opening ceremony
Choreographed stretches that every Japanese person knows how to do
Relay race with teachers (I didn't have to run this year--yay! :)
Each team made up a dance to perform
The girls' bohiki game
& The boys' game 
The tug-of-war & massive jump-rope
Even though the students take the competitions very seriously, at the end of the day, they showed amazing & fantastic team spirit and unity, not just as teams, but as Oigawa Koko students! 
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