Yosakoi

Everyday, I seem to learn new things about Japanese culture. One such thing is the importance of the annual Sports Day called うんどうかい (undoukai). I didn't realize that it would take precedence over most things during the summer months and most of September. For example, one day, a school forgot I was coming and scheduled undoukai practice instead of the ALT class and then another requested I start teaching after it was over. That's great because Sports Day is a fun event that brings the school together and sometimes even feeder schools.

Yosakoi practice
Although, I have not started teaching at my schools, I asked to be shown where they are located and when we visited my junior high school, they were rehearsing for their Sports Day. All of the school was in the gym working on perfecting an awesome looking dance called yosakoi. It is really fast paced and and looks like a combination of martial arts and dance. Everyone holds noisemaker as they dance and the movements mimics farming life as the dance originated in more rural parts of Japan such as Shikoku. There are many yosakoi festivals popping up all over Japan and even one in Wakayama City. I hope to be able to join one of the yosakoi practices with my students when I start teaching!