go team! [2008.05.28]

This coming Sunday and Monday is the All-Saikai Junior High School Sports Tournament and things look to be pretty serious.  Every sports team (club) from all eight of the junior highs in Saikai City will be competing at locations throughout the area (remember that in this case "city" is more like "rural township") and unfortunately it is physically and temporally impossible for me to make it to all of the various games and matches.  Perhaps I should say "we", since Drew (my old roommate) will be arriving on Friday for a long visit.

In preparation for all that, we had a pep rally today at school.  Well, "pep rally" would be the equivalent event in the US, but I would hardly apply that word and all that it entails to today's assembly.

To start, there are only about 130 students in the school, making it substantially more difficult to have crowds of yelling and cheering students.  Another barrier to crowds of yelling and cheering students is a bit more formidable: Japanese culture.  First though, some context.

There is only one non-sport club at Oshima JHS, and the art club's only been around since this past April.  This is fairly common, from what I can gather, or in the very least the majority of clubs are sports clubs.  Students only belong to one club, and that club becomes their group.  Occasionally students will change clubs between years, but this isn't overly common I don't think.

So for the assembly, the students that aren't on one of the teams sat and waited in the gym, seated on the floor as usual (only the graduation and entrance ceremonies merit chairs, and that's because they put down a special rubber floor).  They put some marching music on the PA (the same as in the Sports Day last weekend, which is its own story), and all of the teams marched into the gym in turn, to the applause of those of us waiting inside.

That was about as "peppy" as it got.  It bears noting that the applause was the standard "I have to clap" applause, and there was certainly no "hooting" and / or "hollering" involved in any way whatsoever.  Well, except from me, but I'm a crazy foreigner.

Once in the gym, everyone stood up and bowed to begin the assembly, and then the teams took turns hustling up on stage, introducing their members, bowing with a hearty "onegaishimasu!" and hustling off the stage, with varying levels of loudness and enthusiasm.  After that there was a speech from the principal, a speech from a student council member, and then we all sang the school song.  The assembly was closed with a bow, and then the each team got together for their team picture.

Not quite the old "rah rah siss boom bah!" is it?

forget love, let's crush the future opposition!

-greg.

ps: oh, "onegaishimasu" means... hm.  well, it gets used all the time actually, but it is kind of like asking someone for a favor, or for support, or as a nice way to ask for something or.... it's polite, and it's important, but don't quote me on the rest.