Seika Yochien 61st annual sports day

It was Japan's national sports and fitness day and it was a big event!! Sport's day was supposed to be on Saturday, Oct. 11 but it was rained out. Unfortunately, the school phone tree was pretty slow and they never got to us, so we ended up leaving for the event!! Thank goodness we ran into one of our neighbors that told us it was canceled :)

The make-up day was Columbus day, Oct. 13. Sport's day was supposed to last roughly 6 hours sitting in the sun and dirt, watching Japanese sporting events and dances! There was an opening ceremony, speeches, flowers, raising of the Japan flag, etc!! It was literally like the opening ceremony to the Olympics, LOL! (Right before the event started, there was the lighting of the cellophane Olympic flame...)

Rowen's preschool class did an opening ceremony dance and participated in a few races. He was a good sport for the most part but there were some tears as well. I think he does pretty well at school when we're not there with him. But at these school events, when he sees us there, but cannot be with us, b/c he has to be with his class, he gets upset and starts crying.
I already knew when we arrived that morning, that Rowen was not going to make it the whole day. He was still tired from the previous school week (he had some long days for sports day practice). After his last performance before intermission, we decided to leave and go home so Rowen could relax for the rest of the day :) Hopefully, for next years big event, we will all be there for the closing ceremony!

** In the pictures that you see, all the little kids in uniform are students at Seika Yochien. The youngest kids are in the pony class (2-3 yrs) and there is also the sweet pea and daisy class for the older kids. It is quite amazing what they teach the older kids. In sweet pea, which Rowen will start in April, the kids learn to clean the classroom and serve lunch, along with other responsiblities.
Getting back to sports day pictures, if you notice the students that are part of the school band, they are in the oldest class and are only 6 yrs old!! Pretty amazing that they have such a big task at sports day to be the main school band! I think it would be pretty cool if Rowen attended Seika long enough to learn how to play all those instruments, not to mention he would probably be speaking Japanese by then too!

**Sport's Day Gallery**