Gunma Sports Day

On Friday I had the privilege to march with my school in the opening ceremonies for the Gunma High School Sports Competition that took place over the weekend. Most of the high schools from around the prefecture come together and have their own Olympic-style sports competition. Turns out that this is actually kind of a big deal as there was a news crew there to catch all the action. It was all rather exciting!

The head of the P.E. department speaks remarkably good English for a gym teacher in rural Japan and he's the one who got me involved. I'm rather surprised that I was asked because only 4 teachers got to take part in the day's events. Go me! He bought me a golf shirt to wear and asked me to try it on to make sure it fit. He bough a large and it, unfortunately, fit perfectly -_-' I don't mind being a large, I really don't. What I don't like is having a Japanese man assume - and be right! - that I am, indeed, a large.

When I got to the field that morning I was quickly surrounded by about 10 first year girls who thought it was a hoot that I would be marching with them. I was poked, prodded and interrogated by super cute Japanese 15-year-olds. When they found out that my hair isn't naturally red they all started stroking it and asking for locks. Then one of my favourite students points to her crotch and asks, "Black?" I just kind of blinked at her for a second. Did she really just ask what I think she did? At which point she does a bunch of other gestures that makes it perfectly clear that she really is asking what I think she's asking! So I told her it was a secret and all of the girls nod very seriously and repeat, "secret, secret". It was super surreal.

Then one of the other girls informs me that the original question asker is "hentai". I feign ignorance of the word but that doesn't deter her. It is very important that I understand what she is saying apparently. So off she goes and finds a boy with near perfect English and hauls him over to the group and demands that he translate for me. He shuffled around uncomfortably for a bit and then realized that he was surrounded by girls who weren't going to let him go until he translated, so he looks me square in the eye, turns beat red, and says, "Hentai means pervert." and runs away as fast as he can. Poor guy. Girl A beams at me and says with fierce pride, "I am a pervert!"

After that we all hung out for about an hour and a half waiting for our turn to march into the main stadium. This is where I find out that the march is rather serious and must be executed with military precision. I also find out I have to give a Nazi salute while we march past the TV cameras.