Sports Day 2019 Ojika Island

Sports Day 2019

Ojika Island

Written by Lara - Instagram: possumspossy

In Japanese culture, Autumn is sports time. All across the country, this is the time when sports events are held due to the beautiful autumn weather. 

For more than 100 years, every year in October, sports day unites the people of Ojika Island. 

Many gather for a family-fun, friendly, day of competition among the districts. There are more than 25 teams and the schoolchildren provide entertainment through dance and the band.

Schoolchildren dance performance

The day began with a traditional Japanese morning exercise called "Rajio Taisou" (ラジオ体操)  everyone joined in - including the spectators.

This was followed by a few relay races and then the highlight of the event - The children vs elderly ball toss, this 100 year old tradition unites the generations and is just good old fashioned fun for all involved.

Anxiously awaiting the results

Very happy winners!

For lunch, it is typical for families to bring a packed Bento lunch and share stories about the day.
This year the rain meant the second half of the event was cancelled. Being a small island, with much of it congregated in one area, you can probably imagine the chaos that ensued as people tried to avoid the rain.

We were all separated into different cars, and headed to the Karaoke bar to share our bento lunch on a few tables pushed together, over funny stories about our journeys home.

After sports day each district has an afterparty to celebrate, to congratulate, and thank the people who participated. Because of the rain the official afterparty was postponed and instead we had our own unofficial after party which involved strobe lights, a smoke machine, a very amateur DJ attempt from me, and karaoke!

The official afterparty was held a few days later and involved delicious food and playing with the children so their parents could enjoy their time drinking and chatting.