The school festival is clearly a much anticipated tradition and now that I have attended three of them I can say that there are clearly elements that must always be present...
The festival is actually a day (or in a large school 1 1/2 days) of performances by the students. There are songs, skits and a variety of presentations. The festival seems to be the focus of most of the fine art endeavors for the school year. It is always held on a weekend or holiday so that working parents can attend, and students and staff are given a day off in lieu.
Otaki currently has a vibrant drum program due to the skills and expertise of some of the current staff. As a result, there was a fantastic drum performance by all the students.
Taran and Joisan looked really good and did their part very well. There were two short plays (one that involved Taran in a box...),
several songs, some public speaking presentations, a couple of slideshows, a photo contest (in which Joisan won a prize!) and a band performance where Joisan played her flute.
The whole thing was organized and run by the students. Although it did not run as quickly as it could have - there was a lot of waiting around - it was a lot of fun and very well received. In the back of the gym there were displays of artwork, woodworking projects and writing samples.
Because the festival lasts all day, there was a lunch break. Everyone bought bento items from the concession and after we finished eating there were games in the library. Joisan was part of the group who organized the games and they were pretty fun - some great ideas to bring back to Canada for a fun fair or sports day!
The performances continued in the afternoon, with the people from the Warashibe (the handicapped adult care facility next door) joining in for a song or two! It was a very long day - particularly on top of the days and weeks of extra work leading up to it. But even still, the teachers went out afterworks to have a celebratory dinner. It was wonderful food (as usual!) and some of it even came with open flames on the plate!! Very impressive!
The Otaki school festival was held on the Autumnal Equinox - Thursday Sept. 23rd - (which is a day to remember and honour ones ancestors here in Japan) so the kids had the next day off. Unfortunately, I did not have the day off and after my office time and teaching at the kindergarten I went in to see the Date school festival. Joisan chose to come with me and she proved to be a very popular guest. She was a bit embarassed with all the attention she got as she was repeatedly told how pretty she is. It was a bit of a challenge to understand everything that was happening but it seems that each class (and there are sixteen classes at Date Chu) was given about five minutes to perform something - some were skits, some were dances - there was a drum performance too. Some of them were great and others were... not. We survived though and afterwards we went to have quick visit with my friend Mayu at the City Hall.
Saturday was the second day of the Date school festival but I opted out of most of it. I should have gone - that was the time for all the really good stuff - the band performed and there was a chorus contest - but I really wanted to go for my swim and spend some time together. Ian and the kids came with me for the swim - they played in the outside pool while I did my lengths. After the swim we took a quick drive out to Midori's farm and enjoyed some of her farm made soft ice cream. Then Joisan quickly got ready for dance and we headed into Date to catch the end of the festival. There was a beauty contest where the boys dressed up as girls, and a 1 minute improv contest. We were not able to stay for the closing ceremonies as Joisan had to get to dance. One thing I was really impressed with at the Date Chu festival was the banners that each class had made. They drew in pencil on white fabric and then painted them - very impressive!
The next day (Sunday) there was another school festival - this one in Tatsunan where I was teaching until I started at Date Chu. I only went for the opening ceremony and to see the grade one class perform their play in English. They did very well and it was great to see the students but there was another festival happening in Otaki so I had to high-tail it back to make my appearance at that! Ian and Joisan were helping Ato-san at his food booth. Ian is getting to be quite expert at making yakisoba on an outdoor grill!
Due to the festival on the weekend and an upcoming exam schedule I didn't have to go to Date Chu on Monday or Tuesday so I was able to spend both days at Otaki Chu helping with the preparations for their trip to Cowichan. I'll finish this up now and get the next update on asap...
Remember... if you see a crowd of Japanese kids in Cowichan next week please say hello and tell them you know us!
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