Undo Kai "Sports Day" for Japanese Kids
This is the first of THREE galleries with Undo Kai pictures. To see the rest, go to the main gallery page (see the link above) and see the "Kids in Japan" section. In Japan nearly every school shuts down once or more per year for an "Undo Kai" -- a kind of sports day or sports festival. The kids are the main participants, but their parents and many people from the neighborhood come to watch and enjoy a community experience. For non-Japanese these events are a great opportunities to see and experience a side of Japan that you'll never discover from a guide book. If you live here, it should be easy to ask and find out when your nearby yochien has their Undo Kai. If you go, take your camera. The following pages will give you a glimpse of what you'll see. I took all these pictures at my daughter's preschool Undo Kai. At that age, most schools emphasize fun and not competition. This Undo Kai had one race that matched the kids roughly by height in groups of four or five each. Judging by the camera frenzy at that point, I'd say the parents were pretty excited to see how fast their kids could run.
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