Sports Day, fool

Today was Sports Day at my school. Normally I'd be pretty pissed off about showing up to work on a Saturday, but it was a really fun day and the kids were so into it......and subsequently I get Monday off. For those of you who don't know, Sports Day is like the American field days of yore but with lots of J Pop and no ice cream sandwiches. Basically they divide the school into two teams, red and white. The teams compete and whoever has the most points at the end of the day wins. There's a lot of certificate/trophy giving too. Because I work at two junior highs, I got to attend both!
As far as events there was lots of running, tug of war, a shirtless version of chicken fighting, some tire thing, and lots more. The bands also played: cue Star Wars theme again as well as a rockin' cover of Oh Mickey You're So Fine. The whole day ended in tons of rain, but the kids loved it and all the excitement made them way less shy to me than usual.


This is a tradtional Japanese folk dance. I was wondering if we have anything like this in the US, and I'm not counting square dancing.


I still don't know what the deal was with this, but it was some sort of skit and this guy defeated a dragon.


You put a bunch of tires in the middle of the field and then try to pull them from your opponents. Probably my favorite event.


This is the kocho sensei awarding some certificates.


This was another relay, sort of like three legged race.


Soaking up Sports Day before the downpour.