Japanese School Gym Programs


Figure 1.--Here we see Japanese children engaged in a competitive game of tug-of-war. We believe that this is part of a gym class. Notice thre chin straps on the caps.

We do note that that schools seem to have important gym programs. We do not now a great deal, however, as to what the program in gym classes consist. We get the impression that calestheics and drill is or at least was a major part of the program. Hopefully Japanese reades will tell us more about the gym program. We see primary children involved in a range of competitions and gymnastics. We are less sure about secondary schools. We do not yet have much information, but we have aquired some images showing some of the activities for gym at various schools.

Calesthetics

We get the impression that calestheics and drill is or at least was a major part of the program.

Competitive Games

We see primary children involved in a range of competitions One popular game will be familiar to Western readers--tug-of-war. At one school the children divide up into teams identified by brightly colored capd. We are unsure just how common this was. Nor do we yet have much information on other games. As far as we can tell, the competitive games are mostly derived from Westerm games, but perhaps Japanese readers can tell us about some traditional Japanese games the children play.

Gynastics

We also notice Japanese children doing gymnastics in gym class. We note both individual and group activities. Generally speaking in Western countries gym class focuses on individual performances. I can only very rarely remember group displays at the amnerican school I attended. This seems to be in line with Japanese education whivh gives greater emphasis on group activities rather than competitive sports.

Non-competive Games

We notice children involved in non-competive ganmes for gym. One such activity is skipping rope. We are unsure just how common this was. Nor do we yet have much information on other games. Again we see children dividing up into groups with brightly colored caps.

Sports








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Created: 5:47 AM 11/20/2004
Last updated: 5:47 AM 11/20/2004