Group Society

Today was Marathon day at school and no, I didn’t run! I would like to get a little fitter before I embarrass myself in front of 1000 students and teachers.

The boys had a 12km run while the girls did 6.5km!

I would always try and be absent when we had cross country at school so I was quite content to act as cheerleader today on the home stretch (actually they had to run past that part 3-4 times before finishing so I got to see everyone over and over again).

It was so sweet to see the kids struggling and then pick up a little as I started jumping up and down and urging them on in Japanese and English. A few of them were embarrassed but most of them had smiles on their faces and kept shouting things like “I don’t like running”, “No more” and “Stop now please!”

One of the things I love about Japan is the group culture. It doesn’t happen all of the time but in the schools you see kids working together in a way that just wouldn’t happen at home. One of the first year boys at my school is very large. Even though I’ve never seen anyone be mean to him he never has a huge group of friends around him.

I was quite worried today when I realised that his size wasn’t going to get him out of the 12km run even though most of the girls had over taken him on the second lap. After a few kilometers a teacher started to run with him to help him out and every time he went passed me I would cheer him on just like the others.

He was always going to be the last to finish and by the time he came to the last lap most of the other kids were well rested and lined up ready to go back to the school. I noticed the boys from his class shouting to each other and they suddenly all took off in his direction. They all joined him for the last lap and were cheering him on right until he crossed the line.

If there had been any sort of malice in it the teacher would have shooed them away which makes me believe that they really wanted to help him. I felt quite ashamed of myself as it must have been so hard for him but he still did it. I chickened out because I was worried about everyone seeing me sweaty and red-faced. Next year……..