Practices for Japanese Sports Festivals Have Begun

After talking with some of my friends, I have decided to give this blog another shot. I'm sorry to all those that I've kept waiting. I'm going to do a better of job of posting things here.

Today, I thought I'd post something cultural. In the fall term, elementary and junior high schools in Japan are very busy with their sports festivals. These festivals are to celebrate physical education in schools, and make for a fun way to compete with your fellow classmates. Running races, obstacle courses, tug-of-war, and dance are some of the events that you can see at these events. As the title indicates, the practices have just begun, meaning the actual festival should be just around the corner. Pictures will be posted more later.

In other news, I've begun my marathon training this month. I hope to be able to run the full Nara Marathon in December, as it's been awhile since I've run this far.

Aikido is also going well. In August, I passed the 4-kyu (4th degree lower belt) test, and am on my way to get those oh-so-stylish hakama along with the 1-dan (sometime in the future).

Once again, my apologies for not keeping up with this, and I hope to share more of my tales here in Japan!