Saturday, February 03, 2007

Mama at the Marathon

For some reason, Japanese educators think it's a good idea for children to run around half-naked in the middle of winter. Thus, on Friday, my son had his school "marathon." I showed up to cheer the kids on as they ran from their playground to a shrine down the street and back - about a kilometer. The mothers were sensibly dressed in long underwear and down jackets, but the kids wore just T-shirts and shorts on a day when snow was predicted. Several years ago the school was known for its hadaka marason - "naked marathon" - in which children ran in their underpants.

My daughter's "marathon" was the week before. She did the course in a walker, and while wearing a track suit.

Happily, the kids were given warm drinks afterward.

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3 Comments:

Blogger jean said...

Hope both kids enjoyed their 'marathons.' It's amazing how popular running is here. Personally I hate jogging so thank the stars that I didn't have to go to school here. One of my biggest irritations about my son's (public) school is the uniform -- shorts all year round. It's idiotic. Thank goodness it's been a warm winter as the kid has absolutely no body fat to keep him warm otherwise.

4:25 AM  
Blogger Gaijin Mama said...

My son's school uniform is shorts all year round, too. Every day I fret about his little bare legs. The junior high school kids at the same school get to wear long pants in winter. How fair is that?

6:31 AM  
Blogger Kappa no He said...

Mine's school is also short pants all year. However, I send him to school in long pants when it is waaay to cold or when he is sniffling. I mean, yes, they might be warm runnng around outside but his school has no heating at all and the usually leave the windows open all year. *brrr*

11:40 PM  

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