There is a holiday called "Physical Fitness" day in Japan. Traditionally, kindergarten to high school, mini Olympic-like field day event was held in October. Over the recent years, more schools have this event in May. My kids' public elementary school holds this field day in mid September.
Japanese society was swinging in the direction of non-competitiveness, group harmony over the past twenty years, but I started to notice the pendulum swinging back towards competitiveness recently.
The program of the field day seem to reflect this. This year's "kiba-sen" (concept of horse mounted knights battle) was separated into two battles, one was one army against another, the other was one-on-one. The spectators were watching intently as one team fought against another. In Japanese society, people frown on showing fierceness. But with "kiba-sen", we see the fight to win in pure form. I was watching the entire battle, all caught up in fascination and excitement, forgetting even to take pictures. So here's the pre-battle waiting and post-battle winner announcement scenes only. White caps beat the red caps.
