“Undōkai”: The Day for Sports in Japan

This is Japan, after all, so the opening ceremony was no surprise.

Four second-graders rush a giant rubber ball to the hospital.

The little first-graders giving it a hurl.

My daughter and her classmates performing the Nanchū sōran dance, with their favorite kanji characters written on their backs.

Sixth-graders cap off their gymnastic performance with a human pyramid.

And they head around the bend . . .