Japanese sports day comes to Samo
The Japanese tradition, Undokai, also known as Japanese sports day, was brought to Samo for the first time on Nov. 14. Japanese programs from both Samo and Cortines High School partnered up to organize this event in the North Gym.
In Japan, Undokai is a community festival that embraces family bonding, athletics and dance. With an emphasis on team success rather than individual winning, every child has the opportunity to contribute in a series of groupchallenges. Students from Samo were tasked with completing challenges with students from Cortines High School. As the event is intended to emphasize teamwork, all the challenges required group involvement and collaboration. There were games involving throwing beach balls over students, eating donuts off a string and throwing balls into a bucket.
Many of the activities involved running, so the event was originally going to take place on the campus field. However, with the recent rain, it was adapted for the North Gym. Samo Japanese teacher Emily Kariya explained how the event was originally planned.
“The initial plan was to use the track, but the weather forecasts said it was going to rain on Friday, so we only practiced for one day before [the event], but it was perfect,”Kariya said. “We got the logistics down, Cortines came in the morning on Friday and we had an hour before they arrived to get the gym ready and get everything set.”
The event was originally planned in March; Kariya hosted other Japanese teachers from across Los Angeles to discuss how to increase participation in Japanese language programs.
Reflecting on the meeting, Kariya recalled how the idea for the sports festival was proposed. “The idea came up in March when Ms. Nesbit and I hosted some other Japanese teachers from theL.A. area to just talk about how to increase participation in Japanese language programs. At that meeting, it was actually Nesbit who said, ‘Hey, does anyone want to do a Japanese-style sports day, or Undokai with us?” Kariya said.
A range of people could participate in each game. Some games re-quired everyone’s involvement, while others involved groups. Gavin Bao (‘27), an event participant, shared his personal favorite game. “I enjoyed the Typhoon relay, which is where five people try and create a figure-eight with a pole, and the people on the outside move the fastest and they try and rotate around the entire pole,” Bao said. “Some people even lost shoes from going too fast.”
Overall, the event served as a way for students from different grades and schools to connect through a series of activities. By transforming the gym to mimic traditional elements of Undokai, students were able to experience the teamwork and community that shaped the festival.