Day Twelve

9:30am Sports Festival

By the time we had arrived it has seemed the festival had been going on for hours. The soccer matches were well underway and many teams had already completed their games. The place holding the festival was an enormous sports complex, large enough to host eleven tennis game, five soccer games, judo competitions, and basketball games. Even more amazing was this was for Junior High School sports. I had seemed that the whole city of Yamagta turned our for the even, but there was actually another sports festival happening elsewhere in town.

We spent the first half of the day with our host families. Many Koshares went sightseeing, shopping or watched local events. Some Koshares took the time to sleep in for the first time the whole trip. The following is how one Koshare spent his day with his host family at a local Junior High Sports Festival. The festival hosted several sports simultaneously at one facility. Several area citizen came in support of the activities that day.

10:00 Tennis and Judo

After watching some of the soccer games we went in search for my host sister. She had already arrived at the festival a few hours before us and she was to meet us near the tennis courts. I believed there would be no problem in finding her, but then I saw there was eleven different tennis games going on. In addition, the courts were surrounded by hundred of people. Picking her out would prove to be difficult. While we searched for her, I noticed that the sports festival had one of the most beautiful backgrounds for

the competition. In the picture above, you can see a wonderful view of the mountains behind the tennis competition. After running into several Dance Space members we finally located my host sister. We watched a few tennis games and then my host sister's English teacher stopped to say hi to her. I was introduced to her and had a short conversation with the teacher. My host sister then went off with her friends and me and my host mother went into a large building complex to watch Judo. Judo is much like wrestling, in which the object of the sport is to use the opponent's strength to overcome him. Most techniques behind the sport is throwing and grappling.

12:15pm Soccer Games

After watching the Judo competition our stomachs told us it was about lunch time. We met up with my host sister near the soccer fields and found that her school was going to play next. The students of her school practiced their handling of the ball near by and they were very skilled. Younger kids practiced just beyond the team, they were not old enough to compete but were watching the older kids in admiration. Soccer seemed to be the main event at the festival with at least five games going on at

1:45 Return to the Sports Festival

We returned to the sports festival to pick up my host sister. The competition was far from over, but the Koshares and Dance Space had to meet for a show at three o'clock. Just like any other teenage at a sporting event with their friends she wanted to stay just a few minutes more. So we enjoyed another soccer game. When that was over, she again pleaded for just a little more time. However, we had to go, for we would be late for the dance practice. My host sister stayed behind to cheer on her school and we headed to the car. By the time we made it back she was

3:00 Meet for practice

We met at the Kashiwakura Kuzaemon, a very old estate outside of Yamagata City. At the Kashiwakura Kuzaemon we learned about the history of the house on the grounds of the estate. The family who owns this estate hosts many artists and performers throughout the year and they were looking forward to see the performance by the Koshares and Dance Space. We practiced our routines as the family looked on with smiles on their faces.

the same time. The teams began and we watched a few plays before we knew it was time to go eat. My host sister had brought a lunch to the festival and wanted to stay and cheer on her school's team. We left the sports complex on a mission for lunch. McDonalds would be the choice for lunch and this would be the second time I would be eating at a McDonalds in Japan. I really looked forward to a cheeseburger. However, when we approached the resturant we knew it was very busy as cars waited in the busy street to make their way into the parking lot. There was another buger place down the street just like McDonalds, but the name I have since forgotten. There I saw fish burger, but still opted for the cheeseburger.

5:00 Show

We started the show with two ten minute performances in one of the houses at the Kashiwakura Kuzaemon. This performance would be difficult for we had to be very careful in this room of the house. The room was a gallery which housed art estimated to be worth $200,000 per piece. The two shows featured the Buffalo and Eagle Dance. After these two short performances we moved to the street in front of the Kashiwakura Kuzaemon for our main show.

Main Show

The show continued out to the entrance to the Kashiwakura Kuzaemon. This show featured the Commanche Dance, Hoop, Ruffle, Belt and an inter-tribal. In addition, members of Dance Space performed their Mogami River performance before the Koshares. As the show progressed more and more people gathered to watch the show. To end the show an inter-tribal was danced. All members of Dance Space and the Koshares danced inviting members of audience to join in. With many smiles and laughs there was a great applaude at the end.

Dinner

After getting dressed and cleaned up, we all met up with our host families once again. Most of the Koshares and their host families met at a resturant for dinner. We sat at a traditional Japanese table for this feast. The food was fantastic and the exchange between our friends was even better. All the Koshares did spent more time talking with the members of Dance Space. After the ice cream dessert, an arm wrestling challenge began. Steven Cameron challenged most of the girls from Dance Space. All the Koshares cheered on

the Dance Space members and to their delight the Dance Space girls won. The arm wrestling competitions spread thoughout the dinning area with three matches going on in various places. Jimmy McKnight wrestled against Nobu from Dance Space and won. Then it was Koshare against Koshare as Jeremy Manyik challenged Jimmy. When Jeremy won, the strongest member from Dance Space challenged Jeremy. A great struggle pursued and in the end Jeremy was defeated. After the competition, Jeremy was told that he just competed with the number three ranked police arm wrestler in the world. Soon after that excitement we were informed that we had just closed the resturant down. There was a little more conversation with our friends from Dance Space before we all gathered to go home with our host families.