Teachers and students wore traditional festive clothing and big smiles! KATOH GAKUEN
On a hot July afternoon, over 240 young students of Katoh Gakuen Kindergarten, along with their families, enjoyed the annual Summer Festival. Almost everyone was dressed in traditional festive clothing.
Many grandparents attended and many PTA and volunteer parents happily pitched in to make this event a huge success. The Japanese and English teachers organized a wide variety of fun events, giving everyone many chances to experience Japanese culture in both languages. Since the kindergarten is located in Numazu city, regional traditions and specialties were included in the festivities. Children and their families made crab masks for warding off bad luck, and among the yummy array of festival food treats was grilled local horse mackerel.
At the closing assembly, everyone got together for traditional dancing (bon odori) and one of the dances was about Numazu.
Other features were a funny monster house and outdoor picture story shows. In all aspects of the festival, the theme of “tradition and fun with family” was felt by all and, most importantly, the children had a great time.
—LISA SANO
