I have BLOGGED previously about the Japanese obsession with sports, but on this day I had the opportunity to see the sports carnival at the Kindergarten where I work part time. That's right a kindergarten sports carnival! I can't recall there ever being one in Australia, unless the kindergarten was connected to a school and then there would be only a couple of events for the kindergarten/pre-school. However this was a whole two days of sports for the kindergarten, including events for the parents and teachers (I'd like to see kindergartens try to do that in Australia). The other very different thing about the sports carnival here is that it was more like a spectacle of sound and sight, rather than just running races. Everything had lots of colour and music, and a lot of it was well rehearsed athletic demonstrations rather than competition, there were the competitive bits too, but in the end it was a lot of fun to watch (unlike some sports carnivals I remember from my school days). I'm just left wondering is it's main purpose just to create a lot of photo/video opportunities for the camera happy parents? Hmm, the jury's still out on that... I know there was a lot of effort put in by the students and teachers to pull it off so superbly.