Shougaku

About a month ago I, along with several other classmates, went to a Shougaku (grade school) to play with children. I do not recall the last time I was spanked so much, which is apparently normal for Japanese culture (at least in children playing) because the children were never corrected for doing it. That bit of strangeness aside it was a really great time.
When we first arrived we were split up in pairs to different classes and given large cardboard signs to hang around our necks that showed our flag and had our names and the name of our country (On a side note, I don't know how it was with all my fellow classmates, but most of the kids just called me "America", it was easier than pronouncing my name). We left our shoes at the door and were given slipper to wear inside. At first the children were a little intimidated by me, though even a little so by Olly, a smaller girl from England (not the UK, not Britain, even though England is in the UK/Britain I've learned there is a difference and they don't like to be referred to as "British"), but there were some braver children who decided to befriend us early on. After the class was seated (I've never seen kids this age so well behaved) they sang us two songs in Japanese and we introduced ourselves and talked about where we were from. The teacher showed the children on a map where these places were relative to Japan.

After introductions we were all given these cardboard circles with fruits on them to wear, Apple, Banana, Grape, and Melon and were seated in a circle. The children were taught what these were in English (grape and apple are the only ones that are different words). Then we chanted a phrase in Japanese that basically boiled down to "Which fruit do you pick" and fruits were called out and the people with those fruits had to jump up and find a new seat. We later found out that you could call out "Zenbu" (all) to make everyone get up.
After playing for ten minutes or so the cut outs were collected and the children were allowed to ask us how to say certain words in English. One child asked about a word that neither Olly or I knew, "Azarashi". So I pulled out my phone, which all the children found amazing, and looked up the word, it's a seal, as in the animal. What was amusing was that they seemed rather impressed that most of the words they asked Olly and I about were the same in English and English. They did, however, key into the difference in pronunciation in a few words (like "evening", Olly slurs her's a little more than I do). the only word that was truly different though is that in England a type of sweatshirt is called a "jumper". I was also asked how to say "Decade" as in Kamen Rider Decade, many of the boys were excited to discover I watch Kamen Rider, which is part of Super Hero Time on Sunday mornings along with Super Sentai.
Afterward we were turned lose to play with the kids indoors briefly before going outside to play. Many of my classmates were dragged into a game that was a lot like Red Light Green Light, except that when someone tagged the person everyone ran the opposite direction, I'm not really sure why, none of us figured it out. I was lead around by one boy that had adopted me and talked into trying to ride tricycles briefly, I was amazed I was able to do as well as I did, and it did amuse the children quite a bit. I met many kids and did my best to learn their names, it was hard to understand their Japanese though. Someone later explained that just like children in America speak broken English when they are small Japanese children speak broken Japanese, so when I realized how hard it was for me to understand a child's English I realized why it was near impossible for me to understand much that any of the children said.
Finally it was time to go, none of us wanted to leave (and most of us agreed that the day could only go downhill from here), but we had to get back for class and the children had their own lessons. They gave us a gift for coming, some snacks and a juice box, all of which were delicious, and the children escorted us as far as the gate giving us "fives" as one of the other guys had taught them. And after some masterful stalling on our part we finally had to get back into the Taxis and go back to Gaidai.
It was interesting to see, children really are the same in any culture, the way they play might vary, but they all do the same things. Without culture or language we would just be a single people, and you can take that as good or bad.
I do apologize for not having pictures, but it's hard to take photos when you're wrapped up in playing, and, even if I had time to take them they would be on my defunct hard drive right now. (the one shown was added later, apparently someone at the school took it and gave it to us)