School Festivals

School festivals in Japan are a big deal. They only happen once every three years. They are open to the public and have many different things going on. Each homeroom has their own project. For example, in the 1-1 homeroom they might have a haunted house, in 1-2, they might have a cafe, 1-3 might have carnival games, and there might be a concert in the gym. If you go to a school festival, you can go to all the classrooms and try all the different things. In America, my experience was a little different. One of the events at my high school was Mayday. Mayday is like a mix of sports day and the school festivals in Japan, but it’s private. During Mayday, we would have competitions between grades. We would have eating competitions, hula hoop competitions and play capture the flag. We also tried to raise money for charities. I had my head shaved to raise money for charity when I was 15. Mayday is a one day event with very little preparation. In Japan, a high school festival is two days, with a few days of preparation and a day of clean up. They are very different, but I think they’re both enjoyable.