All-Japan Model Hobby Show 2018.So I teach English in Japan, at junior high schools as well as elementary schools. Recently I had an English class with elementary fourth graders. We asked the students to pick out a sport they liked and a sport they didn't like. The sample pattern was "I like tennis, but I don't like basketball." We had the students interview each other as conversation practice. One boy wrote the response of the girl next to him: "I don't like sports." She didn't state any sport she liked; only that she did not like sports. The homeroom teacher found this to be an odd response and tried to correct what the boy had written, and the homeroom teacher asked the girl to confirm which sport she liked and what sport she didn't like. I could see tears starting to well up in her eyes. There was a pressure for her to say which sport she liked, and I could tell what was going on inside her mind. So I told her it's alright if she doesn't like sports. I asked her what she liked to do instead of playing sports, and she said "computers." So I shook her hand and said, "ME TOO! You aren't alone." She smiled and the tears stopped falling. I taught her say, "I like computers, but I don't like sports." I told her to not be embarrassed about that, and assured her that I am like her. She's a nerdy girl who likes computers and studying Korean. And there's nothing wrong with that.
I can't even pretend to give a crap about sports. However, I do enjoy watching the Japanese women's volleyball team. There was the big pre-Olympics playoffs in 2016 and Mayu and I would watch the games on TV. Mayu agreed that the men's volleyball team was boring. And I noticed that above all other countries' women's volleyball team, the Japanese team had so many pretty girls. Before the game, I would IM my friend and say, "get the lotion and tissues! The Japanese women's volleyball team is about to play a game on TV!" They are so pretty, but the women on other countries' teams tend to be brutes. IIRC, only the Finnish women's volleyball team had attractive women. So yeah, that's the extent of the crap I can give about sports. Only if it entails pretty girls with perfect asses.
There's a fairly intense social pressure to like sports. I'd say it might be even stronger in Japan, however I think Japanese youth are getting better at pushing back on such issues. In Japan, social pressure can help keep people polite and not behave quite as selfishly, but at the same time I think they need to push back and learn to not be ashamed of their individuality. If sports bore you, you are not alone.
All-Japan Model Hobby Show 2018.
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Click here to go back to the main page But if you do, you'd be even more boring. What, are you trying to make me mad or something?
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