Launching Over Japan

Here are three things I bet you didn’t know about Japanese elementary schools.

1. In elementary school you can learn to ride a unicycle. I think I mentioned this before on the blog, but it blows me away every time. Usually, the girls learn to ride them. I assume it is to teach them balance, but I really have no idea why most elementary schools have them. Still, it’s pretty awesome.

2. Stilts. Yes, many(but not all) of the schools I’ve visited have stilts. Once again, I assume this is for teaching balance, but you’d think there would be better way to learn it. Did we ever have stilts in Canadian elementary schools?

3. Human Pyramid Making. I just learned about his yesterday, but it appears the students participate in human stacking projects. They do towers three students high, so they can be rather dangerous, but we aren’t talking “Cirque de Soleil” here. After thirty minutes practices, many of the students complain of sore backs and knees. Gee, I wonder why. The only time I’ve ever seen this in Canada was during cheerleading events.

There you have it. More bizzare and awesome things coming from Japan.