I t's really autumn in October when a field day is held in the elementary and middle schools all over Japan. Buntings are flapping in the sky, tents are set up around the truck, white line is drawn along the running course.
School children come together wearing training uniform and a red or white cap.
P arents and grandparents also join the field with home made lunch boxes in hands to cheer children. Encouraged by the cheer of family and friends, children play gleefully in running, ball casting to the basket, big ball rolling, obstacle racing, gymnastics, relay running with parents, and folk dance. In the lunch time children rush to the family lot to enjoy home made lunch. It is really wonderful to take rice ball or delicately arranged rolled Sushi under the blue sky of autumn. After lunch, the program still goes on.