Chinese Students

Yesterday, a bunch of Chinese students dropped by the school. I think the Chinese students were from a wealthy private school, they were on a four-day field trip to Japan, and they wanted to stop by a Japanese school on their way to Mt. Fuji. So, they came here. Not surprisingly, the staff here had been excited about this for weeks, so, they’d been preparing by practicing their Chinese.


When the Chinese students arrived, there was a lengthy opening ceremony. The Japanese students performed a choral piece for the occasion. Guess what it was. Hallelujah! Again… It never ceases to be weird. The Chinese students then answered back with their own song. It sucked. They totally half-assed it. The Japanese don’t mess around when it comes to chorus performances. They practice and practce, and nearly every sings their hearts out. These Chinese students just couldn’t commit.

After the songs there were a bunch of boring speeches. Then, the leader of the Nakatomi student council stepped up to the mic and said (in English), “now we are going to have an arm wrestling competition.” “Really?” I said to the teacher standing next to me. “Yes,” she replied. Then they brought out a desk with a pad on top of this. They were serious. “Takeshi our school champion. Who will face him?” The Chinese students looked confused. I don’t think they were prepared for this. After a lot of hesitance, a very large Chinese student stood up and walked over to Takeshi, who is about a foot shorter. These Chinese students were from Beijing – Northern Chinese – horsemen. They are tall. So, Takeshi faced off against this enormous Chinese man, and, after a long deadlock, won. He actually won. I was surprised, but not as surprised as I was about to be.


“The girls’ champion is Nao. Who will face her?” Really? Nao? Nao is this short, little cute girl with wide eyes and a perpetual look of confusion. She, apparently is the girls’ champion. So, an enormous Chinese girl stands up and towers over Nao. Then they arm wrestle. Nao destroys the Chinese girl. It was unbelievable. I think the Japanese kids had been practicing their arm wrestling for this occasion. I mean, their form was really good. They practice everything.


After the feats of strength, nothing else interesting happened – more greetings and gift giving. The Chinese students were only here for two hours. Come in, sing a song, give some gifts, say “thank you”, arm wrestle, and get out.