A Different Kind of Sport

Japan is well-known for it's enthusiasm and dedication to team sports. In an earlier blog I talked about my host brother and sister's school sports festival on Health and Sports Day. This time I'd like to get away from the usual topics of baseball and martial arts discuss a different kind of sports in Japan.



Recreational sports such as fishing, for example, are usually not what you think of when the words "Japan" and "sports" come to mind. Usually we think of baseball, kendo, or aikido because that's the image we're used to seeing. I was really surprised myself when my host parents suggested it, and even more surprised to see the amount of equipment they had. It may not have been an athletic sport in the traditional sense, but it's still a popular pastime that many people devote time and money to.



In this picture is my host brother Shun-kun on our second day of fishing. The docks were full of people. Most of them were families with children who were there just to relax and have fun, but there were also some more serious fishermen (and women) scattered about. What was really interesting to me is that in the US, fishing is generally considered an individual sport, but the Japanese tend to do it in groups. Over the span of two days, I can't say I saw a single person on the docks fishing by themselves.



The fish we caught were all very small (with the exception of my host sister, who hooked a monster of a fish but couldn't reel it up in time) and we brought them all home in a cooler. My host grandmother said that Japanese people usually fry this type of fish and then eat them whole. They were a little too fishy for me, but not all that bad.