Take our user survey and make your voice heard.
Fourteen people were injured at a tug-of-war event in Akishima, Tokyo, on Sunday after a 30-year-old rope broke, causing participants to fall.
According to TV Asahi, around 170 people of all ages were taking part in the traditional tug-of-war event being held at a school sports day when the incident occurred. Police said the rope snapped during the event, resulting in several injuries, including a broken arm sustained by a 10-year-old girl.
"At first I didn't know what had happened. I just found myself falling over. Then the dust settled and I realized that the rope has broken and everyone had fallen over like dominoes," one participant told TV Asahi.
© Japan Today
18 Comments
Login to comment
gogogo
Police were called because a 30 year old rope snapped and a girl broke her arm and people fell over?
kansaifun
@ gogogo Yes, fortunately.... Or the "snap" would have been much worse, I fear!
some14some
30- years old rope...must be made in japan.
nakamuran
now THIS is news!!!
nath
Goes to show you that old ropes always fail
ExportExpert
Amazing .................
mitoguitarman
I love it that this is news, instead of the horrific news coming out of so many countries. We are lucky to live here.
Ranger_Miffy2
mitoguitarman...try reading other more serious posts at JT. I'm not so sure we are lucky to live here. Howeve,r we do, and Japan is about to show the world the results of nuclear meltdown and how the country does/does not react to it. Tug of War is the least of our problems.
plasticmonkey
Sorry, but this sounds piece reads more like a Monty Python sketch.
marcels
They certainly won,t forget that sports carnival,it will go down in the history of that particular school as folklore....
Elbuda Mexicano
I saw on a Japanese tv show about a tug o war but over in Taiwan and it was horrible, one guy LOST HIS ARM! His arm was torn off from the rest of his body in a tug o war so these things can be scary.
Raymasaki
well its stuff like this id rather read than the stuff on/in JP the artical below this one on todays headlines sounds REAL BAD.
Kamala Brown-Sparks
Okay, can I just ask why they were using a thirty year old rope to play tug-of-war in the first place?
SwissToni
Bingo! Kamala hits the nail on the head. This is the reason the Police were called. Why was the school using a thirty year old rope? It simply isn't common sense.
whiskeysour
Only in Japan a " Dangerous Tug Of War can happen. " Will there be a movie about this, " Casualities of Tug Of War "
Novenachama
Tug o war was part of the Olympic games until the 1920, but was discontinued. Now a days the sport is contested in the World Games with championships for nation teams biannually. In fact the biggest tug o war and the Guinness Record holder contest was held in Okinawa last year with participants pulling on 200 smaller ropes attached to a main one with huge gold ball cracking open showing confetti which i guess added to the fun. This festival dates back to the 17th century when it was used to help predict the coming year's future. I don't think anybody severed their fingers or hand or lost an arm but tug o war can get nasty and very dangerous. People have actually been killed in the past. That's scary.
mitoguitarman
"Good Bad Ranger_Miffy2OCT. 10, 2011 - 08:13PM JST mitoguitarman...try reading other more serious posts at JT. I'm not so sure we are lucky to live here. Howeve,r we do, and Japan is about to show the world the results of nuclear meltdown and how the country does/does not react to it. Tug of War is the least of our problems."
That's so true. But aside from our problems with nature, the nuclear power industry, politicians, and yaks, we are pretty darn lucky. And Tug-o-war news is so cute.
nath
Yes this is news. and it is interesting or you wouldnt have taken the time to check it out. Every news site has random new and not so amazing news. If you are not interested then skip it. Why do you even take the time to type a comment if you arent interested in the topic? MOVE ON
with that said, I'm glad that it wasnt more serious. Using a old rope like that, they should have someone check it regularly. Sometimes, I think many in JP have very poor ideas of risk management.