picture of the day

Let's dance

26 Comments

Princess Aiko, top right, daughter of Crown Prince Naruhito, dances with fellow students during an athletic festival at Gakushuin elementary school in Tokyo on Monday. Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako attended the festival.

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26 Comments
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Yeah, I did the same with my kids today. Sports days at Japanese schools are soul numbingly boring. Wake at 6am, make all the lunch boxes, sit on a blue plastic sheet on a dusty gravel playground for 7 hours. There is a bonus if one of the kids come 1st, 2nd or 3rd but other than that it is hell.

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I thought she was scared of boys? Looks find to me

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Sherman I agree, that is why the fathers around here take a cooler full of beer which turns it into a nice day of drinking and chatting.

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Welcome to the wonderful world of Japanese School Sports Day. Long boring speeches, idiots hogging the view with their pro video camera + tripod setup, a lot of dancing (?) and a severe lack of sports. Back home in England it was full-on with sports. In Japan the kids know from a very young age that they will have to put up with this boredom and ridiculous etiquette for the rest of their lives.

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Aiko chan looks like she's enjoying the festivities.

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I wonder which one of those boys had bullied her the other day....

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Proxy/ NorthLondon; thanks guys. Beer and support, just what I needed. Thanks!

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Question of the Day folks! How many MEETINGS were there to decide with WHO dances with the princess? Just asking. My guess--10 meetings. I wonder how the poor bloke in this picture feels about it all.

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therat- i say about 20-25 meetings about the choice for the boy also telling the boy you must smile and act happy.

I used to teach (public schools in japan) and I have never seen a boy and girl that happy when folk dancing begins. Usually the boy and the girl makes a face words can't describe. Also parents taking photos the kids usually stop dancing or feels shy !!!! Did they hire a child actor or something.

One time, I've seen at sports day a girl literally stopped dancing because her father was taking extreme close ups of the girl and boy dance partner she said, " Stop ! Stop ! in nihongo several times but the father kept shooting his super duper extra lens Suny camera/ words mispelled on purpose

Just wondering ????

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I say no meetings whatsoever. This "kid" is actually an undercover member of the Princess's security detachment - trained to end a human life six different ways while barehanded.

Or have I been watching too much TV? :-)

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I DO notice that, while she has a grip on his hands, his fingers are out straight - almost as if he was instructed to NOT appear to be holding the hands of royalty.

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"sports" day in japan... a relentless assault of atavistic etiquette, excruciating "sporting" events and parents acting proud because the school principal tells them to act proud. Where will it end?

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I hate Sport's Day. Stresses the teachers out, the parents tend to hate it and... sports? Throwing a bunch of small plastic balls into a bucket isn't a sport. Waste of classroom time and the poor teachers end up working like dogs and the parents complain about how boring it was/how bad it was/how they should have done XYZ...

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it is nice she act like a child and not like an adult

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She's smiling and seems to be having a good time, Great.

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it is nice she act like a child and not like an adult

she will become an adult after her 50th visit to disney land.

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Good shot. Lovely.

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She's so pretty, smiling with sunlight basking her head.

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I say no meetings whatsoever. This "kid" is actually an undercover member of the Princess's security detachment - trained to end a human life six different ways while barehanded.

Hahaha....

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Aiko chan looks like she is missing some teeth, kind of like your typical Walmart shopper.

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Aiko chan looks like she is missing some teeth, kind of like your typical Walmart shopper.

...or your typical grade school student. Time for her adult teeth to start moving in, so the baby teeth are leaving. I wonder if she leaves them under her pillow?

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Why is there so many negative comments here. There is nothing wrong with this photo or Japanese sport days!!!!

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She is so cute.

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The boys pop is probably a very important/ wealthy man, you don't get to dance with royalty unless you can dance in society too.

Japanese "Sports" day is a travesty of the word "sports", it's "teamwork building/dance" day. Girls like it a lot more than boys - who get a measly relay to show of their prowess.

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Why are they dancing on sports day? They should be trying to CRUSH the opposition!!!!! Or is this the happy spoils of victory......

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Why is there so many negative comments here. There is nothing wrong with this photo or Japanese sport days!!!!

Negative. I dare say realistic. Better take off your rosy sunglasses Ilovenippon. Romantizing a country does it no service at all. There were, probably 25 meetings for this little photo op. Marketing is everything and the royals know how important it is to have the right image. No image, no Royal family, or one worth paying for--bottom line.

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