It’s almost 90 degrees outside. Summer is definitely here, devouring every inch of the concrete jungle we know as Tokyo. Even though it’s scorching hot outside, I still like summer time. It’s a time when we can enjoy long hours of daylight. It’s no secret that we all like the big fireworks. And most of all, we don’t need any excuse to eat more ice-cream or shaved ice. Summer brings back a lot of good memories for me. One in particular is the radio exercise.
Any kid who grew up in Japan knows the radio exercise. Once they hear the music, their bodies automatically start moving.
So why is the radio exercise a summer thing to do? Well, one of the assignments we got for the summer was to do the radio exercise. How do teachers know if we did it or not? Interestingly enough, almost every community has the morning radio exercise group. I remember getting up around 6 o’clock and heading over to a nearby park where there were dozens of people, young and old, already waiting to do the exercise. A radio cassette player was placed in front of us, and the leader of the group was anxiously checking his wrist watch. Once we were done with the exercise, we all waited in line for the group leader to stamp our radio exercise card. Now you understand how teachers know if we did the exercise or not. As proof, we would bring these cards to school at the end of our summer vacation.
You might wonder what the benefits of doing the radio exercise are. There are quite a few. Though I had a hard time waking up and getting ready, once you go outside, you’d be amazed how nice summer mornings are. The air is still cool and fresh and quite unlike the scorching hot afternoon. I also got to play with my friends after the exercises were done. And if we got enough stamps, the organizers would give us goodies like candies, cookies, and bubbles. By the time I got home, breakfast would be ready and it tasted so much better after a good work out.
So here, I present the one and only Japanese radio exercise. (I know it’s quite dorky…)
Now you can organize your own morning exercise club!
(The sitting position is for the handicapped)
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