If you are into school anime then you know about school clubs. Some are weird like clubs that study the occult or in one anime there is a library exploration club, but this bento we explore sports clubs. Anime such as Teekyuu or Prince of Tennis, where students belong to the Tennis club, Haikyu (Volleyball club, Ping Pong (Table tennis club) and Hikaru no Go (Go club) may come to mind but there are way more sports represented in anime like figure skating, basketball and swimming to name a few.
To the average Joe who wonders about these clubs, it is quite easy to explain. A school club is a gathering of students that share a common interest, in this case, sport. The Japanese have various terms for clubs such as kurabu katsudou (club activity), bukatsudou (club activity), or saakuru katsudou (circle activity) or just bukatsu. These clubs also have names reflecting what they are all about basically the name of the specific interest followed by the suffix -bu (club). For example, sokkabu means soccer club or yakyuubu means baseball club.
The club activities depend on the club itself but that being said it is a commitment that is taken seriously. No-one would ‘club jump’ or skip out without having a good reason, changing clubs is also usually not done, meaning if you are in middle school and join the tennis team but after a year you are bored, then you stick it out for two more years and change when you join senior high school. Or if you are lucky your parents move and you change schools and then join another club.
Fun fact: There is almost no grass on Japanese school grounds, if there are, it is not allowed to be stepped on. And yes, kids do take a slip on sandy gravel at least once a day, so you can imagine seeing kids patched up or icing a wound is a very common scene in school classrooms. What is super sugoi is that other students generally help the injured to carry their things to the classrooms. Very nice teambuilding, and speaking of teambuilding The students generally plan the schedules, put together the exercises and requests the equipment. The teachers just oversee the clubs and make sure it looks safe. Sadly, some of the teachers overseeing these clubs don’t always know anything about it. The school may place an art teacher in charge of the tennis club, but don’t worry teachers do get rotated in and out of a club.
There is a great sense of acceptance in these clubs. If you want to join a club but can’t play the sport you will still be welcomed, you have senpais that are there to teach you. The senpai-system is a crucial part of bukatsu. According to our source:” Don’t underestimate how important the senpai position it. If you are the same age but one only started this year and the other played since the previous year then they are the senpai. Hearing third-graders calling their senpai who is the student from one class over is a surreal experience. Also, your ranking determines seniority on the team but not between classes. So the top-ranked table tennis player is the top dog in the club but all shy and reserved if they meet a senpai during school hours.”
According to our source, Japanese kids see school as their workplace and student as their occupation. So if you ask someone what they do for work they’ll proudly tell you they are a student.
Our source also revealed the following: “Now this might seem normalish but here’s the kicker, they seriously see school as prep for the workforce. So if a student doesn’t study then they see it as someone that won’t work hard. Now here’s the interesting thing. This applies to clubs as well. They see club activity as the same as making project commitments at work. So changing clubs look like a jumping project. So when they apply for a high school or uni they have to take a test and an interview, where they have to show which clubs they belonged to and what they did. Almost like a job interview. They check both skills and commitment.”
We would like our source Timothy who some of you may know from our AnimeFanatika Whatsapp and Discord for his insights and help with this article. There are so much more to Japanese school sports clubs and here is a great video to teach us more.