You may know
today’s guest as “japantravelbug” from social media or read her articles about
Japanese papers like Tokyo Weekender. But today we will talk with Sarah Hodge
(a.k.a japantravelbug) about a topic she works hard to help people get to know
internationally... Men’s rhythmic gymnastics (MRG)
Sarah Hodge a.k.a. japantravelbug
Burcu: Welcome to my page, Sarah! First,
can you introduce yourself to my readers?
Sarah: Hello Burcu, and thank you so much
for today’s interview!
Ever since I
was a child, I had two goals: to become a writer, and to move to Japan. I’ve
been blessed to realize both.
I was always a prolific reader and writer even as a young child. I entered
several poetry and writing contests throughout elementary and high school and
published short stories and poems as an exchange student at a French university
in Canada.
My childhood
neighbors across the street and many of my elementary school classmates were
Japanese (my city has strong ties to the Japanese automotive industry), which
sparked a lifelong interest in all things Japan. I formally studied Japanese
language in high school and college and applied to the JET Programme (language
teaching exchange) in 2006.
I taught
English in Japan for six months in 2010-2011 and have lived here since December
2015 as a full-time English teacher. In my spare time, I frequently travel,
take cooking classes, culture experiences including kimono dressing, tea
ceremony, and Zen meditation, and publish travel and culture articles for Stars and Stripes newspaper, Tokyo Weekender magazine, JNTO and
other websites and blogs.
Burcu: Can you tell us the history of
Japan’s Men’s rhythmic gymnastics (MRG)
briefly?
Sarah: Men’s rhythmic gymnastics (MRG, in Japanese 男子新体操) is a sports invented in Japan 70 years ago that combines
calisthenics and elements of Swedish, German, and Danish gymnastics. A
compulsory RG routine for boys and girls was introduced into Japanese schools
in the 1940s to promote fitness. MRG was made an official event at the National
Sports Festival held in 1947, and the All-Japan Intercollegiate Rhythmic
Gymnastics Championships started in 1949 (All-Japan Inter-High Championships
were introduced in 1952).
There are two variations of MRG, individual (where gymnasts
perform solo with one of four apparatus) and team, which focuses on tumbling,
flexibility, balance, and synchronization. Today there are nearly 2,000 men’s
rhythmic gymnasts active in Japan, from junior clubs through university level.
It’s also common for brothers in the same family to pursue MRG...there is even
a set of identical triplets that all are all rhythmic gymnasts!
It’s
important to note that although a handful of other countries including Russia
and Spain also practice men’s rhythmic gymnastics, there are significant
differences bewteen them and Japanese men’s RG. Also, men’s rhythmic gymnastics
is not currently recognized by gymnastics governing body FIG. As such, it is
not an officially recognized sport at the Olympics.
Kokushikan Men’s RG senior Takuto
Kawahigashi (2019 team captain / 2019 Eastern Inter-College champion / 2019
All-Japan all-around champion ) at Kokushikan’s Tama Festival (Photo: Ouen MRG,
November 2019)
Burcu: What are the differences or
difficulties between team version and individual MRG? I read in one of your
articles that individual men’s rhythmic gymnastics is not as well known as team
MRG. What could be the reason for it?
Sarah: Team MRG is better known
internationally as several top university teams like Aomori University (Aomori
City), Kokushikan University (Tokyo) and Hanazono University (Kyoto) are
frequently invited to perform overseas, but there are fewer opportunities for
individual gymnasts to perform solo abroad unless they travel / perform with
the team. Team routines are performed without apparatus and are based on
synchronization and complicated crossovers and tumbling, so more difficult or
risky elements can be worth extra points in competitions. This also makes for
dramatic edge-of-the-seat moments for spectators as well.
Individual
routines feature one of four apparatus: stick, clubs, double rings, and
rope. These apparatus (and resulting
performance styles) are different from those used in women’s RG. An individual
gymnast has only one minute and thirty seconds for each routine. Individual
gymnasts also have creative control over their costumes, choreography, and
music. Each gymnast has several unique costumes and coordinating apparatus for
their different routines, making it easy to recognize them from the stands. In
some cases, a gymnast will wear a teammate’s (or older sibling’s) former
costume in tribute.
Many men’s
rhythmic gymnasts choose to join performance groups like Cirque du Soleil or
BLUE TOKYO after graduation.
Cirque now
sends talent scouts to Japan to recruit Japanese men’s rhythmic gymnasts and
has created new acts to take advantage of Japanese men’s RG synchronized
tumbling skills. In fact, many performers in Cirque Du Soleil’s Michael Jackson ONE show in Las Vegas (https://www.cirquedusoleil.com/michael-jackson-one)
are top MRG talent, including
former national champions.
BLUE TOKYO (http://www.bluetokyo.jp)
was created by Coach Sakae
Arakawa of Aomori Yamada Hıgh School Men’s RG team and Coach Yoshimitsu Nakata
of Aomori University RG Team (both alumni of Kokushikan University RG Team) to
create opportunities for graduating gymnasts to continue performing. BLUE TOKYO
members are alumni of Aomori University MRG Team, the undefeated national MRG
champions for the last 18 years.
The winners of World of Dance Las Vegas in
December 2017
BLUE TOKYO also appeared on top
TV show America’s Got Talent in 2018.
Burcu: How have you met Kokushikan
University rhythmic gymnastics team? And why you decided to introduce them
internationally?
Sarah:. I first met Coach Kotaro Yamada
and Kokushikan University RG Team in June 2017; I was invited to the
Kokushikan Tama campus by a fellow MRG fan. At that time, there was very little
information about Japanese MRG avaialble in English, and I had spent many
fruitless hours searching on Google and YouTube without success. Because of
this, I felt it was important to publish an up-to-date English-language
newspaper article about Japanese Men’s RG with accurate, timely information. We
spent the afternoon interviewing the team, which was later turned into a
newspaper article distributed widely throughout Japan and online.
Kokushikan
Men’s RG Team (Photo: Ouen MRG)
By chance,
my new Japanese friends were also interested in promoting MRG in English to
increase international visibility of the sport, and I became involved with
proofreading MRG video subtitles as well as proofreading and writing English
blog articles and reports (including on Kokushikan’s RG’s official page www.kokushikan-rg.com).
My men’s
rhythmic gymnast friends have invested so many years of hard work and passion
into their sport that the world deserves to know about and appreciate this
incredible talent!
Since 2017,
I’ve actively promoted Kokushikan as well as other high school and college
men’s RG teams like Hanazono University, Aomori University, Aomori Yamada High
School and Ibara High School Men’s RG Teams through international outreach on
social media. Ibara High School’s extreme flexibliity and awe-inspiring
routines (they were national high school champions this year and ranked second
nationally) have made them a social media sensation, with their videos viewed
over 20 million times around the world!
Ibara HS MRG Team routine 2019:
It’s my
honor to count many men’s RG coaches and athletes as personal friends.
Supporting men’s RG has been one of the highlights of my time here, and the MRG
coaches and fans
(especially
the gymnasts’ families) have been incredibly welcoming to me as one of the very
few foreigners supporting the sport here in Japan.
Burcu: Can you introduce the team of
Kokushikan university rhythmic gymnastics team to us?
Sarah: My pleasure! Kokushikan University RG Team is one
of Japan’s oldest MRG teams dating to the 1950s, as well as one of the top
teams in Japan with 41 gymnasts (16 individual and 16 team gymnasts, with 9 in
reserve / supporting roles). Although not part of the performance team, several
Kokushikan graduate student athletes help coach the school’s junior, high
school, and university RG teams. The gymnasts spend so much time together
practicing and performing that they become a closeknit family.
Coach Kotaro
Yamada began performing MRG at sixteen during his first year of high school. He
was an individual gymnast for four years during college and two years following
graduation and became director of Kokushikan University RG Team in 2007.
He
personally recruited the members of Kokushikan University RG team on scouting
trips around Japan. All of Kokushikan’s gymnasts were rhythmic gymnasts in high
school, but many also practiced other sports like judo, soccer, baseball, and
track and field.
Under Coach
Yamada’s guidance, the team has consistently ranked as one of the top men’s RG
teams in Japan. Kokushikan is known for its signature balance pose (one of the
required elements in competition) as well as the depth of the stories behind
their team routines. A great deal of thought goes into the selection of music,
story, and team costumes, and sometimes Kokushikan alumni assist with
choreography and creating new routines. Many of the top individual gymnasts in
Japan (including this year’s individual high school champion Hiromu Moriya and national all-around champion Takuto
Kawahigashi have come from Kokushikan.
A typical
rehearsal is from 16:30 to 22:00 on weekdays and 9:00 to 21:00 on weekends.
Spring floor time is divided between individual and group teams and between
Kokushikan Junior and High School Teams and the university team. Warm-up lasts
about an hour for all gymnasts and consists of stretching, strength training
and basic gymnastics.
In high
school, some men’s rhythmic gymnasts perform as both individual as well as team
gymnasts, but at the elite university level, this is even more challenging due
to the grueling class / practice schedule.
When you see
Kokushikan’s breathtaking, perfectly synchronized performances, what you don’t
see are the countless hours of rehearsal and fine-tuning to make these routines
a reality. Personally, I find watching rehearsals just as rewarding as seeing
the final polished routines.
Your readers
can get a good feel for the “behind the scenes” in this two-part
English-subtitled OuenMRG Kokushikan documentary filmed shortly before
All-Japan National Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships 2018, where the team took
second place:
Part 1 (individual gymnasts):
Part 2 (team gymnasts) :
Burcu: How can the readers of this
interview and people in Japan support the
Kokushikan university rhythmic gymnastics team?
Sarah: Coach Yamada
would like audiences all over the world to see Kokushikan University RG Team
perform; the team is frequently invited to perform at overseas events including
Festival del Sole (https://www.festivaldelsole.it/)
in Italy, World Gymnastrada and AGG World Championships in Finland, and
Paws for a Cause in Atlanta.
According to
Coach Yamada, one of the most impressive moments for Kokushikan University RG
Team was at Festival del Sole in 2016 and 2018.
Dubbed “flying samurai” by the
local Italian press, Kokushikan’s incredible performances (which utilized long
ropes, individual apparatus, tumbling, and balance and flexibility poses) wowed
10,000 spectators during the four-day festival.
In addition
to performing overseas, Coach Yamada and the team also offer MRG workshops to
international gymnasts and coaches, and he would like to see more MRG programs
started overseas.
Upcoming events are published in Japanese on the team’s
official website www.kokushikan-rg.com.
Thank you
for supporting Japanese men’s rhythmic gymnastics and my friends from
Kokushikan University Men’s RG Team!!
Burcu: Thank you for the interview Sarah!
Now you can count me as an unofficial supporter of Kokushikan university
rhythmic gymnastics team, too ;)
To read
Sarah Hodge’s articles and learn more about Kokushikan University Rhythmic
Gymnastics team, you can follow japantravelbug social media accounts;
(Special
thanks to Coach Kotaro Yamada and Kokushikan University RG Team, Ms. Yuki Julia
Ito and Hiromi Matsumoto (translators), and Mitsuyoshi Akiyama / Ouen MRG for
the use of team photos and video.)
){kind=link}