In Japan, the tune which is very familiar to all the Japanese has been played on the radio around 6:30 a.m. every morning for more than 50 years, and has helped Japanese people build better health. The tune is for "ラジオ体操/Radio Taiso", which is an exercise program consisting of a variety of simple and rhythmical movements. The exercise is so simple that everybody can do it but, if you do it properly, you will find the exercise harder than expected. I've heard that this calisthenics program was created in Japan to promote health based on "Setting up exercise", which was broadcast on the radio by MetLife in America many years ago.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
This is the most popular tune in Japan!?
When I was an elementary school student many years ago, during summer break, many children with cards hanging from their necks walked to the nearby park every morning around 6:20 throughout Japan. I remember that my mother woke me up around 6 am so I could go there. At 6:30, when a popular tune started being played on the radio, all the people in the park started doing something. Can you guess what they were doing?
In Japan, the tune which is very familiar to all the Japanese has been played on the radio around 6:30 a.m. every morning for more than 50 years, and has helped Japanese people build better health. The tune is for "ラジオ体操/Radio Taiso", which is an exercise program consisting of a variety of simple and rhythmical movements. The exercise is so simple that everybody can do it but, if you do it properly, you will find the exercise harder than expected. I've heard that this calisthenics program was created in Japan to promote health based on "Setting up exercise", which was broadcast on the radio by MetLife in America many years ago.
I'm not sure exactly when I first learned the calisthenics, but I remember that I was often asked to do the calisthenics before starting doing sports in PE classes at school. Because of this background, I still remember how to do the calisthenics, although I haven't recently had opportunities to do it. At many factories and some offices, it's still common that workers are required to do the calisthenics every morning before starting their jobs. It's been said that doing the calisthenics has helped workers protect themselves from danger at work. I've heard that some non-Japanese workers in Japan complain about this custom, saying that it's so strange that they can't get used to it.
Anyway, as I described above, during summer break, school children went to the nearby park every morning, whether or not they were willing. This was a sort of summer event. These days, however, there aren't many school children who attend the summer event. I've heard that many parents don't want to let their children walk alone to the nearby park for security reasons. In addition, it seems that many school children go to bed late because they are busy taking lessons at cram schools and so on during summer break, so 6 o'clock in the morning is too early for them to wake up. Under these circumstances, the summer event has become less popular among school children.
Nonetheless, many parks have been recently busy around 6:30 every morning during summer break. Actually, this phenomenon can be always seen regardless of season. Can you guess why? This is because a lot of elderly people go to the nearby park every morning to do the calisthenics not only for good health but also to meet their peers. It's been said that the every-morning calisthenics at parks has been playing a great role in creating communities for elderly people.
Yesterday (the third Monday of September) was Respect-for-Senior-Citizens Day in Japan. Because of this, it's been reported that the number of people over 65 is 30,740,000, which makes up 24.1% of the total population in Japan. Both the number and the rate are the highest ever.
In Japan, the tune which is very familiar to all the Japanese has been played on the radio around 6:30 a.m. every morning for more than 50 years, and has helped Japanese people build better health. The tune is for "ラジオ体操/Radio Taiso", which is an exercise program consisting of a variety of simple and rhythmical movements. The exercise is so simple that everybody can do it but, if you do it properly, you will find the exercise harder than expected. I've heard that this calisthenics program was created in Japan to promote health based on "Setting up exercise", which was broadcast on the radio by MetLife in America many years ago.
