The Cynical Traveller goes to… A Cheerleading Competition
My regular readers will, of course, realize that I have strong opinions on the objectification of women. However, I’m always open to new experiences, no matter how painful.
My previous school, Iruma Koyo High School, had one of the best cheerleading teams in Japan and were going to the national competition in Tokyo. In the interest of school spirit, and only school spirit, I agreed to tag along.
However, I am once again hesitant to include photographs of my students, so the visible pictures included are of the professional teams who performed a demonstration at the end.
Now cheerleading isn’t a big thing in Australia. To be perfectly honest (and this is probably going to get me in a bit of hot water here) I’ve always considered cheerleading to be the last refuge of a dull sport. It’s the only way they can mildly entertain the crowd.
However, that’s not to say that I don’t appreciate cheerleading’s more salient points.
While the benefits of being able to wrap your own legs behind your head may not be immediately apparent, a little careful thought can bring up several situations where it might come in handy. Such as scratching an unwanted itch, or escaping from the deathtrap of a supervillian.
The competition was held in a large stadium in Tokyo. My cheerleading club teacher furnished me with a pass and I arrived fresh off the train in Tokyo, ready for some hot sexy action strong school spirit.
Strangely enough, I was stopped at the door by two security guards who wanted to know which school I was affiliated with. Who did they think I was? Some sort of ordinary pervert?
After assuring the guards that I was in fact, a very specific type of pervert, I was allowed entry and attempted to find my students.
My girls were all decked out in their costumes when I arrived. Basically, it looked like they had gone 10 rounds with a bedazzler and lost… badly.
The makeup had been liberally applied, in some case with a trowel, and they looked excited, energetic and, dare I say it, perky.
My girls were on third, so we sat down to watch the other competitors. Basically, it involved bouncing around the stage to techno music and grinning like a skull after a botox injection.
I’m not a huge fan of techno music, but if it has to be endured, I can heartily recommend it be accompanied by thousands of young women in short skirts. It somehow makes the experience more tolerable.
My team went out, pom poms flashing, and performed admirably as far as I could tell. To be perfectly honest, all the performances looked very similar and I have no idea what criteria they were being judged on.
Then, I was subjected to the worst occurrence of the day. One of the schools came out to Tony Basil’s “Mickey”. Now in my book, that should be grounds enough for immediate disqualification, but they actually got applause when they finished!
Anyway, my students came second on the day and there were numerous faces streaked with tear stained makeup. Luckily, there were plenty of people there to “cheer” them up.
Boom boom.
Stay cynical,
The Cynical Traveller
This entry was posted on Monday, November 21st, 2005 at 12:59 am and is filed under Events, Sports, Tokyo. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
November 26th, 2005 at 10:01 am
Apprently this doesn’t need any comments…
November 27th, 2005 at 2:40 am
A Yobbo’s View » Sunday Boredom Links says:[...] s
Filed under: Linkage — yobbo @ 5:40 pm
Random asian girl links: 1: Inside scoop on a Japanese cheerleading competition. 2: How her undying love for Tom Cruise inspired a p [...]
November 27th, 2005 at 8:01 pm
“Mickey” is actually a big cheerleading song her because of Fuji TV’s Wednesday Night program Wannai (Sui 10). It’s on at 10 and is like a lot like Mad TV. The biggest skit of Wannai is a guy who dresses up as a girl called Gorie and usually does a cheerleading dance to their theme, “Mickey”.
November 27th, 2005 at 8:20 pm
A lot of cheerleaders do their routines to Mickey. It doesn’t mean it’s any good. Now when a team starts to cheer to Dead Kennedy’s Holiday In Cambodia, I’ll be impressed.
April 5th, 2006 at 11:17 am
Chuckle* I didn’t know that japan had cheerleaders. I am a southern cheerleader myself? They sound good though!
April 23rd, 2006 at 6:36 am
Oh bravo my dear lad bravo, i know who you are (mainly cause you told me on the phone to look up this web site). But really my old chum if i came across this site in my own time i could still tell who it was the wrote this.
May 24th, 2006 at 11:12 am
very sexy Japanese cheerleaders
March 3rd, 2007 at 3:11 pm
hiya! i didnt know that Japan had cheerleaders lol well im a cheerleader from Northern Ireland and i wouldnt mind to find out more about yous.
April 17th, 2007 at 12:55 am
Cheerleading is most closely associated with American football, and to a lesser degree basketball. Sports such as soccer, ice hockey, volleyball, baseball, and wrestling rarely have cheerleaders.
May 17th, 2007 at 11:08 pm
10 rounds with a bedazzler
–great line. One that I shall be pla….using and adding your copyright.
June 5th, 2007 at 4:36 pm
haylee smells
November 22nd, 2007 at 9:32 pm
now after i saw a video on you tube with a thing called gorie, i can finally understand what gori is, lol,but still being very rare all that stuff..
i’m a cheerleader from chile,so it was great to know they are in a place so diferent and far away, bye