Here's a fun exercise: Ask Japanese adults how they spent their childhood summers. They'll almost always mention rajio taiso, the morning exercises they did in neighborhood groups during the school holiday. Then ask if their own children participate. Chances are their kids sleep in rather than get up to exercise.
Since I wasn't raised in Japan, my experience of rajio taiso is limited to one attempt per year on Sports Day at my sons' school. Students and teachers do the calisthenic routine to warm up, and spectators all join in.
During this year's try, I sensed someone staring at me. Admittedly, I must have been a sight as I struggled to follow the prompts coming through the loudspeaker. "Ichi, ni, san, shi! Eeeee-chi, ni, san, shi!" The Japanese father next to me was watching with the detachment of an anthropologist observing his subject. Finally, he spoke. "Curious," he said. "I would have thought an American could do rajio taiso. It started in America, after all."
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