How are you looking vacationwise? Do you have a chunk of time set aside for genuine relaxation and that most wonderful of Western concepts: Fun? Personally speaking, it's nearly impossible for me to enjoy summertime, as the season is fraught with traumatic memories. The reason for this boils down to just one word: gasshuku (合宿, lodging together, training camp), which can best be described as boot camp minus the scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast, and plus having to deal with spiders the size of baseball gloves scurrying over the six tatami mats that make up an individual room. By the way, this cramped little room is shared with two other girls.

Ah, gasshuku. To many Japanese, it's synonymous with gōmon (拷問, torture) and jigoku (地獄, hell), and brings back a slew of painful flashbacks in a sort of tornado-like Proustian rush. Gasshuku happens to every teenager in the nation engaged in bukatsu (部活, extracurricular activities), and the difficulty of escaping from its clutches is probably on par with breaking out of prison. Generations upon generations of Japanese youths have gone through the gasshuku wringer, and everyone has a story to tell. Interestingly, Tokyo schools are said to hold the most lax gasshuku, which is why they rarely win the championship in any sports. Boo.

The gasshuku takes place over a period of time (usually five to seven days) designed so that the team can practice their chosen physical activity every single day for 12 hours or more. The team is accompanied by the komon no sensei (顧問の先生, the school teacher who is both head coach and team administrator) plus another coach or two.