A Study In Motion Japanese Students From Mukogawa Show Class Spirit For Bloomsday

Bloomsday isn’t just a Spokane tradition. It’s a Japanese one, too.

Hundreds of students from the Mukogawa Fort Wright Institute have run the race over the past five years.

“We have a captive audience,” joked Mary Jo Buckingham, director of student life at Mukogawa. “I think all 193 students are running this year. It’s all volunteer. It’s part of that wonderful American experience.”

Last year 190 Mukogawa students ran Bloomsday - more than from any other single address. It wasn’t because the school sported particularly fast runners: The fastest turned in a time of one hour and 25 minutes. Most ran slower than two hours. The slowest finished in nearly 3 1/2 hours.

It’s just for fun.

“They really enjoy it,” Buckingham said.

“They enjoy seeing the Spokane people, all the way from the serious people to the clowns, the moms and grandmothers and people pushing baby strollers.”

The students are enrolled in the Mukogawa Women’s Institute in Nishinomiya, which operates the Fort Wright Institute in Spokane. They study English and American studies here.

During Bloomsday, the students wear green ribbons to show their spirit and sometimes matching T-shirts.

This year, several students and their resident assistant all bought T-shirts they plan to paint and wear during Bloomsday.

Students have trained in a gym class twice a week for Sunday’s race. They also walk the Centennial Trail.

“I’m running only in P.E. class but my friends are running every day because they’re on a diet,” said Nao Hosokawa, 19.

Although there are fun runs in Japan, the only ones Hosokawa and Miharu Maeda, 19, have done are in school. They weren’t nearly as large as Bloomsday.

Maeda knows that Bloomsday is big. She just doesn’t know how big.

“Many, many people run or walk,” said Maeda, after a Tuesday afternoon walking class.

When told almost 60,000 people will be on hand Sunday, Maeda’s eyes grew large.

“Do all of them live in Spokane?” she asked.

Besides Mukogawa, other schools and organizations send groups of runners.

The Excelsior Youth Center, a home and school for emotionally disturbed teenagers, last year sent 22 runners - three adults and 19 kids.

The home isn’t sending any runners this year, although it is participating in smaller fun runs.

“We’re keeping kids pretty close to home this year,” said Maggie Richards, recreation director at Excelsior. “We’re just being hypersensitive to their needs, making sure they’re safe at all times.”

The Hutton Settlement Home, which houses orphans and children who can’t live with their parents, sent 18 people - 11 students and seven adults - to Bloomsday last year.

“We had two girls dead last,” said Kristi Becker, assistant houseparent. “They were pretty excited about that. They walked the entire way.”

The home’s been sending runners since 1979. This year, at least six Hutton kids will run Bloomsday. They’ve been training to get motivated for the race.

“Why? Mostly because it’s a healthy community activity,” Becker said. “We just like to get the children involved.”

Ruthie, 15, ran last year - everything but Doomsday Hill. She left her best friend halfway through the race, because her friend wanted to walk.

“Bloomsday is like No. 1,” she said. “You can meet a lot of different people. I met someone from Florida last year. The scenery is really pretty.”

Mukogawa’s Hosokawa is hoping she meets a lot of Spokane people this year.

“I’d like to go to an American college after graduation,” she said. “I’d like to make a lot of American friends in Spokane.”

Bloomsday is Hosokawa’s last chance, as the Mukogawa students’ 14-week study program winds down. They graduate the same day as the race.

“We do Bloomsday in the morning,” said Laxmi Seth, a resident adviser at Mukogawa, with a sigh. “We have graduation at night. I think everyone’s going to be tired.”