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Nagano Kids and the Sports They Play It's no surprise that children living in Nagano, where winters are long and cold, enjoy sports involving snow and ice. All kinds of skiing and skating are especially popular. Lots of children are into the sports--more than almost anywhere else in Japan. There are 20 middle schools in Nagano Prefecture with ski clubs, and 24 with skating clubs.
In general, skiing is popular in the north of Nagano, where the most snow falls; skating is popular toward central Nagano. Skiing and skating are even taught in some schools as part of P.E. class, and there are school outings where all the students participate in ski lessons.
Ice hockey is also booming these days--perhaps because children are looking forward to seeing the Olympic "dream teams" including players from the National Hockey League in North America. An informal hockey league in Nagano City that used to have just a few clubs has grown to 24 teams since Nagano was chosen to host the 1998 Winter Games.
Children are also turning to the sport of curling, which will be included as an official event for the first time in Nagano. Nagano's happy and healthy kids are looking forward to spending the winter outside, playing sports.
