Don’t you dare call them grannies
Pom-poms rustle and silver shoes flash as Japan Pom Pom practises, moving to a lively, cheer dance beat.
With members aged between 60 and 89, they are no ordinary squad, but don’t you dare call them grannies.
“Right at the start, we weren’t very happy about being called ‘granny cheer dancers’,” Fumie Takino, the bubbly, energetic 89-year-old who founded Japan Pom Pom — average age, 72 — more than 25 years ago, said.
At a recent weekly practice, resumed after a year off, maskwearing members checked temperatures before stretching, then moved into their dance routines — socially distanced, of course.
Though most wore sweatpants and T-shirts with a glittery Japan Pom Pom emblazoned thereon, for performances they don sequinned, miniskirted cheer costumes.
For one routine, Takino wears a leather biker jacket and shades; in another, all sport silver wigs.
“It’s dancing; moving your body is nice,” she said.
“And the costumes are unbelievably showy. Some people join just so they can wear them.”
The group started with five people 26 years ago, after Takino saw an overseas senior cheer squad in the news, and it now has 17 active members.
All older than 55, they must pass auditions.
Now the group is featured in government pamphlets about active seniors, appears periodically in TV reports and performs in popular charity shows.
Japan, one of the world’s most rapidly ageing nations, with almost 30% of its population older than 65, is known for the longevity of its seniors.
But acceptance of the squad took time in a nation with fixed notions about senior life.
“We went to a senior citizens club and they really didn’t like us. They didn’t smile even once.
“‘Japanese women, wearing things like that, at their ages’,” Takino recalled.
“Now, I think about half of people are OK with us and half still can’t accept us.”
Members comment about the boost from practising together and Takino’s positive outlook.
“As our leader says, try anything,” Tami Shimada, 69, said.
“If you’re interested in something, forget about your age, forget about people saying it’s no good for that reason ... I think that leads to a reason to live.”
Takino, who has three grandchildren and three greatgrandchildren, practises what she preaches.
She has tried scuba-diving, parasailing, ukulele and skydiving, which she calls “the greatest”, and got a master’s degree in the US in her 50s.
Now she is studying Spanish, attends a dance class for seniors and takes walks.
And she’s obsessed with computer Solitaire.
Each night she drinks a small beer and says an appendectomy has been her only health issue.
Takino can’t believe she will be 90 next year, but reluctantly confesses she doesn’t think she will still be cheering at 100, though the group wants her to.
“The last three or four years I’ve started to feel tired a lot more easily.
“Then having to be home because of the pandemic really meant my stamina fell.
“I don’t feel anything while I’m practising, but then the next day I feel pretty tired,” she said.
“I forget everything while I’m dancing. ”—