Japan Pom Pom: Meet Tokyo’s senior cheer squad

But don’t you dare call them grannies

Fumie Takino and Japan Pom Pom (Reuters)

Pompoms rustle and silver shoes flash as “Japan Pom Pom-ers” move to a lively cheer-dancing beat. They’re no ordinary squad, though. They are aged at least 60 and their leader is 89.

Fumie Takino, the bubbly, energetic woman who founded Japan Pom Pom – average age 72 – more than 25 years ago, says: “Right at the start, we weren’t very happy about being called ‘granny’ cheer dancers.”

At a recent weekly practice, resumed after a year off, mask-wearing 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” symbol, for performances they don sequinned, mini-skirted 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 says. “And the costumes are unbelievably showy. Some people join just so they can wear them.”

Takino checks her make-up (Reuters)

Members maintain social distancing as they practice a routine during a weekly practice session (Reuters)

Takino poses cheer-leader style for the camera (Reuters)

Started with just five people after Takino saw a senior cheer squad abroad in the news, the group now has 17 active members who must have passed 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 per cent 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.

Takino stretches with the others (Reuters)

Members prepare their make-up prior to filming (Reuters)

Takino, right, talks to a fellow member (Reuters)

Takino recalls: “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! 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.

Tami Shimada, 69, says: “As our leader says, try anything. 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 leads the way while knowing she will soon be 90 (Reuters)

High kicks in a routine filmed for the internet (Reuters)

Japanese precision in a photo-shoot pose (Reuters)

Takino, who has three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, with another on the way, practises what she preaches.

She’s tried scuba-diving, parasailing, ukulele playing and sky-diving, which she says is “the greatest”, and achieved a master’s degree in the US in her 50s. Now she studies Spanish, attends a dance class for seniors and takes walks. She’s obsessed with computer solitaire.

Each night, she drinks a small beer and says an appendectomy has been her only health problem so far.

The senior cheer squad views a video of their routine (Reuters)

Members share a joke after posing for commemorative photos (Reuters)

Takino can’t believe she’ll be 90 next year but reluctantly confesses she doesn’t think she’ll still be cheering at 100, though the group wants her to do so.

“The past 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 says. “I forget everything while I’m dancing.”

Photography by Kim Kyung-Hoon

Reuters