• What happens if you fall asleep in class in a Japanese school?
What about if a class needs a substitute teacher?
• Here are 15 things you may not know about how Japanese schools are probably different
from your home school.
15 – No Janitors • School kids in Japan would almost never
think to do something like stick gum under their desks or trash the bathroom.
• Why?
Because they’re going to be the ones to clean it up.
• Students and teachers take time every day to clean everything from the erasers to
the windows to the toilets, so there is never any need for a janitor.
14 – Dress Codes • Each junior high and high school has a
dress code, in the form of its own unique uniform.
Well, actually two uniforms, since schools have summer and winter uniforms, and everyone
must switch over on the same day of the year.
• You may have seen Japanese school uniforms before, but you may not know that each uniform
is a distinct color and style so that students from each individual school stand out from
each other.
• In fact, many high schools will actually attempt to make their uniforms more stylish
to attract more students.
Why do they have to attract more students?
Because...
13 – Applying to High School is Like Applying to College
• You’re probably used to education systems where you just go to whatever high school
is in your district, same as you did elementary and junior high, right?
• Japanese middle schoolers have to take entrance exams and put together whole applications
to try get to into their preferred high school.
• Students only have to go to school through 9th grade, and students have one chance to
pass high school entrance exams and have their tuition paid for.
12 – Going to After-school school • “Juku,” or “Cram school,” is a
pretty common thing for students in Japan.
Because entrance exams are such high-stress, make-or-break things, over 60% of students
get themselves some extra help in the form of these after-school lessons.
• Students will usually pay for extra lessons in a subject they have more trouble with,
but some simply study everything they can.
• It’s most common to see students in 9th grade and 12th grade going to juku, since
they’re cramming the hardest for their upcoming exams.
11 – Club Activities • Your school probably had some extracurricular
activities in school, but did you have clubs for reading?
Or calligraphy?
Did you ever want to start a band with your friends, and your school said, “yeah, okay,
here’s a practice space and some money?”
• Japanese school clubs get their own rooms in the school to hang out after class, and
usually a small budget to be spent at the club’s discretion.
• Clubs usually meet for about two hours after school, and some of the more intense
ones will even continue to meet up during school vacations.
10 – Saturday School •
Everybody loves a good weekend, but kids in Japan generally only get one day of it.
• Although this isn’t across the board, a good percentage of Japanese schools hold
at least at least a half-day of classes on Saturday.
• Officially, Saturday school has been slowly phasing out since 1992, but a healthy percentage
of school boards have continued to require Saturday lessons anyway.
9 – Indoor Shoes and Shoe Lockers • Wearing your regular shoes indoors is
a major no-no in Japan, and school is no exception.
• Students and teachers alike are expected to take their shoes off in the front entryway
and store them in shoe lockers, then switch into comfy indoor shoes.
No, going shoeless is not an option.
• Incidentally, shoe lockers are a pretty common place to drop an anonymous love letter.
8 – No School Buses • Most people in Japan live very close to
the school they attend, so they can probably walk there in less time than it took you to
ride the bus to school.
• Walking and biking are by far the most common ways to get to school, both for students
and teachers.
• In rare occasions where a longer commute is required, most people – usually high
schoolers – will take a commuter train rather than drive.
7 – Homework Over Summer Break • Japan’s summer break comes during the
middle of the school year, not at the end.
And that means they get a lengthy homework packet to complete by the end of it.
That’s on top of school club meetings and other responsibilities.
• Luckily, most students still find the time to smash a watermelon with a baseball
bat.
Yes, that’s a real thing.
It’s called “Suikawari.” 6 – No Substitute Teachers
• High Schools in Japan don’t hire substitute teachers.
In the event someone does call in sick, you know what the school does about it?
Nothing.
• When a teacher is out sick, students get a free, largely unsupervised period to do
whatever they feel like.
It’s a rare chance to talk, study, or catch up on homework.
5 – Sleeping in Class Usually Goes Unpunished • The typical Japanese lesson is a lecture
with limited interactivity.
The teacher speaks and writes stuff on the board, and students take notes.
• Almost nobody asks questions, and there is basically no group discussion.
As a result, it’s pretty common for students to nap on their desks with little resistance
from either teacher or students.
Class just kind of goes on without them.
4 – Culture Festivals • Every school year, Japanese high schools
go all out and put on a huge culture festival, to which the public is usually invited.
• Each class and many clubs work together to put on their own unique event, where the
decorations, preparation, supply ordering, and events themselves are put on almost entirely
by students, with no help from teachers except when absolutely necessary.
3 – Students and Teachers Eat Together • In elementary and junior high schools,
you won’t find a cafeteria.
Students and teachers eat the same school lunch (or a packed lunch from home), and they
eat it together, in the classroom.
• In high school, that free school lunch disappears, so students need to bring lunch
from home or buy something from the school store.
2 – Stand and Bow to the Teacher • Every class, every day, students must
stand and respect their teachers the same way.
• A designated student in class – usually referred to as the “class representative”
- calls out the same orders: “Stand, bow, sit.”
• Since students stay in their classrooms and teachers rotate in and out, students are
expected to stand up, bow to their teacher, and sit back down at their desks before each
teacher begins class.
1 – No Air Conditioning •
To cut down on energy costs, air conditioning and heating rules are laid out by the school
board.
That means there is a set date that a school starts using heat and air conditioning
• Also, in many schools, the earliest date for using air conditioning is “never.”
• Teachers will sometimes have an A/C unit in the teacher’s room, but they’re not
allowed to use it until the students go home, as they’re expected to endure the heat just
like the students do.
What’s the strangest thing YOU’VE heard about school in Japan?
What’s something different about your school?
Tell us in the comments below and we’ll pin our favorite to the top.