What is it like to be a student at a Japanese school? If you have watched a fair share of anime, I bet this question has popped in your mind.
You can see loads of unique cultures and customs from a school life in Japan. As you know, there are many similarities between Japanese schools and Western schools. You still have to study and sit for exams to be graded in Japan. However, there are also many aspects in Japanese schools that you may find unique and surprising.
Here is a list. Try compare this to your school and let us know what you think.
Let’s begin!
一年間 (ichi nen kan) / 1 School Year
Japanese schools start in April and finish in the March of the following year. Those who were born on 2nd April all the way through to those who were born on 1st April in the following year will study in the same cohort.
There are 3 terms in each of 小学校, 中学校, and 高校 – April to July / Sept to December / January to March.
長期休み
Most Japanese schools have 3 terms. Term 1 （一学期）starts from the start of April to the mid July, and Term 2 (二学期) starts from the beginning of September to late December. Term 3 (三学期) starts from the mid January to late March.
In between 一学期 and 二学期, there is a month and half long holiday called 夏休み.
Many schools finish 二学期 on around 25 of December (Christmas Day in Japan is not a public holiday) and then they have holidays for around 2 weeks called 冬休み.
Many schools finish 三学期 around 25 March and have holidays for about 2 weeks. This is called 春休み.
通学 (tsuu gaku) / Going to School
Many primary schools have a system called 集団登校 and 集団下校 for students coming to school and leaving school.
集団登校 means ‘commuting to school in a group’. Students living in the same neighbourhood gather at a specified meeting spot at a specified time. Normally an older student takes the role of a leader of the group. The group forms a line and walks to their school together. Members of a 集団登校 can be in different year groups. For many, this is a great opportunity to talk to students in different classes or cohorts.
集団下校 means ‘leaving school in a group’. This is the opposite of 集団登校. However, as each cohort and class may finish at different times, members of a 集団下校 consist of students from the same homeroom class.
In 中学校 and 高校、 students go to school on their own. Normally, students either walk, bike, or take a train to school. It’s rare for parents to drive students to school in Japan.
時間割 (jikan wari) / School timetable
Many 小学校 and 中学校 start their day with 朝の会 where the teacher check students attendance and talks about the day’s schedule.
Generally speaking, each school period goes for 45 minutes in 小学校 and 50 minutes in 中学校. In 小学校 and 中学校, students are provided with 給食, therefore, they are not allowed to bring any food to school.
They then have lessons (授業). In 小学校, students normally have 5 lessons a day in their first year. In the second year, they have 1 day with 6 lessons, and the number of days with 6 lessons will increase as students get older.
Students end their day with 終わりの会. This is when the teacher discusses with students how the day went and hand out any homework.
掃除 (souji) / Cleaning
In Japan, it’s a tradition that students clean their classrooms. This promotes students’ understanding of life skills such as cleaning, organising, and being responsible. This also helps students to become responsible for their own mess and be respectful of their surroundings.
For about 15 minutes at the end of the day, students use brooms and cloths to clean the classrooms, bathrooms, and other school spaces.
給食 (kyuu shoku) / School lunch
小学校 and 中学校 provide students with lunch, and students have to bring their own 弁当 (packed lunch) in 高校.
給食 (kyuushoku) refers to school lunch that is provided by school. A class is divided into 4 or 6 groups, and each group takes turn to be on ‘給食登板 (kyuushoku touban)’ or ‘lunch duty’. When you are on 給食当番, you must wear a mask, hair nets, gloves, and an apron.
給食当番 students go to 給食室 to collect a trolley loaded up with 給食 for your class. After pushing the trolley to the homeroom, students serve the food to the rest of the students. All portions are served in equal size, and what you are served will be what you are eating, unless you have a food allergy.
During the 給食 time, students form table groups of 4 to 5 and eat 給食 at their desks. The meals consist of carbs (often rice, sometimes rolls), various protein sources, vegetables, soup, and milk. There is often a nutritionist at school, whose job is to plan balanced meals for students and teachers.
Japanese schools generally don’t have a cafeteria. Students are not allowed to eat lunch outside, and they must eat their lunch in their homeroom.
担任 (tan nin) / Homeroom Teacher
担任 refers to homeroom teachers. In primary schools, 担任 teaches almost all subjects in the homeroom. In 中学校 or 高校, there are specialised teachers for subjects. You will also have 担任 who is in charge of homeroom.
部活 (bukatsu) / Club Activity
部活 refers to school-based club activities. In 中学校 and 高校, most students choose to participate in 部活, and in some schools, it’s compulsory to join in one of them.
There are two types of 部活 – 文化部 and 運動部. In 文化部, students can enrol in clubs such as 吹奏楽部、書道部、茶道部、美術部、演劇部、ダンス部、太鼓部 etc. In 運動部, students can enjoy clubs such as サッカー部、バスケットボール部、バレーボール部、野球部、バドミントン部 etc.
制服 (seifuku) / School uniform
School uniforms are called 制服. Many years ago, students in Japan used to wear everyday clothes to school – kimono for female students and hakama for male students. During the Meiji period, many students started wearing uniforms modeled after Western dress.
Today, 小学校 normally don’t have uniforms for students. 制服 can vary, but for 中学校 and 高校 it’s common for male students to wear 「学ラン」, which is a old-military-styled uniform, while girls often wear sailor-styled uniform called 「セーラー服」.
校則 (kou soku) / School Rules
School rules are called 「校則」. Some school rules are more common: e.g. things such as ‘you must come to school by a certain time’, ‘you must not use a mobile phone during lessons’, or ‘you must not smoke’.
Recently, it has gained the media attention that some schools have 校則 that can be considered too intruding. For examples, some schools have 校則 that bans pigtail hairstyle or specify what colour of underwear students must wear.
Other examples include:
- ‘Your fringe must not reach your eyebrows’.
- ‘You must not wear a hair bun’.
- ‘Your hair color must be dark and straight’. (If your natural hair happens to be not black and straight, you must apply for an exemption.)
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