Japan for us is almost a different planet with its own special traditions and rules. The culture and education in this country, which we have repeatedly talked about on the pages of our magazine, the psychology of education are very interesting things. Well, education plays a significant role in society. Japanese statistics say that school attendance is 99.99% - not every country can boast of such indicators. Today is our article about the education system, the Japanese school.
Japanese school levels
The Japanese school consists of three stages:
- junior school (小学校 sho: gakko:), in which children study for 6 years (from 6 to 12 years);
- high school (中学校 chū: gakko:), where students study for 3 years (from 12 to 15 years old);
- high school (高等学校 ko:to:gakko:), which also lasts 3 years (from 15 to 18 years).
Junior, middle and high schools are separate institutions and separate buildings with their own charters and procedures. Primary and secondary schools are compulsory levels of education and most often they are free. High schools generally have tuition fees. It is not necessary to graduate from high school if a person does not intend to enter a university. However, according to statistics, 94% of all Japanese schoolchildren graduate from high school.
Academic year in a Japanese school
Academic year in Japanese schools it starts not in September, but in April. Schoolchildren study in trimesters: the first - from April to the end of July, the second - from early September to mid-December and the third - from January to mid-March. So called summer holidays in Japan they last only a month to a month and a half (depending on the school) and occur in the hottest month - August. The academic year consists of three trimesters: from April 1 to July 20, from September 1 to December 26 and from January 7 to March 25. Thus, the Japanese rest for 6 weeks during the summer holidays and 2 weeks each in winter and spring.
Moral code is the first science
Japanese schoolchildren do not take exams until the 4th grade (when they are 10 years old), only writing short independent ones. It is believed that in the first three years of study, academic knowledge is not the most important thing. The emphasis is on education, children are taught respect for other people and animals, generosity, empathy, the search for truth, self-control and respect for nature.
Class distribution in a Japanese school
We are used to studying with the same people throughout our school lives. But in Japan everything is completely different. We have already said that junior, middle and senior schools are separate institutions, but that’s not all. Every year classes are formed in a new way. All students of the same parallel are randomly distributed into classes. Those. every year a student enters new team, which is half made up of new people.
By the way, before being assigned, Japanese schoolchildren can write their wishes on special pieces of paper: their name and two people with whom they would like to be in the same class. Perhaps management will heed these wishes.
Why is this necessary? This strange “shuffling” is necessary to develop a sense of collectivism. The student should not get hung up on the same people, but should be able to find a language with different peers.
Clubs and circles
After finishing school, students usually do not go home, but go straight to the clubs in which they are enrolled. Clubs are something like our circles. And, as a rule, every student is a member of at least one club (by the way, participation in them is not necessary). Diversity and a large selection of sections are a sign of the prestige and wealth of the school.
There are clubs of all kinds: sports, artistic, scientific, language - for every taste and color.
In addition to regular lessons, schoolchildren are taught the art of Japanese calligraphy and poetry.
The principle of Japanese calligraphy, or shodo, is very simple: a bamboo brush is dipped in ink and characters are drawn on rice paper with smooth strokes. In Japan, shodo is valued no less than ordinary painting. And haiku is national uniform poetry that succinctly presents nature and man as a single whole. Both items reflect one of the principles of oriental aesthetics - the relationship between the simple and the elegant. Classes teach children to appreciate and respect their culture with its age-old traditions.
Japanese uniform and replacement shoes
Almost all middle and high schools in Japan have uniforms. Moreover, each school has its own. Each student sews school uniform individually, and the school uniform must include a winter (warm) version of the uniform and a summer version. Moreover, each school charter specifies rules regarding the wearing of socks, school bags (bags are often issued along with the uniform), sports uniforms and even hairstyles.
In Japan, all schoolchildren have the same removable shoes. Usually its role is played by either slippers or uwabaki - school shoes that resemble sports slippers or ballet shoes with a jumper. Japan has very strict requirements for replacement shoes, especially regarding the color of the sole: the sole must not leave black marks on the floor. This is why uwabaki is most often white (with other colors interspersed). The color of the slippers or uwabaki depends on the class you are in. Each class has its own color.
Since secondary schools Every student is required to wear a uniform. Many schools have their own uniform, but traditionally it is military-style clothing for boys, and sailor suits for girls. The rule is intended to discipline students, since the clothes themselves create a working mood. Also, the same uniform helps to unite classmates.
By the way, in primary school Usually there is no form. Perhaps Panama hats of a certain color and stickers on briefcases - so that an elementary school student on the street can be seen from afar.
Japanese schools and cleaning
There are no cleaners in Japanese schools: the students themselves do the cleaning every day in the afternoon. Schoolchildren sweep and mop floors, wash windows, throw out trash and do much more. And not only in his class, but also in the toilets and in the assembly hall, for example.
Each class takes turns cleaning. So guys with early years learn to work in a team and help each other. Besides, after students have spent so much time and effort cleaning, they are unlikely to want to litter. This teaches them respect for their work, as well as the work of other people, and respect for the environment.
School meals
Schools prepare only standardized lunches, which children eat in class with other students.
In primary and secondary schools, special lunches are prepared for children, the menu of which is developed not only by chefs, but also by medical workers, so that the food is as healthy and wholesome as possible. All classmates have lunch with the teacher in the office. In such an informal setting, they communicate more and build friendly relationships.
Grades in Japanese schools
In Japanese schools, teachers do not grade for presence or absence of homework and degree of readiness for the lesson. If you have done something, the teacher circles the task in red, and if not, you are left with your debt for the future.
However, grades cannot be completely avoided even in a Japanese school. Tests are carried out periodically in all subjects (especially towards the end of the term), and these tests are assessed on a 100-point scale. We should not forget about the exams that plague secondary and high school.
At the end of high school, schoolchildren take one test that decides whether they will enter a university or not. A graduate can choose only one institution, and what it will be will determine the size of the future salary and standard of living in general. At the same time, the competition is very high: 76% of graduates continue their studies after school. This is why the expression “exam hell” is popular in Japan.
Additional education
Already in primary school Children begin to attend private and preparatory schools in order to get into a good middle school and then high school. Classes in such places are held in the evenings, and in Japan it is a very typical phenomenon when at 21.00 public transport filled out by children rushing home after extra lessons. They study even on Sundays and during holidays, given that the average school day lasts from 6 to 8 hours. It is not surprising that, according to statistics, there are almost no repeaters in Japan.
Student years are the best holidays of your life
It is not surprising that after years of non-stop preparation for admission and “exam hell”, the Japanese want to take a short break. It so happened that it falls during the university years, which are considered the easiest and most carefree in the life of every Japanese.
An excellent rest before work, which the Japanese have been taught since childhood to approach not only with responsibility, but also with great love as their life’s work.
A short and incredible video about how school lunch is held in the most ordinary Japanese school - the video has already collected almost 20 million views. I wanted to go to a Japanese school for lunch)
Saitama, a city near Tokyo, Japan. 7.45 am. A fifth-grader girl named Yu is getting ready for school as usual. She takes with her a small school lunch bag: a nice little flowered tablecloth, a pencil case with chopsticks, a toothbrush for rinsing after brushing her teeth, and a handkerchief to wipe her mouth.
Yu studies at a regular elementary school in Saitama - there are 682 students in grades one through six. It is laid out on the school grounds and the children grow it themselves. There are 38 children in Yu's class, led by one teacher.
School kitchen. Five chefs prepare 720 school lunches in three hours, using fresh ingredients. Today the menu includes fried fish in pear sauce and mashed potatoes, which the sixth-graders grew and collected with their own hands from the school garden.
The food is distributed into containers, weighed and prepared for distribution - taken to the room where the children will come to pick up their lunch. Each class has its own food cart.
12.25, 4th lesson is over. 45 minutes are allotted for lunch, and this time is also considered as a learning process - no different from mathematics or reading.
All children eat in their classrooms. They wash their hands, lay out the tablecloth-napkin, brush and cup, and chopsticks they brought from home. Everyone puts on white coats and tucks their hair under their caps. Yu is on lunch duty in class today, so she also puts a gauze mask on her face.
A quick sanitary check of those on duty: does anyone have diarrhea, cough, or a runny nose? Have you washed your hands well? Additional treatment with antiseptic gel, and the attendants, together with the teacher, go to get their food cart. When picking up lunches from the dining room, it is customary to say thank you: “Thank you for preparing us delicious food!”
The attendants return to the classroom and distribute food: they pour soup into bowls, put on fish and mashed potatoes, place buns and cartons of milk on the tables.
At the end, the class leaders sum up: are there any extra portions left? Yes, 2 buns, 2 cartons of milk, 1 serving of fish, 5 servings of mashed potatoes, soup. Lunch begins. Bon appetit! The prefects report that the potatoes were grown by the high school students in the school garden, and the pears for the fish sauce came from a local farm. The teacher says: “You and I will plant our own potatoes next March, and in July you will be able to try them at school lunch.” The teacher eats with the children. The children laugh that he eats fish with a soup spoon and not with chopsticks. “Yes, washing them afterwards is a whole lot of work!” - the teacher laughs, but also takes out his chopsticks from his pencil case.
Lunch is coming to an end. “Rock-paper-scissors” - who will get the remaining extra portions. Everyone puts their own bag for recycling. The children brush their teeth at the table, then rinse their mouths at the sink, and so does the teacher. Once again they thank each other “Thank you for the delicious food!” The attendants clear the tables and stack the dishes. The milk cartons are thoroughly washed, dried in the classroom all day, and then one of the guys on duty takes them to the collection and recycling point. Children take the dishes back to the kitchen
13.10 Time for 20-minute cleaning. Every day, all students at school, from first-graders to seniors, wash the floor - in their classroom, on the stairs, in the gym, etc.
We are used to discussing WHAT children eat at school - it would be nice to have more vegetables and less fast food. Few people think that it is much more important HOW children eat. The video shows how children can be taught healthy eating habits through school lunches. And adults too. I think the Japanese approach to school meals (beautiful utensils for meals, the ritual of preparing for and finishing lunch, growing food with your own hands, gratitude for delicious dishes - including yourself if you prepared them) can help, lose weight, eat less, but enjoy food more.
I'm going to start by buying myself a nice napkin if lunch finds me in front of the computer).
Do you like the Japanese approach to feeding children at school?
Japan is another planet with its own special traditions and rules. So, in one of my recent materials I talked about the craziest ways to spend money in the Land of the Rising Sun (if you haven’t seen it yet, be sure to check it out: a good mood will be guaranteed for the whole day!). But what about Japanese schools and kindergartens? 
1. Kindergarten is compulsory in Japan, and children usually start attending at age 3. Already in kindergarten Japanese kids master the basics of arithmetic and can read hiragana and katakana (syllabary alphabet).
2. To enter primary school, all children must take exams. Those who fail the entrance exams can study at preparatory school and try again next year.
3. Education in primary and secondary schools is compulsory and free. Education in high schools and universities is always paid. 
4. In elementary school, homework is not assigned. But in middle and high school, homework is quite extensive, so it is believed that Japanese high school students are the busiest people in the country.
5. Each school has its own unique uniform.
6. Immediately after entering the school there are lockers for shoes. 
7. Most schools strict rules regarding hair color. Only natural hair color is acceptable for schoolchildren.
8. In many public and private schools, boys are not allowed to wear long hair; only neat short haircuts are allowed.
9. Rules for girls include: go without perm, makeup, nail polish and jewelry (except watches).
10. Schoolchildren can only wear white, black or dark blue socks. If a student wears, for example, brown socks, which is against school rules, then this item of clothing may be confiscated. 
11. A typical Japanese school class consists of 30-40 people.
12. Students usually remain in the same classroom throughout the year, but teachers must move from class to class.
13. Students need to learn about 2,500 characters to be able to read and write Japanese.
14. Japanese children must learn to read and write in three different ways: correctly Japanese characters, Japanese version Chinese characters and the Latin alphabet. 
15. The main subjects in Japanese schools are mathematics, Japanese, social studies, crafts, music and physical education. Most primary schools have now started teaching in English. Schoolchildren study healthy image life, computer science, music, art, physical education and home economics, as well as traditional arts - calligraphy and haiku (a type of poem).
16. Schools use information Technology to improve education. All schools have internet.
17. In schools, all classes are divided into small groups. These groups perform different types activities - for example, cleaning the classroom, yard, halls, etc. 
18. Most schools encourage students to belong to one of two clubs - a sports club (football, kendo, baseball, judo, tennis, athletics, swimming, volleyball, rugby) or a cultural club (calligraphy, mathematics, science). Club members meet after school and spend time together.
19. There are no cleaners in Japanese schools. After finishing classes, schoolchildren themselves clean classrooms, corridors, wash toilets and tidy up the area around the school every day. 
20. In Japan, children go to elementary school for 6 years, middle school for 3 years, high school for 3 years, and then, if desired, study at university for 4 years.
21. The school year in Japan begins in April. Schoolchildren study in trimesters: the first - from April to the end of July, the second - from early September to mid-December and the third - from January to mid-March. The so-called summer holidays in Japan last only a month to a month and a half (depending on the school) and fall in the hottest month - August.
22. Schoolchildren are given homework for the summer and winter holidays. Usually on holidays most In their free time, students do homework or participate in school clubs.
23. Usually the school day runs from 8:30 to 15:00. Japan used to have only one day off, but in 1992 the government amended it to extend the holiday to two days. Some schools do not adhere to this rule and conduct classes on Saturday.
24. There are rarely substitutes at school. If the teacher does not come for some reason, the students study independently and behave quietly. From time to time another teacher may stop by and check on the class. 
25. Swimming is also included curriculum. Many schools in Japan have their own swimming pools where children are taught to swim at a minimum distance. Students who were unable to learn must make up the gap in the summer.
26. Every school has a nutritionist who monitors healthy eating students and menu planning. Schoolchildren are not allowed to bring snacks to school, and sometimes even medications - such as candy for a sore throat, because candy is considered unhealthy for a quick snack.
27. Students are not allowed to use mobile phones within a Japanese school. Students can use the phone in the parking lot before entering the school between or after classes. If a teacher notices a phone in class, he will definitely confiscate it.
28. To move from middle school to high school, you need to pass exams. You also need to take exams at the end of each trimester and in the middle of the first and second trimesters. 
29. University students drive cars. There is no such thing as a school bus in Japan. Students walk, bike or take public transport. Pupils go to primary school in small groups.
30. The better your college entrance exam scores, the more likely you are to get support from a large company that will pay for your college education. The student then goes to work for that company and the tuition is deducted from his salary. 
31. A curfew has been introduced in Tokyo and Yokohama - 22:00. Children under 18 years of age are not allowed to visit the cinema or slot machines after 10 pm.
We talk a lot about school meals, most often we scold them, we want less fast food and more vegetables and fruits. It is important what children eat. But no less important is how children eat and how the process itself is organized.
What is lunch in Japan? It's not just a meal. It's a whole ritual. It is understandable when this lunch is at home, when the family is receiving guests, or the lunch is dedicated to a special event. But the specifics of this mysterious country is that even an ordinary lunch in the school cafeteria becomes an unusual ritual.
What's so unusual about it? It is known that it is better to see once than to hear a hundred times. Therefore, we invite you to an online excursion to one of the Japanese schools. It is located in Saitama, a city near Tokyo.
7.45 am. Meet Yui. Today she will tell us what lunch is like at her school.
Yui is in fifth grade. She packs a small school lunch bag: a cute little floral tablecloth, a pencil case with chopsticks, a toothbrush, a cup for rinsing after brushing her teeth, and a handkerchief to wipe her mouth.
Yui attends Saitama's regular elementary school, which has 682 students in grades one through six. The plot behind the school is a vegetable garden where schoolchildren grow their own potatoes. There are 38 children in Yui's class and they have one class teacher.
School kitchen. Five chefs prepare 720 school lunches in three hours, using fresh ingredients. Today, the menu includes fried fish in pear sauce, vegetable soup and mashed potatoes, which the sixth-graders grew themselves in the school garden.
The food is distributed into containers, weighed and prepared for distribution - taken to the room where the children will come to pick up their lunch. Each class has its own food cart.
12.25, Lesson 4 is over. Lunch lasts 45 minutes. All students have lunch in their classrooms. They wash their hands, lay out the tablecloth-napkin, brush and cup, and chopsticks they brought from home. Everyone puts on white coats and caps. Yui is on lunch duty in class today, so she also puts a gauze bandage on her face.
First, check the duty personnel: does anyone have a cough or runny nose? Have you washed your hands well? Additional treatment with antiseptic gel, and the attendants, together with the teacher, go to get their food cart. When picking up lunches from the dining room, it is customary to say thank you: “Thank you for preparing us delicious food!”
The attendants bring food to the classroom and pour soup into bowls, hand out fish and mashed potatoes, and place cartons of milk on the tables.
Lunch begins. Bon appetit!
The prefects report that the potatoes were grown by the high school students in the school garden, and the pears for the fish sauce came from a local farm. The teacher says: “You and I will plant our potatoes next March, and in July you will be able to try them at school lunch.” The teacher eats with the children. The children laugh that he eats fish with a soup spoon and not with chopsticks. “Yes, washing them afterwards is a whole lot of work!” - the teacher laughs, but also takes out his chopsticks from his pencil case.
Lunch is coming to an end. Children argue with their fists over who will get the remaining milk or fish. After all, we remember that nothing should be lost. Everyone folds their milk bag in such a way that it is convenient to dispose of it. The children brush their teeth at the table, then rinse their mouths at the sink, and so does the teacher. Once again they thank each other “Thank you for the delicious food!” The attendants clear the tables and stack the dishes. The milk cartons are thoroughly washed, dried in the classroom all day, and then one of the guys on duty takes them to the collection and recycling point. The children take the dishes back to the kitchen.
13.10. Cleaning time. Every day, students of all grades, from first-graders to seniors, wash the floor - in their classroom, on the stairs, in the gym.
What is most impressive is how friendly and coordinated the students are.
No one shirks from work, no one tries to delegate hard work to a friend, everyone smiles. The school teaches a healthy relationship with food through school lunch. And adults too. In our opinion, the Japanese approach to school meals can serve as an example for our schools, since beautiful food utensils, the ritual of preparing for lunch, food organization, impeccable cleanliness, gratitude for delicious dishes - including to yourself - are a great way to eat healthy and enjoy food more. It’s great that children are taught to work from an early age. They know how hard they have to work to grow vegetables and fruits. They are friendly and organized. Just great guys!
The education system creates the foundation on which a nation stands. The Japanese have a very strong foundation. It is made up of self-discipline, concentration on the subject of learning, curiosity, and mutual respect between teachers and students.
"Letidor" talks about the features of Japanese schools, without which one of the best educational systems could not exist in the world.
Students follow a strict dress code in schools
Almost all children from elementary school to high school in Japan wear a school uniform. Traditional clothing for boys is a military-style strict black suit, trousers and a jacket with a stand-up collar. For girls - a pleated black, blue or checkered knee-length skirt (in many schools girls are still not allowed to wear trousers), a white shirt or the color of the skirt, long knee socks.
To prevent knee socks from falling off, schoolgirls glue them to their skin with special glue.
When it comes to footwear, Japanese schoolchildren usually wear simple, low-heeled shoes.
As a rule, all students are given the same bags or backpacks. Educational establishments has the right to impose restrictions on makeup, the use of nail polish, and unusual hairstyles.
Children clean their own classrooms
There are no cleaners in a Japanese school. Hardworking students and teachers roll up their sleeves every day and get to work cleaning up themselves. They wash the floors, wipe down the walls and desks in the classroom, sweep the corridors and toilets.
Here we are sure: this is the only way children will learn to respect this hard work. They won't be tempted to stick gum on their desk or draw a funny face on the table. Of course, they can do this, but they will have to clean up themselves.
If a teacher is sick, no one replaces him
If before the lesson in Russian school suddenly it turned out that the teacher was sick and none of the teachers could replace him, expect trouble. Children begin to rush around their desks, scream, and fight. After 10 minutes the class turns into a real jungle.
This is not the case in Japanese schools. The children are so disciplined that they can study without a teacher. If the teacher is sick and cannot go to work, the children sit in their places and complete the task that is written on the board.
There are no canteens in schools
Before eating, students wipe their desks and put cloth rags on them, which they bring from home.
Then the students put on special caps and aprons, like those worn by people who work in milk factories. And they start distributing food.
The school has duty shifts. The children take turns helping the teacher put lunch on plates. Usually one serving is soup, fish, rice and yogurt. Meals are prepared by chefs in a shared kitchen using seasonal ingredients grown in the area where the school is located.
After lunch, the guys all collect dirty dishes together and take them to the kitchen.
Children observe the obligatory greeting ritual
Greeting is an integral part of Japanese culture. And school is no exception.
At the beginning and end of each lesson, children rise from their desks to make a small bow. This is how they greet each other and the teacher. Many schools also practice short meditations before classes. It is believed that this ritual helps the child open his mind to new knowledge and allows him to better focus on the topic of the lesson.
Children study on Saturdays
One-day weekends were the norm for Japanese schools until 1992. Then the Japanese government, within the framework of the new national educational program, whose goal was to strive for a more measured pace of learning, recommended canceling classes on Saturdays.
Despite this, almost half of primary and secondary school students in Tokyo still spend at least two Saturdays a month at their desks rather than at home watching cartoons.