Schools in Japan

School eh? The beginning of a new life for a child. Whoever is reading this now surely have gone through school and some may graduate already. Well im gonna be in secondary five next year taking my O levels T_T HARDCORE STUDY! lol Anyways back to the main topic. Many of you must have known schools from the anime or drama you watch. Heres a little live version of schools!

Schools are located everywhere. Well not every single inch of the world, as in every single part of the world. Different countries have different education system and obviously ill be talking about Japan’s. Talking bout school, im going back in like one week? Im gonna be a senior! Ok here goes! The basic school system in Japan is composed of elementary school (lasting six years), middle school (three years), high school (three years), and university (four years). Blurr? Maybe this picture can help you.

So yea the picture explains how does the system goes. What do they learn? obviously we all learn the same stuffs like history, maths, english, geography, science, IT and so on BUT Japan learn some extra stuffs. Students also learn traditional Japanese arts like shodo (calligraphy) and haiku. Shodo involves dipping a brush in ink and using it to write kanji (characters that are used in several East Asian countries and have their own meanings) and kana (phonetic characters derived from kanji) in an artistic style.

This calligraphy is offered to grades 4-5-6 since hand control, size, and coordination, as well as attention span and concentration ability is considered ready to learn this grown-up skill.

The teacher uses red ink to circle the good parts. She writes corrections of form, style, or speed in red ink, too.

The Japanese school year starts in April and consists of three terms, separated by short holidays in spring and winter, and a one month long summer break. A characteristic of the Japanese school system are entrance exams, and with them a high competitiveness among students. Most high schools, universities, as well as a few private junior high schools and elementary schools require applicants to write entrance exams. In order to pass entrance exams to the best institutions, many students attend special preparation schools or cram schools (juku) besides regular classes, or for one to two years between high school and university (yobiko). Anyways one thing about how different schools in japan are from ours is that right after they enter their school entrance, they will reach a big hall. What for? to take off their shoes and exchange them for indoor slippers. There are slippers for visitors too. I think its either tradition or they wanna keep the school clean.

Many shoes o.0

OK! Screw studying for now! Club activities! Every school have club activities, don’t they? Talking about club activities, i didnt even join any. Lmao, kinda lazy XD. Almost all middle school students take part in an extracurricular club activity of their choice, such as a sports team, a musical or arts group, or a science club. Well if im studying in Japan, thats a different story! They have way more choices of club activities to choose. Theres Kendo, Judo, Baseball, Archery aand manga? LOL i dono but still they have a wide variety of club activities. Since they have many activities going on, surely they would need a big space for them eh? Well almost every school is big in Japan just like this one T_T

Theres the school, gym and the field? OMG

Thats kendo

OK! Its noon time and guess what? Lunch time! In many elementary schools, the students eat lunch together in their classrooms, enjoying meals prepared by the school or by a local “school lunch center.” School lunches contain a rich variety of healthy and nutritious foods, and students look forward to lunchtime. If you are sick of the school lunches, don worry about that! Other than that, students also bring their own lunch to school known as “bento”. One more special thing about the school lunch are small teams of students take turns to serve lunch to their classmates like this!

Pretty Cute eh?

Lunch Centre. omg the girl looks cute.

Bento ^^

Lunch! for elementary students! ahaha

Now thats real lunch!

Ok! Here comes the main part. Guess what? SCHOOL UNIFORMS! Japan introduced school uniforms in the late 19th century. Today, school uniforms are almost universal in the public and private school systems. They are also used in some women’s colleges. The Japanese word for uniform is seifuku. A typical Japanese schoolgirl in anime would have a short skirt, blouse with what is called the sailor collar (think Sailor Moon!) and long loose socks. The sailor collar is pretty much part of the prescribed school uniform. However, the short skirt and the really long and loose socks. If you see girls in short skirts, they do not necessarily wear it that way while inside the school premises. They might tuck it in by some magical way or skill so that it will appear to be short but while in the school premises, they have to make sure they adhere to the regulations. Hence the need to untuck the skirt somehow. The same thing goes for the socks. Loose socks are not prescribed but students insist on wearing them anyway.This kind of fashion is popular among otaku outside Japan. There is the idea that it is cute and they even tailor their customized uniforms. Man, i must be weirdd butt have you check out their school uniforms? Instead of wearing some white button shirt and a pair of long pants. THEY WEAR THIS!

WARNING! PARENTAL GUIDANCE OSO CANNOT SEE! CLICK X CLOSE!!!

Now thats what you call school uniforms!
SHIT, check that black outfit. T_T
COSPLAY! LOL

Too LONG!!

NOW THATS SWEET!

OH GOD! PLS TELEPORT ME TO JAPAN.

LOL! some picture i came across while searching for school uniforms.They sure wan to attract plenty of guys eh cause they caught me in their hook. T_T

GET ME A WII FOR MY BIRTHDAY!!!
Heres another something, i came across this guy’s blog and yea i saw this!

MACHINES ARE TAKING OVER THE WORLD! Currently only two schools in Kyoto, Yawatahi are teaching English using the DS and they are Otokoyama Higashi and Yamata Senior High. It’s a trial run by the Board of Education to teach junior and senior high students new English vocabulary. You won’t find the software on sale because they requested an unnamed software developer in Tokyo to create it. This anonymous software teaches 1900 junior high and 1800 senior high words. By writing words on the screen, students can listen to its pronunciation. The software allows them to switch between English and Japanese and also allows students to listen to the words repeatedly. Once the results have been proved to be effective by examining any increases in the student’s vocabulary, this new teaching method maybe spread to other schools. The Board of Education is considering teaching Kanji the same way next month in November. Talking about using machines to teach, i’ve only seen computers in evangelion.

So basically i think thats all? quite a long post already T_T. Cool eh? makes me wanna study in Japan but sadly i dono how to speak Japanese T_T and my mom have been asking me to go take classes, dono about it yet. =S How easy would it be if i were to be born in Japan. Anyways gonna end it with a few pictures.

This chalkboard shows the month at a glance and is crowded with activities. The calligraphy above is probably a poem or inspirational slogan. Classrooms will discuss and choose their own for the year, too.

Woah woah woah. Girls looks hot from behind

Neighborhood children walk to and from school together in the morning; particularly the youngest grades. Yellow caps (and umbrellas) make them easier to see along the roads and crossings.