School Life in Japan

Elementary students in Japan start their day around 6:30 a.m. After getting ready, they typically eat a breakfast of miso soup and rice balls and then rush out the door to walk to school. Most students walk in groups to and from school. Some schools have special buses or vans that pick up students, but this is very rare. Instead, most of the time you will find children in big groups with special backpacks called randoseru, special hats (typically bright yellow or white) and sometimes uniforms.

In second grade, school starts at 8:40 a.m. and finishes at 2:20 p.m. Classrooms and buildings are similar to America in most ways. Students attend classes in one designated classroom for every class, even in high school, so teachers come to switch rooms instead of the students. The only exception occurs if a class requires special equipment, such as physical education (P.E.), art or science. In the first and second grades students learn Japanese, math, life skills or seikatsu (a class that combines science and social studies), music, art, P.E., ethics or dotoku, and special activities or tokubetsu katsudo (usually done in the homeroom).

Unlike in the U.S., in Japan the schools do not have janitors and lunch is served by the students.

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