Life at a Japanese school AMA

[Ai-chan]

So some of you want to write about Japanese students, at a Japanese school. But you don't know how because you've never been to a Japanese school. Well Ai-chan has studied at a Japanese school, as well as at an all-girls Malaysian school. Do you have a question about Japanese schools? If so, ask away!

If it's not a trolling or harassing question, Ai-chan will try to answer.

Please understand that there are things that Ai-chan never experienced, such as eating lunch on the rooftop. Why? Because students weren't allowed to go to the rooftops. It's padlocked at all times. Yes, babies, those anime you watched lied to you.

Also, do understand that while generalization exists, each school are also run differently. So what Ai-chan said might not be applicable to another, stricter, more conventional Japanese school or a less strict school. So Ai-chan can only answer based on own experience, about 15 years ago. Yes, Ai-chan is indeed forever 16, but let's forget about that for a moment.

 

[SailusGebel]

If there was bullying in your school, how bad was it?

 

[Ai-chan]

If there was bullying in your school, how bad was it?

Just the typical isolation-type bullying. It didn't reach the point of putting flowers on the victim or snapping nude pictures as blackmail material. The worst harassments Ai-chan can remember was spreading rumours on the school BBS.

Oh but hiding books and shoes were pretty common.

 

[SailusGebel]

Just the typical isolation-type bullying. It didn't reach the point of putting flowers on the victim or snapping nude pictures as blackmail material. The worst harassments Ai-chan can remember was spreading rumours on the school BBS.

Oh but hiding books and shoes were pretty common.

What about physical violence, maybe fights between classmates?

 

[Ai-chan]

What about physical violence, maybe fights between classmates?

Yes, that's pretty common, but rarely caused by bullying. The discipline teachers usually take a no-nonsense attitude on that matter. If you fight, you both get punished. Who is right and who is wrong, we'll talk about it when you submit your reflection letter.

 

[SailusGebel]

Yes, that's pretty common, but rarely caused by bullying. The discipline teachers usually take a no-nonsense attitude on that matter. If you fight, you both get punished. Who is right and who is wrong, we'll talk about it when you submit your reflection letter.

What kind of punishment do they usually get? Suspension?

 

[Ai-chan]

What kind of punishment do they usually get? Suspension?

Nah, fighting was pretty common. There were levels of punishments too.

Light fighting where you only bitch slapped the other or engage in hair pulling usually only given a warning and you're expected to write a reflection letter.

It's when you get into an all-out brawl with fists breaking the nose and elbows breaking ribs that you got given suspension. As for how long, it usually depends on the severity of the brawl. Ai-chan has never heard of a suspension that lasted more than 2 weeks.

However, if weapons are wielded, such as a chair's leg or knives are pulled out, that usually would involve the police. Ai-chan never came across anything like that while at school, though.

 

[SailusGebel]

Thank you for answering, Ai-chan.

 

[Ai-chan]

Thank you for answering, Ai-chan.

You're welcome. All the best with your work. Have a nice day!

 

[Katsuya]

Dating. How is that in school? Is there a lot of couples? Any... yuri or yaoi going on?

Also, graduation and stuff. Kinda confusing. So, when is grad and when does school start?

 

[Mandark]

In the United States, kids in high school are basically broken up into ‘cliques’. So there is really no single popular kid after middle school… like you will be popular in your group but a side note in someone else’s.

Is it like that there too?

 

[Florestes]

Are there student councils? Like the ones that actually do things? And what do they do for/together with the students?
(I've only come into contact with Student Union at university)

 

[TotallyHuman]

I heard that Japanese school students have to take care of their school themselves: thing like cleaning the tables, washing the floors and cooking meals. Is it true? Can you elaborate on that experience?

 

[Mellohwa]

How about the student's schedule—what time do they usually go to school? How many breaks do they get?

 

[Ai-chan]

Dating. How is that in school? Is there a lot of couples? Any... yuri or yaoi going on?

Also, graduation and stuff. Kinda confusing. So, when is grad and when does school start?

You don't normally date in Japanese schools. Yeah, it's funny how Japanese romcom mangas often portray boys and girls being romantic couples in class, but schools rules generally frown upon romantic relationships. Then again, most modern schools don't enforce the 'No Dating' rules due to the difficulty of determining whether an interaction is 'romance' or not. So it normally came to the prohibitions of 'don't kiss in school', 'don't fondle each other in school', 'don't get naked in school', 'don't fight over a girl at school' and 'don't have sex at school'.

A Japanese school year always start in April and always end in March. April because that's what the Japanese traditionally consider as 'new year'. In some places in the past, you would get a year older in April. April is also the time when the government declare the theme of the year.

EDITED: Ends in March, not May. Sorry, it was late at night.

In the United States, kids in high school are basically broken up into ‘cliques’. So there is really no single popular kid after middle school… like you will be popular in your group but a side note in someone else’s.

Is it like that there too?

Yes, there are cliques in Japanese schools. But it's not so clear-cut like in American schools. For example, there is no 'popular cliques', 'nerd cliques' or 'jock cliques' in Japanese schools. The clique you're in is the clique you feel most comfortable in.

For example, in a clique of popular girls, popularity is not the defining concept of the clique. It just so happens that these girls are close friends and comfortable with each other, and they're all popular for some reason or another. Then again, there could also be non-popular girls in the clique, who is often treated like air by other people because nobody knows her. The popularity is also not necessarily about the looks. One girl could be the prettiest girl in school, one could be the daughter of a famous doctor, one could be famous for being the school representative in track, one could be the girl with the highest marks in the year.

Are there student councils? Like the ones that actually do things? And what do they do for/together with the students?
(I've only come into contact with Student Union at university)

Yes, there are student councils. And they do a lot of things. But one must understand that they are not the legislative power behind the school, as in they don't set or make the rules. They don't even run the school. Their purpose is to train future leaders to be responsible and active in pursuit of their goals.

Technically, most of what the student council do are:
1. Enforce existing rules
2. Liaise with teachers to deliver student demands or requests
3. Acquire funding for school activities with the school board
4. Assign funding to the parties involved in events, such as for school festivals or school-sponsored trips
5. Suggest initiatives to make the school better, such as monitoring school meals (high schools don't have canteens/cafeterias), and beautification events

EDIT: Forgot to mention that student councils are a high school matter. There is a student council of sort in middle school, but it's headed by the teacher and if there is a council president, he's mostly the chairman for the meetings and doesn't have any real power.

 

[Florestes]

Thanks!!

 

[Ai-chan]

I heard that Japanese school students have to take care of their school themselves: thing like cleaning the tables, washing the floors and cooking meals. Is it true? Can you elaborate on that experience?

Well, taking care of the school sounds like students are being treated as free labour. It's not really like that. While yes, older schools usually get students to do the brunt of the work, schools without janitors or gardeners also get teachers to help out, particularly in dangerous things. People say that Japanese schools don't have janitors, and that's true, if you consider the American definition of a janitor. The school typically has a non-teaching staff, similar to janitors, but they're not janitors. The shuji (non-teaching staff) does practically everything other than students' duties, which may include cleaning toilets, fixing pipes, repairing roofs.

The class duties are actually light labour, small things to teach you a sense of duty and responsibility. Below is the standard duty schedule of a 15 student classroom:

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Cleaning Windows	Kimura Kobayashi	Ito	Yamaguchi	Sato	Tanaka Yamada
Wiping Blackboard/Arrange Tables	Sato	Nakamura Yamamoto	Matsumoto	Kobayashi Matsumoto	Yamamoto
Dusting	Takahashi Tanaka	Yoshida	Inoue	Watanabe Nakamura	Ito Sasaki
Sweeping	Watanabe	Yamada Sasaki	Kimura	Takahashi Inoue	Yoshida Yamaguchi

If the class has additional responsibilites such as taking care of pets or watering the plants, this schedule would reflect those duties too.

As for what you mentioned
1. Cleaning the tables - Generally, you're responsible for your own table. If you dirty it, you have to clean it, right away. There are times when the school got students to clean some tables in the storeroom in anticipation of more new students prior to the opening of the school or in the weekends.
2. Washing the floors - Students normally do not wash the floors. We were expected to make sure the floor of our classroom and walkway right outside of our class to be clean and spotless (or we'd get scolded by the homeroom teacher), but we don't really wash it. Like we don't mop it unless someone spilled soup or vomited on the floor, in which case we have to do it immediately. Nobody wants to smell vomit while studying math.
3. Cooking meals - Ai-chan frankly has never had to cook meals for the class. Technically, that happened in elementary school, as the school provided meals in elementary school. But students didn't cook anything. What happened was, the class representative and a few assistants go out to the kitchen, specify which class they're front, how many students, and if any student has allergies, and then, they scoop the food into containers. The containers are then brought into the class, and are poured/given to students one by one.

How about the student's schedule—what time do they usually go to school? How many breaks do they get?

It differs from elementary to high school, but generally, schools start at 8:30AM and ends a little later after 3AM. Some schools start earlier and some start later. Japanese schools typically have 2 breaks. A short break, study a bit more and then lunch break. Back in Ai-chan's day, there were 2 classes between the first break and the lunch break.

 

[Minx]

Absolute bullshit

Why are you like this


Anyway, regarding the clothes and hair regulation, is there such a rule that stated students must wear proper clothing, no hair dye or long hair?

 

[ABCGUY]

In Germany they talk a bit shit about you and thats it

 

[Ai-chan]

Why are you like this


Anyway, regarding the clothes and hair regulation, is there such a rule that stated students must wear proper clothing, no hair dye or long hair?

Yes. Back in Ai-chan's day, the school dress code was veeeeery heavily enforced. Your skirt is too high, you got whipped, and told to lower the hem or the teacher will call your parents.

Ai-chan doesn't remember long hair being a problem, as Ai-chan too had long hair back in school. Ai-chan does remember a rule about the maximum length of hair, but can't remember what maximum length it specified. It was probably not enforced for girls, but it was definitely enforced for guys. For the guys, if the bottom of the hair reach the collar, the teacher would tell you to cut it by tomorrow or he'd cut it for you, but he won't do a good job about it.

About the hair dye, there is truth in it. As in most schools have rules about dyeing your hair. Basically, the more outlandish colours are against the rules, outlandish being unnatural colours for a Japanese such as bright blue, neon green, blood red or blonde. Yes, blonde hair is against the rules. The colours you're allowed to use are brown, black and very dark blue.