JAPANESE PUBLIC SCHOOL IN A NUTSHELL:

this thread is a reference for writers setting stories in Japanese schools! This can vary a little bit by area and whether it's public or private school, but in general, you can expect to see a system like this

SCHOOL STARTS IN SPRING
Almost any institution in Japan, be it public school, private school, university, JOBS, starts at the beginning of April.
For schools with an international focus, you occasionally get October start dates, but this is pretty rare and mostly universities

There are THREE school terms and FOUR major holiday chunks throughout the year.
Because Japan has lots of random holidays throughout the year, breaks tend to be shorter than in the west. The longest break is usually spring break, which happens IN BETWEEN school years.

Spring break is almost a month long in public school but for university it can be almost two months. It happens around March, which for weather reference, is usually the same temperature as December in Japan (so really cold) but almost decent towards the end

Summer break happens in August around Obon, which is another big, multi-day national holiday. This is between the first and second school term, and it's generally around but no more than a month long. It's also the hottest time of year

Winter break is usually about 2 weeks long. It starts around Christmas, sometimes after sometimes before, and goes through early January. New years is one of the most important holidays in Japan, and it tends to be very family focused. This happens between the 2nd and 3rd term

The last school term is the shortest in Japan and usually the most hectic. This is when things like finals and entrance exams take place. Lots of entrance exams happen in February, but it can depend on the school so some have them much earlier

The last big holiday is called Golden Week and it happens during the first term in May where there's a bunch of holidays grouped together. Many people use this time to go on vacations. As the name suggests, it's about a week long.

OTHER THINGS OF NOTE

most public schools here don't have central heating and cooling. There are ac units in classrooms (most of the time) ((also acu's here double as heaters)) but the hallways are pretty miserable.
Every student in public school is automatically advanced to the>

> next grade level regardless of academic performance. There is also little or no division of classes by level, meaning high level learners are in the same classes as struggling students. As a result, the standard curriculum can be a bit low level for more advanced students. >

> This is why juku or "cram schools" are so common, because if a student wants to get into a more prestigious high school/university, they need to know a lot of information that won't be on the standard curriculum.

There are a few exceptions to this rule, however. For example, it's common for math classes to be divided by level, and some English classes will have level divisions.
I'm unsure about the situation in private schools as far as level divisions, though.

There aren't a lot of choices as far as what classes to take in your curriculum. Everyone usually gets a little bit of everything. That's where school clubs come in. Generally, clubs in Japan are more serious than lots of places in the west. Students will attend club activities>

> almost every day, often on Saturdays and, as earlier mentioned, over breaks. This is where students do a majority of their socializing. Almost EVERY student in Japan joins some kind of club.

The situation around diversity of class type may be different in high schools and>

> private schools as well (many high schools ARE private schools after all) but I have less experience around that, so that may be something to ask Google-sensei

I could get more into important school events and stuff but I might save that for later, so I'll say this thread is TBC. Of course, feel free to ask me about any of this stuff and share it!

Oh, and school dances just. Are not a thing here. Just throwing that out there lol

Oh yeah
Sources: I worked in public school for 2 years here and have a lot of friends also working in education. This is based on my observations and experiences here so there are probably some discrepancies depending on location, but as a starting point I hope this helps!

Alright I'm home from work let's do some more!

TRANSPORTATION
students aren't allowed to ride bikes to school until they're in high school. If they're in public school, the school should be close enough that they can walk. For private schools, they might use some public transit>

> so sometimes you'll see elementary/middle school aged kids riding busses or sometimes trains in the morning to go to school. Travelling farther for high school is more common since you have to choose which high school to go to and test in, so it might not necessarily be local.

Education in Japan is only compulsory up to the end of junior high school (grade 9, middle school third year). After that they can choose to go to high school, technical college, or find a job, though most people at least go to high school

(i don't really know much about technical colleges, so i'm not sure how the years/ages work. I just know that they exist, so if you're interested in that side I'd suggest doing your own research!)
Also note, you're not a "legal adult" in Japan until age 20 but there has been>

> legislation to lower that age to 18 in 2022. This is mostly relevant to issues such as criminal prosecution, autonomy, voting, etc

And on that note, a couple of legal ages!
drinking, smoking, gambling: 20
voting, marriage, driving: 18

IMPORTANT SCHOOL EVENTS

nearly every school has some pretty consistent events that the entire student body collaborates on. These can vary slightly from school to school as far as intensity and timing. Also note that elementary schools don't do all of these, or may do smaller>

scale versions of the same thing.

Entrance ceremony: April 1st, celebrates new students coming into the school. Usually has the older students give encouraging speeches
Sports Festival: usually held around October but sometimes happens in the first semester around June. >

> students are divided into teams (usually colors) and compete in a variety of races and competitions. Sometimes teachers and parents participate, and some of the events get pretty silly. There are lots of practices leading up and some schools make banners

Culture festival: happens late in the second term. This one doesn't exist in elementary school, and isn't as intense in middle school as it is for high school. It can vary a lot, but each class puts together a special themed room that the other students and parents can enjoy. >

> there's often things like class plays and musical performances. They range from super impressive to really cringey. Clubs like band and theater will also perform. Outside friends and family come to watch sometimes, when there's not a pandemic at least

Closing Ceremony: not the same as graduation. This is just an assembly to close out the school year in March. Graduation happens around the same time. Usually afterwards if I remember correctly? Sometimes schedules get kinda wild though.

UNIFORMS

Basically starting from 7th grade (middle school 1st year) all schools have uniforms, but even before that, every school has a gym uniform, even in elementary school.

The gym uniforms are unisex. If you've ever seen some anime with girls in like tiny panties for gym class just. get that out of your head nobody does that anymore.
There are summer and winter versions of each uniform. Schools are also becoming more lax about gendered uniforms. >

At the schools I worked for, there were a couple of afab students who requested to wear the male school uniform (at least one of them was trans though they were not out, just told the other students they felt like wearing pants). I didn't see any amab students with skirts, but >

>I do not believe it was against the rules, though students needed to consult with a teacher beforehand. This will vary from school to school, as well.

TROUBLE

up until high school students are not allowed to have a cell phone on school grounds. At all. Some students do it anyway but they need to be extremely careful to hide it because it is Super against the rules. High school students can have cell phones at school, but >

> of course not in class
Japan doesn't do detention. If there's an issue with a student in class, the teacher at the time will consult with the homeroom teacher and the disciplinary teacher, and later try to have a meeting with a parent. This doesn't really help disciplinary>

>problems in class as they're happening, though, so that can be kind of a problem if someone's really acting out or having a breakdown or a fight in the middle of class (rare, but it happens)
If anything SUPER serious goes down, like, the principal can be involved. But there's >

> problems in class detention adjacent.
w33d is SUPER FUCKIN ILLEGAL. Possession is treated with the same severity as Hard Drugs like, idk, cocaine here. Some people still do it ofc, but there's not nearly as much of a "w33d culture" here and I would be honestly >

> Super fucking shocked to hear about high school students managing to get a hold of the stuff. That said, there's a small movement for legalization here. Not sure how much traction it's getting, though. It's nowhere near like what you see in America, at least.

SCHOOL SETUP

There are no lockers.
Every school ever in Japan looks basically the same. There are cubbies in the back for students to keep their things. Most students keep most of their belongings in their homeroom classes
There are shoe cubbies at the student entrance.

School shoes look pretty much the same everywhere, plain white, no laces. If you forget your shoes, you have to wear the visitors slippers, which happens a lot at the beginning of the year. And yeah, mean kids will totally steal other kids school shoes. It sucks.

Not sure if this goes all the way through high school or if it changes for private schools, but students often keep the very same desk for all of their schooling. This means there's a sort of. Changing of the desks between school years where the students take their desks to the>

> new homeroom classes. This is terrifying for elementary school students. And a WHOLE lot of work when all of the students are home for coronavirus so the teachers have to do all the desk moving....
And speaking of teachers, there's a special place called the staff room where >

> all of the teachers live. They have desks grouped together by grade usually. Teacher's don't have their "own" classrooms really, except for special cases with things like Science and sometimes English.
((still TBC))

TOP OF THREAD BC THIS GOT LONG https://twitter.com/grailfish/status/1352411758514720768

Because teachers don't have their own classrooms for the most part, they'll carry their things with them and go to each homeroom for different subjects. Of course, there are exceptions for special classes like art, music, technology, science, etc

Students clean the school. There's usually a cleaning time at the end of the day (sometimes the middle of the day after lunch) where students clean the classrooms, halls, and bathrooms with teacher supervision. There are also "big cleaning" days which are more in depth where >

desks get wiped down, floors get mopped and sometimes waxed, windows get cleaned, etc. Teachers participate in this. Also teachers are in charge of cleaning the staff bathroom on a rotating schedule. Nobody likes this, but Japan does not believe in school custodians,,,

(maybe bougie private schools are different who knows!!!)
School lunch is provided through junior high, and it's actually very good most of the time! They are very nutrition conscious, and often include foods from different regions around Japan and around the world!

In most cases, students are not allowed to bring their own lunch unless they have severe dietary restrictions, or it's a special half day or testing or something.
In high school you have to start bringing your own lunch every day. There's no school-provided lunch option at most >

> schools. Although special schools like boarding schools will be different.
Most schools don't have a cafeteria, so students eat lunch in the classroom. In elementary and middle, the lunch staff brings lunch to the different rooms and the students serve the food (mmm healthy...)

OH AND SOME BASIC INFO
Elementary school is grades 1-6 with 1st graders starting around age 5-6
Middle school is 3 years (7-9) with 1st years aged 12-13, 2nd years 13-14, 3rd years 14-15
High school is 3 years (10-12) with 1st years aged 15-16, 2nd years 16-17, 3rd years 17-18

That's all I'll add for now. If I think of anything else I may add that in later! Feel free to ask me about any of this stuff, and I'll do my best to answer if I can!