As I never studied in a Japanese school, I am now reporting an experience of a Friend. Short and Sweet "My experience in Japanese school has been limited to the summer but it has made a great impact on my life. Second grade was the first time I attended school and from then it was every other year during my elementary school years. In middle school I went to 7th and 9th grade, and during my Junior year in college I hope to go abroad for a year." Morning "Waking up in the summer humidity was the worst. I had to strain myself to go to the restroom at six something in the morning, change into my uniform and fold up my futon. I would wobble down the steep narrow stairs and eat breakfast in the kitchen of my uncle's house. Breakfast was wonderful. My aunt was a chef so a trip to the kitchen was a trip to the restaurant. Although my aunt and uncle preferred bread in the morning, since she knew I loved rice, she prepared a rice meal every morning. The wide screen TV was always tuned up to a news station and I would stare blankly at the TV screen while gobbling up my feast. Before I could finish, my friend would run up from the back porch and call out "Alisa!" I would grab my two bags, tell my uncle and aunt "ittekimasu!" (I'm going!) and run out." Walk to School "Although my friends and I, who lived in the same neighborhood walked to school everyday, we all enjoyed the trip. The walk was only fifteen minutes and every minute was exciting. It was just the same as walking in a mall. We talked, joked, and danced around all the way while passing cars, vending machines, shops, houses, the school gate, the soccer field and soon without realizing, we were at school." The School "There was an area where we had to take our sneakers and put on a pair of slipper like shoes called uwabaki before we entered the building. We all had a shoe box to put our sneakers in which were all lined up by classes. To come to think about it was amazing that the shoe boxes didn't have little doors or locks like in American schools. I guess no one really tries to "borrow" each other's shoes." The Building "The walls were usually white and posters were scattered here and there. Since our grade was on the fourth floor, every morning we had to climb up several hundred steps. Once I got to my room and my small wooden desk, I had lots of time to rest unlike my friend Ai, who had a position similar to a teacher's assistant called a class leader (I guess you could say.) Basically what she did was to take attendance, make copies for teachers, help new students and other general tasks. When there was a need for a decision to be made, the leader was usually the one to write down the ideas the students would say on the chalk board. She was always busy and I was always being lazy." Morning Sessions "Once every one came, we would always do a short morning session before our advisor came. The class leader would take attendance and pass out a small daily worksheet that was printed on a grayish colored sheet of paper. The worksheet's subject would change daily from math, Japanese, science, history and other subjects. After a certain amount of time, the people in the back row would collect the papers and place them on the teacher's desk. By the way, almost all hand outs at school were on this gray paper. Someone explained to me that it was because white paper was expensive but another said it was because of environmental issues. I'm going for the environmental issues. It's not like you don't see white paper in Japan on a daily basis." Class "I don't remember much from the classes except for the fact that the girl sitting to the right was never listening during class and instead was constantly drawing anime. She was always sketching Kenshin. I knew and everyone knew she needed some help. But other than that, class was always just a constant cycle of kiritsu kiotsuke rei! onegai shimasu! and we sat down stiffly at our desks listening to several objective monotonous speeches." Kiritsu Kiotsuke Rei! "At the beginning, when the teacher enters the door, the class leader would tell us all to kiritsu! We would all stand up with our arms straight down to the side. Kiotsuke! The leader would continue. Then we would stiffen up. Rei! We would bow down and everyone will shout out in unison, onegai shimasu which I guess you could translate as please help us learn. Then we would all stumble back into our seats and when the subject was either history or geography, I was always mumbling to myself, "let the hell begin." Teachers "The Japanese teacher and the Science teacher were a delight. The Japanese teacher even sent me a good luck charm on New Years and during Science I had fun doing labs with my talkative lab partners. I remember one of them distinctively. We were always talking about Blur and other Brit bands and were never concentrating on our labs. English was the best subject of all. How could you not say this when you could be the star of the class. I became a teacher’s assistant and she always called on me to pronounce. I remember, there was a time when we were given a hand out on objects inside a school and I was told to say “Please repeat after me....table,” and I would hear the whole class echo in broken English, “tabol.” Although v’s and b’s, and r’s and l’s were a challenge to every person in the class, it was a fun experience for all of us. One day the English teacher asked me if I could pick a song the class could learn and she offered me to teach it. Since it was 1996 and it was the period when the Beatles made a come back, I thought “Hey Jude” would be an easy learner. Apparently they all seemed to like it and on the day of my farewell party, they all sang the song. That day was such a tear jerker. It was incredible." Lunch "Lunch was very different from what I've experienced in my 18 years of American school. The most striking difference was that there was no one to serve you food and that the students were the ones responsible of serving each other. Each week there was a group of students who were assigned as the "lunch group" and their duty was to set up a line of tables in front of the classroom and to bring up the the food and eating utensils from the school kitchen on the first floor. Before this process began, the group was required to change into their lunch gear which consisted of a white poncho like apron, a cap and a mask. All were there to guarantee 100% bacteria free food when serving. The menus were planned to fit a pre-teen or teen daily diet. Even a calendar was posted on the right side of the classroom to show how many vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates etc. were in each meal. Everything was very efficient. When all was ready to go, the teacher came into the classroom. Then the class spoke out, Itadaki masu! and the whole class replied, Itadakimasu. (Let us eat!)" Food Fight "Lunch was war. Everyone, especially the guys were always going after the leftovers. Even the science teacher from next door came into our territory to steal some of the desserts. I couldn't blame them. The food was too good. It was usually a cycle of rice, bread or noodles and a variety of side dishes with various meats, fish and vegetables. A carton of low fat milk always came with our lunch and there were a variety of treats that also came along on the side. A small package of almonds, small dried fish and nuts, a piece of frozen pineapple, a cup of custard pudding or a package of two ice-cream rice cakes are some examples. Ice cream rice cakes were always in demand. Competition was tense yet everyone managed to share at the end." After School Clubs |