PRESENTATION OUTLINE
What's junior high?
Junior high in Japan is the equivalent to our grade 7, 8 and 9. These are the last three years of compulsory education in Japan. So, Japanese junior high is basically our high school but finishes a year earlier.
What do they do after school?
After school many Japanese students are in a club. These clubs vary from Yakyu (baseball), to band, soccer or even judo. However these clubs are not all sporting, there are clubs for basically everything: visual art, drama, flower arranging and even tea ceremonies. These clubs are normally involved with school, something that students can go to in their own time is cram school. This consists of basically tutoring to help students pass entrance exams for high school or university. These cram schools can specialise in subjects or can have a bit of everything so to speak.
What about weekends?
Japanese teenagers spend most of their time in school, at extra curricular activities or studying but do get some free time. In this free time studies have found that Japanese teenagers love to hang out with their friends and people their age. Unlike here they are not allowed to date until they are over 16 which minimises distractions from their work. Sometimes sport can even spill over into training on the weekend or tournaments and matches.
So they play sport?
Yes, Japanese junior high students do play sport. However the stereotypes are wrong. Japanese people don't all do karate or judo they play a variety of sports like us. Baseball for example is really big in Japan. It is the largest sport in Japan based on spectators and television ratings. Other sports that are big are soccer, kendo (a martial art), karate and motor racing is also popular.
Is it serious?
Well, Japanese students take their studies very seriously and are pushed and pushed to succeed by their parents. They are also pushed in things such as band or sports in which they get invested in and pushed to succeed. However it is not only their parents that push them to succeed, they themselves want to succeed as much if not more than their parents as Japan is a very pressurised society.
So they go to primary school or college?
Yes, however they do not call it primary school they call it Elementary school and they do not call it college they call it senior high school. This goes from the equivalent of our grade 10 to years 11 and 12. As you can see from the names of the grades the Japanese school system is based on the American system.
This is how the Japanese school system works
