Japanese Junior High School Life 📚 from a Foreigners Perspective - Life in Japan Episode 247

Our American kids have grown up in Japanese schools. First, in local Japanese kindergarten. Then, in our local public elementary schools. After that, graduating into Japanese junior high school. So what is it really like being foreigners in Japanese junior high? Today, we're talking to the twins to find out on this life in Japan. So, life for a junior high child is... I mean, the schedules are kind of the same. But, what they take to school and what they do at school are very different. Because now they're almost adults. Their old school had a uniform backpack. But this current school does not have a uniform backpack. So they can do whatever they want. So we got them hiking backpacks because it helps. Because of their back. And they take so many books to school. There's no books in your bag? How does it weigh so much? Because I have my jacket. Oh yeah, I have two books. Three books. Any pencil box that they want. What's yours, Anna? A normal, casual. Oh, let me see it. Normal, casual. So, what they write everything in are all in folders versus notebooks. Oh, there's Anna's. Oh, yes. All right, Anna. So this is next week. This is what you have every day. Yeah, Monday. It's this box right here. Tuesday. Wednesday. Thursday. Okay, so this is very interesting. This is what the subject is. And this tells you how many minutes each class is. So, three days next week they have 15-minute classes. And Tuesdays they have 45-minute classes. So then they get out earlier on those days. And this tells you if they have kyushoku, which is lunch. And if they have soji. They have to clean on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Oh, boy. We cleaned today. Oh, did you? In the bathroom. Oh. How about the kyushoku? Is it the same as elementary school? Yeah, but there's more. There's more because you're bigger now. The kyushoku, or do they bring it to your... So, it's kind of strange. They bring it to your floor, but they need to take it. So, you bring it up to your floor and they leave it parked outside the elevators? Do they have your class number on it? Well, it's a little room for them to get it ready. And then you just go to that room, pick up bars. And you wheel it over? Yeah, wheel it over. How many people wheel it? Four. I'm one of those people. And that's my only job on kyushoku. Just wheel it over. Nice. Is it like buffet style? So, you grab your tray and you go and get your food? Yeah. Okay, so you grab your tray. What's the first thing you get for today? Rice or bread. And then it's like, yeah, side egg. And then what was it? It was curry. Curry. Soup. And then what? And then milk. Milk every meal? Yeah, every meal. But today was special. Had like a little yogurt drink. Besides the milk? Yeah, no. If it was with curry, it's probably lassi, huh? No, it wasn't lassi. Oh, it wasn't? I wish it was lassi, but it's not. But you have to take your own napkin and hashi. So, every kid has to take their own placemat and tablecloth. Placemat. I just take two every week and I just keep... Koukan, koukan. So, it's not like I use the same one every day, but... And I don't spill, and I don't spill. Nobody knows. Oh, no. Nobody. Everybody knows. Okay, let me see what else is in your bag. What's this? Eggo double. I'm trying to finish it to the end. Look how much there is. I finished it. What's this? You finished yours, yeah? I finished all of my... I already finished this and this. What's this, Eggo? That's like the answers. And then what's this massive pile full of? That's all the papers. You don't need to look at. Stop touching my hair. And then they take a water bottle. Their indoor shoes are different because when they started first grade, middle school, their shoe color was green. So, their indoor shoes have the green stripe on them. They're tennis shoes. They're actual tennis shoes. Everyone has exact same tennis shoe. Those indoor shoes, they hardly bring them back. Like, elementary school, I bring them back every week and I wash them every week. They take them back at winter... At major breaks is all. So, these shoes, when they get back home, they are... Nasty. So, what you have on now is your safe goo. But you also have jaji, which is like workout clothes. Which is my favorite. Do you have a jaji there? So, they take those when they have sports. Oh, yes. Oh, yeah. And then... So, for sports, they also have a uniform for judo. Just a white uniform, like... A special one just for judo? For judo. You guys like judo? No. Oh, but I actually kind of like it now because I can do the thing that I couldn't do. Oh, well, that's cool. Okay, so you get to school. You go in, take off your shoes, put on your wabakis. Then what do you do? Go to your class. Sit down. Asa no kai. Yeah, we have asa no kai. Okay, good morning. That's in Juliet. Yeah, that's usually it. And then... Yeah, and then you have five minutes before first class. And then after first class, is it immediately second class? No, you have 10 minutes between every class, except the first class. What, do you have a hira yasumi? Yeah, you have hira yasumi, 20 minutes. What do you do? Sit. Just sit? Yeah, just sit. Go out and play ever? No. I sit and do the things that... I just sit down. So, you just get aging. Third class and fourth class are kind of right after each other, 10 minutes in between. First, second, third, fourth is like... And then lunch. And then lunch, and then fifth and sixth. You brush your hira yasumi before the fifth, and then uh... Between fifth and sixth, here's 10 minutes. And then on Monday, Wednesdays, Fridays, we have soji. Do you always clean the same place? No, you change every two weeks. Every week for me. So today you clean toilets. Yeah. Sometimes you clean toilets, sometimes you clean what? Classrooms. Hallways. Shoe place and the bucket place. Oh yeah, and like the place where you wash your hands. So what P.E.s have you had? Um, we had... Judo. Tetsubo. That's a very interesting P.E. because that's um... My favorite. The bar? Yeah, the bar that you just swing around and around. It's the best. I was the best girl in my class. I was the best girl in my class too. And then they have basketball. Volleyball. Yeah. Soccer. Yeah. Swimming. Yeah. Dancing judo. Yeah. Yes. Basketball. And the heikin dai. Tobibako is like these boxes that you have to jump over. And heikin dai is like the skinny ball that you have to walk across. But, Tobibako, heikin dai, and tetsubo, you get to choose one of those. I chose tetsubo. Duh. Of course. Oh, one very interesting fact about their school, about any school here, is if their hair is short, they can leave their hair down. But if their hair is long, they have to have it pulled back. Oh, not at this school. Not at this school. This school you can leave it up if you have like P.E. or something, you just put it up. Okay, but you have to have dark hair things. Yeah. One time, one time I was walking to school. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I had a, what color was it? Bright pink. Yeah, bright yellow or something. He was thinking my hair, and my hair is yellow. So I was like, hey, I was going to school. And he was like, that guy, your hair thing is yellow. He needs to take it out. I was like, okay. Take it out. I didn't have any hair things, so I used a brown one for my friend. Oh my. So then, about bukatsu, those are after school. So everyone changes and goes to their bukatsus. So what kind of bukatsus are there? Bukatsus are clubs. Running, swimming, basketball, soccer. Badminton, table tennis. Volleyball. So we mentioned soccer. Music clubs. Music club. Drawing. Oh, robot. Robot? Yeah, they actually make robots. Oh, cool. Oh, we're going there? Sarah's like, I want to do the robot club. But those then, they get out between 5.30 and 6, depending if it's winter. It's probably 5.30. 4.30 in winter. 6.30? No, 6 at summer, when the day is long. A lot of the supplies that they get in elementary school, they use again then in middle school, like their wood carving set and their paint set. But a lot of those that school actually use there, so there's like no reason for you to take it sometimes. Oh, you guys did like a wood carving, a wood cutting. Yeah. In shugakuho. Yeah, I actually made my own shelf. Oh, cool. It's like this big, this big. What'd you make, Yana? A bookshelf. A bookshelf also? Honda. You guys do your sewing? You do a lot of sewing too, don't you? No, we actually didn't sew anything in the menswear. We're going to cook in the menswear, I think. Oh, I'm not looking forward to that that much. It's just chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, and more chopping, chopping, chopping, chopping, probably. And we do a lot of shuji. Cleaning feet, but I think we're done now. They do have tests four times a year, and we like test days. We don't like the test weeks. Two weeks before, pretty much, I start test practicing. They don't have usually bukatsu and everything. They just come home and study, study, study, study, study. Lots of study. And then they have two or three days of tests, but those days are kind of nice because they're short. They're only morning, like usually three or four tests in the morning, and then no lunch. They come home and eat lunch, and then the next day the same thing, and the next day the same thing. So the first two days are kind of, because they have to study for the next day. But then the third day, they get out early, and there's no test the next day. So it's like vacation for the afternoon. Some kids have bukatsu. On that day then. On the third one? Yeah. Because there's so many tests today, and I didn't come out early. You had so many tests today, and you didn't get out early. Are there any international people at your school? Yeah, like there's three other kids who's from America, no, daikoku. Just three other people are from other countries? Yeah. We're the only blind kids. Yeah, we're the only blind kids in our school. Their school is large. Their classroom, how many kids are in your class? 40 kids, and there's five classes. But in the first and third grade, there's six classes. Oh, wow. The smallest grade, 200. 200 kids. So let me ask you, Anna, what's your favorite part about junior high school? Where you're going? P.E. P.E.? Yeah. That was your favorite in elementary too, wasn't it? Yeah. Some things have not changed. What about you, Rebecca? Same thing? P.E.? Wow, P.E. is popular. Mine, probably home ec. Yeah, buddy. Mama-chan. Well, girls, good job. You're the first ones. In our family. In our family to do junior high school in Japan. Did you hear that, monkey? We're the first ones. Thanks, girls. Thanks, girls, for talking about junior high school in Japan. Coming up on Life in Japan, we create the next installment of one of our most popular and most requested series. Ah, I see. That's great. I'm so happy!