カテゴリー: Life in Japan

Hello! 
Some people asked me about the Japanese school system.
I don’t know all kinds of school in Japan because but I can share my experiences.

So, here is the history of my education.

Nursery(0~5 year old)

I didn’t go to nursery because my mom was not working and she could take care of me.

If a mom is working and cannot take care of her child, she can put her kid into Nursery.

Putting a kid into a nursery is a bit difficult in Tokyo. There are more children who need to go to a nursery than the number of teachers in a nursery. It is one of the big problems in Japan.

Kindergarten(4~5 year old)

Kindergarten is NOT mandatory in Japan. 
However, my mom put me in a Kindergarten so that I can do more activities and make more friends.

Kindergarten starts around 8:00 am and ends around 4:00 pm.
We do drawing, playing, dance and a lot more activities but we don’t study much. 

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Elementary school (6~11 year old)

Elementary school is mandatory. 
Children can choose if they want to go to public elementary school or private elementary school.

I went to a public elementary school because my house was in the countryside and there was no private school there. Public elementary schools are basically free but lunches and school trips are not free.

Private elementary school cost a lot but the education quality is usually better than the public ones.

Here is the subjects that children study in elementary school and the class hours of each subject.

Subject	First  grade	Second  grade	Third  grade	Forth  grade	Fifth  grade	Sixth  grade
Japanese	306(h)	315	245	245	175	175
Social studies	0	0	70	90	100	105
Math	136	175	175	175	175	175
Sience	0	0	90	105	105	105
living studies	102	105	0	0	0	0
Music	68	70	60	60	50	50
arts	68	70	60	60	50	50
homemaking	0	0	0	0	60	55
P.E	102	105	105	105	90	90
moral	34	35	35	35	35	35
English	0	0	0	0	35	35
Others	0	0	70	70	70	70
Special activities	34	35	35	35	35	35
Total	850	910	945	980	980	980

Mastering Kanji is difficult to Japanese people as well. As you can see above, we spend a lot of time to practice Kanji. Also, we have many moral classes in which we learn what is right and what is wrong. We have cleaning time after the lunch. All students clean the school, room, toilet and everywhere. We learn how to clean with various equipment and how to keep the environment organized.

School starts around 8:30 am and finishes around 3:30 pm

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Junior high school(12~14 year old)

Junior high school is also mandatory thus it is basically free.
I went to a public junior high school.
In my school, we needed to wear a school uniform.

Subject	First grade	Second grade	Third grade
Japanese	140	140	105
Social studies	105	105	140
Math	140	105	140
Sience	105	140	140
Music	45	35	35
Arts	45	35	35
P.E	105	105	105
Tech/Homemaking	70	70	35
English	140	140	140
Moral	35	35	35
Others	50	70	70
Special activities	35	35	35
Total	1015	1015	1015

At the third grade, we need to take the entrance exam of high school. Most of us went to cram school in the evenings because the junior high school was not providing enough education to survive the entrance exams.

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School starts around 8:30 am and finishes around 3:30 pm

High school(15~17 year old)

I chose to go to a second-best public high school because it was very close to my house and my ballet studio. And, of course, I passed the exam.

High school is not mandatory but 99% of my junior high school mates entered High school. High school is considered “must” to be accepted in Japanese society.

The first year of High school, teachers asked me “Which university do you want to go?”
High school’s most important role is to send students to good universities. So we were forced to study as much as we can. My school had a “Study trip” as well, in which students were put in the hotel and studied 15 hours a day (or more).

Not all high schools are like this but since my high school is very focused on the entrance exam of the university, they make student study like crazy.

Thanks to this crazy studying environment, I passed the exam of Osaka University which is the third-best National University in Japan.

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University(18-21 year old)

As I mentioned, I entered Osaka University and majored in Hindi. Osaka University is the public school so the fee is rather cheaper but it still cost 540,000 yen per year. Private University cost double compared to the public university.

I lived in a dormitory in the campus and the rent was only 4,500 yen /month. This is amazingly cheap. Not everyone could stay in the dormitory so only poor students were given permission to stay there. Since my father died of cancer and my family didn’t have legit income, I got permission to stay in the dormitory. (Btw, I didn’t have to pay for the school fee for the same reason. )

I did part-time jobs and earned some money for my living but I was lucky to get a lot of financial support from the government and the university. I had enough time to study hard and enjoy school life.

I took one year break from the university and lived in Delhi for a year.
After I came back to Japan, I did the job hunting and got a job in PwC Japan.

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Thanks for reading

Thank you very much for reading such a long article.

I am not sure if such information would help anyone but I simply wrote it down in case someone is interested.

If I have a baby in the future, I don’t want to put him or her in normal Japanese schools. I want to put my kid into an international school in Japan or live in foreign countries. I don’t think the Japanese education system is the best. I will right those things someday…..

See you again soon!