Uniforms play a much greater role in Japanese society than in the United States in keeping with the Japanese desire for ÒgroupÓ harmony. Besides providing business for such shoe shops, the institutionalization of uniforms in schools was said to promote equality and comfort among children. Most schools and teachers feel children are happier when they are more like each other, and uniforms minimize differences in wealth and tastes. Most Junior and Senior High schools, and most private nursery schools, have such uniforms.
In the 19th century, the style of secondary school uniforms was borrowed form Prussia and other European models, and many schools still use variations on those costumes- semi military looking jackets for boys, middy blouses and skirts for girls. Among some teenagers, altering the uniform slightly, such as adding a gaudy lining or pegging the pants legs, is an act of creative individualism -- or if caught, an act of Òschool violence.Ó
SCHOOL
In Japan the academic year starts on April 1 and ends in March. Japanese parents care a lot about the academic careers of their children. The school system in Japan is as follows: first, 6 years of elementary school; second, 3 years of junior high school; third, 3 years of high school; and fourth, 4 years of college or university or 2 years of junior college. Education is compulsory through junior high.
The level of Japanese education is considerably high and the illiteracy rate in Japan is assumed to be close to 0%. Since the name of the college or university that one graduates from affects oneÕs future job, Japanese children start studying very seriously from their early years and they often go to special preparatory schools called juku to prepare for entrance exams of colleges and universities.
SCHOOL REGULATIONS
-From The Material Child by Merry White
1. School regulations in Japan are not standardized. Each elementary and secondary school establishes its own. Junior-high schools tend to have the most.
2. BoysÕ hair should not touch the eyebrows, the ears, or the top of the collar.
3. No one should have a permanent wave, or dye his or her hair. Girls should not wear ribbons or accessories in their hair. Hair dryers should not be used.
4. School uniform skirts should be __ centimeters above the ground, no more and no less(This differs by school and region).
5. Keep your uniform clean and pressed at all times. GirlsÕ middy blouses should have two buttons on the back collar. BoysÕ pants cuffs should be of the prescribed width. No more that twelve eyelets should be on shoes. The number of buttons on a shirt and tucks in a skirt are also prescribed.
6. Wear your school badge at all times. It should be positioned exactly.
7. Going to school in the morning, wear your book bag strap on the right shoulder; in the afternoon on the way home, wear it on the left shoulder. Your book case thickness, filled and unfilled, is also prescribed.
8. Girls should wear only regulation white underpants of 100% cotton.
9. When you raise your hand to be called on, your arm should extend forward and up at the angle prescribed in the handbook.
10. Your own route to school is marked in your student rule handbook; observe carefully which side of each street you are to use on the way to and from school.
11. After school you are to go directly home, unless your parent has written a note permitting you to go to another location. Permission will not be granted by the school unless this other location is a suitable one. You must not go to coffee shops.
12. It is not permitted to drive or ride a motor cycle, or to have a license to drive one.
13. Before and after school, no matter where you are, you represent our school so you should behave in the ways we can all be proud of.
BASEBALL IN JAPAN
Baseball first came to Japan in 1873, when a game was played at what is now Tokyo University under the direction of an American visitor. By 1880, the first baseball club was organized, and twenty years later, most schools had baseball clubs. Japanese fans have created a lasting boom in baseball, a boom which is only slightly eroding now due to the introduction of European-style football, or soccer, and the incredible popularity of the Japanese league.
The Japanese professional teams recruit some American players, but they have to play by Japanese rules, and the tendency to favor Japanese homerun hitters, for example, has sometimes caused irritations. Another difference is the preference for a tied game, which no one likes. The ÒWorld SeriesÓ in Japan is not played by professional teams, but by high school league leaders. This series or games is broadcast on television nationwide from the Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, Kobe and draws a huge audience. It is very passionately played and the winners and losers both break into tears at the end.
