How different is high school in Japan & America??

I am an exchange student from Japan, so I am sometimes asked what things are different from Japan. There are many different things at high school. I will write about that. These are the comparisons between Japanese public schools (Japanese private high schools are little different such as the way to enter) and American schools.

~Before enter high school~ 

American students go to elementary school for 5 years, middle school for 3 years and high school for 4 years, but Japanese students go to elementary school for 6 years, junior high school for 3 years and high school for 3 years. Moreover, In Japan, we have to pass the tests to enter high school. There is no high school we can go to without a test in Japan. The test’s level are different from each school. Thus, when we become a grade before we enter high school, we go to high school information sessions, where high school teachers explain their school’s features. Through these, We decide what school we want to go to and how many schools we will take the entrance examination for.

~Different things at high school~

*Below is a comparison of WCHS and the Japanese high school, which I go to. (Japanese high schools are a little different from each school such as number of classes per day, time per class, having a cafeteria or not and how school has homework.) The picture on the left is my high school in Japan.

1,  A Day in the Life of a Japanese High School Student 

First, the way to go to school is different. I have never seen students come to school by car or school bus in my high school. We have no school bus, so we have to ride a public bus if we use buses to go to school. Most students go to school by subway (the pictures are on left), where there are so many people who go to jobs and school. On weekday’s morning time, it is called “manin-densha”. The meaning is crowded train. The train is hard to close doors. 

Second, class schedules. My Japanese high school has 7 classes per day, but each class is 45 minutes long. We have 5 classes in the morning. After lunch (the picture on the right side is Japanese lunch boxes) time, we have 2 classes. We eat lunch on the terrace or our classroom. We don’t have a cafeteria, but we have our own classroom. There are 40 students per class. Teachers move classrooms to do classes except like science in experiment. After all classes, most students have club activities. Sometimes, we hang out after school or club activities. My friends and I often go to cafes, restaurants and bowling by walking or subway, but we have to do a lot of homework and study for tests at least 2 or 3 hours every after school. Also, most students go to cram school to understand school classes, so a few students’ sleep time is less than 3 hours. It’s a little hard, but students take studying and homework seriously for our future.

2, Systems & Rules

First, I will tell you about class. In Japan, we can’t choose which classes to take; also our subjects are mostly used by college entrance exams such as English, math, history, geometry and Japanese, so we can’t study deeper journalism, sports and any other professional matters.

Second, I will write about school rules. Japanese high school is less free than American high school. My high school doesn’t allow students to change hair color, use accessories and nail polish, and we must wear school uniforms when we go to high school even if it is the weekend or holiday.

Third, the class door is different. I have never seen a classroom locked in Japan so far. Our doors are usually kept open during class. I don’t know the reason. I had never thought about the reason, because I thought that the class door kept open during class is ordinary.   Fourth, we have no hall pass. When we go out of class to go to the bassroom or another class to get forgotten items, we have to tell the class teacher only, but most students go to the bathroom during our break time. We have break time after each class of 10 minutes to drink something, go to the bathroom and move class if we need to.

Fifth, the way to finish classes. In Japan, if a teacher continues to teach despite a buzzer which tells the finishing time of the class, students have to keep paying attention to the teacher and we can leave the classroom after a teacher finishes  talking.

3, School clubs

In Japan, we have to continue three years of the same sports because we don’t have a seasonal sports system

 like America. So, Japanese high school students play one sport for 3 years as a school club activity. Moreover, students practice each sport at the high school ( two pictures on right are my high school’s tennis courts and ground). Also we don’t have a high school stadium and we can’t go to another club’s game to watch. Club members’ family members only can watch games. I was surprised that American high schools have home stadiums and everyone has the opportunity to  watch games. However, we not only have sports clubs in Japan, we also have brass band clubs, tea ceremony clubs, art club, science club and many others not exercising clubs. Some students belong to both a sports club and not exercising clubs.

These are the differences between Japanese high school and American high school. I think American students can focus on their future better than Japanese students, because they can choose what class they take and homework is less than in Japan. It is very nice. However, I also think that in Japanese high schools, the per class is short and that can keep concentration is good.  

I was able to realize each high school’s good points again by writing this article. I hope you are interested in Japanese high school!!