Japanese Schools

        Today I will talk about Japanese schools.
       First, the rules. Very rarely will a Japanese school not have uniforms and if they have uniforms there are usually two styles. One for summer and one for winter. The school will a set day for when the students are supposed to switch the uniforms. If a student forgets, the uniform is in the wash, or the uniform has a rip in it, then they have a couple days to get it fixed. However, if they still continue to wear the winter uniform when it’s summer or vice versa, then they can get in trouble. Piercings, tattoos, or purposefully not following the dress code will immediately get a student expelled. Relationships, like boyfriends and girlfriends, are extremely frowned upon. Their thinking is that school is a place to learn; not a social hang out.  Even if a girl and boy have that kind of relationship you might never know since they won’t hold hand and certainly won’t make out in the halls like at my school. Sometimes a couple won’t hold hands even in public.
        A Japanese student might not have a list of chores like in America. The thinking is that students have a job, which is to learn, so the parents might not make them do chores but instead study. There is great pressure on students to get into a good high school and then a good college. Many will go to what’s called a cram school, which is like school at night. So, basically, those kids go to school and then more school. Cram schools usually are ahead of regular schools in material and it’s usually harder material. Sometimes a cram school student will fall asleep in their regular class and the teacher won’t mind because they know that the student is ahead of everyone else. Other times though the teacher will punish all students who fall asleep.
        Transportation to school is also something very different from American schools. Some students will ride the train for several hours or more just to get to school. Others will take several modes of transportation like the subway then the train, maybe ride a bike or walk half an hour to school. Not many parents will drive their child to school since gas (a valuable resource on a island) is expensive.
Many in America will say that their school lunches aren’t the best. Well, you don’t need to worry about that in Japanese schools since they don’t have cafeterias. A student will make their own lunch or their mother will however they call it a bento.  Students are allowed to eat their bento almost anywhere they want. They’re even allowed to leave the school grounds to go to the nearest convenience store and get a store bought bento.
        In America, the students move from class to class with all sorts of people in their grade but in Japan it’s the teacher who moves. The teacher will have their desk with all their papers in a teacher lounge. Most of the time there are papers everywhere like in the picture below.  The students will have one classroom and a homeroom teacher that they go to with the same people for the whole year. They also have assigned desks that they sit in for the whole trimester. You can imagine that they get pretty excited when it’s time to change desks or classes after seeing the same people day in and day out.
       That’s all for today.

(582 words)

Resources:
http://web-japan.org/trends/09_fashion/fas100729.html

A Japanese Bath

        Today I’m going to talk about Japanese bathrooms. Oh man, really crazy stuff. The setup of a bathroom is in the picture below.
        The first big difference is the showers. I will tell you how to take a Japanese shower (for the picture below any way). First, sit down on a tub. Use fill up a bucket and get yourself wet. To get the water going you'd push a button or turn a nozzle then turn it off. Shampoo your hair, use conditioner, scrub your body or whatever clean yourself (I'm not going to spell out how to take a shower ok). Fill the bucket again and repeat. Once your clean you can then step into the tub and soak in the hot water like it's a hot tub. It's very important to wash yourself outside of the tub before getting into it. Others will use the tub as well so you don’t drain the water and waste it. Since a person already washed themselves outside the tub, Japanese don’t have any qualms about reusing the tub. Most Japanese also take showers or baths at night instead of in the mornings like most Americans. They sometimes have a hierarchy to who gets to use the bath first. Depending on the family, the father or guest will go first and enjoy the warm bath water. The mother will go next, then the eldest child on down.
        Now for toilets. Most Japanese homes have a separate, kind of closet like space for the toilet. It’s separate from the bathroom and only consists of a toilet sometimes a sink. Usually the sinks in the bathroom. Some toilets have all sorts of gadgets on the toilet like a seat warmer. Let us say you get up in winter in the middle of the night and you have to go. Well, no worries about a cold toilet seat. They might also have a device on the wall with options of a bigger or smaller flush depending on ...well you know. Another option is the spray, where the toilet will wash your bottom. Water temperature control for the spray button is another one on the toilet control panel. There are probably others but I think that’s all I can take of freaky things you can do with a Japanese toilet.

(385 words)

Contemporary Japanese Bathroom

Japanese Toilet

There's No Place Like Home

           Alright, this time my post is something new (for once). Japanese homes.
          Well for starters, Japanese house prices depend on location, location, (you guessed it) location. Since Japan is a small country, the land prices are generally higher than American homes. Houses are also generally more compact than American homes.
          I think the strangest difference between American and Japanese homes is that Japanese houses don't generally have dryers. More people are getting one for their house but most still don’t have one. People will just hang their laundry on a line to dry out. On rainy days, people will hang clothes inside or wait until the sun comes out. A house might actually be more attractive to a Japanese buyer if it faces the sun. Why don't they generally not have dryers? Well, it takes energy to dry cloths. Japan is an island so if they don't need to use energy they try not to. Otherwise they'll use up their resources and have to eventually pay other countries for it.
         Many people like cleanliness in their homes but the Japanese take it a little smidgen further. No shoes in the house. Ever. That’s right, nearly all homes have what's called a genkan. The entry way is, usually, built lower than the house so you can take off your shoes and step up into the house. Sometimes it's just a different tiled spot but that's where the shoes stop. The Japanese have genkans to not only keep the dust and dirt out but they also used to believe it would keep bad spirits out as well. So, for example, lets say your moving. Yeah, the movers will take off their shoes and put them on again every time they go in or out. Every time. Genkans aren’t just in homes but nearly all buildings. The company will have little slippers you can wear so you don't walk around in your socks and cubbies to put your shoes in.
         Ok next is Japanese beds. Japanese will use either a traditional Western bed or what’s called a futon. This is different from what you might think as the futon that can be a couch and a bed. Japanese futons usually have a foam pad (matto), a futon (shikibuton), sheets(shiitsu), blankets (mofu), a duvet (kakebuton) and a pillow (makura) (pictures below). It is very important to air out a futon so mold and other thing can’t grow inside of it. The Japanese fold a futon into thirds with only the bottom of the futon touching the floor; again that’s for cleanliness. By folding the futon and putting it in a cupboard a room can be a bedroom and an office.

(446 words)

Japanese Home

Folded Up Futons

Laid Out Futon

Resources:
http://www.wikihow.com/Maintain-a-Japanese-Futon