The shape of school life

Japan’s school system: nine compulsory years and several onward routes

Six years of elementary school and three of lower secondary form Japan’s usual compulsory stages. The familiar 6–3–3–4 outline adds three years of upper secondary and a typical four-year bachelor’s degree, but integrated schools, support provision and vocational routes make the full system more varied.

Academic years and terms in Japan

Japan’s primary and secondary school year runs from 1 April to 31 March. Academic years, terms, holidays and ceremonies describe different layers of a school calendar.

Bukatsu: school clubs beyond the classroom

Juku: learning beyond the school timetable

Gakushū juku provide supplementary academic teaching outside school. Their work can range from reviewing school lessons to advanced study and entrance-examination preparation. This narrower sense of juku does not include every extracurricular activity.

Japanese school uniforms: forms, ways of wearing and changing rules

Kendō: equipment, practice and a valid strike

Kendō is a modern Japanese martial art practised with bamboo swords called shinai and protective equipment, alongside paired forms using wooden swords. In competition, a scoring strike must meet defined technical criteria; contact with armour alone is not enough.

Hakama: different cuts beneath a familiar outline

Hakama is a family of lower-body garments with divided and undivided forms. Court, warrior, ritual, work, martial-arts and modern school settings give the name a wider history than either samurai trousers or graduation dress alone.

Entrance exams: schools, study and families

Admissions in Japan connect schools’ selection methods with students’ study, school choices and household arrangements. Subject tests are one common method; records, interviews, essays and recommendations may also contribute. Experiences differ by educational stage and route.

Japan’s public libraries: borrowing, enquiries and local memory

Municipal and prefectural public libraries connect people with materials for reading, research and learning. Lending is a familiar service, alongside enquiries, children’s reading, local collections and cooperation between libraries. National and university libraries have different institutional roles.

Radio exercises: sound, movement, and three generations

Japan’s radio exercises organise movements through music and spoken cues. Beginning as a national health programme in 1928, they passed through postwar revisions to become today’s first and second routines, later joined by Minna no Taisō.

Judo: throws, groundwork and learning with a partner

Ekiden: a road race shared across a team

An ekiden is a long-distance relay, usually run on roads. Runners cover successive legs and pass a tasuki sash at exchange points. Individual pacing matters within a larger problem: matching runners to sections and carrying the team through the whole course.