Show Juku i kt wu Some parents This is a usual scene every Monday morning at Akifuchu unless it rains Students line up by class boys first then girls while various school officials speak One teacher tells the students when to stand at attention and when to bow Monday Ceremony by Mlchiyo Kido Every Monday morning we have “Morning Assembly” at our school It is held for all teachers Each class has and all students to make straight lines When we make the line we reach out our hands to the shoulders of the person in front of us and make a straight line If we talk with our friends the teachers scold us It looks like soldiers training Morning assembly takes place There are for about 30 minutes many ceremonies at that time For example people are commended for being the most active in clubs the new teachers are introduced principal gives a speech and so on The discipline inspection is the ceremony we hate the most That is when our hair and uniforms are checked to make sure we are not breaking any rules Morning assembly is very tiring for us especially in winter because we stand in the cold by Akiko Matsumoto On Monday morning we have a ceremony at school But it is not We have a religious ceremony had a morning ceremony since was in elementary school Morning ceremony is part of Japanese so the principal talks education to us giving much advice and in his speech he sometimes praises someone who did a good act So think the principal’s speech may be or moral education But if the principal’s morals were bad we would be taught But good morals It is important don’t listen to him at all anyway I’m just waiting to finish the morning ceremony Music by Kiyoko Watari Do you know what "juku” is? It’s a place where we go to study more when school is over Many students go to juku want to get students to go to juku even when and they are in kindergarten school so they can elementary enter a good school think the parents will feel relieved if their children study at juku But there is one problem The parents have to pay so much money to the teachers of juku I’ll show you how much money Entrance fee they must pay 10000 yen Grade 10 and ’one 79000 two subjects subject 150000 three subjects 221000 Grade l2”one subject yen 69000 two subjects 126000 three subjects 183000 yen for one year (Note: Right now $100 is equal to about 130 yen) Now you see it costs them so much Nowadays it is said the student who tries to enter a famous juku must study more and more at another juku Do you think it strange? really think so Most students bring a ed “bento" to school Akeml Nitta box lunch call- Kazumi UekJ Watari say it’s the best time Emiko Yoshida Kiyoko of the school Lunch by Akemi Yoshida We usually eat lunch with five or six friends in our classrooms Some students eat lunch with friends from the next class Someone goes downstairs and brings a kettle with green tea from the book store Others buy hot drinks in cups from the vending machines Some students buy bread at the book store In my house my father and It take our lunches in kinds of usually has different vegetables and fish or meat and rice But like bread better than rice think that the best way to have lunch is to eat with many friends while talking typical Japanese classroom: windows on one side and sliding glass doors on the other Before school and during lunch the students move their desks but when the teacher enters the room they are in straight rows The and Christmas things on the bulletin board only decorations are the Halloween Classrooms Mikako Kawamoto In Japan the school system is the same as elementary schools in America Students remain in for every the same classroom class The same students study math or English or Japanese together They even eat and clean by together The only time we move from the class is when we take lessons in physical education and go to the gymnasium or the play ground or when the girls take lessons in homemaking There are about students in one class They aren’t always together for all three years of high school Classes may be changed every other year In our school we have a general course and an English course Students in the English course study more English than the general course students We study eleven subjects every week We have classes in a week six classes Monday through Friday and four classes on Saturday Our holiday is Sunday We have to follow a weekly schedule and every day the classes change We have class matches twice a year That’s when we play and basketball volleyball baseball and soccer We do most of the things with our class George Michael Toshihiko Tahara Masahiko Kondo Yoshio Nomura Hideaki Tokunaga 1986 Omega Tribe Checkers Bowie Toshinobu Kubota Anzen Chitai TM Network Shonentai Hikaru Mr Mister Genji Kyon 2 Bananarama Europe Corey Heart and Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi Buying music in Japan is very Now a expensive record costs seven hundred yen about $550 A record is 2800 yen That’s $22 It is very expensive for me but can’t live without listening to music usually listen to music while study by School Excursion is a taste everybody’s This is a list of the groups or singers that are popular in my class: Michael Jackson Stryper Clubs Over 500 students in the junior class went skiing in Niigata prefecture about 7 hours away by the Bullet Train (it travels at speeds of 200 km per hour) The students rented all their equipment and stayed for four days Ikuho Yoshimura Shima Kikuchi and Midori Osako had a great time This by Jiro Sasaki like teenage music It is very interesting for me The singer like best is Fakako Shirai She is feel like going to her very pretty concert In my class the favorite group is Bakufu Slanji Many people listen to this group in Japan But this sort of music is not to By Kazue Hata We went on a school trip to Tokyo and Nigata We went to learn the necessary behavior of communal life and the right attitude of mind That’s why we have school trips The cost of the school trip was about 65000 yen ($450) and our pocket money was about 10000 yen in principle Our parents paid for it They also paid for my junior high trip when we went to western Kyushu The first day of our school trip went shopping in Harajuku in could do little shopping Tokyo because didn't have enough time The next day tried to ski fell down very often was envious of good skiers It’s a pity that couldn't go in except anywhere Harajuku Tokyo but enjoyed the school trip very much — SI' by Kazue Honda We went on a school trip to Nigata for four days There was a lot of snow in Nigata so was surprised One or two meters of snow remained on the ground Of course it was very cold in Nigata like snow but hate cold Skiing was very interesting but was uneasy because it was the first time for me But thought that skiing is easier than skating So was happy because skied better than had thought want to ski again By the way we went to Tokyo too We only visited in Tokyo We had a group tour there visited would like Shibuya and Asakusa to have visited Harajgku But those two towns were interesting and new When was in junior high went on a school trip to Kyoto and Nara School trips are very But it’s a pity that this teresting school trip was the last during our school life Chika Shlgeta There are a lot of clubs in this school We have cultural clubs wind music club drama club English club and so on In sports clubs we have soccer club basketball tennis volleyball and so on Not all students belong to these clubs If they belong to any clubs they will attend them after school But if they don’t belong to them probably they will go home the moment school is over They will only be a member of a club if they choose They can also change their club but most students will not change their clubs for three years unless they stop their club Other schools have different clubs For example Sotoku High School has a football club and Joshi Commercial High School has an archery club The sports clubs often compete with different schools They have many rugular games and many practice games Sometimes they will be absent from school because they have regular games (Note: Jane Beckwith says she has never seen a student absent because of a sports meet Games are held on Saturday afternoon or on Sunday) Team members are chosen by the coach Almost all students will put up with hard training because they want to compete and win in the game |