In Japan, there is a tradition that the students themselves clean their schools. For just 15 minutes at the end of the day, students use brooms, vaccuums, and cloths to clean the classrooms, bathrooms, and other school spaces.
Japanese society teaches kids to clean their schools, so they learn to value cleanliness in all areas of their lives. It ties into Buddhism, which teaches the importance of keeping the body and personal environment clean.
One of the traditions of the Japanese education system is that students do o-soji (cleaning). However, it's been in print more than once that Japanese schools have no janitors because students do all the cleaning. That's simply not true. Japanese schools have non-teaching staff called yomushuji, or shuji for short.
They hire maintenance staff, but no janitors. This is because the students and staff do all of the cleaning themselves. This takes place every day, usually for 10 or 15 minutes, depending on the school, longer before vacations, and sometimes twice a day.
Traditionally, cleanliness has been a big part of Japanese culture, and Japanese people unconsciously make an effort in many aspects every day to keep the country clean.
Finland ranks first in the world for Environmental Health (99.3) and Air Quality (98.8), as well as achieving perfect 100s for Sanitation & Drinking Water and Heavy Metals Exposure.
Research suggests that whereas people in many parts of Europe and America now make do with just a shower nearly 90% of the time, in Japan between 70% and 80% of people still bathe in the traditional way at least several times a week. This rises to 90% or more in families with small children.
No accessories nor snacks are allowed - school regulations
Having manicures and wearing accessories such as earrings or necklaces are also prohibited. Most junior high schools have their own school uniforms and dress regulations.
In Japan, a society where study often takes precedence over sleep, inemuri, or falling asleep in public spaces, is common during class time in schools and universities and is tolerated by teachers because they know that students study hard and are exhausted (Steger, 2006) . ... ...
Three of the major problems are student's lack of creativity, lack of freedom, and lack of future vision. First, Japanese educational system does not encourage creativity among the students. The main cause is the regulation of university entrance examination criteria.
"Western-style"
Many public toilets at schools, temples, and train stations are still equipped with only squat toilets.
As a student you can work up to 28 hours a week. This is a combination of all the places you work, so if for example you work two jobs, you can only work 14 hours at each one. If you leave your school, since you will no longer doing activities related to being a student, your work permit will become invalid.
Maintaining cleanliness is important in Japan for both practical and spiritual reasons. Regular cleaning helps prevent the spread of bacteria and disease, which can be a concern in a humid country like Japan. It is one of the reasons why mask-wearing is so common.
In Japan, almost all elementary schools and junior high schools provide school lunches. It is usual for all students to eat lunch in their classrooms. The high quality of the lunches, and the idea of using them for education, are attracting attention from overseas.
Japanese school rules emphasize a lot the natural appearance of the students. Japanese high school girls cannot do any makeup, hair dye, paint their nails, or wear jewellery. They believe that all these things distract students from their studies, and when they are in school, the only thing they do is study.
Kids spend most of their days at school, so, unsurprisingly, classrooms are treated like homes. Students clean their space either before or after classes. There is also a strict no-shoe policy and most children wear slippers or inside shoes.
TOKYO (AP) — Japan's parliament on Friday raised the age of sexual consent to 16 from 13, a limit which had remained unchanged for more than a century and was among the world's lowest, amid calls for greater protection of children and women.
At the end of the 2019 school year, it began allowing girls to wear pants. At the end of 2021, girls were given the option of wearing neckties, no longer limited to bow ties.
In general, kids have to be at school by 8:45 am. School finishes around 3:15 pm, so they have to be in school for about six and a half hours every day from Monday to Friday. However, most kids also attend after-school clubs, and many also go to juku (cram school) in the evening to do extra studying.
Across Asia, many schools have strict regulations on appearance, which not only includes hair, but also uniform, accessories, makeup, nails and others. Many schools maintain policies that ban dyed or permed hair, makeup, and nail polish.
Ear piercings are against Japanese school dress code, along with any other forms of jewelry and even painted nails. In fact, piercings of any kind are very uncommon in Japan, even for older people. Usually the people who get ear piercings in Japan are rule-breakers, or people who are trying to look tough.
The school's regulations stipulate that hairstyles should not be “trendy” but should be “clean and appropriate for a high school student”. Students are not permitted to dye or bleach their hair, or style it with a hairdryer, but the rules make no mention of braiding.
Bathing etiquette—the basics
Take a shower before entering the baths. If you are at a hot spring, shampoo, body wash and towels will be provided, but if you are at a public bath, you need to rent or bring your own. Each shower has a stool and bucket.
In view of the fact that many Japanese bathe and wash their hair daily, it's essential that they take well care of it. Modern-day shampoos mostly have ingredients that strip the hair of its natural oils, for example, sulfates.
Most people in Japan think of the bathtub as washing away not only their sweat and dirt from the day but their fatigue, too. so it is typically custom to take baths every night. Everyone can experience this part of Japanese culture by dipping into onsen (hot springs) and public baths.