High School Life In Japan

[DragonChan]

Hey,

I'm going to Japan near the end of August, and will be doing my grade 12 year in a high school there. Unfortunately I can't find too much information on high school life.

For instance, I go to a public school so I've never had to deal with a dress code or uniform. Does anybody know what the restrictions are for what you wear? I know that I have to wear the uniform, but I also tend to wear bracelets, I have my ears peirced, and I paint my nails black on a regular basis. Will all that be allowed or will I have to take the earrings out, etc?

Any help would be appreciated.

[TwistedMac]

dude, you'll totally be considered a gaijin that ruins todays japanese youth by the adults... with a bit of luck you'll be the sexsymbol of the school for angsty highschool girls tho

[Uncle Frank]

DragonChan is a Dudette? Anyway DragonChan, send a PM to "LUK". He also Canadian(a nice guy!) who is doing what you are going to do right now. He's in Japan now and can probably give you a ton of info on what you will run into. I'm sure if you give them time, several members will come back to you with info! Welcome to our happy family! Don't be afraid to use the "SEARCH" function and to read some of the old posts. This site is one big source of in on anything to do with Japan.

Frank

[RockLee]

Mac...*taps on shoulder* she's a girl....

[TwistedMac]

no ****?.. well that does make sense...

i thought he was being all cool and gothy... now it's just a girl...

oh well... definatelly get a bunch of guys then...

edit: well whaddayaknow? maybe i should start looking through profiles before replying to people XD

[Mandylion]

Originally Posted by DragonChan

For instance, I go to a public school so I've never had to deal with a dress code or uniform. Does anybody know what the restrictions are for what you wear?

It depends on the school. There are different rules for girls and boys, but they should make these clear to you before classes begin. Also, they will point you to a shop or shops to go gett their school uniform. You just walk in, say which school you are from and they will fit you out.

Originally Posted by DragonChan

I also tend to wear bracelets, I have my ears peirced, and I paint my nails black on a regular basis. Will all that be allowed or will I have to take the earrings out, etc?

Jewelry and nail polish, as well as wild make-up, hair and peircings are generally out of bounds. Expect the worst and plan on not being able to accessorize at all. However, you might be able to get away with a bracelet or two, but take a few weeks to see what the other students are getting away with. I would not expect you to be able to ever wear piercings to school, but perhaps someone who is more up to date can provide better info.

[King of Tokyo]

Hey Dragonchan, I was wondering.. exactly what program are you using to go to Japan to got to a High School ? I'm Canadian and I might as well give that a check.. It'd save a whole ton of money.. So yeh.. if you have a link to a site with some info or something.. It'd be greatly appreciated

[Arch]

Mac is right ,it will basically be a sex fest.....

As for uniform Mandylion has said pretty much it , jewellery like ear-ings and bracelets will prob be out , but i think they do alow abit of more jewellery as you are in a higher year i have heard.

[DragonChan]

LOL. Sorry Mac, I am a girl. And I'm not too punk, but I like the nails, music, and bracelets.

I figured I'd probably have to de-accessorize, but there was always that small hope... I'll probably have to talk to the admin or something, because one of my ear peircings is recent and can't be removed. Whoops. Probably should of thought of that ahead of time.

As for getting attention in school, the blond hair already does that.

King of Tokyo --> Sorry to dissapoint. Unless you happen to live in Vancouver, and go to my school you're out of luck. We have a sister school in Japan and they run a 10 day exchange each year. I went on it last year and mentioned to somebody that I'd like to stay for longer. Turns out she was trying to start a year long exchange program, and I got chosen as the pilot person.

I've already had an exchange student stay with me for the year, and I didn't get along with her too well. Our personalities were a major mis-match. My advice to all people planning to do any sort of exchange: If you are loud and extro-verted like I am, you do not send a majorly introverted person to live with you for a year. It does NOT work.

[Mandylion]

Originally Posted by DragonChan

I figured I'd probably have to de-accessorize, but there was always that small hope... I'll probably have to talk to the admin or something, because one of my ear peircings is recent and can't be removed. Whoops. Probably should of thought of that ahead of time.

Sad to say, expect to lose the new peircing too. Can you take it out for school and put it in when you get home /on weekends?

The lesson I learned in high school really fast was, if it is a rule, that is that. Doesn't matter how much merit your view might have, if the rules say no painted fingernails, no long or dyed hair, no piercings etc. and they choose to enforce it, there is nothing you can do. If you try and fight, it will just make your life miserable, your host family worry, and stress you out. Ever seen the Star Trek episodes with the Borg? It will feel exactly like that (only they won't assimilate your knowledge and skills, rather force you to adapt).

Don't mean to soap box, but exchange students come to a place to experience a new way of living, not replicate their life in a foreign setting. Just relax, try and take everything in stride, be flexible, follow the rules and trust me, everyone will be much, much happier. I know people fret about the whole internationalization bit, but if you really want to try and show some Japanese kids a new way of thinking, you will win many more converts by staying just inside the rign of social acceptability.

Sounds like you have found a great program though, have fun

[DragonChan]

Lol, I wish I could take it out. But I can't until it's been in for I think...6 months, maybe a year or it'll bleed and get infected and do nasty stuff.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no rule breaker. I just have never been in an environment where there was even a dress code to consider.

I'm not expecting to replicate my life or anything. I just want to keep a few familar aspects in my life, if that makes any sense.

Anyway, thanks for the info. Guess I better go back to memorizing kanji. I have a grand total of 13 at this point

[Mandylion]

Originally Posted by DragonChan

Lol, I wish I could take it out. But I can't until it's been in for I think...6 months, maybe a year or it'll bleed and get infected and do nasty stuff.

Yikes! Hope they understand. No way to cover it or replace it with something less attention getting?

I'm not expecting to replicate my life or anything. I just want to keep a few familar aspects in my life, if that makes any sense.

I understand 100% completely. It was hard for me to get adjusted at first too, just pick which battles you want to fight carefully and try and fight them in a nice way if it comes to that.

Good luck with the kanji!

[DragonChan]

Thanks for understanding Mandylion. Do you have any advice for how I can adjust the best? I've already been told to accept that I will stick out with my hair, my height, and my body type in general. Anything else?

[Elgin]

I think I sent you a PM but maybe not a very useful one.

I don`t know how you look like but you will probably stand out for the first 2 weeks then the students will get bored of you lol. Well if you speak Japanese then maybe they will keep talking to you. Well my school always has exchange students so maybe there used to them.

As for the uniform deal, I go to a private school so I`m not sure if its the same. I`ve seen some girls with ear rings, necklace nails painted, eyes with mascara, liners, wearing the winter vest uniform whining its cold in class?!?

In my school your not supposed to color your hair and wear accessories and more rules the list is quite long.

As for the guys, some wear t-shirts under their uniform which your not supposed to but they whine that there cold but some role the uniform pants as shorts when your not supposed to or wear the dress shoes as slippers. Oh ya some guys wear the winter vest as well I don`t understand.

I kinda break some rules like wearing my skate shoes when coming and leaving school, chewing gum in class, drinking during class maybe more sure they stair and some whine but you can get away with it if your smart.

I`m 100% sure I`ll break more rules with the winter uniform no way I`m wearing a chemise, a vest and a suite coat when its 15C.

School is pretty much the same as Canada, students sleep in class, come in late, whine when theres work. The only big difference is there might be no AC in class, my school has it but they turn it off since the students are to cold. There`s no singing Japan`s national anthem and at the start of class there`s a routine of getting up , standing strait and bowing. Don`t mix them up or the teacher might get very pissed off , I had no idea we had to say arigato gozaimasu at the gym teacher and he made me do 100 push ups for 2 weeks at the end of class.

Anyway if you got more questions just ask.

[DragonChan]

Ouch. 100 push ups for two weeks for not saying 'thanks'? I'll try not to forget that one.

Thanks for all the info, I don't speak too much Japanese, but I have enough that I can hold a really basic conversation, and I can get directions if I'm lost. All that stuff about uniforms is funny, I guess nobody is satisfied?

(Also, I have no PMs from you. So I guess you didn't send one ^_~)

[Elgin]

OH haha ok, it seems you speak more Japanese then me! lol

[jieshi]

Originally Posted by DragonChan

LOL. advice to all people planning to do any sort of exchange: If you are loud and extro-verted like I am, you do not send a majorly introverted person to live with you for a year. It does NOT work.

hail to loud and extro-verted exchange students sounds just like me and im going to japan for 1 year as an exchange student. im from australia i dont wear to much jewellery (im a guy so i wear 1 ring a necklace and a red band on my wrist) and i dont have piercings cant wait to go!

[BrennaCeDria]

I found a really good site a few weeks ago, it was a diary by an American (I think she was American, definitely white) attending a Japanese school. The entire thing was her observations about school life while in Japan. If you google, "Maiko Covington" you should be able to find it.

[Ewok85]

Jieshi... why does AFS sound familiar? Thats not FACE is it?

Dragonchan, public schools are alot more laxed than private schools, you should be able to come to some kind of middleground. My tip would be to take white shirts! (standard public school uniform normally has white shirts, I got ripped and took 6 and my school was light blue But if you've been before or know someonw from that school get al the uniform information you can and take spares, it isnt cheap over there!)

[DragonChan]

BrennaCeDria - Thanks for the info, I'll look that up.

Jieshi - Power to the exchange students XD

As for the uniform, I've seen pictures and it's the standard school girl sailor suit thing. Navy blue. Joy. Luckily I don't have to pay for it because the PAC is buying it for me. (And they're paying my tuition.)

[jieshi]

Originally Posted by Ewok85

Jieshi... why does AFS sound familiar? Thats not FACE is it?

this is going to sound really stupid, whats FACE?

anyway AFS is my exchange company. they are the biggest in the world www.afs.org.au (for the aussies)

www.afs.org (for the americans)

hey dragon chan are you going to be running a web blog of your year over there?
im running one ( www.mblog.com/jesses_japan_student_exchange_blog ) and from what i've been able to find im the only exchange student thats running one atm.
think about it could be good. i can post photos and everything on my one and its free.

[DragonChan]

jieshi - I have a website that I made about 2 years ago and got rejected, I'm planning to revamp it and have a blog go on there. I think it'll be useful, one thing I've had trouble finding is other people's experiences in high school over there. There are tons of sites on adult life, but few for us teenagers ><

Though the articles that Maiko Covington wrote have been interesting...they're also from 1988, a year after I was born Oo

[jieshi]

well as of march 2005 my blog will be operated from Japan. atm I write entries on major events in the lead up pretty low profile right now. People have been reading it but and its registered on google which is cool. feel free to have a look. In Japan it will be updated at least every 2 days

[Ewok85]

Ah! AFS, now I remember, I knew a german boy who came to Japan via AFS. Seems like a good company, they had quite a few things organized and he never complained.

I'm not sure what you mean by peoples experiences. School in Japan is pretty much the same as school anywhere else, boring lessons, messing about with mates, getting away with rediculous stuff (ie. blocking the drain on the 4th floor balcony and skidding along the ground which is now covered with 2" of water on your *** during a monsoon downlpour ).
Days start early, sometimes as early as 8am for homegroup, and right up to 4pm after cleaning has been done. Lessons have a 10minute break inbetween which will help keep you sane... for a while. PE is serrogated, boys with boys, girls with girls, its not 100% coed yet.
Teachers can be strict or plain notcaring. Had one teacher who would just teach while the class was talking, things are flying through the air, people are sitting on with their friends not even looking forward, people asleep. Others would shout at you if your not on task, throw something (chalk is popular) or give you a bonk on the head if you fall sleep.
Same deal with the uniforms. At the start of the year the teachers cracked down on uniforms, no colored hair! No jewelry! Plain fingernails! Correct length hair! Correct length skirts! After about 2 weeks they settled down and the hair started changing, the jewelry appeared, peoples nails started turning funny colors and the skirts rose a few inches im not complaining

I can't think of much but your experience will be different to my experience which will be different to Jieshi's experience. Wouldnt mind hearing where your all going. I went to Junten Gakuen in Tokyo in 2003.

[DragonChan]

Heh, thanks Ewok. I'm going to Konan. I think the closest major city to it is Nagoya, but don't quote me on that one. I do know it's not very big, but I've been there once for 10 days, though at the time I was with 15 other people my age and we spent the entire trip goofing off.

Unfortunatly, at the time I didn't think I was going back so I didn't pay attention to what people were wearing, or doing. Probably not too smart.