Hello. This is my debut post on BillWhittle.com.
I am an American, but, with the exception of a few months for surgery in the US, I have lived in Japan since 1999. I didn’t leave the US for any ideological reasons. I was a production manager at a Fortune 500 company branch and every December without fail, they told us we were going to be laid off. At the same time, a friend had moved to Japan to be closer to his wife’s family and he kept bugging me about moving and working in Japan. So, I finally took the plunge and here I am.
Currently, I’m a tenured full-time teacher at a Japanese private high school with 1,500 or so students and 130 teachers. After reading about the LA School Districts demands for reopening, and seeing my teacher friends in the US worried about starting classes again, I thought I’d toss in my two cents and tell you what my school in Japan did.
The school year in Japan goes from April to March. We were in our third term when classes were stopped in February. We prepared a bunch of prints for students and had them come in one day to pick everything up. February is an important month for us as we also have the required entrance exams for students applying to our school. We were able to finish the entrance exams but then, the shutdown was extended to the end of March.
March 1st is Graduation Day. We held a shortened ceremony with students in the gym, but parents were sent to classrooms to try to watch a video feed. It was far from normal, but seemed to be okay.
The year-end final exams were cancelled, students came one day for the official closing ceremony to end the school year and pick up their spring break homework. New students also came to order school uniforms, pick up textbooks and their spring homework. Teachers spent the time getting ready for the new school year.
In Japan, teachers do not have their own classroom. Students are separated into “home rooms” and, with the exception of elective classes and P.E., spend every class in that one room. Teachers move to each different home room to teach and spend non-class time in a general staff room. Our general staff room has 100 desks. Privacy and social distancing are lacking. The other 30 teachers are spread out among offices dedicated to recruitment and advertising, discipline, and college/career guidance.
Cherry blossoms came and went and the new school year started. 450 bright and shiny new students came to the Entrance Ceremony, and we were off and running. With Covid-19, some new guidelines came into effect. Masks are worn by everyone, except during P.E. classes, and since class sizes range from 27 to 42 students per home room depending on the course, outside of class time students were (and are still) encouraged to avoid speaking loudly, gathering in groups and at meal times, not facing each other but eat at their desks as much as possible instead of in the cafeteria. Masks are not unusual in Japan. There’s always someone wearing a mask due to a cold or wanting to prevent a cold, but this was the first time in my memory that masks had become mandatory for everyone.
Before we could finish the first week of school, the prefecture’s Board of Education decided to shut down schools for two weeks and then, the Prime Minister extended the shut down for the entire country to the end of the month. We thought that after Golden Week, a series of holidays at the end of April and the beginning of May, we’d be able to resume classes. In the meantime, since we weren’t using Google Classroom or similar setups, we resorted to recording video classes and putting them up on the school’s new YouTube channel. Students were sent the link to the unlisted videos and would take notes and fill out the homework prints to be collected at a later date.
Japan never went into a complete lockdown. My understanding is the Japanese Constitution actually forbids the government from having that power so they simply asked people to “jishuku,” or practice self-restraint in going out and about except when necessary. Japan has a very orderly society, so with the exception of a few outliers, most people avoided going out except to get groceries. Masks were impossible to find in stores, and a new cottage industry formed with companies making cloth masks. There was a short run on toilet until people finally understood that toilet paper supplies were in no danger of shortage, except for the places where people had bought 100 rolls at a time.
After the Golden Week holidays, it was clear that the shutdown was going to continue until the end of May. Students came in one day to collect more assignments and hand in homework, and then continued with their video studies at home. The next time we had scheduled for students to come in and collect new assignments was cancelled because a Covid-19 patient had shown up in the neighborhood around the school so new assignments were mailed to each student instead of having them come in.
At first, teachers were still coming in every day, making videos and assignments, but worried about causing a cluster situation, the administration finally decided to have teachers take turns working at school and working at home. One day at school, one day at home, repeat over and over. Home Room teachers also started using Google Classroom to keep in contact with students. Home Room teachers are essentially a 24/7 counselor, disciplinarian, record keeper, etc., in addition to teaching their subject. They have to know each student’s quirks, habits, attitudes, health issues because ultimately, the student is their responsibility. When I was a Home Room teacher, I was surprised how in some ways the school is more responsible for the student than the parents. For example, if a kid is caught shoplifting, the school gets called and handles discipline rather than the police. Being a Home Room teacher is very rewarding but it’s probably the toughest job I’ve ever had to do.
Mid-May, the prefectural Board of Education decided that while classes were still “off”, students could come to school to study and confer with teachers. Our school had students come in one day to collect assignments and then decided to open fully June 1st. To prepare, we did “bunsan toukou” for the last three days of May, simply meaning each home room was divided in half and one half would attend classes in the morning, and the other half would attend in the afternoon with the teachers repeating the same class for each half.
However, with the first Monday of June, it was business as normal with all students and teachers in class and studying. The Home Rooms with fewer students are able to distance the desks somewhat but the classes with 40-plus students lack space for the teacher to walk around the desks let alone practice social distancing. As part of the new start though, windows were open in the hallway and to the outside, to allow continuous air flow. Our area wasn’t as hard hit with the Coronavirus as the really big cities in Japan, and luckily, no students or teachers were affected. Cabin fever, lack of exercise, and boredom due to the government’s insistence on “jishuku” seemed to be a bigger concern.
At first, students were pretty lethargic. Some of more serious students had actually kept up their school schedule at home, studying each subject as if they were in school. They would watch the video for that class and do the assignments. On the other extreme, some students, not too many luckily, spent their off-class time with cell phone games and sleeping, only to cram two months of assignments in a couple of days. But as time has gone by, students are back to “normal”, at least as normal as we can be considering the circumstances. I went to a parent-teacher outreach meeting the other day and more than a few parents were saying how glad students are to be actually attending classes again. One student rides her bike one hour each way, even in rain, to get to and from school. There are many students like her.
The school calendar has changed quite a bit. Usually we would currently be starting a one-month summer break between first and second terms, but this year, our first term continues until mid-August, then a one-week break, after that, we’re off and running with second term. School events, such as Sports Day, the 11th Grade School Trip, the 10thGrade Orientation Camp, have either been cancelled or postponed. As far as teaching goes, the extra class hours coming from not preparing for the events has been great, but at the cost of Home Room/teacher bonding that comes from participation in those events. I’m not sure how US schools are now, but Japanese high school life is very different from what my high school days were like back in the day.
So in conclusion of this rambling, tangent-ridden tale, teachers and families were very worried about what would happen if we started up. We are taking precautions but there is always the worry that students and teachers will get comfortable and get lax with the “new” guidelines. So every morning, there’s the obligatory health check and lecture about healthy school living. So far we’ve been really really lucky. Every school in the prefecture feels the pressure of not wanting to be the first school to have a Covid-10 outbreak. However, there were 2 teen boys reported with Covid-19 this week, so I think that ship has sailed for at least one school.
If you would like to know more about schools or life in Japan, let me know and I’ll write more. I tend to lurk rather than comment, but if you want to know something, I’d get be glad to tell more tales.
5 replies on “My Japanese high school and the Covid-19 Blues”
Thanks for posting. I spent some time working in japan in 97 and 98 … it was fun as a young lad. Not sure how I would cope now … I am too individualistic … or should that be anti-social … I dunno.
Sadly I have forgotten most of the small amount nihongo I once knew … not to mention I would have no chance with katakana which I did pick up .. very useful in the restaurants!
I still have a soft spot for the place, so your post allowed me to reminisce for a few minutes! 🙂 I really did like exploring a culture that is so very different from my western world.
My first couple of years in Japan were 1984-85, as a missionary. Japan had changed quite a bit in the 14 years before I moved back in ’99. Quite often my life has devolved to work-home-repeat, but once in awhile something happens that reminds me, “you get to live in Japan and work. Cool!” Those moments are kind of nice to remind me of my daily adventure here.
Welcome to the Member Blog! Great first post! I have a few questions, brought to mind by your post:
1) are you an ex-pat, or do you still pay taxes (on foreign income) and vote in any local/state/country elections? Do you have any interest in what is happening in this country, and how do you see it (from the outside, as it were…)?
2) I know Asians (Japanese) are more obedient, more willing to do things for the community as a whole, you tried to explain your own school experience compared to Japanese private schools. How are J. public schools? Is discipline easier, order more readily established? Of course, not all children want to learn, but are they encouraged to learn by schools? (My own experience as a student was mostly in private (Parochial) schools, students were encouraged to learn, but that was many moons ago!
3) In such a homogenous society, how are you (as a foreigner) embraced by society? I have a couple nieces/nephews who spent time in Japan, either working or studying, and they loved it.
4) How is capitalism in Japan?
Let’s see if I can answer these. Let’s go with the easy ones first.
4-Japan is totally capitalist, but nicer about it. There doesn’t seem to be the cutthroat attitude about destroying the competition to get ahead, more like colluding, such as, “we’re going to sell this for ¥xxxxxx,” and the other companies say, “OK, we’ll sell ours for that, too.” And let the best product win. I’ve heard that there are rather dirty under the table dealings to get better distribution deals and things like that, but not being in the position to see it firsthand, I can’t really say if it’s true.
3-I hear about non-Japanese getting hassled by cops quite often, but I’ve only had one visit from a cop in 20 years and that was because some foreigner did something somewhere so they visited all the foreigners in the neighborhood. I’ve found that as long as you dress and look like a professional, nobody cares. The people that complain about getting hassled usually look really scruffy. Being able to speak Japanese is definitely a plus. And, living in the same neighborhood, frequenting the same shops, people get to know you and it’s just normal life. But I also have church here too, so that has probably helped quite a bit.
To be honest, I’ve experienced more intolerance from other foreigners, especially Europeans. And they’re the scruffy ones getting hassled by cops and then complain about how Japan isn’t like their home country.
2a-I’ve never worked in a public school. I hear that because they are 100% tax-funded, they are less tolerant of students that won’t study or won’t behave and kick those students out quickly. Japanese school rules are tough. Even after 20 years, I’m still blown away by some of the rules. Belt color, the types of socks allowed, hair styles, uniform codes, I can’t imagine any US school putting rules like these in place without serious uproar from parents and students. Private schools tolerate a lot more behavioral and academic problems because a student that quits is lost income from tuition fees. And with a declining population and an overabundance of schools, every student counts.
2b-For academics, I’ll tell you what my school is like. Most courses require students to do two pages of study in a notebook and turn that into the Home Room teacher every day. Even vacation days require two pages per day. This is in addition to assignments from classes. If a student misses one assignment, it’s an automatic failure for the term, until the missing assignment is turned in. However, it means that the student doesn’t get to participate on his/her sports/culture club activities until they get a passing grade. They get a maximum of two retakes on a test, and if they still can’t pass, then they get extra homework to make up the points. The main aim is always the college entrance exams, especially as the newest version has gotten away from memorized facts and requires analytical ability in addition to general academic ability. However, there is still a great deal of “memorize for the test, forget it after and then cram it all again before the college entrance exam” in high schools. It’s slowly changing, but there are always the holdouts that have the attitude, “it was good enough for me, it’s good enough for students now.”
Students vary quite a bit. I’ve been amazed at the variety of humanity in the school. The shy kid who wears a mask all the time because they don’t have confidence and the mask “shields” them, the all-mighty kid that is a sports whiz and also top of the class academically, the pop-off that is hopeless academically but is also the first to yell, “Mr Dennett! See you tomorrow!” if he happens to see me going home for the day because that kid is the most socially adept. There is bullying but not to the extent of other schools (so far), and the cliques that exist in US schools simply don’t exist here. The Home Room is the core group and it doesn’t matter what you’re into, nerd or jock, you’re still part of the group.
Another nice thing about Japanese schools is that 95% is core subjects. Japanese, Math, Science, Social Studies, and English. Even the electives are mostly academic based, you can choose between biology or physics, for example. So it leaves little room for ideological trends or fluff classes.
One trend in Japan that is probably universal in all countries but that is cell phone addiction. Some students spend an absurd amount of time chatting, playing games, whatever after school. Our school forbids cell phones at schools without special permission, unless it’s monsoon season where flooding could very well happen, or there has been a series of earthquakes. But recently, there has been an increase of students with a definite lack of social abilities and increased fragility. We have an outside psychologist that comes to the school and his schedule is always filled. Even just a couple of years ago, he’d be totally open with nobody to see. Now, even parents want appointments with him. So those kind of things are being discussed in staff and department meetings now.
1a-I’m very much American. Even living overseas we are required to report to the IRS every year, although there is a threshold of foreign-earned income that you have to cross before paying US taxes. Teaching is not the career that will cross that threshold, however. So I file my tax reports, Federal and State, but I’m not subject to US taxes yet. As a result of living in Japan I have to pay all Japanese taxes, what would be considered state and federal. I imagine that Democrats will change the rules and I’ll be double taxed by Japan and America someday.
1b-I maintain my US drivers license, and vote in the general elections. And one day, after I retire I want to move back home. I live and work in Japan because they pay me and don’t threaten to lay me off, and now with tenure, I have a guaranteed job until 65. But if I could find a comparable situation back home now, I’d definitely think about moving back. I love Japan but I have a US flag hanging in my apartment and I’m happy to visit the US when I can. I had to cancel this year though.
1c-Now for the tough one. Especially the last month and a half, the US looks completely freakin’ insane. If I had the power, I would magically switch the Hong Kong protesters and the US rioters. Lately, Japan has attracted the Millennial types, and they bring the same ideological baggage and although they don’t protest here, they show solidarity with the US rioters and march down the main shopping district. I hear Bill Whittle being confident in conservatism winning, but I don’t share that optimism. Maybe it is because most of the non-Japanese here are uber-leftists, but I really want to shout from the rooftops, “VOTE CONSERVATIVE!!!”
I was pretty center when I first moved here, more libertarian than liberal, but I did have some center-left ideas. But as I was still wanting to stay in the loop about America, I became a voracious news reader. Needless to say, I became quite conservative quickly. For me, being able to watch from afar gave me a clearer perspective on things like immigration. I have to turn in the paperwork to get into Japan and stay here, why can’t those people? Not that US Immigration doesn’t require reform, I think it seriously needs an overhaul, but the current law needs to be followed until then. And after 9/11, the anti-Americanism from the left blew me away. And the further I got into other issues, such as abortion, the 1st and 2nd Amendment, etc., I just couldn’t support liberalism. And as for the progressive (regressive) left, North Korea is waiting. I wish they’d move there. Unfortunately, I’ve had friends go in those ideological directions. I have one conservative friend here and we avoid the others as much as possible because it’s like talking to a wall about pretty much anything. They can’t even agree to disagree. So my friend and I enjoy comparing stuff we’ve read, discuss issues and current events, and to be honest, we seem to be a lot happier than the regressives in town.
Most Japanese around me seem apolitical, but the ones I’ve talked politics with do respect Trump. They admit that the America First agenda might hurt Japan in some ways, but Trump is looking out for his country first, as any politician should. And they say Japanese politicians need to up their game too.
I seriously need to work on brevity, but I hope this answered your questions.
Thank you!
I/we are always interested in other countries, other free countries.
Don’t worry too much about the news, and the protests and the rioting. It’s mostly the big, democratic cities (especially in democratic states) that are feeling the brunt of the violence and destruction, and I do feel for the people that live there. But here in smaller towns (my state is democratic, but the city is pretty conservative) they may protest but they’re not allowed (by the police) to do anything destructive, or they’ve pre-determined that they won’t be allowed so they don’t try.
It’s the squeaky wheel that gets the grease, but the grease (think Tim Scott’s bill for police reform) doesn’t seem to stop the squeaking!
Hang in there, enjoy Japan!