Japan

View Larger Version

Traditional Gassho Styled Wooden Home

View Larger Version

Rural Life
Only a quarter of the Japanese live in rural areas. Most of the people in these areas are farmers, fishermen, or harvesters of seaweed living in traditional gassho styled wooden homes. It is less expensive for people to live in rural Japan than in cities, however it can still be hard to get by with farming as the only source of income. In many cases, farmers and their families seek second jobs in the cities to help support their rural way of life. The rural population of Japan is rapidly decreasing because many of the children of farm families are leaving the rural areas to live and work in the city.
Rice is the main food of Japan and is cultivated in small green rice paddies. The farmers build multi-tiered areas on hillsides for the rice, and use dikes (dams) to control the flow of water between the paddies. The top paddies collect water from streams and the water trickles down from paddy to paddy. The rice is planted in early June, which is the rainy season in Japan, and is harvested in September. Some farming is still done by hand, however many farmers use small tractors and other machinery that is specially designed for Japanese rice farms.

Education
The educational system is extremely important in Japan. Children begin their schooling at the age of three or four in private nursery schools and attend primary school at age six. It is mandatory for all children in Japan to attend six years of primary school (elementary school) and three years of junior high school. In most cases, students go on to high school in order to prepare for college. Some students choose not to go to a university and attend vocational schools instead.

Schools in Japan are very different from those in the United States. The school year is split into three terms that start in April and end in March, with a vacation from late July through August. Classes used to be held six days a week, however Saturday classes lost popularity and are being phased out. The class sizes are very large, with around 40 students per room.

Traditionally, schools in Japan are very strict. Most school children wear uniforms. Teachers are highly respected and are referred to as sensei, which means both “teacher” and “master” in Japanese. In some cases students bow to the sensei at the beginning and end of class, however, the tradition is becoming less popular and is not as widely enforced as it once was. The average school day is split into five study periods and one period for recreational activities. Students in elementary school eat a lunch provided by the school in their classrooms and afterwards take part in asoji or the cleaning period. In asoji, each class has an assigned area of the school to clean.

Structure is very important in Japanese schools because many of the students aspire to go on to a university. Because the universities are very competitive, the students must take extremely hard entrance exams. Preparing for the exams is very stressful for the youth of Japan because the important businesses hire only those who attend top universities. The youth of Japan take education very seriously because it largely determines their future jobs, incomes, and social standing.
 

Japan