Asking students to clean their classrooms might seem unusual to some, but in Japan it is an unquestioned part of school life and a practice that embodies an education system that is increasingly viewed globally as one that promotes responsibility and collaboration.
Elements of the country’s school system, viewed as a microcosm of society and a building block of Japanese identity, can be experienced at a once abandoned junior high school in Kimitsu, Chiba prefecture, where uniform-clad foreign tourists live a day in the life of a Japanese high-school student.
On a balmy day in mid-November, eight adults from the United States and Saudi Arabia arrived in the small town near Tokyo to participate in Kimi no Koko, which translates as “Your High School”, to practise calligraphy, take part in sports day activities, clean their classroom and receive a diploma at the end of the day.
“Many people who come to the experience know about Japanese schools through anime or manga, although there have recently been some who are simply interested in the differences between their culture and that of Japan,” he said.
The “edutainment” service – which gives visitors a peek into elements of Japanese society such as collective responsibility and conformity, orderliness and politeness – runs at the former Kameyama junior high school, which closed in March 2020 and is rented to Undokaiya by the municipality.
