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The first term of the new school year starts here in the last week of January.
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The school year here in Japan begins on the 6th April! I am STILL not used to it even after 17 years here. I’m used to a September start.
The kids’ summer holiday this year was really stingy - July 25th to August 18th. Three measly little weeks.
They get a long weekend in October, three or three and a half weeks over the new year, ten to twelve days in March, between the school years, and then three to four days in early May. That’s it. They start training them to be miserable salarymen from an early age.
So in this lovely “long, long Summer Holiday” that they constantly say in school here, my 6th grader had 27 pages of worksheets to do, a daily diary, a book report, a long essay of his chosen topic, a “free study” topic to study and write up, and a craft project to complete. I was spitting feathers.
However this kid’s mother is a sly gaijin so I chucked the diary, telling the school that they don’t need to know private information (the kids have to write what they did, what time they got up, what they helped their parents with, how long they studied and what time they went to bed. Bugger that, it’s none of the school’s business!). Then my son decided to write a summary of Japan’s history in brush caligraphy on a long scroll. I told him that reading the book for it, writing it and then decorating it counted for the essay, book report and craft project all rolled into one! I told the teacher that myself so that he didn’t get yelled at.
If the poor kid did everything to the letter he wouldn’t have had one single day free this “holiday”.
Sorry, “When do your kids go back” shouldn’t bring on such a rant, but really!