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I Thought This Japanese School Habit Was Completely Pointless
Now I’m starting to understand why it matters
Coming from a British background, getting my children through elementary school in Japan felt a bit like a full-time job sometimes.
It was the unpredictable schedule that got me the most. Random half days here, a Saturday or Sunday event there, a midweek day-trip requiring an early start and a lunchbox.
It was hard to keep up with all the reams of letters my kids would scrunch up and shove to the bottom of their backpacks, and I struggled to fit in all the sudden changes around my work.
Then there were the “Oh, by the way, Mum, I need a potato, black craft paper and Play-Doh by tomorrow morning!” moments. Of course, these revelations would come after all the local shops had shut.
I very quickly resigned myself to being “that” mum. The one who just couldn’t quite get it right. I hoped they’d blame it on my non-Japanese-ness and not hold it against my poor kids.
In addition to trying to keep up with constant schedule surprises, another daily battle was homework.
I don’t remember getting much homework in primary school back in the eighties in the UK. We were just encouraged to borrow library books and read as much as…
