Daily Life in Japan

Today in town we had a rain day, which reminded me of how I wanted to highlight some differences between Japan and American daily life. First of all, it doesn't snow a lot in Okayama but we do get a decent number of typhoons, so yes the schools were closed because of too much rain. That meant I had to spend the whole day at the town hall. I do not know if other Japanese companies are like this, we did not do it while I worked at AMDA, but at 8:15 am employees do this routine of morning calisthenics. If you were at all sleepy still, that will probably wake you up. Also, cleaning is big here. So at 5:15 pm everyone goes around sweeping and emptying trash cans on the office floor, even though there are janitors.

Schools
All the schools in town follow relatively the same kind of schedule. After third period, there's a 15 minute recess to go play outside. And then they get a second recess after lunch! Once again, cleaning is important in Japan, so after the second recess, I guess as a kind of cool down before going back to class, kids grab brooms and mop buckets to sweep and scrub floors. Also, in classic Japanese politeness, kids need to say excuse me whenever entering or leaving the teacher's room. I know it's been a while since I was in elementary school, but that seems pretty different. Another interesting aspect of going to school in Japan, or at least Yakage, is lunch time. First, lunch is provided for by the schools after parents pay for a month's worth. Everyone eats the same meal and it's usually pretty healthy looking. You got a bed of rice, some vegetables, meat or fish, a bottle of milk, and a dessert or fruit. All for $2.50 a day. All the kids get dressed up and walk together to bring their tanks of food up to the classroom to dole out to everyone. Afterwards, they brush their teeth and wash up to go out to recess.