Académie du Ciboule - Cultural Notes

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Dec 15, 2009, 4:03am

Académie du Ciboule :: RPG General :: Plot :: Cultural Notes

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Topic: Cultural Notes (Read 66 times)

nekochi
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Cultural Notes
« Thread Started on May 3, 2007, 7:20pm »

Since this RP is set in Japan, I'd like to talk a little bit about the culture of Japan for those who are unaware. First let's talk about school.

School

In Japan the school year starts in April with a one month summer break (which includes homework), as well as about a week of break in spring and winter. The break in spring is "Golden Week." Golden Week consists of four holidays all in the same week. Because they were all together the Japanese government added a fifth holiday to create a free week. During this week all student are off, as well as most professionals. The only industry that doesn't receive a break is the service industry which consists of travel agencies, restaurants, and the like. Golden Week takes place the first week of May and is a popular time for Japanese to travel worldwide. The Japanese school year ends in March.

Schools are set up a little differently there than in America. Elementary school covers grades 1st through 6th, while middle consists of 7th through 9th, and finally high school is 10th to 12th. Universities are the same as here, having four years. Kindergarten and nursery school is held in different buildings than the elementary school and not run by the same people as it sometimes is here. Each year the student is assigned a homeroom. This homeroom consists of a group of students and a main teacher that stay together all throughout the year. Instead of the students moving to another classroom for different subjects, the teachers move to other classrooms to teach a new set of students. These homerooms are very close and will even complete against each other on sports day and in other competitive events. Students may even invite their old homeroom teachers to their wedding! Homerooms are numbered by grade and classroom. For example, the 2nd classroom in the 8th grade would be 8-B. Students also eat in their homerooms.

Schools require a uniform, which varies from school to school. The uniforms identify a student of going to a certain school so be careful how you act while wearing the uniform! If you commit a crime and aren't caught the police officer will often go to the school and tell the principal who will then question the students they think are the most likely to have had a part in it. Elementary schools do not have uniforms. When you get to school, there are shoe cubby holes. Students place the shoes they came to school with there and switch to their indoor shoes.

Unlike in America, high school is harder than university. The reason for this is because colleges are very hard to get into. To get into a college a student has to pass an entrance exam which is only held once a year. To prepare for these many students go to juku or cram school. These are after school classes. Some juku even prepare for specific schools! If a high school student fails the entrance exam they have to wait a year before trying again. During this year they are rounin which originally meant master-less samurai, but has come to mean "school-less student." Many private high schools and even some private middle schools have entrance exams. However, if you fail them you will not become a rounin, just go to the public school. These entrance exams are also hard so a school like Académie du Ciboule would be difficult to get into. Many students say that university is easy after the stress of having to prepare for entrance exams. In fact, almost no students ever fail college.

« Last Edit: May 3, 2007, 7:20pm by nekochi »

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