The school year begins in April in Japan, but if you have a kid who will be a first grader, preparation begins in November with a required basic health-check for all entering students where their height, weight, vision, hearing and development are assessed.
February is orientation time for parents and guardians. They gather at the local school gymnasium on a given day and time, and listen to the expectations for the guardians and the children. Forms are turned in for automatic payment withdrawal for the monthly school fees, a schedule is created among the guardians to ensure that the new students will be walked safely home for the first few weeks by someone they trust, and the parents pay for and hike home laden with bags and bags of school supplies.
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| Bags and bags of school supplies. Parking is sparse at schools, so most parents walk or bike all of this home. |
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| School supplies, exploded view. Total cost was about $350. |
Clockwise from upper left:
- green box to hold art supplies
- gym clothes
- light blue placemat used during lunch
- indoor shoes (toe color is set by the school, dark green for our kids)
- disaster hood to be pulled out and used in case of an earthquake or other disaster (also doubles as a seat cushion)
- blank workbooks with a box of nendo on top (ubiquitous Japanese clay, different than play-dough)
- reversible red-white hat for gym, used regularly because they play so many red vs. white competitive games
- scissors
- pianica (piano that makes noise when you blow into it)
- packets and packets of information
- art supplies
- castanets
- and a very useful clipboard for school outings:
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| Clipboard used during field trips. |
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| I really like how practical this is. Easy to carry, stores what you need, and gives you a hard writing surface anywhere. |
The packets of paper outline a few things:
- bags the student will need and the appropriate sizes for them
- indoor shoes
- lunch bag
- toothbrush and cup bag
- gym clothes bag
- and a carryall bag for everything else
- what self-care the student should be able to do before entering school
- go to the bathroom by themselves
- eat the provided school lunch in 20 minutes or less
- read and write their name in hiragana
- wring out a cleaning rag
- general health and wellness guidelines such as getting enough sleep and eating a good breakfast before school.
The next step will be for us to fill out the health card and emergency contact info that will go in our child's file in school. We should have it done before the next meeting in April, where we will be given more school supplies including books and the all-important yellow hat.
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