I’m very happy to write this article about Japanese schools. As a matter of fact, I was studying in Japan for four years (from year 1993 to ’97) and I did everything that was in this video during that time. I clearly remembered myself washing my hands before then praying before eating, saying thanks to those who prepared our food as a sign of my gratitude and cleaning our classroom with my fellow classmates after class.
At the start of this video, a grade school pupil let us see what’s inside her bag. As you can see, she has her own set of chopsticks, table mat, toothbrush and a cup along with these. As she attends her class, the kitchen room staff is busy preparing their lunch by peeling the potatoes that are harvested by the six graders a day before aside from the other vegetables that are harvested in a local farm in Saitama. The foods are put inside the trays, which in turn are put inside separate food carts and then distributed in every classroom floor.
As the lunch time approaches, every pupil who are designated on lunch duty are meeting up and then checked up first for health issues such as couch, diarrhea or runny nose. After that, they are washing their hands with a hand sanitizer before going on duty.
It is somewhat remarkable to notice the organization of those in lunch duty. One of them distributes the milk in every table while the others are serving the food in front of each food cart to the queue. After they finish serving the food, all of them will go to their own tables before everybody can start eating. If in case that there is some food left, it is then distributed to those in lunch duty who want more food. But in order not to have a dispute, it is usually settled by a game of rock, paper and scissors.
After the lunch time was done, all of the pupils will brush their teeth, open their empty milk cartons for recycling, which are then collected, washed and dried by those in lunch duty. The other utensils are then washed in the designated washing area before being returned to the kitchen. And finally, every room and corridor is then cleaned by everyone right after classes.
The truth is, I really missed those times. If God is going to give me a wish, I wish that I can return to my childhood and I will return to Japan, along with my father.
When I was in japan (1994) : Ibaraki ken#Ibarakiken #japan
Posted by Parminder Singh on Saturday, December 19, 2009