Japanese High School Curriculum

[Dumbledork]

Thanks for the info. I knew about points 1. and 2. but not about the others. We have one thing in common with the Japanese. We are also assigned to one room. And we don't have junior or senior high school. All students of the seven years of secondary education share the same school.
However what I noticed in a lot of manga and anime is that they seem to have disgusting toilets (or rather no toilets at all). Do they even have toilet paper?

[lwf58]

They do indeed have restrooms in schools. It would be impossible for them to operate without any. Whether or not they have western-style fittings is another matter; toilets you have to squat to use can be found in many, especially the older buildings. The students are responsible for cleaning the restrooms too.
However, public toilets may not include toilet paper; when visiting Japan, it's highly recommended that you carry some with you. Hand towels are the same. You may have noticed in some programs that when washing their hands, the characters often use their handkerchief to dry off afterward.
Sports clubs seem to provide towels for members, but that's more speculation on my part than something I know as fact.
Japan has junior and senior high schools, and they are not normally the same institution. Public schooling is mandatory only until junior high. Senior high is optional, and students have to compete to get into them.
The exception is private "elevator" schools, where students pass from elementary school to junior high to high school, and sometimes to college courses, all in the same institute. Elevator schools are expensive and places in them are highly sought after, and they generally have waiting lists. In them, graduation from one level to the next is automatic.
Graduates from elevator schools are also considered something of an elite, so job placement for them is easier to find than for graduates of public schools.

[Winchester]

One anime where the competition for high school entry is visible is Sailor Moon (can't remember which season, probably SuperS, might have been Stars). IIRC, it was made a big deal out of - especially Usagi having passed...

Japan doesn't, or at least didn't, have a nationalized entrance exam system - each school makes you sit *their* entrance exam, IIRC. Cram schools (juku) aiming specifically towards an entrance exam are pretty common - for example Hideki in Chobits. The Love Hina crew and their repeated failures to get into Toudai are another illustration of the idea.

As to how clubs are run in Japan, I don't have any concrete ideas - in the anime/manga I've watched so far, there doesn't seem to be any mandatory faculty advisors, for example. The clubs pretty much rule themselves. This may, of course, be a complete fabrication for plot reasons, though.

SP

[Knight of L-sama]

One anime where the competition for high school entry is visible is Sailor Moon (can't remember which season, probably SuperS, might have been Stars). IIRC, it was made a big deal out of - especially Usagi having passed...

It also does illustrate the elevator school principal as well. I forget which episode it was exactly but the girls give Rei grief about how she doesn't have to study for entrance exams since she goes to a private school with the elevator system.

[Lioconvoy]

3. Students change floors according to their year.

Is there any constant on what floor houses what year. In Ranma 1/2, unless it's a miss translation Ranma and Akane are said to be on the third floor, but they're first years (or are they first years...I mean they're 16 so I always assumed...)

I appologize for rezing this topic, but I am finding myself in need of the information with in it. (Lots of things in it I know, but I don't know the presise details.)

[lwf58]

I don't know the definitive answer to that, but the floor first year students use may vary from school to school.

[TerraEpon]

I remember reading that Ranma is backwards from the norm, which is 10th on the 1st, 11th on the 2nd, and 12th on the third.

[Lioconvoy]

As Furinkan has four floors I assumed that the specialty class rooms were on the first floor, which is why the first years being on the third floor made no sense to me.