Perhaps you have heard of Setagaya City? Here in Setagaya is Kinuta Minami Junior High School. It is one of many junior high schools in Tokyo. Specifically Kinuta Minami Junior High School is a municipal junior high school.
Tokyo is a large metropolis. It contains 23 special wards. Setagaya is one of those wards.
There are many junior high schools within the 23 wards. Adachi has several junior high schools. Arakawa has several. Bunkyo has a number of junior high schools. Chiyoda has a few junior high schools too. Edogawa has many. Itabashi offers many junior high schools. Katsushika has a lot of them. Kita also has many junior high schools. Koto has a number of junior high schools. Meguro has several. Minato has a few of them. Nerima has many junior high schools. Nakano has a number of them. Ota also has many junior high schools. Setagaya and Shibuya have them. Shinagawa has several. Shinjuku has some junior high schools. Suginami and Sumida also have several junior high schools. Taito and Toshima each have a few junior high schools.
West Tokyo also has several junior high schools. Akiruno has some. Akishima has them too. Chofu also has some junior high schools. Fuchu and Fussa have them. Hachioji has many junior high schools. Hamura has a few. Higashikurume and Higashimurayama have them. Higashiyamato and Hino each offer several junior high schools. Hinode has a few junior high schools. Hinohara has one junior high school. Inagi has some and Kiyose offers several. Kodaira Koganei Kokubunji and Komae have junior high schools. Kunitachi and Machida offer a number of junior high schools. Mitaka and Mizuho have them too. Musashimurayama has several junior high schools. Musashino and Nishitokyo have them. Okutama has one. Ome Tachikawa and Tama have a few junior high schools.
There are also islands. They also have junior high schools. Aogashima has one. Kozushima has one. Mikurajima has one. Miyake Niijima and Shikinejima each have a junior high school. Ogasawara has two junior high schools. Toshima has an elementary and junior high school.
There are also foreign government-operated schools. There are also private junior high schools.
Japanese schools value cleanliness. Students clean their school. There are no janitors. Students clean every inch of their campus. This includes the bathrooms. Students teachers and school employees participate. Senior officials also help. Each person has their own area to clean. Japanese schools have souji cleaning time. Some students wear a tenugui bandanna. They sit in quiet for a few minutes. This practice is called mokuso.
Also in junior high schools instructors and students eat lunch together. They arrange their desks to face each other.
Japanese education emphasizes equality. All students eat the same food. Students serve the food. Students use the same school bags. They use the same indoor shoes.
Club activities are common. Students in sports clubs participate before and after school. They run several kilometers each day. Many students attend juku cram schools. They study harder or learn new languages. They are also assigned a large amount of homework each day. Students often study until late at night. Daytime napping is generally permitted. This is called inemuri.
So as you stand here in front of Kinuta Minami Junior High School you are also standing in front of a piece of the Japanese educational system. A system that values equality cleanliness hard work and perseverance.