* Kindergarten: Children age 3-6 attend kindergarten
* Public
* Private
* Can attend for free for public kindergartens
Elementary School
* Age 6 enter elementary level: 6 years for public schools
* 12 years old can graduate high school
* School Year: April 1st - March 31st
* Divided into three terms
* New students enter after the first term
Junior HIgh School
* Start at 12
* Last for three years
* Subjects include: Math, Science, Language Arts, English
High School
* Three year school
* 97.8 percent of students move onto high school
* Many students join clubs and engage in extracurricular activities
University Entrance Exams
* Must pass entrance exam to attend college
* Exam is in two part over two days
* Day one: Tests the student in six required subjects
* Japanese language
* Mathematics
* Social Studies
* Science
* English or Second Foreign Language
* Physical Education
* Day Two: Students must choose between two test tracks:
* Social Science (includes subjects on Japanese history, world history, geography and ethics)
* Liberal Arts (includes math, physics, chemistry, biology and geology)
School Day
* Japanese school days start at about 8:30 AM and end around 3:30 PM
* Morning starts with a homeroom session; students have to participate in a group cleaning session, the “soji.”
* Lunch break happens between noon and 1 p.m. Japanese elementary school students typically share a meal with their class at school during lunchtime
* After school, many Japanese students engage in “Club Activities.”
School Structure
* All public education is managed at the Municipal (City) level
* National government issues policy and curriculum guidelines and provides financial assistance to local governments
* The Prefectures (local governments) carry out the operations of the education policy at the local level, including supervision and management of schools, curriculum development