First Day of School

Here's Shuma this morning, before his first day of school! Well not really his first day, but it kind of feels like it. He had his first real day way back in April, and attended one week of half days, but then we went to Canada for three months so he missed the rest of the first term. Why we went back to Canada (and why I've been absent for months) is the post I should be writing, but I'm not quite ready for it yet so I'll do a kindergarten post instead.

So a little background: the Japanese school year starts in April and runs until March, with vacations during the summer, new years, and spring. There are public and private kindergartens, and neither are free. There are three years of kindergarten and all of them are optional, so some kids go for two years but most go for all three. (Rarely kids will go for one year, but they are most likely returning from overseas or transferring from daycare. Homeschooling is pretty much unheard of and it's rare for a child to start the first grade without ever having been in kindergarten or daycare). For kids doing the full three years, they start the year they turn 4. The school day runs from about 9 to 2, and often there is one half day per week.

In Shuma's case, we don't have a public daycare nearby so we had to go the private route, but luckily my ward subsidises private kindergarten so it's not terribly expensive. We had a huge choice of kindergartens, none of which were perfect, but Shuma eventually got accepted into the place of our choice (through a combination of interview and lottery, which is standard here). His kindergarten has bus service, a big yard with a great playground, and is play-based rather than education-focused (most private kindergartens tend to be educational). What I didn't like is that it seems to require a high level of parental involvement, higher even than the average (which is a lot). And no school lunch service, so I will have to make bentos every day. But he hasn't attended long enough for me to actually get a feel as to what it's like.

But I think I can expect a lot of work, especially compared to a Canadian kindergarten. Take the bags as an example. Japanese kindergarten students need several bags and they are expected to be hand-made by the mother, using fabric that appeals to her child and following instructions unique to each kindergarten. These are Shuma's bags: a large one to hold weekly supplies and four smaller ones to hold his indoor shoes, a change of clothes, a cup and his lunch box. Also needed are home-made lunch mats, and cleaning rags, and then a smock, handkerchiefs, pocket tissue covers, and a number of other things which can be bought. Not to mention the uniform (both winter and summer versions), back pack, indoor shoes, name tag, outdoor hat, stationary supplies and bunch of other stuff I missed while we were away. So much stuff to buy, and so much work keeping it clean (for example, the indoor shoes are sent home Friday afternoon to be washed and brought back looking spick-and-span on Monday morning). Of course I cheated and had my bags made (and I think in many cases it's a grandma making the bags rather than the mom), although I did sew the lunch mats and ended up having to re-do the big bag myself since I used the wrong type of fabric (according to one of those unwritten rules that everyone seems to know except me).

So kindergarten begins with an entrance ceremony (the Japanese are very big on ceremonies) which is attended by parents and a major event in a child's- and parent's- life. This happened on the first Friday of April and we made it through without any major screw-ups. Which was a relief because there are thousands of little rules, both real ones and unwritten ones, that are not easy for me to figure out. And we got the requisite shot beside the sign at the school gate- doesn't he look happy!. (The sign just says "Entrance Ceremony" with the date and school name.)

Both Hideaki and I attended and as you can see, it's a dress-up event. Shuma doesn't look as spiffy as most of the other kids, who had formal pants or skirts and formal black shoes (and shirts tucked in!), but that's one of those unwritten rules that I didn't know about. Oh well.

Here he is in a slightly better mood, having just had a celebratory sushi lunch.

Then his first proper day of kindergarten was the following Monday. Here he is on our way to the bus stop, with his hat, backpack and school bag. Since most kids are starting kindergarten with no daycare experience the days are short at first, so the first few weeks they only go for a couple of hours and they don't have to wear their uniforms. Those days also went all right, except for the first morning when Shuma tripped just as the bus pulled up, and I tripped over him, and there we were sprawled out on the pavement when the bus door opened and his teacher gave a cheery "Good morning!". Great first impression! And then a week later we were gone, and today is his first day back.

Here he is in his summer uniform. It's just a straw hat and light sailor jacket, both of which are taken off as soon as he gets to school. And below he's got his backpack and school bag.

So this morning everything went well and once he was gone I was congratulating myself on a job well done and looking forward to several hours of alone time. And then I got a call from his kindergarten saying he doesn't need his bento because today is a half day. Because of course I wasn't able to decipher the mountain of papers to figure out that he has half days until Thursday, and neither was my husband (who claims to be Japanese but, going by his Japanese reading ability, I'm starting to doubt). Oh well, an unnecessary bento is better than forgetting something, and at least I don't have to worry about what to feed him for lunch. Let's hope all my future mistakes are minor ones like this.

See more pictures in his kindergarten album.

Comments

[Kinako jam]

Shuma looks very cute. Just curious, was the three month canada trip a good boost for his English? Did you try to keep up some Japanese exposure while there, or just do full immersion? Kind wishes from a kiwi mum in cologne Germany

[Amy]

It was so good for his English! I was expecting some improvement but was amazed. He also started talking more in general (he's a bit late and not much of a talker). I didn't really really do anything to maintain his Japanese- normally I would have but we left in a hurry and I wasn't really in a place to put any effort into it. So when we got back to Japan he'd (seemingly) forgotten all his Japanese but has bounced right back since then. Actually, I think his Japanese has improved, maybe the stimulation of learning all that new English has spilled over to the Japanese section of his brain...

[suzy]

These photos are so lovely! When we were living in Japan and I wasn't sure if we would still be there with children the thought of all those preschool bags and things terrified me - I think you've done very well to navigate it all. And it must be so tricky to know all the unwritten stuff. Nice to see you back here, and I hope you're doing okay.

[Leela Debris]

This is so amazing, I just stumbled upon your blog when i did a google search on sushi and I don't even know you but looking through your photos of your life in japan and your beautiful baby and how in love you are with your husband, it is just so surreal and beautiful. thank you for sharing your life with the world you are truly blessed.