Parents need to understand how club activities have been dependent on the free labor of teachers and have continued to be poorly organized.

Dumb question maybe but why do overworked teachers take charge of unpaid club activities? What's in it for them? Or what pressure is brought to bear on them to do it? It's not clear to me.

Moonraker, they have no choice! At least it seems high school teachers are able to duck out of the club activity as it is run by the students themselves, but in elementary and junior high, they must be present daily and of course on weekends and national holidays.

Peer pressure results in younger, (often) female teachers staying late every day to supervise the club activities; while the middle-aged males slink off to sleep in the 'secret' storage room, or else head out to ABC Pachinko...

The club activities at Japan's schools are way over the top. The sports teams play all year round instead of seasons, and the high school in my neighborhood is a massive hive of activity on weekends and most national holidays with hordes of students who should be relaxing at home or playing with friends.

Just give the teachers and kids a bit of break, for crying out load. These activities are mainly part of an indoctrination process formulated in the early postwar years for a society that no longer exists.

I "coached" a high school bukatsu rugby team in Ehime.

The teacher in charge left me to it.

However, I had to defer to the team captain, even though being a licensed coach and player.

It took me six months to gain some input, by which time, I'd taken up a new interest.

Watching paint dry.

I don’t understand a word. Don’t the students have already regular sports, music and art lessons? Additional sports activities for example should all be packed into their own private leisure time and fully paid or self-organized by parents. The same for art or music related activities. There surely are also regular lessons provided in the curriculum and the rest has to be done and financed privately. That would give quite some of the required room, time and resources for all the other club activities, and most of all for just simply doing some or a bit more homework and additional studies. That’s what a school is there for, studying with teachers and afterwards solving homework supervised. Schools are not meant to be a baseball, soccer or tennis training center, not a classical music concert hall and also not a breakdance academy.

Oh, Mr. Nakazawa, parents definitely understand that. It's free babysitting, and they love it.

I think most parents will fully understand the assertion here. They (we) may not know a realistic other way of doing things but I think most of them (us) do know teachers aren't paid extra and that some clubs aren't run very well, often by teachers with little knowledge of the sport they are in charge of but still with the expectation of them doing a high volume of training and competing in multiple competitions.

For my son's club, I would be happier if the teacher brought a load of homework to mark and sat passively in the corner doing it, simply as a presence who could call a doctor in case of injury or step in if team mates started fighting. Instead, the teacher is hands on and insists on all kinds of drills and tactical instructions which my son tells me are hopeless, probably because the teacher never played that sport himself.

This is one of those things everyone knows is useless but no one has changed for 3 decades. The other issue with handing this over to third parties is the possibility of bad actors so I definitely hope there is a lot of vetting.

Teachers bearing the burden of this when they have no experience or knowledge needs to stop though. Reminds me that literally every sports star in Japan probably had little to no real coaching at school until high school despite mandatory involvement in most places. Pretty amazing

(Spent a long time writing this, and then was automatically logged out for some reason, during which time many of the points have been covered, but I'm posting it anyway)

Of course, there is room for sport and cultural clubs at school. They are great for socialisation, teamwork, discipline, keeping kids out of trouble and so forth. But they are way overdone in the Japanese system. A couple of hours every night (sometimes in the morning before school), weekends, and during holidays.

In my past life as an eikaiwa instructor, often times adult students would tell me they couldn't take their families away during vacations because of their kids' club commitments. Not special events or games etc, just normal club activities. It's ridiculous. And later, as I passed schools on my way to work, on rainy days I would see the athletics club members doing stretches (and nothing else) under the eaves of a building. I always felt like telling them that getting an extra hour of sleep on rainy days would be far more beneficial to them than an hour of static stretching. It's way too much for the students and teachers alike.

The activities should be limited to one hour, twice a week at most, and a game/tournament/meet on weekends if applicable. In the case of sports, if there is a chance of a student competing regionally or internationally, for example, then they can join an elite team or club outside of the school.

For teachers, managing a club should be voluntary. Again, if a school has a nationally competitive team that requires more serious commitment, they should outsource the coach(es) if no one from within the school is willing to take on the responsibility.

Oh, Mr. Nakazawa, parents definitely understand that. It's free babysitting, and they love it.

Great point!

Oh, Mr. Nakazawa, parents definitely understand that. It's free babysitting, and they love it.

Great point!

Yes.

@JeffLee

As a parent of 5 kids who are either in or have been through the public school system in Japan, I couldn't be happier with the confidence that my kids are being well cared for and not getting into trouble with too much leisure time like the kids of my friends in Canada, many of whom have gotten into drugs, gotten pregnant or simply developed slovenly habits that are detrimental to their well being.

I absolutely love the club activity system in Japan. As a kid, I would have loved to have the opportunity to play ice hockey 7 days a week, 12 months a year. Man! That would have been heaven! Maybe I wouldn't have ended up in a home for juvenile delinquents.

"Oh, Mr. Nakazawa, parents definitely understand that. It's free babysitting, and they love it."

As a parent of 5 kids in the Japanese school system...I whole-heartedly concur

@Sven Asai

wrote: "That’s what a school is there for, studying with teachers and afterwards solving homework supervised. Schools are not meant to be a baseball, soccer or tennis training center, not a classical music concert hall and also not a breakdance academy."

I disagree. School is for much more than academics. With the Internet, anyone can learn anything online. School is for socialization as much as it is for acquiring academic skills. Teamwork, patience, communication, co-operation, setting and achieving goals, developing relationships and many other aspects of socialization are things forged within the community of "school". Sports play a big role in fostering these crucial social skills. They also give people a sense of community and belonging. People long for meaning in life. There is a choice whether or not kids participate in extra-curricular activities and the choice is theirs. According to a survey conducted by MEXT, 39.4% of high school students don't join a club. I have 5 kids who all joined clubs and each of them loved it. As a parent, I'm thrilled with the attention and care they all received as well as the discipline they fostered through their experience. I feel that experience has served them far better than memorizing classical Japanese, for example.

Have been part of the bukatsu system here for over twenty years now. When I was wondering way back in the day whether these ‘extra curricular’ activities were officially considered work, ( the bosses kept piling school duties and responsibilities on us despite having what was almost another full time job) I got this answer. Our head coach finally told me straight, “ Ricky, just think of it as a hobby, but a very rewarding one”.

These teachers give up their entire lives for other peoples children so send them gifts at Xmas if you have kids doing club!

Got pulled in deep, got my bus license, coached refereed, travelled the whole country and got exposed to some of the best coaches in the world. Price was weekends were gone, bonus was you stay fit and healthy cause you move and groove with the team. Luckily I loved the sport , the team rose to prominence and the experience of getting to know these kids sometimes better than there only families knew them was extremely rewarding for this gaijin import. Each athlete had their own story. What I saw in the classroom though, was a very different picture, and the lack of appreciation from the higher ups was a huge source of angst and stress. Very few pats on the back from the desks.

If now they are finally realizing that bringing in paid officials and local help from sports federations, then I reckon it’s a huge step in the right direction, a much needed one. Will just take spreading some money around really, this idea of wanting everything for free has to go! It’s way too much to ask.

I know there’s a lot of different opinions about bukatsu but from the inside it was a life changer and something that can never be taken away from you once you’ve put the work in. Sports is one of the only fair playing fields remaining out there, one of the only things that can’t really be faked. Support your local teams, get everyone part of it! Sorry for the long winded!

@K3PO

wrote: I "coached" a high school bukatsu rugby team in Ehime.

The teacher in charge left me to it.

However, I had to defer to the team captain, even though being a licensed coach and player.

It took me six months to gain some input, by which time, I'd taken up a new interest.

Watching paint dry."

I've coached ice hockey for more than 20 years in Japan. In the beginning, it was similar for me in terms of not having much input. In Japan, one needs to prove a level of commitment before being given the reins. Foreigners are often here for a short duration of time, 2~3 years on average. As such, Japanese teachers/coaches see them come and go through a revolving door. I've seen some who have had sports backgrounds try to tell the Japanese how things "should" be done. That gets tiresome for Japanese teachers/coaches who are seasoned coaches/teachers. 6 months is nothing to a Japanese coach. That you'd taken up a new interest proved your level of commitment to be unsatisfactory. Commitment is paramount to Japanese sports. I now have full reins of my hockey program for which I was simply a door opener and back-slapper for about 3 years. 6 months and you threw in the towel? That's why you weren't given any input.

For a start if they just made it so club was only once or twice a week that would be enough. There's no reason kids need to be training in basketball or tennis 7 days a week.

There is a choice whether or not kids participate in extra-curricular activities and the choice is theirs.

Not always.

In many public junior highs, certainly al the local ones in these parts, bukatsu is obligatory for everyone. Kids who enter school with a physical disability that prevents them running around on a field or blowing into a brass instrument may be granted exemption, but for all other kids it's compulsory.

If the kid is lucky he or she will be able to choose which sport or instrument to play, but if there's a shortage of baseball/volleyball/football players to make up the 1st and 2nd team, there is no choice; you go where the school decides. Same with making up numbers of trumpet-players, violinists, whatever.

And once you are in, there is no getting out. I think I have mentioned before my daughter's friend who joined the swimming club and then developed a heart condition that stopped her swimming. Instead of being allowed to join some non-physical club, or even being allowed to go home, the school ordered her to 'support her teammates' - by sitting at the side of the pool for two hours every day after school while the other kids swam. A total waste of time. She could have been studying computer programming, brushing up her English, doing her homework, or even just reading a book. But no.

Teamwork, patience, communication, co-operation, setting and achieving goals, developing relationships and many other aspects of socialization

Yes, they are. But forcing kids to spend time and energy doing stuff they aren't interested in and don't enjoy does not help with any of those things. Bukatsu should be optional and voluntary. Kids who would rather go home should be allowed to go home.

Congratulations to the few success stories mentioned by posters here. No doubt they had / having valuable, worthwhile experiences, benefiting themselves as well as their charges.

Unfortunately from my observed experiences over 3 decades and my own kids involvement, those successes are somewhat muted by a proliferation of what I'd call "programmed conditioning for the sake of programmed conditioning.

5 - 7 days a week (multiple daily hours) of training, over the course of a full year with minimal actual games being played is not fun. It's woefully extended boot camp.

And the real crick for me is - in many, many cases, only the best actually get to play. All of the others are just lackeys supporting the A-team.

My niece was in the jnr high table tennis club for 3 years and NEVER played a game in competition. NOT once.

In fact the first 6 months they could only practice on a half table hitting against the wall.

Not wanting to compare other countries systems to say one is superior or not but, I grew up playing a number of sports at jnr/snr high.

Summer was cricket and a little tennis - practice 2 afternoons a week and games every Saturday. Being a lower level player I was always in the B-team. It was fun.

Winter was football (aussie rules) and again 2 times practice a week and games every Saturday. Snr High saw me in the C-team. What a bunch. What fun.

Basketball was also winter and we played on Thursday nights with a little lunch time practices during the week. A proud B player I was. All those games helped me develop my skills so I could play for teacher's teams when I began working. Lots of fun.

Found a bit of time for the debating club as well. Enjoyed it a lot, although I should have turned up to workshops more - but the teacher didn't hang me. It was fun.

Teachers took all of my practice sessions but was only a few hours a week so I guess no real imposition. My B-team Saturday games were usually taken / supervised by interested parents or big brothers.

Built good friendships, developed skills and laughed. No punches in the guts or dressing downs.

It was fun.

Stupid club, stealing children’s youthful fun activities outside of the brainwashing department! What free time do kids actually get in Japan??!!

@Geeter Mckluskie, I'm sure your 'friends' in Canada wouldn't be happy with you denigrating them and their kids as worthless druggies and sex addicts.

Vreth

For a start if they just made it so club was only once or twice a week that would be enough. There's no reason kids need to be training in basketball or tennis 7 days a week.

And make it voluntary.

This sounds like a good move. Maths teachers shouldn't be running brass bands at weekends instead of focusing on teaching maths / constructing toilet cameras. But who is paying these 'local private organizations'?

My feeling is that if you give Japanese kids more free time they will just waste it playing video games instead of getiing into more positive things such as outdoor activities, vandalism, drugs, casual violence etc.

Parents need to understand how club activities have been dependent on the free labor of teachers and have continued to be poorly organized.

Its not the parents that need to understand- its the politicians. They need to revise laws so that teachers are not overworked, used and abused like this.

When I was in school, I was in the Aikido club. The art teacher used to be an ALT in Osaka where he learned Aikido. When he left Japan and came to our school, he started the club once a week. We, the students, requested twice a week, and then 3x a week. He said no. 2x was ample. I agree.

Agree with most of the comments that kidS shouldn’t be forced into clubs, especially run by already overworked teachers who weren’t even athletes of their given sport, am in a split mindset though after seeing 18 year olds reaching semi pro level skills at such an early age, admittedly very lucky to be part of a team of true pros. The reality is that games, sedentary lifestyles and even worse time wasting will be the pit waiting if the bukatsu safety net is thrown away with the bath water, and what’s happening in the classroom means that maybe the best thing students will take away from the school system are the lessons that sports teach you.

Ideally, more time needs to be allocated and spent with individual kids, and like browny says it’s not uncommon to play two or even three sports in Australia, go to drama classes and also be in the debate club too. Hyper productive versatile kids has to be a good thing. Lot of juggling by invested parents.

Getting off the treadmill of unproductive practices here though is still agonizingly slow, and the mindset of ‘how can we make this better’ is not a strongpoint of the cultural psychology. The gaman factor is strong ! We all know not much will change anytime soon. With that in mind , if you have time , get involved in something you’d like to see happen. Be that change. If you have any time invest it in the youth, it’s a win win.

@TrevorPeace

My friends don't need to be coddled with kid gloves. To do so would be condescending. Acknowledging issues that plague their kids' schools and lives is not tantamount to "denigrating" them...as "denigrate" includes the aspect of "unfairly". Their kids have real issues and risks to navigate that kids in Japan don't. I'm sure they would agree.

@Sanjinosebleed

wrote: "Stupid club, stealing children’s youthful fun activities outside of the brainwashing department! What free time do kids actually get in Japan??!!"

Clubs are voluntary

@cleo

wrote: "In many public junior highs, certainly al the local ones in these parts, bukatsu is obligatory for everyone."

What area would that be? I've lived in Japan for more than 30 years and have 5 kids who have been through the public school system here. All going to different junior and senior high schools. None of which had a mandatory club policy. I live in Saitama. I've also lived in Kushiro, Hokkaido and Setagaya Ward, Tokyo. I know of no school in which club activities are mandatory. Could you please tell me the area in which you live. I'd like to confirm whether or not what you claim is true. Thanks