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Homeroom, that fateful time of day before real classes start where the teacher calls roll to see which kids successfully rolled out of bed that morning. Some countries don’t have an official “homeroom”. They just call your name and classes begin. But in Japan, homeroom is a whole different beast. And the surprise of one Twitter user at how homeroom is conducted in Saitama Prefecture versus the rest of the country makes for a good laugh, especially because of the comments from other people around Japan.

In Japan, homeroom usually consists of the following tasks: turning in homework, making school announcements, and of course taking roll. Most of the time it follows this kind of pattern:

“A-san”
“Here!”
“B-kun”
“Here!”
“C-san”
“Here…”

Simple, easy and to the point. But a Twitter user from Saitama is astounded that their prefecture is one of the only ones that has homeroom more like this:

“A-san”
“Here, and I’m good today!”
“B-kun”
“Here, but I have a cold.”
“C-san”
“Here…also fine.”

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Yep, not only do the kids have to respond when the teacher calls their name, but they apparently have to tell a little bit about how they’re doing on that day too. Is this strange? Is this normal? The netizens responded!

“No way! I thought this was how it was right across the country!?” (They are likely from Saitama too.)

“Tokyo is close to Saitama but…elementary school was kinda like that.”

“There were certainly boys who wanted a laugh by replying, ‘Here, and I’m constipated,’ a typical elementary school-level joke.” (A comment from the original poster… Do tell, did you partake in this “joke” as well?!)

“I remember that! At least in Okayama Prefecture’s elementary schools we had this kind of roll call. I don’t know what it’s like now with reorganizing of the elementary and junior high schools in the different areas.”  (There are certainly more prefectures that take role call like Saitama. Tochigi is another one.)

“In Hiroshima, we normally did this. We also added things like, ‘Yes, I’m well and I brought everything I need to school today!‘” (Forgetting things is a horrible travesty after all.)

“I answered about whether I brought tissues or a handkerchief, or talked about the state of my nails.” (French tipped and ready to study!)

▼Bueller?… Bueller?… Bueller?

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What’s it like for those who experienced school life in Japan? Is this similar to how homeroom is conducted in your home country? Let us know!

Source: Nikita Sokuho
Images: Flickr, Twitter, zaps