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education (Page 12)

Japanese university says your girlfriend might dump you, other harsh truths in recruiting ad

Some universities try to recruit students by telling them about all the fun they’ll have there, but not this Tokyo institute of higher learning.

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New school in Iraq to provide a Japanese-style education

Impressed with Japan’s ability to quickly rebuild after the Second World War, some educators in Iraq are looking to instill similar values in their own youth.

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Daigo Umehara may be famous for playing video game Street Fighter as Evil Ryu, but he just did a very good deed.

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Philosophy with numbers: The math problem that stumped the Japanese internet

If a notebook costs 100 yen, 20 yen cheaper than a pencil case, then how much is an eraser? 

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From fashion to extracurricular activities, the lives of an American colleges students are an ocean apart from their counterparts in Japan.

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New multiple choice answer sheet is the anti-cheating gift from the teacher gods

Multiple choice tests were already annoying enough; let’s see the Scantron machine scan this answer sheet.

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When a fight broke out between the students of an Aichi elementary school class, their homeroom teacher tried to defuse the situation by imparting some wisdom. You see, kids, “naked men don’t make money, but naked women do…”

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“5 + 9” is okay but “9 + 5” is wrong? Is this being logical or overly picky?

Students who add and multiply with the numbers in the ‘wrong’ order are getting their answers marked as incorrect? Japanese net users weigh in.

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Work-in-progress Japanese AI program could probably get into 474 universities in the country

Now in its third year of testing, the artificial intelligence just earned its best mock entrance exam score yet.

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The big biang theory! How the “most complicated” Chinese character keeps students from being late

Most schools expect their students to attend classes punctually and students are commonly penalized when they fail to do so. At a certain school in China, a teacher used to punish his students by making them write English sentences when they were late for class, until he came across the “most complicated” Chinese character, which now has become an effective measure in keeping his students on the ball where punctuality is concerned.

If you’ve ever faced such a punishment and felt that writing “I will not be late for class again” over and over again was a dreadful experience, try writing this!

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Do Minecraft lessons, an edible garden, and diploma iPads make this the greatest school in Japan?

Education is always one of the number one topics of conversation among citizens. People want to know that their child is given the best education that they can get, and they will pick up and move to a new neighborhood just so their kids can be in a better school.

But just how do you determine what the best school is? A strong case can be made for Aiwa Elementary School in Tokyo as the best elementary school in all of Japan, and we are going to give you three reasons why: Minecraft, edible gardens, and iPads.

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Discovery of Death Note-inspired hit list in New Hampshire school has families on high alert

Death Note, the popular manga series turned live-action movie from Japan, follows the story of a bored young genius and his discovery of a supernatural book called the Death Note, which has the power to take the life of anyone whose name is written in it by the owner.

The sinister storyline has now influenced a real-life turn of events at a high school in the United States, where a self-styled “Death Note” was found, containing the names of 17 students, including the dates of their deaths and the manner by which they would be killed.

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University lecturer calls out his lazy Japanese students, praises his hard-working Chinese ones

Japan places a tremendous importance on education. Many would even argue that studiousness is part of Japan’s national character, and diligent students are seen as source of pride and an object of respect in Japanese society.

Nevertheless, a lecturer at one of Japan’s renowned universities is calling out the lazy Japanese youths he says he encounters in his classes, while praising his hard-working Chinese and Southeast Asian pupils.

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New study suggests Japanese people born in late winter at higher risk of suicide

While Japan is famous for its animation, food, pop-culture, it’s also infamous for its extremely high suicide rates. Many Japanese students and salarymen succumb to the pressures of school and work by taking their own lives. There is little knowledge about what factors increase the risk of suicide, but recent research has found that people, namely adolescents, born between January 1 and April 1, are 30 percent more likely to commit suicide. 

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The word otaku has a long and complicated history in Japan. Originally, it was strictly a pejorative, a label used to mark those with an unhealthily intense interest in anime and other bits of minutiae-heavy hobbies. But while there are many who still use the word in that scathing sense, “otaku” has slowly built up another image as a badge of pride worn by those with a strong and enduring passion for the specific niches of art or technology that appeal to them.

That means that Japanese society, for arguably the first time, is starting to accept that being an otaku can be either a positive or a negative force in a person’ life. But what’s the difference between a good otaku and a bad otaku? One Japanese educator has an answer.

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In Japanese elementary schools, lunchtime means serving classmates, cleaning the school 【Video】

Last month, we took a look at how in Japan many children are expected to commute to school without their parents’ help starting in elementary school. That’s not the only amazing display of responsibility that’s part of everyday life for Japanese kids, though.

Not only do Japanese schools not have school busses, they also don’t have food-serving or cleaning staff. That means it’s the students themselves who’re responsible for distributing school lunches and keeping the building clean, and the diligence with which they go about their tasks would put many full-blown adults to shame, as shown in this video of all the things Japanese grade schoolers are expected to do during a typical school day in addition to studying.

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Japanese high school teacher’s scathing, two-foot-long note to students is nothing short of epic

Being a teacher is one of the most rewarding yet difficult jobs one can do; on the one hand, you’re helping to shape the next generation, and you get to help kids learn and grow. On the other hand, though, kids will be kids, and you’ll always have those one or two students who really know how to get under your skin.

Even the most patient teacher has their limit—they’re still human after all. Like this Japanese high school teacher, who apparently had it “up to here” with students spitting their gum out on the floor. So what did he do? Wrote a scathing note of epic proportions and pinned it to the wall for all to see.

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Odds are at some point you’ve been part of an after-school study group with your classmates, either to help each other power through a difficult course or cram for an important exam. Maybe you got together at a friend’s place or took over a corner of your local coffee house, but in Japan, neither of those of those is really a viable choice of location.

Japanese homes are generally too small to host a large group of visitors. Meanwhile, the coffee break-loving country’s cafes tend to be packed when schools let out in the afternoon, so it’s often a serious challenge to find even a single empty seat in a Tokyo Starbucks, let alone adjacent ones for all your study buddies. So in response, clever Japanese students thought outside the box and discovered a trendy new venue for group study sessions: karaoke boxes.

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Are Japan’s national universities actually getting rid of their humanities departments?

Earlier this year, news of a letter sent to presidents of national universities—purportedly telling them to get rid of or modify their humanities departments to better “benefit” Japanese society—spread across the Internet. Since then, it has even been picked up by some high-profile English sites, with considerable (and understandable) consternation. And you can believe there were academics in Japan who were incensed at the idea as well.

But is it actually going to happen? It turns out the short answer is a weak “probably not.” The long answer, though, is a bit more complicated.

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Paints Without Names: Japanese set of nameless watercolors seeks to free young artistic minds

While visual arts and linguistics are both creative fields, skill with one isn’t necessarily a prerequisite for the other. After all, as long as you can look at three hues and pick the one best suited for the picture you’re painting, it doesn’t really matter if you know whether to call it fuchsia or periwinkle.

As a matter of fact, some would argue that coupling names and colors limits the imaginations of budding young artists, which is why these two Japanese designers have produced a set of paints for children that have no names on their labels, only splotches of their base component colors.

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