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elementary school

Honda promotes street safety with tote bags resembling “a police officer hung on your shoulder”

The car manufacturer promotes safer streets with this snappy side-satchel for grade-school students.

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Elementary school uses clever trick to get everyone to dispose of their chopsticks properly

Both the children and the adults have gotten in on the fun while also sharing their future dreams (and lamentations). 

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Illustration by manga artist shows why elementary kids should be allowed to leave books at school

Even grade school kids have a lot to carry to every day.

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Boy threatens to stab school staff forcing elementary students to wear Giorgio Armani uniforms

Threatening to cut people up with a knife is not the best way to go about airing frustrations.

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Cute elementary school Valentine’s Day story makes Japanese Twitter give collective “d’aww”

Crafty kid + smart teacher = happy memory.

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Sinisterly simple math puzzle for elementary school kids stumps Japanese Twitter adults

Get out your thinking caps, and get ready to possibly lose some of your grown-up pride.

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Japanese elementary school teacher gets drunk, visits student’s house and beats him with stick

The teacher used a drumstick from a drumming video game during the assault.

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This Japanese race queen is really an elementary school student

The 13-year-old schoolgirl has fired up debate about young girls in the modelling industry.

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Roleplay as a Japanese student at classroom-themed izakaya, Rokunen Yonkumi

With themed rooms and waiters who act as teachers and nurses, you’ll never want to leave elementary school again!

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Survey shows “YouTuber” among top jobs Japanese kids want when they grow up

Because they want to “make millions” and “not have to study…” 

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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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Japanese teacher’s explanation about “individuality” to kids has a deep, beautiful meaning

Individuality is more than just writing kanji slightly differently from each other.

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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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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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Natsukashii! Japan’s Twitter users in their 30s share items from their youth, get all nostalgic

It’s weird being in your thirties (or thereabouts) in 2015. Kids today have no idea what a struggle it was for us growing up in the days before smartphone selfies, dumb internet trends, and myriad modern technological conveniences. Wait, what are we saying, it was absolutely awesome! For ours was a more innocent childhood, full of VHS tapes, talking on phones connected to the wall by a wire, and clunky dial-up internet that still felt like the greatest thing ever invented.

Japan’s 30s club is no different; they too are nostalgic for the relics of a simpler past. And in this article, we round up 22 nostalgic items that Japanese Twitter users say sum up their idyllic childhoods. But how many of them (if any) are the same as those we in the west enjoyed?

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Brain teaser that is no problem for a six-year-old stumps the rest of us

The humble brain teaser manages to make us feel frustrated and really dumb all at the same time, but often you will find that these questions are used to test the intellectual aptitude of prospective students. One question on an entrance exam for a Hong Kong elementary school has gone viral and it’s leaving adults a little stumped. On the other hand, the six-year-olds the question is aimed at are having no problem solving this brain teaser. Can you answer the question that an elementary school student can get in about twenty seconds, or are you stumped like the rest of the adults?

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Are you smarter than a (Japanese) 5th grader? Take this mind-bending test and find out!

Pretty much everyone enjoys being able to help their younger siblings or kids with their elementary school homework. It’s a little piece of joy to pass on what you’ve learned and prove how cool of a mom/dad or big brother/sister you are. You impart some simple knowledge and see the little light bulb turn on in their head as they begin to understand. Then you can sit back and watch with confidence as they interact with the world around them.

But what do you do when the homework is a question that even you can’t answer? This brainteaser had everyone in one Japanese family stumped for over an hour, so they turned to Twitter for help. And then much of the Internet was stumped too. Take a look at these riddles and see how many you can get playing: What Prefecture is This?

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Taking indoor shoes out: Elementary student style now trending among women in Japan

As many of you know, Japan maintains a strong sense of uchi and soto, or inside/in-group and outside/out-group. As part of that culture, all people, young and old, are made to change their shoes upon entering most buildings and homes. Students, especially elementary school students, get a special pair of indoor shoes called uwabaki, often called “hallway slippers,” for use while inside the school building. Much like the trendiness of Japanese elementary school backpacks, uwabaki are being seen out on the streets on the feet of fashion-forward women. But are elementary school indoor shoes really that fashionable? You’d be surprised!

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The Amazing Eggman – This net user’s long-lost picture book will brighten your day

If your closet is as jammed-packed with stuff as mine is, you’re bound to come across some old school papers or pieces of artwork sooner or later. And when you do, those papers can be your ticket to a hilarious trip down memory lane as you reminisce about the good old days and wonder, “Just what was I thinking at that age?”

Take this Japanese guy, for example. Recently he unearthed a handmade picture book from his elementary school days about a superhero he created called Eggman (sounds like the stuff of legends, right?). He then uploaded the story onto an online forum, where it was quite rightly met with overwhelming praise and no end of ‘kawaii~!’ comments.

If you’re in need of something to put a smile on your face or are just in the mood for an adorable kids’ story, join us after the jump for the heroic adventures of Eggman as he attempts to put an end to the evil plans of Frying Pan Kingdom!

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Chinese classroom introduces roller coaster-style desks, hopes to protect kids’ eyesight

What’s this strange contraption? Perhaps a headrest, or some kind of anti-cheating device? Maybe it’s something for the kids to hold on to when English grammar classes get too exciting to bear!?

Actually, this classroom has been fitted with these specially-designed desks as a measure of preserving their kids’ precious eyesight.

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