I am an exchange student from Japan and I have been living in Camas for seven months.

I stayed in Pennsylvania for a month three years ago as an exchange student and had a wonderful time there, so I decided to join an exchange program to come back to the United States.

Here are the differences I have noticed between my school, Marugame High School, in Japan and Camas High School (CHS).

Grade levels

Most of the high schools in Japan have only three grades. The first grade of high school in Japan is the sophomore year in CHS, the second grade is junior year, and the third grade is senior year. The basic system in Japanese schools is that we have six grades in elementary school, three grades in middle school, and three grades in high school.

Schedule

In Japan, our schedule is decided by our school. We have homeroom class and we usually do not move from the room. We do not have AP classes, but when we get older, classwork is automatically going to be a high level. However, we do have a choice in taking more humanities classes or more science and math classes when we reach the second grade of high school.

Everyone takes the same classes in first grade except art class. We can choose from art, music, and calligraphy when we reach the second grade of high school. When we reach the second grade, we have two options. One option is that we can take more Japanese and social study classes. The other option is that we can take more math and science classes. If we choose the second choice we can choose if we take biology or physics.

In CHS, we can choose what classes we want to take and have AP classes.

I was surprised they have language classes like Japanese, Spanish, and ASL. It is so interesting for me to learn new languages in school. Also, I like the system that we can choose both core and elective classes and the level of difficulty that we want to take.

Holidays

In Japan, we have 16 official holidays in a year. If they are on the weekend, the next Monday is going to be a holiday instead. We have a long holiday season in May called Golden Week. April 29 and May 3 to 5 are all holidays. In the United States, there are 11 annual federal holidays.

Golden Week is the week that has four holidays: The Birthday of Emperor Hirohito, Constitution Memorial Day, Green Day, and Children’s Day. In 1948, the Act on National Holidays came into effect by the Japanese government. Since then, there have been four holidays in a week, so Japanese people often go outside and watch movies. A movie-making company called this week “Golden Week” as they can make a lot of money. Also, according to another theory, it was named after “Golden Time,” which is when a lot of people tend to watch TV shows.

School Breaks

School in Japan starts in April and ends in March. We have summer, winter, and spring break. We usually have beautiful cherry blossoms at our entrance ceremony.

Summer vacation is about one month and a week. It starts from July 20 to the end of August. However, we have to go to summer school for one and a half weeks at both the beginning and end of the vacation. It is almost the same as the usual classes. We only have three or four classes in the morning. Classes on normal school days have 65 minutes, but the classes during the vacation are 15 minutes shorter than that. During summer school, we take the main subject classes — Japanese, math, science, and social studies — every day.

Winter break is usually from Christmas day to Jan. 7. We have a lot of homework during the break.

Spring break is usually from March 20 to April 7. We have a lot of homework as well, even for the students starting the first grade of high school. The homework during spring break is mainly to review the past year and prepare for the next year. Also, we study during breaks because there is a test after every break.

In the United States, we have almost two months of summer vacation before the first day of school, a weeklong Thanksgiving break, a two weeklong winter break, a mid-winter break, and a weeklong spring break.

I really enjoyed Thanksgiving break. I went to Utah to see my host sister at her university for a week during the break and we walked around inside the university. Also, I really like the long summer vacation because we have enough time to go traveling abroad and go camping. However, I like winter break in Japan because school usually starts one and half days after New Year’s Day. I like to go to a shrine, be lazy, talk to my family and friends, and celebrate New Year in Japan during the break.

School Traditions

We make our own class t-shirts at the beginning of the school year. We wear the t-shirts at both festivals, so our friendship becomes strong through the festivals. The sports festival is held in a stadium from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in May. And the ball game festival is held in the gym in the school in July and March. We can choose one game to play from basketball, volleyball, soccer, softball, badminton, dodgeball, or handball. We make teams in the class and join tournaments. In the ball game festival in March, we can choose a marathon as well if we want.

We have a two daylong culture festival. We make something with our classmates. Some classes make food and sell it, some make a haunted house or a roller coaster in the classroom, some make wall art, decorate steps, or film a short movie.

We can do whatever we want within budget, safety, and school propriety. Also, some clubs and teams perform for an audience. Everyone can come and enjoy the second day of the festival.

I was on a Japanese archery team when I was in high school in Japan, so I performed Japanese archery with music at the festival last year. I like these festivals because we prepare for about one month before first period or after school, which is so much fun. I enjoyed the ball game festival with my friends. I joined a volleyball team.

We had so much fun at the games. We cooperated very well and got second place in my high school. These festivals are my favorite memories of high school life.

Dress Codes

In Japan, we are not allowed to get any piercings, dye our hair, wear make up, or make our looks extreme.

We have summer and winter uniforms. We have a little bit of limitation for socks, shoes, and undergarments. In CHS, we are allowed to wear whatever we would like.

I like both school rules. In Japan, I do not choose my clothes every day, so I can save time in the morning. On the other hand, I really enjoy choosing clothes and putting on make-up in the morning. Since we have spirit weeks and events like Halloween and Christmas, I like to come up with outfits.

Also, I just got my hair dyed for the first time. I like these school rules in CHS because I can express myself more than when I was in Japan.