Japanese school rules

Japanese schools have numerous rules. The rules are referred to as kosoku. Rules concern a variety of different things including student's hair (tohatsu rules). Students are not supposed to dye their hair and are supposed to leave it the normal Japanese black hair color.

There are also rules affecting clothing (fukuso). Virtually all Japanese schools used to require students to wear uniforms but apparently now only about half of the schools require uniforms.

Getting to school on time is covered by toko-jikan rules. In various anime series, Ranma 1/2 comes to mind here, we see students rushing to get to the school on time and, if late, they may get physically blocked by a gate closing the entrance to the school.

Mochimono rules govern personal belongings while katei seikatsu govern certain rules covering the home life of the students. Still more rules govern behavior over vacations (yasumi-chu no sugoshikata), behavior off campus (kogai de no sugoshikata), motorbikes (otobai), and part-time work (arubaito).

Students are not supposed to have part-time jobs. An example of this is shown in Kimagure Orange Road where Madoka, still attending high school, ends up getting a part-time job at a cafe and has to keep the job secret.

In U.S. schools, at least, there seems to be a close relationship to students obtaining a part-time job and a decline in the quality of their work. Such students tend to sleep in class and take less interest in their studies so the idea of schools banning such jobs as they do in Japan does make some sense.

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