Despite Japan’s well-deserved reputation as a country that places a high degree of importance on academics, there’s also a pretty universal attitude among educators and parents that extracurricular activities are very valuable too. Some schools even go so far as to make participation in some sort of school-administered club or sports team a mandatory part of the curriculum, and even if kids don’t have such a requirement placed on them, those who don’t sign up for any after-school activities are often referred to as being in the kitaku-bu, or “going-home club,” a designation that sometimes carries a bit of a stigma that the child is a loner or a troublemaker.
But against this cultural backdrop of “Extracurricular activities are good,” Kobe has announced that it’s going to be completely eliminating all of its extracurricular activities at public middle schools within the city, with teams and clubs scheduled to start disappearing at the beginning of the upcoming school year, which starts in the spring.
The municipal board of education cites two factors for its decision. With Japan’s falling birthrate, the board says that it’s becoming increasingly difficult for individual schools to manage athletic programs and other clubs for small enrollments, ostensibly creating issues such as not having enough members to fill a properly sized roster or to making the use of full-scale facilities for small groups impractical. In addition, the board has concerns about the time demands for school club coaches and advisors.
Even by Japanese standards, teachers have incredibly long working hours, and with extracurricular activities often requiring supervision on weekends as well as on weekdays (Japan generally doesn’t do after-school weeknight games for intramural sports, for example), the board of education is worried about teachers being overworked.
However, Kobe doesn’t want its public-school middle schoolers to be completely without extracurricular options, so as it phases out school-run clubs, the board of education is also planning to establish a system called Kobe Katsu (katsu here meaning “extracurricular activities”), in which non-school affiliated local sports and cultural organizations for youth participants can use school facilities such as sports fields and auditoriums. The hope is that middle school students will then join these, or other, non-school-run programs, as replacements for the extracurricular activities the schools themselves used to offer.
In other words, at the same time that Kobe’s public middle schools shut down their own extracurricular activities, they’ll also start pseudo-outsourcing their operations, which could have some benefits. The most obvious is greater freedom for students to choose programs that are a good fit for their needs, goals, and interests. For instance, instead of having to put up with a verbally or physically abusive coach because that’s who’s in charge of the team at their school, kids would be free to go play that sport somewhere else.
Likewise, a student who’s passionate about a niche sport, style of music, or form of art may not have had enough similarly minded classmates to warrant a club at their home campus, but would have the option of joining a club that draws enough members from different schools. As an added side benefit, the dispersal of club venues would mean a larger number of students leaving campus after classes for the day end, making those who don’t participate in organized extracurricular activities stand out less and perhaps less likely to be stigmatized.
On the other hand, it’s not currently clear how the new system will affect participation costs, especially if the organizations running programs within the Kobe Katsu system aren’t themselves public/non-profit entities. Still, Kobe Board of Education head Yasunori Fukamoto is optimistic about the plan, the first of its kind in Japan, saying “We hope this will allow students, according to their individual circumstances, to make their own choices about how to use their time.”
The current timetable is for school-administered extracurricular activities to be entirely gone from public schools across Kobe by August of 2026.
Source: Yahoo! News Japan/Kansai TV via Jin, Goo News
Read more stories from SoraNews24.
-- Teacher says Japanese schools’ mandatory extracurricular activity rules don’t benefit students
-- Survey asks Japanese teens which school club they want to join, and “kitaku” club is top choice
-- Japanese Youth Conference petitions government to end compulsory after-school club activities
- External Link
- https://soranews24.com/2024/12/19/major-japanese-city-is-abolishing-extracurricular-activities-at-all-of-its-middle-schools/
43 Comments
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SauloJpn
Middle schooler's extra curricular activities are crazy busy. I hear it is not as bad now, but still super busy!
factchecker
there’s also a pretty universal attitude among educators and parents that extracurricular activities are very valuable too. Some schools even go so far as to make participation in some sort of school-administered club or sports team a mandatory part of the curriculum, and even if kids don’t have such a requirement placed on them, those who don’t sign up for any after-school activities are often referred to as being in the kitaku-bu, or “going-home club,”
Yeah, that good old conformity pressure and shaming again. Kids have got enough study to do without being bullied into doing stuff they don't want to do.
sakurasuki
Well done Kobe!
Many of those teacher are doing unpaid overtime
https://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/zti3dq/over_half_of_japans_junior_high_school_teachers/
Tokyo Guy
Many of those teacher are doing unpaid overtime
https://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/zti3dq/over_half_of_japans_junior_high_school_teachers/
I once dated a teacher. I say "dated", but we hardly ever saw each other because she spent most of what should have been her time off, i.e. the weekend, at the school, for club activities. And consequently when she actually did get some time off she was too tired to want to do anything.
Ricky Kaminski13
Does this mean kids will have to actually study then? That’s gunna be a new concept for many a basebouru lad!
Bobbysix
These privately run clubs usually charge 8000-10000 yen a month or more. Who is going to pick up the bill for this? It will hit households hard in addition to the recent price rises for food and essential items.
runner3
Pseudo-outsourcing their operations! Means let someone else do it.
collegepark30349
While I agree with the spirit of the decision, it's an unfortunate example of the "all or nothing" attitude that seems to rule schools. "Either we do clubs the way we always have, or we don't do them at all." There is no middle ground.
What's wrong with just setting some regulations on club activities. For example:
-no clubs past 5:30 p.m.
-no morning practices
-one week off for every four weeks of practice
-no practices longer than two hours (for those half-days of school)
-no, or very limited, weekend practice - once Saturday a month or something
-no year-round clubs (have official "seasons" for baseball, basketball) so students can switch if the want to...
I guess it was just easier to cancel them than to write new rules.
Michael
Now imagine if instead of just abolishing it they paid teachers who wanted to do it and also funded schools to bring in more specialists, much like they do with baseball coaches.
abolishing it and then having other companies come in and charge fees makes it not feasible for the lower economic students. Guess where they all end up going? Increase in the Yankee industry lol.
Watch a steep decline in the national sports teams too!
Geeter Mckluskie
Great! Now they'll have more time to spend with their faces glued to their smartphones.
kohakuebisu
My guess is that popular clubs will stay as is, just with outsiders instead of teachers in charge. Clubs that struggle for members will close down.
Its best for popular clubs to stay as is, because changing them will mean more travelling for kids and parents having to fork out for expensive new uniforms instead of getting hand me downs when possible. Popular clubs will also have traditions and a bit of an aura about them.
It is highly unlikely there is any stigma to not joining a club in a public system school in 2024. Private schools can be a bit weird, so maybe at them, but I doubt it at a Kobe ichi-ritsu JHS.
NCIS Reruns
Only the ones with kyoiku-mama, who I suspect hardly exist any more.
Some dude
While I agree with the spirit of the decision, it's an unfortunate example of the "all or nothing" attitude that seems to rule schools
Probably because that attitude rules the entire country, not just schools. I mean it has its positives, but it's incredibly monolithic.
wallace
Great. Kobe is our favorite city for living.
u_s__reamer
...there’s also a pretty universal attitude among educators and parents that extracurricular activities are very valuable too.
Only true when joining an EA is voluntary and not coerced. Now the kids will have time to pursue their own interests, develop hobbies (and get a good night's sleep).
Geeter Mckluskie
except for the kids who love sports
virusrex
They can freely join the Kobe Katsu, the whole second part of the article is dedicated to explain how any child that want to participate in a club or sport team will have much better chances to do it even if not overly popular, will not have to deal with an abusive coach that thinks physical punishment is justified, etc.
Geeter Mckluskie
At a greater expense and inconvenience. Poor kids will be SOOL just like those whose parents/single mothers can't afford juku..."freely" is not how they can join "Kobe Katsu"
proxy
There are other options. For example, instead of the season lasting all year, basketball season could last 3 months, volleyball 3 months and soccer 3 months. Instead of just participating in 1 activity for the entire year, students could participate in 3 or 4.
Junior high club was a great experience for our son. He got to hang out with friends, do homework with friends and they all stayed out of trouble at an age when trouble calls. And we always pulled him out of club for a summer family vacation without any issues.
I'm not sure about other countries but coaching and extracurricular supervision is unpaid in Canada but an expectation on teachers. In the US football coaches at big high schools that attract 30,000 paid fans for home games are paid, coaching is their job.
For city leagues, it can be expensive for many families to pay $100 a month so that their kid can join but the community attitude is that kids should not have to "pay to play." Many people donate money to support kids who can't pay and there are many fundraising opportunities for families to defer the cost.
Fundraising opportunities just don't exist in Japan so many kids will be shut out of participating.
Geeter Mckluskie
It will cost more and put the kids in low income families at a disadvantage or on the outside looking in
Geeter Mckluskie
Assuming coaches outside of school never physically or verbally abuse the kids in their charge. The rape of a Judoka by Masato Uchishiba comes to mind or the 17 year old who was beaten to death with a baseball bat by his "abusive" stablemaster, neither of which were incidents that occurred at a public school, but a private dojo.
shogun36
they STIll don't "get it."
Just downsize it and have some rules installed. No need to get rid of the entire deal.
Sure the first week or two of the school year, the teachers can help out, but then leave things up to the third grade captains after the first month or so.
The students are old enough to do their own thing. Teachers can randomly check in from time to time.
Just don't have early morning drills and make sure everyone leaves by 5 PM or something. Also definitely no Sundays or holidays.
proxy
@shogun36
They certainly tend to overdo clubs in a lot of schools but there are also certainly a large number of students who are serious and will jump out the door at 5:00 am. They want to be competitive athletes and are willing to put in the time and training. They are 100% committed. Gold medal swimmers from whatever country they come from or athletes wanting a sports scholarship at a US university start serious training at the junior high level.
Golf scholarships to Ohio State are not given away to kids who haven't been golfing for years.
virusrex
Not at all, it is not inconvenient to being able to freely join the club that better fits the child aims, not need to be fixed to the one the school provides even if it is too competitive (or not as desired) it has an abusive coach, etc. those are important enough advantages even without considering the fact that pooling the students means even minor sports or activities can gather enough students to form, even if that would be impossible on individual schools. The article also says the how the costs will change is not even decided yet, so claiming they will be a greater expense is not justified.
No, that is a baseless claim you are making, it is for example possible that resources that are saved from running the clubs from the schools can be redirected to this system, which can save costs.
No, that is not a necessary assumption, the article explicitly mentions how not being fixed to the one and only coach of the school means children can simply stop participating on that team (and even take more serious measures) and go to another one.
For instance, instead of having to put up with a verbally or physically abusive coach because that’s who’s in charge of the team at their school, kids would be free to go play that sport somewhere else.
Now it is much more widely known and understood for example that all physical punishment is abuse, so children or their parents feel much less need to be quiet about it, something that would have much less consequences from a free club compared with a school (where it can affect the child attendance to that school).
Hawk
@shogun36 and proxy,
I think somewhere in the middle. When I was growing up, we had two practices during the week (maybe an extra one before a tournament) and a game on Saturday. Those kids who were more serious about it and/or were headed for provincial or national representation joined clubs and teams outside of school. The way clubs are organised here, you'd think every single student was headed to the Olympics!
kohakuebisu
I hope these external coaches will be fair on the kids and not treat them any worse than the teachers currently doing the job. I also hope teachers will pass on any helpful info about team members to the coaches, such as certain kids being bullies, kids being on the spectrum, kids having attendance problems etc. Kids who struggle to attend school may have their club as their only enjoyment or source of self-esteem. Problems at club can lead to the child not attending at all.
kohakuebisu
The story is about JHS, 13 to 15 year olds, but my guess is that the model in the photo is about 21.
iron man
Times are changing. populations are changing. I and my classmates, M&F, could not get enough of ex-cure sport. excellent for team building and escape from study. But we had a sec school. Elementary of over 1,000.
sports many successes. good vibes good study. No kids no sport. surely form inter region ex-cure sport??
Speed
My kid's school already has a hybrid of this.
She's on her JHS soft tennis team but she's also on a private tennis team that cooperates with the bukatsu schedule of that JHS and the other JHSs.
My kid practices with the private team on Wed nights, Sat and Sun mornings. JHS practices are on Tue and Fri. This way she gets every Mon and Thur off so she doesn't get overwhelmed.
If there's a tournament that has both her JHS team and private team in it, then the understanding is that she plays for the private team (even against her JHS) if the seeding goes that way. Of course, if the tournament doesn't have the private tennis club in it, she plays for her JHS team.
I rather disagree with completely doing away with extracurricular activities like Kobe is doing though. I think kids really learn a lot and enjoy playing sports.
A hybrid version could be implemented or do like collegepark30349 mentioned, have 3 month seasons like they do in North America and put a limit on the amount and duration of practices.
Tamarama
Teachers across the rest of Japan go: いいなああああ！
Kazuaki Shimazaki
It'd help. Right now the contest in case of any dispute is Student versus Teacher, and faculty will have a motive to defend the Teacher. In the new system, the Student can freely bring up any problems they have to the school, and it is Their Student versus Outsider Coach, so the school is likely to be the Student's Advocate.
smithinjapan
The system here has been out of whack for quite a while, and I don't agree with kids joining after-school programs for the most part. Often if a kid decides to join one they end up exhausted but still having to go, even on weekends and holidays. My friend's daughter actually collapsed last week while practicing trombone on stage for the school's upcoming Christmas concert being held by the brass band, and her mother was asked that the girl still come the next day. I know the family well, and have asked the girl if she enjoys playing the trombone and she said she absolutely hates it. I told her at least she could enjoy the holidays after the concert and that's when she started tearing up and said, "We only have January 2nd off because we have another concert after the Christmas one, and then we have to prepare for a graduation concert." It's disgraceful, and I told the mother she should really encourage her daughter to quit if the daughter wants to. She kind of nodded but didn't say anything.
Anyway, I think extra-curric, when voluntary, fun, and not crazy like it is here, is a great thing. Kids should be allowed to try various things and find what they like, not be forced to act like they are on a track to being pro-baseball players and having to spend more time practicing than in school. I swear half the time clubs are just free babysitting for moms. I have never in my life heard so many people say, "I have club" when asked what they are doing on weekends, after school, and/or on holidays... and almost always with a sigh. Plus, either the teachers who are put in charge (against their will) of the clubs either have no experience with the sport/club and have to learn as they go, or else they are militant people who engage in corporal punishment and abuse in order to get what they feel are results.
Geeter Mckluskie
Ideally, except students often remain silent about abuse from adults in order to continue playing the sport they love. As was the case with several gymnasts in America who were raped by their coaches. Or as in the two cases I've cited above, one in which a judoka was raped by her coach and another in which a 17 year old boy was beaten to death by his stablemaster. At least within the school environs there is some oversight.
Geeter Mckluskie
This from the article:
*On the other hand, it’s not currently clear how the new system will affect participation costs, especially if the organizations running programs within the Kobe Katsu system aren’t themselves public/non-profit entities.*
virusrex
Yes, this is why your claim is as baseless as anybody saying the system would have lower costs for families, it explicitly says this is not even decided, so anything you can claim about it will come only from your own imagination.
That still means it is less likely to happen when speaking up could meant saying goodbye to both their hobby AND their studies if the school takes the side of the abuser. When this bias is in the opposite direction the ones that would have to worry would be the alleged abuser.
It also is easy to imagine that not 100% of the participants will "love" the activity just like it enough to participate, so without that pressure (nor from the schools either) they could easily blow the whistle.
There is nothing in the article that says the system will not have any oversight, after all it is being implemented still by the board of education.
@Japan Glimpsed
Simply untrue in 2024
@Japan Glimpsed
Clearly you don't know what you're talking about. True in 1995, maybe.
wallace
When I was at school many decades ago, there was compulsory sports one afternoon per week. We enjoyed it.
Geeter Mckluskie
Yeah, it's called a prediction
virusrex
Still baseless therefore it can safely be ignored, it is as valuable as the opposite prediction being made based exactly on the same thing, nothing being decided yet.
Fossil
Stop burning the kids .!.