So......in Japan, after lunch, the students have a fifteen minute cleaning time that is set to music.  Each student has a job they are responsible for.  The students work in groups and are, without fail, always at their cleaning station.  Some get lazy and don't work the whole time, but as a group they get the job done.

students weeding

girls fixing the flowers

sweeping the teacher's room

trimmimg the hedges

 I am responsible for the gabage/recycling area at my school. if you don't know already, the Japanese are very serious about their garbage separation. There is a ridiculous amount of garbage categories and also a ridiculous amount of packaging for items bought....it's an endless cycle. For instance, when you by a bottle of soda, when its time to dispose of said bottle....the label gets pealed off and but in one garbage container....the cap goes in another...and the bottle in another.  When you buy....let's say crackers....there is the outer  main wrapper and then .a plastic tray inside and then......... packages of crackers grouped in piles of six all with their own  plstic wrapping. Now, I ask you......is all this packaging really necessary?
Also, when on the streets of japan, a garbage can is a rare sighting.  You end up walking for miles carying your garbage, until your lucky enough to spot that rare, golden treature-that is- a garbage recepticle.

multi-compartment garbage filing system

My cleaning section: garbage

It certainly would be great if we could launch a "cleaning time" at American schools.     hummmmmm..... Responsibilty?....what's that? 
It is certainly nice having the students be the school janitors.


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Ramen snack!

If your interested in a Pavlov-dog sort of response to snack food, this is the treat for you.  The package does not lie, it tastes exactly like the ramen flavoring of the soups we all love.  In fact, the taste is so similar that the body has an automatic sweat response as if eating a steaming bowl of soup.