🧹 SOCIETY · School in Japan · 2026-07-27

Why Japanese students clean their own school every day

Q: How long do Japanese students spend cleaning?

About fifteen minutes after lunch, on roughly one hundred eighty school days a year. Students organise the duty roster themselves and split classrooms, hallways and toilets between them.

学校をそうじする子どもたち

Same news, rewritten for 6 Japanese school grades — pick your level below. Furigana + translation included.

191 chars · ~4 min · 16 kanji

🧹 SOCIETY 学校がっこう

Same sentence · 6 levels

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日本にほんの学校がっこうでは、子こどもが自分じぶんの学校がっこうをそうじします。

毎日まいにち、そうじの時間じかんになると、みんな教室きょうしつにあつまります。

そうじ係かかりをきめて、ほうきやぞうきんなどの道具どうぐを使つかいます。

ゆかをみがき、ごみをあつめます。

これは学校がっこう教育きょういくの大切たいせつな一部いちぶです。

いま、世界せかいのほかの国くにでもこの文化ぶんかにきょうみをもっています。

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Translation

At schools in Japan, the children clean their own school themselves.

Every day, when cleaning time comes, everyone gathers in the classroom.

They decide the cleaning duty and use tools such as brooms and cloths.

They scrub the floor and gather the trash.

This is an important part of school education.

Now, many countries around the world are also interested in this culture.

How long do Japanese students spend cleaning?

In Japanese elementary and junior high schools there are no cleaners for the classrooms. The students clean the building themselves, every day.

"Cleaning time" comes after lunch, lasts about fifteen minutes, and happens on roughly one hundred eighty days a year. Students set their own duty roster and divide the work between them: classrooms, hallways, toilets and more. They sweep with brooms, scrub the floor with cloths, wash the windows and sort the rubbish.

The practice is not framed as chores but as part of moral education. The point is to build the habit of keeping your own surroundings clean by your own effort, and with it a sense of responsibility, gratitude and cooperation. That reasoning is why the custom has drawn attention and admiration well outside Japan.

This story is written at six Japanese school-grade levels. Pick the level that matches the kanji you know and read it in real Japanese, with furigana and an English translation alongside.

Why do Japanese schools not hire cleaners for classrooms?

Cleaning is treated as part of moral education rather than as a chore — the aim is to build responsibility, gratitude and cooperation by having students care for their own space.

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