Kyuushoku - Japanese School Lunch
This entry was originally published on September 22, 2007. It has been reformatted and updated with expanded information.
Japanese school lunch is a nutritious and surprisingly complicated affair. The school lunch program was started on June 3, 1954 for the elementary schools and extended to the junior high schools in 1956 (high school is not mandatory, so school lunches are not provided there). While traditional Japanese food dominates school lunch, western foods were included from nearly its inception - on October 1, 1955, powdered milk was added to each lunch and later replaced with fresh milk. Since 1966, the government has assumed all milk and bread costs for poor areas, ensuring that all children can receive the same type of lunch. The Ministry of Education has nutritionists who oversee the menu planning and introduce acceptable new foods to the system.1
As of 2006, about 98% of elementary school students and 70% of junior high school students eat a full school lunch, with about 12% of junior high schools opting for milk-only service.2 According to a survey conducted by the Japan Productivity Center for Socio-Economic Development, 60-70% of the total cost of school lunch is covered by taxes, leaving each family to pay about 4,000 yen a month (about $40.00 USD).3 However, rising food costs, particularly for milk and meat, have forced some school boards to reduce the quality of the lunch provided or to raise the cost assumed by families. This has resulted in school boards experimenting with new systems for school lunch, such as foods being cooked in a kitchen at the school.4
General Structure of Kyuushoku
Although Ministry of Education approved nutritionists oversee each menu, the dishes vary by school district depending on economic status and local cuisine. To keep costs down, some school districts have eliminated an official school lunch at the junior high school levels, although elementary schools continue to receive them. Based on observation, this may be in part to the elementary years being the time when students acquire table manners and good nutritional habits. Because of these differences, I can only describe what I know based on my area and reports from my friends. Please keep in mind that each district is different.
In general, the menu consists of the following: bread or rice, soup, a vegetable dish, a piece of protein, fruit, and a carton of milk. The choice of either bread or rice depends on the district’s preferences. For example, in my area, we have rice 3 times a week and bread 2 times a week. In a neighboring district to the west of us, they have rice 4 times a week and bread once a week. To the district south of us, they generally have rice 5 times a week and bread seemly at random. In my district, bread is served with what is considered Western style meals5 while rice is served with Japanese style meals.
Additionally, students with allergies may receive special substitutions from the food distribution center. Condiments may accompany the meal, particularly on bread days, and around holidays, a special dish or dessert will be included. All the dishes and utensils for serving and eating the meal are included in the food cart but the schools provide their own sanitary aprons and hair hats. Students are responsible for setting up and distributing the school lunch in their classrooms or cafeterias while teachers supervise.
A Year of Kyuushoku
Partially inspired by Sawamura Sadako’s My Japanese Kitchen, A Year of Kyuushoku is a visual menu collection of what my kids will eat for 1 year. I should note that this is a poor, rural area and may not be reflective of the diet the children eat at home or in other areas of Japan. Additionally, there may be days when I can’t include a picture, due to scheduling or a holiday. As a contrast, I am also including the daily menu of my middle school from the US.6
While mostly beneficial for my study of Japanese culture and translation, I hope it will prove to be beneficial to others. If you are an academic and think these materials would be useful, please contact me and I can give you more background information regarding the area and school structure here.
- MEXT Report (2001) [↩]
- Japan’s Education at a Glance (2006) [↩]
- Asahi Shinbun - Time To Reexamine School Lunch [↩]
- Asahi Shinbun - Nothing Cool about Minimalist Lunches [↩]
- I say “considered” because I’ve eaten things I more associate with Japanese cooking, like seaweed soup [↩]
- Due to the different school schedules, this information will not appear from June-August [↩]
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Comments
I know what you mean. My lunches, when I did have to buy them, were pretty awful. I’ve been told that this area eats pretty well though…but I’ll enjoy it while I can. ^_^
I used to skip lunch in school for the same reason as lanie, although I brought my own packed food. What I would give to try this out.
I deplored lunch at school… everyone would rush to the line, and if you got there late…
Well, let’s say that if you waited in line for 20 minutes, you had a whopping 5 minutes to eat.
@Shin: The best part is that everything is made fresh that morning - no prepackaged heat and serve hamburgers like my school system in the US has.
@Nagato: How many minutes total was your lunch period? The ones here are 30 minutes…it takes the JHS kids from 10-15 minutes to set it up and dish it out with 15 minutes to eat and talk. Still not that great but much better than 5 minutes!
Freshman year of high school, it was 30. By Sophomore year, it was cut to 25. That’s 25 minutes starting when the bell rang - and everyone would run to the line.
Gotta love the educational system in the US. Well, at least it taught me how to eat fast. XD
[...] lunch menu information from both my local Japanese schools and my local middle school. While it can’t be representative of all school systems in both countries, it does highlight the similarities and contrasts in a regulated diet. [...]
Geez, if only during my school years the food was half as decent as this one.