the best part about my job is the school lunch!

As a teacher in Japan I am fortunate to have a reasonable starting salary, paid vacation days, and, of course, the incredible opportunity to experience living life overseas. However, above all else, the best part about my job is hands down the delicious school lunch.

First of all, I only pay 4,000 yen (about 40 bucks) a month for my school lunch. Can you believe that breaks down to only 200 yen or (about 2 dollars) a day? To make the deal even better, most of the food in the school lunch is made right here on the island in the school lunch center. This means that not only is it cheap, but it’s healthy too.

For lunchtime in Japan all the kids gather in their homeroom classes, change into their school lunch uniforms and dish out the food to one another. Once everyone has been served one student leads the class by saying “itadekemasu” which translates into “let’s eat” and everyone proceeds to chow down.

After everyone has received a serving of food any of the students who want seconds play paper rock scissors with one another for anything that is left over. It could be the last box of milk or the last spoonful of rice; it doesn’t matter, as the kids will challenge one another in a game of paper rock scissors until the winner has been decided.

Students also divvy up portions of their own food with one another. For example, the girls might give the boys their mayonnaise packet or perhaps half of their bread. This doesn’t mean they like one another as it’s just the way their system works. Boys tend to eat more than girls.

In middle school everyone has likes and dislikes so if food that one likes in the school lunch appears the student may walk around the classroom and solicit his or her classmates for their last cherry tomato or maybe their piece of fish. If a food that one doesn’t like appears in the school lunch then they will freely give it away without any stipulations.

The teachers also eat in their homeroom class with the students which means that I too eat with them. Because I don’t have a homeroom class I rotate between the classes so that I can eat with all of the students. While everyone eats together there is typically some type of baroque music playing over the loudspeaker. On special days the junior high school students are allowed to bring their own music in to play.

Once everyone has finished eating the same student that said itadakimasu” leads the class in saying “gochi sou sama deshita” which means “Thank you, I enjoyed the meal.” After the kids are finished cleaning up after themselves they brush their teeth and change into another pair of clothes for recess.

After I play with the kids outside for about 45 minutes and burn off all the calories from lunch I come inside dripping wet with sweat ( in the summer) and do my best to cool off. The fact that country side schools in Japan rarely use air conditioners makes this quite a challenge.

The bottom line is that school lunches are incredible and I wouldn’t trade them for anything!