Japanese High School Events and General Festivals

[Angelica]

I am actually hoping to procure information, but I decided to post here because I'm hoping this will turn into an article of sorts.

I'm looking for information on Japan's High School extracurriculars. I know most schools have "clubs" that students belong to based on their interests. However, I don't know much about these clubs... Plus, there is an anime that talks about a Host Club? I haven't watched that particular anime, but I'm wondering if it's an actual practice.

Another thing, when do they take their school breaks? I was under the impression, wrong or not, that they don't have the summer off but rather have sporadic breaks throughout the year.

Also, most importantly for my purposes, do they have an equivilant to prom or home coming? Are dances a part of their culture? Also, is there anything done on Christmas Eve?

General Festivals are of interest to me as well. Is there a specific festival that is similar to Valentine's Day or that one would desire a date for? A celebration of love or fertility or something?

And before anyone flips out, no, I am not writing a high school fic. ^_~
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[blackberry]

I can't help you with the extracurriculars (though you might want to google "cultural festivals"--that seems to be the term for the school festivals). I found an answer on when their school breaks are, linky. You're right, they don't have a summer break as such. I've never come across anything to indicate that they have proms or dances.

As far as general festivals go, this site lists some of the major festivals and links to info on many of them. Christmas and Valentine's Day are celebrated in Japan as secular holidays, with the addition of White Day as a complement to Valentine's.

[Quillwing717]

If it helps any, as far as dances and such go, if manga or anime need to have them for any reason, the mangaka just make up reasons to have them. Things I can remember reading off the top of my head include a boys' school and a girls' school joining up, specific local traditions, maybe fundraisers and such.

Of course, that's just anime and manga and not real life, but if you wanted to hold a dance, or have a special occasion designed for a date, you could always make up a local legend or something.

*shrugs* Works for the mangaka.
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[takadai_no_tora]

"Host clubs" are real, but not, AFAIK, at high schools. The 'hosts' at the clubs are basically there to pamper and entertain their female guests; sing their favorite karaoke to them, pour their drinks (bottle o' booze bought by the lady) light their cigarettes, etc. There's a fair amount of 'process' in picking a host; once the relationship has been established, it is NOT DONE to dump your host and pick another at the same club; you'd have to go to another establishment. The host club would be a place for women who can afford it to go for a ladies' night out on a regular basis.
Isn't it amazing what you can learn at a Japanese Culture class at the local community college? Our sensei brought in a friend of hers as a guest lecturer; she had patronized a host club in Kyoto for a few years.
In some ways, the hosts are like geisha in their relationship with their patron/ess. If there is a sexual relationship that is strictly between the two parties and not part of the official relationship at the place of business

[Jay35]

Hmm. I thought "host clubs," in the high school sense, were along the lines of "spirit" clubs in the U.S. Interesting.

[Angelica]

In searching the net I did manage to find this:

http://www.thejapanfaq.com/

Near the bottom of the page there are links to other sections of the site containing information on prices, etiquette, festivals, and more... It's written from the perspective of someone who has been/lived there and wanted to inform future newcomers of what to expect. It's rather interesting.

I also found out from FireTigerSoul, who lived in Japan for a while, that some Japanese high schools have in fact adopted the concept of a prom.

It's really hard to find online info about dating and relationships in Japan online; at least it has been for me.
_________________
-- Angelica Pierce
http://silence.rebel-muse.net
"Tact is just not saying true stuff. I'll pass."
- Cordelia Chase on BtVS