Figure 1.--Private after school cram schools have no required uniforms, but discipline is very strict. Note the short hair cuts on these older boys.

Juku are privately run cram schools, run after after school. They are tutoring schoolsgeared to help elementary and secondary students perform better in their regular daytime schoolwork and to offer cram courses in preparation for university entry examinations. Juku range from individual home-based tutorials to countrywide chains of schools and are staffed largely by retired teachers, moonlighting teachers, and university students. Though most juku emphasize academic subjects important in studies and examinations, some juku offer instruction also in nonacademic arts and sports. Many juku stress strict discipline.

Modern juku appeared in the 17th century. In the Tokugawa period (1603-1867) the term juku referred to small schools teaching martial arts, philosophy, or some other select subject. During the Meiji period (1868-1912) the term came to distinguish the tutorial school from other types of public or private schools. The majority of modern-type juku, commonly thought of as "cram schools," date from after the mid-1960s, accompanying Japan's phenomenal economic growth. According to a Japanese Fair Trade Commission report of 1986, about a quarter of all Japanese elementary pupils and about half of all junior high school students attended juku.

I am not positive, but believe that most juku continue to be single gender schools.

There are no special uniforms worn at juku. Boys wear their chool uniforms or regular clothes.

Created: June 5, 1999
Last updated: April 20, 2000