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Answerman - How Bad is School Truancy in Japan?




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Blanchimont



Joined: 25 Feb 2012
Posts: 3622
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Mon Mar 03, 2025 12:12 pm Reply with quote
The part about the odd not fitting in, I wonder how much the school itself might play a part in it aside from the social circle of schoolmates and friends/family? I've sometimes read in manga, and even sometimes read a news story, about Japanese schools requiring light-haired pupils to dye their natural hair. That conforming mindset, especially combined with Japan's notorious lack of mental health faculties, does present huge issues...
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Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4744
PostPosted: Mon Mar 03, 2025 12:33 pm Reply with quote
I've seen some anime do things like introduce a new character who was chronically absent, and shows up because they were looking at repeating a grade. I can see schools getting lax with attendance due to it not being compulsory. Basically, it's treated as the kid's/family's problem if they don't make use of the enrollment, and no longer the school's problem because the student doesn't have to be there by law.
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FireChick
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Joined: 26 Mar 2006
Posts: 2539
Location: United States
PostPosted: Mon Mar 03, 2025 2:07 pm Reply with quote
I'm more surprised that parents would be okay with their kids just skipping school all the time. Children in countries like America and Canada are pretty much forced to go to school, and the school would penalize them for having more than one absence on their record. I'm also curious if Japanese kids can be truants as early as elementary school age. I watched Look Back and was surprised that an elementary school aged kid was allowed to just not go to school yet still be able to graduate.
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LukaTheLancer



Joined: 20 Nov 2023
Posts: 97
PostPosted: Mon Mar 03, 2025 2:12 pm Reply with quote
Back in 7th grade i was absent a lot, my dad made a deal because i was so unfit in a special needs class (it can be boil down to right class, wrong classmates, i am a misfit toy among misfit toys)

I was allowed to be home for 2-3 days per week.

I think the reason Parents would allow it is because they can see the toll it has taken on their child and they want there child to be happy of at least not sad or scared to be going to school
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Top Gun



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 4886
PostPosted: Mon Mar 03, 2025 2:15 pm Reply with quote
I used to laugh while watching Inuyasha back in the day, because Kagome and her family would make up these increasingly-ridiculous excuses to explain away her long school absences while she was running around the feudal era fighting demons. "My rheumatism flared up and triggered my lumbago!" and other fun stuff like that. I never stopped to consider that it might be a lighthearted version of a real issue.
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dm
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Joined: 24 Sep 2010
Posts: 1534
PostPosted: Mon Mar 03, 2025 2:22 pm Reply with quote
The first series that came to my mind was Call of the night, where the protagonist has just stopped going to school and taken to wandering the streets at night.

There’s the assistant producer’s V-tuber little sister in Oshi no Ko, too.


Last edited by dm on Mon Mar 03, 2025 4:17 pm; edited 1 time in total
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lemurs



Joined: 01 Aug 2012
Posts: 113
PostPosted: Mon Mar 03, 2025 3:15 pm Reply with quote
The Rascal series' recent "Sister Venturing Out" movie is another recent example covering this very topic. And a bit surprisingly, the film posits remote learning as an alternative for those with social anxiety instead of just "toughing it out" and getting over it.
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