Japan
A Day in the Life
Akai Sawako is 10 years old. She lives in live in Chiba, a town near Tokyo, with her family. Here's how she spends a typical day:
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6:30 A.M. My mother wakes me, because I have a hard time waking up! I go downstairs to eat breakfast in our tatami room, a traditional Japanese room that has straw mats on the floor.
7:15 A.M. My friend comes to pick me up, and we walk to school together. It takes about 20 minutes to get to school. We have to walk up a long hill. I just got a new bike, but we have to walk to school. That's the rule. I use my bike on the weekends to go to stores with my friends or to ride in the park.
8:10 A.M. We get to school 20 minutes before it starts. My class has 34 kids. My teacher's name is Ms. Sasaki. She is very strict. Each subject is 45 minutes long. We have five or six subjects every day. In science class, we measure the air temperature in different places around the school. Even though two locations were close to each other, the temperature in the shaded place was much lower than it was in the sunny one. My favorite class is gym. I am a very good runner. It's fun to jump over the hurdles.
10:30 A.M. I have social-studies class. Today, we learn how rice is grown and harvested.
12:15 P.M. Lunchtime! Today for lunch we have rice, vegetable stir-fry and soup made with miso (soybean paste) and seaweed. The stir-fry is the most delicious.
3 P.M. Every other week, I have badminton club after school, but today I go straight home to relax a bit.
5 P.M. My mom drives me to juku, or cram school.
6:30 P.M. I arrive home and practice the piano.
7 P.M. We all eat dinner.
9 P.M. I start getting ready for bed. I take a bath and brush my teeth.
9:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Lights out! I climb into bed and go to sleep. Oyasumi nasai (good night)!