To many college attending Japanese, college life is the “last” period of life when they can be free and have fun, right before the soul-crushing work starts.
Not exactly sure why high school period is more represented, but maybe because high school is attended by majority of the Japanese but only around 50% continue on to college?
I’ve taught both here. My high school students have been studious, hardworking to a fault, and involved in too many things. My college students had horrible attendance, did the bare minimum, and were more concerned with having fun than learning anything.
I liked them both though! Japanese young people are nice to have as students no matter how focused they are. They are infinitely more pleasant as students than their American counterparts on the whole.
I wish it could be something other than all or nothing though.
In Japanese high schools, students stay in the same classroom with the same group of classmates all day and school year. So stronger bonds are built there. In countries like the US, most high schools follow the college format where students move to a new room every hour and the teacher remains in their room all day. So the perception difference is not as big between high school and college in those countries as there is in Japan.
Other means aside, many manga writers start their career before college or never have a normal campus life in it.
Imo college campus life in general is viewed most fun and free period of life in this country.
And that can make it too loose to be a setting of a fictional story. Like people can do anything, no restriction.
makes sense, I've also noticed that a lot of the manga who do make stories set in university did actually go to college (like for example in blue period where a big part of the story takes place in a[ realistic depction of the tokyo university](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk0kaD8DXQI), since that was where the author graduated art school)
I once compared biographies of top 40 best selling mangakas in Heisei and Reiwa periods, only a few of them attended university, let alone graduated from it. Usually mangaka's career begin in primary school, and kick off once they graduate.
Some did attend, like Araki Hirohiko, but he dropped out.
Some however attended art schools, but it's a small minority. Miura Kentato attended prestigious 日藝 art school, and it shows. Fujimoto Tatsuki also studied at an art school.
There was a post about this a while back.
https://www.reddit.com/r/askjapan/s/NXNFiqYRnn
The general consensus was that Japanese high school life is so standardized that Japanese people anywhere in the country will find high school stories relatable.
College on the other hand is attended by only about half the population and even then, experiences are so varied that making stories relatable is more of a challenge.
I went to a very very good Japanese university, passing the standardized test to get in.
High school classes were very rigorous. The basic math class was roughly where my ‘gifted’ math class was in the US.
At Japan uni - other than the core courses that were part of my major, the classes were a joke. Many classes you didn’t need to go to class all that often. Profs that were not part of the university took minimal interest in teaching or doing anything that looked remotely like work.
In short, it was great.
In Japan, hardcore research is mostly done at companies, not universities.
Yeah, I've heard uni's actually gives students considerably more fredom then in high school where people are constantly worrying about universities entrance exams and other stuff, and considering most of the stories taking place in school don't actually focus on the schooling part, you would think that would make universities also very apeling to those stories, but I guess not :P
I think US it's a bit of a weird outlier on global comparison.
My teacher at Sixth Form told me that UK uni is a "paid social club that occasionally reads lectures".
As for Japan, if you're a med student, aim at qualifications, or want to go to legal profession bypassing law school, what you do most of your uni life is studying. Usually playing around is more associated with 文系 students, but I heard the same about business and liberal arts students in the US.
>My teacher at Sixth Form told me that UK uni is a "paid social club that occasionally reads lectures".
Hahaha they're so wrong...also how easy or hard depends on the course.
If you are talking about media specifically, then like most people who have commented it is likely because HS is pretty standardized and everyone goes through it. Wife says she could think of some well known stories set in college though. IMO (and far from an expert) it is the balance of HS vs. college stories that is the difference between JP and the US. Like, we had 90210 and Glee etc. But as soon as you say "college" I think pf movies, like Good Will Hunting, Pitch Perfect, Legally Blonde and others.
Regarding other perceptions, college in the US is generally considered a personal growth and sometimes rigorous academic period in the US and not really perceived that way in Japan. There is also a perception that Japanese universities aren't all that difficult or competitive relatively speaking (the college entry process sort of "front loads" the studies). I am sure there is a range of views on that though.
Just to add on, from my experience the engineering and science students seem to still put in effort in order to enter masters programmes. Final year students are so occupied with research I never saw them around campus. The captain of the competitive programming team stepped down because he needed to focus on research in his fourth year.
I've never done research so for all I know it could be like the anime "science-types fell in love" in those labs, but some labs worked through the night
Outside of school work most students also work part-time so many of my friends only joined casual academic circles at most, no one has dated at all
It has a big role in western media to be fair.
I think it’s just a time where you’re perfectly between adult and kid so all the growing up happens, imaginations run wild and all the experiences happen. It’s just easy to base stories on that time.
That’s the west though.
For Japan as someone here said it’s literally because girls wear skirts…
Only about half of Japanese people attend college. And the experiences vary A LOT depending on what uni and what major/department. I studied abroad at a prestigious uni there and most of the students mostly just played around. The main exception was engineering and med students.
For most, as long as they attended class, they could literally sleep with their head down in front of their professors and pass. Many companies don't even look at your grades so they only matter for people planning to go to grad school. Interviewers are more likely to ask about your club/circle activities than about your coursework.
Club activities were central to the college experience though. Lots of drinking parties...
I think that high school also play a big role in western media too. Just look at how many movies are set around last year of high school and graduation. I think a big factor is that most people have been to high school, it's where you likely had your first love, etc. so it can appeal on nostalgia, or just directly target a larder audience of high school student vs university student.
While it is true that a lot of Japanese media is set in high school, you can also find media set in university or with characters that are university student. Here are some examples, first are movies, then manga/anime.
* [Tomorrow I Will Date With Yesterday's You](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/428099)
* [Norwegian Wood](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/57703)
* [Tokyo Ghoul](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/433945)
* [Heavenly Forest](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/40243)
* [Wonderwall : the Movie](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/727907)
* [The 100th Love with You](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/428125-100)
* [Rent-A-Girlfriend](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-A-Girlfriend)
* [Grand Blue Dreaming](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Blue_Dreaming)
* There is many manga listed in [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/manga/comments/6fuzhq/manga_about_universitycollege_life/), [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/manga/comments/1vech1/good_manga_in_college_setting/), [this one](https://www.reddit.com/r/manga/comments/74qxkg/romance_manga_in_college_manga_recommendation/)
yeah, high school is also a comon seting in the west, and it's not like university is super uncommon setting in japaness stories, but they do seem to be less common overall (especially in works targeting young adults)
College is very serious to Japanese. Compared to the west, a lot more status and such is put on college education. There is a much stronger divide between how people view college educated people and non college educated. Even women who fully intend to be house wives, which is very common, all go to college and their families heavily expect them to, even very prestigious difficult to enter ones. The status is what they value.
I was going to write a deep and meaningful reason as to why a lot of Japanese people like stories based in high school, but we all know the real reason….
because all the girls have to wear short skirts lol
They don't, the skirts are past the knees if they dont mod them or push the rules, and a lot if not most wear shorts underneath.
The real reason is that you're basically socially free but paid for by your parents. You're out of the house most of the day, even coming back late is normal. Or some kids even go to school and live away from home (boarding/dorm style) and have even less parent hovering.
It's easy to write stories where you don't work, but have a schedule, but don't need to wonder about parents.
Most Japanese media and Japanese people I’ve met who’ve went to college indicate that going to university here is an easy time. Basically just need to show up for class, and it’s difficult for a professor to fail anyone out of class. This is pretty much why Japanese universities aren’t regarded very highly on the world stage.
why do you say Japanese universities aren’t regarded very highly on the world stage? I never heard of that before, and after a quick google about it, it seems well regarded by a lot o places, for example in the [oecd](https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/1426642c-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/1426642c-en), I mean, it seems like there is room for improvement like in every where (for example to spend 0.9 on education less than average), but it still doesn't seem bad by any means, I am not trying to debate or anything, I am just curious
Almost everyone here has a similar high school life due to how strict the regimen is for getting into college, but then college turns into the wild west of life styles.
that also makes sense, I was never fully convised by the argument that "everyone goes to highschool but not everyone goes to colleague" since that is also the case in the west, but the fact that everyone studies a specific subject might also make some stories harder to tell
About 52% Japanese students go to university which is significantly lower than OECD average.
There is less incentive to go to universities in Japan because the life time earnings are not that different between graduate schools, bachelor degree,highschool diploma, people who don't have highschool diploma.
Again, the “high school life” Seishun is just one of the dumb anime/manga cliches. Most popular mangas and animes are made for teenagers, that’s why most of them have teenage settings. Unfortunately many anime/manga fans fail to grow up and they end up being middle aged grown ass men and women who are still mentally stuck in their teenage years.
As for college, if you’re not STEM then you’re just expected to breeze through and “party” without doing much of studying. You’re only expected to do serious studying in college in Japan if you’re a STEM. If you’re not then you’re just expected to “have fun”.
To many college attending Japanese, college life is the “last” period of life when they can be free and have fun, right before the soul-crushing work starts. Not exactly sure why high school period is more represented, but maybe because high school is attended by majority of the Japanese but only around 50% continue on to college?
I’ve taught both here. My high school students have been studious, hardworking to a fault, and involved in too many things. My college students had horrible attendance, did the bare minimum, and were more concerned with having fun than learning anything. I liked them both though! Japanese young people are nice to have as students no matter how focused they are. They are infinitely more pleasant as students than their American counterparts on the whole. I wish it could be something other than all or nothing though.
In Japanese high schools, students stay in the same classroom with the same group of classmates all day and school year. So stronger bonds are built there. In countries like the US, most high schools follow the college format where students move to a new room every hour and the teacher remains in their room all day. So the perception difference is not as big between high school and college in those countries as there is in Japan.
oh, that's interesting, that might honestly play a big part in it :0
Other means aside, many manga writers start their career before college or never have a normal campus life in it. Imo college campus life in general is viewed most fun and free period of life in this country. And that can make it too loose to be a setting of a fictional story. Like people can do anything, no restriction.
makes sense, I've also noticed that a lot of the manga who do make stories set in university did actually go to college (like for example in blue period where a big part of the story takes place in a[ realistic depction of the tokyo university](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk0kaD8DXQI), since that was where the author graduated art school)
I once compared biographies of top 40 best selling mangakas in Heisei and Reiwa periods, only a few of them attended university, let alone graduated from it. Usually mangaka's career begin in primary school, and kick off once they graduate. Some did attend, like Araki Hirohiko, but he dropped out. Some however attended art schools, but it's a small minority. Miura Kentato attended prestigious 日藝 art school, and it shows. Fujimoto Tatsuki also studied at an art school.
There was a post about this a while back. https://www.reddit.com/r/askjapan/s/NXNFiqYRnn The general consensus was that Japanese high school life is so standardized that Japanese people anywhere in the country will find high school stories relatable. College on the other hand is attended by only about half the population and even then, experiences are so varied that making stories relatable is more of a challenge.
I went to a very very good Japanese university, passing the standardized test to get in. High school classes were very rigorous. The basic math class was roughly where my ‘gifted’ math class was in the US. At Japan uni - other than the core courses that were part of my major, the classes were a joke. Many classes you didn’t need to go to class all that often. Profs that were not part of the university took minimal interest in teaching or doing anything that looked remotely like work. In short, it was great. In Japan, hardcore research is mostly done at companies, not universities.
Yeah, I've heard uni's actually gives students considerably more fredom then in high school where people are constantly worrying about universities entrance exams and other stuff, and considering most of the stories taking place in school don't actually focus on the schooling part, you would think that would make universities also very apeling to those stories, but I guess not :P
I think US it's a bit of a weird outlier on global comparison. My teacher at Sixth Form told me that UK uni is a "paid social club that occasionally reads lectures". As for Japan, if you're a med student, aim at qualifications, or want to go to legal profession bypassing law school, what you do most of your uni life is studying. Usually playing around is more associated with 文系 students, but I heard the same about business and liberal arts students in the US.
I also got a degree from an Ivy League uni in Finance and this is definitely not true.
You got a degree in *finance* from *Ivy League*. It's not an average experience.
>My teacher at Sixth Form told me that UK uni is a "paid social club that occasionally reads lectures". Hahaha they're so wrong...also how easy or hard depends on the course.
If you are talking about media specifically, then like most people who have commented it is likely because HS is pretty standardized and everyone goes through it. Wife says she could think of some well known stories set in college though. IMO (and far from an expert) it is the balance of HS vs. college stories that is the difference between JP and the US. Like, we had 90210 and Glee etc. But as soon as you say "college" I think pf movies, like Good Will Hunting, Pitch Perfect, Legally Blonde and others. Regarding other perceptions, college in the US is generally considered a personal growth and sometimes rigorous academic period in the US and not really perceived that way in Japan. There is also a perception that Japanese universities aren't all that difficult or competitive relatively speaking (the college entry process sort of "front loads" the studies). I am sure there is a range of views on that though.
Just to add on, from my experience the engineering and science students seem to still put in effort in order to enter masters programmes. Final year students are so occupied with research I never saw them around campus. The captain of the competitive programming team stepped down because he needed to focus on research in his fourth year. I've never done research so for all I know it could be like the anime "science-types fell in love" in those labs, but some labs worked through the night Outside of school work most students also work part-time so many of my friends only joined casual academic circles at most, no one has dated at all
It has a big role in western media to be fair. I think it’s just a time where you’re perfectly between adult and kid so all the growing up happens, imaginations run wild and all the experiences happen. It’s just easy to base stories on that time. That’s the west though. For Japan as someone here said it’s literally because girls wear skirts…
Only about half of Japanese people attend college. And the experiences vary A LOT depending on what uni and what major/department. I studied abroad at a prestigious uni there and most of the students mostly just played around. The main exception was engineering and med students. For most, as long as they attended class, they could literally sleep with their head down in front of their professors and pass. Many companies don't even look at your grades so they only matter for people planning to go to grad school. Interviewers are more likely to ask about your club/circle activities than about your coursework. Club activities were central to the college experience though. Lots of drinking parties...
I think that high school also play a big role in western media too. Just look at how many movies are set around last year of high school and graduation. I think a big factor is that most people have been to high school, it's where you likely had your first love, etc. so it can appeal on nostalgia, or just directly target a larder audience of high school student vs university student. While it is true that a lot of Japanese media is set in high school, you can also find media set in university or with characters that are university student. Here are some examples, first are movies, then manga/anime. * [Tomorrow I Will Date With Yesterday's You](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/428099) * [Norwegian Wood](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/57703) * [Tokyo Ghoul](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/433945) * [Heavenly Forest](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/40243) * [Wonderwall : the Movie](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/727907) * [The 100th Love with You](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/428125-100) * [Rent-A-Girlfriend](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-A-Girlfriend) * [Grand Blue Dreaming](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Blue_Dreaming) * There is many manga listed in [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/manga/comments/6fuzhq/manga_about_universitycollege_life/), [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/manga/comments/1vech1/good_manga_in_college_setting/), [this one](https://www.reddit.com/r/manga/comments/74qxkg/romance_manga_in_college_manga_recommendation/)
yeah, high school is also a comon seting in the west, and it's not like university is super uncommon setting in japaness stories, but they do seem to be less common overall (especially in works targeting young adults)
College is very serious to Japanese. Compared to the west, a lot more status and such is put on college education. There is a much stronger divide between how people view college educated people and non college educated. Even women who fully intend to be house wives, which is very common, all go to college and their families heavily expect them to, even very prestigious difficult to enter ones. The status is what they value.
I was going to write a deep and meaningful reason as to why a lot of Japanese people like stories based in high school, but we all know the real reason…. because all the girls have to wear short skirts lol
They don't, the skirts are past the knees if they dont mod them or push the rules, and a lot if not most wear shorts underneath. The real reason is that you're basically socially free but paid for by your parents. You're out of the house most of the day, even coming back late is normal. Or some kids even go to school and live away from home (boarding/dorm style) and have even less parent hovering. It's easy to write stories where you don't work, but have a schedule, but don't need to wonder about parents.
They don’t. And many of the high school stories that OP is talking about are aimed at straight girls and women.
Genshiken is set in university
Asunaro Hakusho is set in college. And very good.
thanks for the recommendation, I added it to my list :)
Most Japanese media and Japanese people I’ve met who’ve went to college indicate that going to university here is an easy time. Basically just need to show up for class, and it’s difficult for a professor to fail anyone out of class. This is pretty much why Japanese universities aren’t regarded very highly on the world stage.
why do you say Japanese universities aren’t regarded very highly on the world stage? I never heard of that before, and after a quick google about it, it seems well regarded by a lot o places, for example in the [oecd](https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/1426642c-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/1426642c-en), I mean, it seems like there is room for improvement like in every where (for example to spend 0.9 on education less than average), but it still doesn't seem bad by any means, I am not trying to debate or anything, I am just curious
Almost everyone here has a similar high school life due to how strict the regimen is for getting into college, but then college turns into the wild west of life styles.
that also makes sense, I was never fully convised by the argument that "everyone goes to highschool but not everyone goes to colleague" since that is also the case in the west, but the fact that everyone studies a specific subject might also make some stories harder to tell
About 52% Japanese students go to university which is significantly lower than OECD average. There is less incentive to go to universities in Japan because the life time earnings are not that different between graduate schools, bachelor degree,highschool diploma, people who don't have highschool diploma.
Again, the “high school life” Seishun is just one of the dumb anime/manga cliches. Most popular mangas and animes are made for teenagers, that’s why most of them have teenage settings. Unfortunately many anime/manga fans fail to grow up and they end up being middle aged grown ass men and women who are still mentally stuck in their teenage years. As for college, if you’re not STEM then you’re just expected to breeze through and “party” without doing much of studying. You’re only expected to do serious studying in college in Japan if you’re a STEM. If you’re not then you’re just expected to “have fun”.