Japanese public schools emphasize the development of a student’s character outside the classroom through the practices of lunch and cleaning. The lunchtime practices serve to teach social responsibility as well as promote food and nutrition education. The cleaning teaches group and individual responsibility, as well as care for shared spaces. However, both of these practices contain elements that may cause discomfort for certain students, enforcing rigidity, expecting perfection, and displaying a lack of accommodation. This can lead to strained relationships and a desire by certain students not to attend school, which, though not a sole cause, contributes to the problem of hikikomori.
Considering this, it would be valuable to explore what more flexible and inclusive attitudes towards lunches and cleaning look like, while still preserving their educational component. It would also be important to examine the extent to which the Japanese government, through its policies on public schools, is responsible for adapting or changing longstanding practices to accommodate students of diverse needs. It would be valuable to consider to what extent, and in what specific ways, cleaning and lunchtime practices in Japanese schools contribute to the hikikomori phenomenon. Additionally, it might be worthwhile to consider whether other practices in Japanese schools – such as mandatory uniforms – have similar intended and unintended effects, as compared to cleaning and lunchtime. However, even if Japanese schools change elements of their customs, there will nevertheless still be some hikikomori. Therefore, it would be important to consider what the causes and long-term effects of a student’s withdrawal from school are, and to what extent reintegration efforts – such as schools for former hikikomori – are successful and sufficient. Examining these questions will allow researchers to better understand how everyday practices in Japanese schools shape student experiences and produce wider social repercussions. The answers to these questions would help Japanese policymakers and government officials maintain and develop existing educational practices without compromising inclusivity for all students.