When we think spring break in America, the first thing that usually comes to mind is a group of teenagers or college students on a beach somewhere. Spring break was the time when students would vanish on week-long vacations to places that were much warmer than home (living in Pennsylvania meant that true spring wouldn't really come until mid-April) and return with tans and stories. For me, it sometimes meant that whatever sport I played was starting soon, or rehearsals for the spring play were about to kick off. A few times, it meant school trips to distant places to study things I couldn't see in my hometown.

I'm sure that almost every American has similar memories of warm weather and a week--or more!--away from classes. Spring break is a signal for many of the quickly-approaching end of the school year, of graduation, of summer vacation and the freedom that comes with it. It's the time to trade sweaters and scarves for baseball caps and T-shirts. In many American homes, it's the time to celebrate renewal by purging the old and letting in fresh air.

In Japan, spring break has a different meaning. The Japanese school year begins in April and ends in March, with spring break acting as the buffer between school years. While the buffer in the American school system is much longer (for me, summer vacation was three or more months long), the Japanese one is only about two weeks. Because of this, the end of the school year feels much less final than it does in the States. There isn't the thrill of being released for a month like I always felt as a kid. Granted, it might feel like that for me because I'm one of the teachers!

Even though it's supposed to be vacation, my students have pages and pages of homework to do for all of their classes, and most of them are going to be coming to the school every day for club practices. I remember occasionally having practice during break, but it always felt like an exception, rather than a rule. Here, it's a given that all of the clubs across the prefecture will be practicing every day. It's the same for summer vacation.

I think I'm still going to be seeing suntans in the next few weeks, even if it won't seem like as stark of a change as it would if I didn't see my kids at all. And I think some of my kids will go on weekend trips to the beach or into the city, even if they can't travel during the entire break. April is the time when the cherry blossoms, or sakura, bloom across Japan. There will be plenty of spots in the area to visit and picnic under the trees. One of my classes is going to Okinawa for a school trip!

In the end, the only really big difference between American spring break and Japanese spring break that I can see is where they fall in the school year. While there are, of course, small differences, most of them come from that. Spring is a time of change in Japan, so it makes sense that the school year would switch over in the spring.