summer vacation

New summer ice cream-flavored mini KitKats come with a serving of summer homework topics

Japanese kids can exercise their mouths and minds by participating in a contest to brainstorm ideas about the future.

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Japanese government to subsidize domestic travel this summer to boost the ailing tourism industry

The government is hoping grants and coupons will help encourage people to travel again.

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A case of culture shock: Japanese summer vacation isn’t much of a vacation at all

Our Japanese-language reporter had his world turned upside down when his German wife commented on his childhood memories.

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Anime’s rudest little boy, Crayon Shin-chan, helps pledge support for hardworking moms

Kasukabe station’s anime ad campaign is hitting close to home for many Japanese mothers.

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High school teacher’s summer vacation homework about appreciating life brings tears to our eyes

Now that is one of the coolest physics teachers around.

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PlayStation Japan asks kids if they’ve finished their summer homework, kids respond appropriately

As a kid, the end of summer was always the worst time of the year. It meant that your days of sleeping in late, playing video games and riding around outside on your bike were coming to an end, and the new school year was right around the corner.

So who better to remind all the kids in Japan that summer vacation is almost over than the official Japanese PlayStation Twitter account? When they sent out a tweet asking “Have you finished your summer homework?”, they got some pretty hilarious, and rightly deserved, responses.

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Japanese moms tweet the stupid things kids do during summer vacation that drive them crazy

Oh summer vacation. For little kids (and big kids too!) it’s a time to finally throw off those backpacks, forget about homework, and have fun all day long running around outside or playing video games. If you’re the mom or dad of one of those kids, though, you’re often left to clean up in their wake.

And the same is true in Japan too. For the most part it’s moms who’re left to run after kids giddy with the freedom of no school. They’ve even started a Twitter hashtag for it: #SummerVacationStupidKids.

What kind of things do Japanese kids do to drive their parents crazy? Are they the same as the rest of the world or completely different? Read on to find out!

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