Three boys were practically climbing over one another in their Pond Cove classroom Tuesday to demonstrate their expertise about Japan they had gained from their teacher who had recently returned from the country.

“You can make a fly rod out of bamboo,” shot off 9-year-old Nick Garcia.

“Buddha is a really big statue for peace. He’s some kind of God dude,” said 10-year-old Peter Doane.

“Japan has fish that’s raw, and it’s called sushi,” added 10-year-old Stephen Gore.

Pleased with himself, Gore threw his head back, with his mouth open, and roared with laughter. His teacher, Janet Favor, pointed out he hadn’t learned that in her class. She was one of more than 600 teachers nationwide who visited Japan this year on scholarship.

The Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund sends teachers from all 50 states and the District of Columbia on an all-expenses-paid trip to examine the Japanese school system. To be considered for the program, educators must propose a project, which would bring their learning back to their students as well as their communities. While Favor recognizes the program as a wonderful opportunity for educators, she also realizes what a clever public relations move the Japanese government has made in providing this program.

Several teachers in the Cape school district have gone to Japan through the program. Pond Cove Principal Tom Eismeier went three years ago.

“You bring back not just what you learn, but you talk it up with other people,” said Eismeier, who told Favor about the program.

Though the Japanese school system was modeled after the American system in the years after World War II, there are some striking differences between the two, according to Favor and Eismeier.

Surprisingly, there is almost no janitorial staff. Every day students don white caps and jackets during the lunch hour rush and serve the meal to their peers. Students are also responsible for cleaning the building.

“They wash the floors and clean the bathrooms,” said Favor.

“The schools are virtually spotless,” said Eismeier.

Eismeier admired the emphasis the Japanese place on the arts, which flounder in America because of habitual budget cuts. Favor visited an elementary class where every child in the room played air-powered organs.

Like America, Japan emphasizes testing. However, students in Japan are under extreme pressure to get into a good school. Favor said acceptance to a school determines a student’s future. Entrance exams determine what school students will attend.

Entrance exams are taken not only for college, but for many public high schools and even some elite junior highs, according to educationjapan.org, an independent group of Japanese language students. Cram schools called “Juku” are often squeezed into a student’s already long day for the purpose of ensuring acceptance into a good school. These schools prepare students for entrance exams to college. “The parents pay big bucks for these schools,” said Favor.

Unlike America, the Japanese have a standardized education system. Although Eismeier concedes class differences dictate gradations in education, nearly everyone is being taught the same material if they’re in the same grade.

“You could move from one part of the country to another and almost not miss a beat,” he said.

Favor, a special education teacher at Pond Cove, felt the special education programs she saw in Japan were malnourished. She noticed children who needed some extra attention. At least one student she saw worked one-on-one with a classroom aid.

“There was some understanding that this child needed special help,” she said.

Eismeier said special education in the Japanese system has primarily been segregated. Now the Japanese are interested in integrating those students.

“Inclusion is relatively new,” said Eismeier.

Favor was frustrated with a Japanese representative speaking about plans for special education in the classroom. “Will kids actually be serviced in the classroom,” she wanted to know. “I couldn’t get a lot of answers from him,” she said.

Favor will choose some of her own students to stage a puppetereed rendition of a Japanese folk tale called “Urashima Taro” for Pond Cove Elementary within the next few months.

From left: Nick Garcia, Stephen Gore, and Peter Doane point out the islands of Japan in their classroom at Pond Cove Elementary. Teacher Janet Favor visited Japan for three weeks on the Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund last November.Janet Favor, and her host family, in front of the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto, Japan. Favor went to Japan this past November through the Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund. While there, she observed the Japanese school system.