What is going on with high school attendance/timings in this country?
context: Australian high school teacher currently in tokyo for about 3 weeks, second time I've been here. this time around we've been exploring some not as touristy areas (staying in sugamo for example), so are seeing way more regular people going about their days and way less tourists.
something i can't figure out is how attendance and timing works for high schools here? I've played a couple of persona games so i get that it's 6 days a week, but what confuses me and I'd like help on:
what times does school start/finish? seems no patterns i can see
is school on sundays?? i thought not but literally just was eating at the same ramen place as a bunch of students in uniforms tonight
why do i see so many students in uniforms just wandering around during the day? visiting those photo booth places, eating at cafes, etc.. here in Australia any time you see students not at school during the day it's generally because they're up to trouble and they're skipping classes.
there seems to be lots of students travelling many stations to their schools... do they not just go to the school closest to their house?