Japanese people, forget about eating and sleeping and study hard!
Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2025 10:18 am
Tekijuku is located near Yodoyabashi in Osaka. It is a private school for Dutch studies opened by Ogata Koan. It produced many outstanding students, including Fukuzawa Yukichi, and made important contributions to the development of Japan from the end of the Edo period through to the Meiji era.
The Tekijuku building is currently managed by Osaka University. (PANA photo)
Enlarge photo
The Tekijuku building is currently managed by Osaka University. (PANA photo)
What characterizes Tekijuku is the extremely intense studying. Fukuzawa Yukichi's "Fukuo Jiden" (Autobiography of Fukuzawa Yukichi) describes their diligence. One day, Yukichi felt unwell and tried to go to bed. However, he could not find his pillow. He suddenly realized that since coming to Tekijuku, he had been studying, getting tired, rolling over on the remove background image floor to take a nap, waking up and studying again, and so he had never slept using a pillow.
What motivated Yukichi and other students at the time to study so hard? In the turbulent times following the arrival of the Black Ships, there must have been a sense of crisis about what the future of Japan would hold. That is why, even though there was only one Dutch dictionary in the entire school, they continued to study hard, just like soccer players running around desperately on the pitch.
Now, Japan is once again facing a crisis. After 20 years of economic stagnation, we have been hit by an unprecedented earthquake. We ourselves are beginning to doubt whether the system that Japanese society has built up is sustainable.
The time has come when Japanese people must study hard again. However, I am not talking about university entrance exams. Nowadays, when we say "juku," we mean preparation for entrance exams. This is a corruption of the "private school" spirit. It's not that university entrance exams are completely meaningless, but they do not correspond to the techniques and skills needed to survive in this day and age. Even if modern Japanese people should study hard like those at Tekijuku, they need to carefully consider what their "system of education" should be. Otherwise, they will not be able to reach the level of being "the best in the world."
The Tekijuku building is currently managed by Osaka University. (PANA photo)
Enlarge photo
The Tekijuku building is currently managed by Osaka University. (PANA photo)
What characterizes Tekijuku is the extremely intense studying. Fukuzawa Yukichi's "Fukuo Jiden" (Autobiography of Fukuzawa Yukichi) describes their diligence. One day, Yukichi felt unwell and tried to go to bed. However, he could not find his pillow. He suddenly realized that since coming to Tekijuku, he had been studying, getting tired, rolling over on the remove background image floor to take a nap, waking up and studying again, and so he had never slept using a pillow.
What motivated Yukichi and other students at the time to study so hard? In the turbulent times following the arrival of the Black Ships, there must have been a sense of crisis about what the future of Japan would hold. That is why, even though there was only one Dutch dictionary in the entire school, they continued to study hard, just like soccer players running around desperately on the pitch.
Now, Japan is once again facing a crisis. After 20 years of economic stagnation, we have been hit by an unprecedented earthquake. We ourselves are beginning to doubt whether the system that Japanese society has built up is sustainable.
The time has come when Japanese people must study hard again. However, I am not talking about university entrance exams. Nowadays, when we say "juku," we mean preparation for entrance exams. This is a corruption of the "private school" spirit. It's not that university entrance exams are completely meaningless, but they do not correspond to the techniques and skills needed to survive in this day and age. Even if modern Japanese people should study hard like those at Tekijuku, they need to carefully consider what their "system of education" should be. Otherwise, they will not be able to reach the level of being "the best in the world."