Japan yesterday opened an elite boarding school modeled on Britain's Eton, hoping to groom future leaders away from video-games, comics and other favorite pastimes of Japanese youth.
Some 123 twelve-year-old boys in crisp black uniforms and ties entered the first class of the Kaiyo Academy in a ceremony with their parents, who will pay ?3 million (US$25,500) annually for each student.
The six-year school in central Aichi Prefecture was set up amid concern by some parents of slipping standards in Japan, which in 2002 launched a drive to make education more relaxed and cut back on traditional rote learning methods.
nurture leaders
"The Kaiyo Academy aims to nurture people who will be able to lead Japan in the future," said Shoichiro Toyoda, the honorary chairman of Toyota Motors, and a driving force behind the project.
"I want you to build a base so that you can play an active role not only in Japan, but also overseas," Toyoda told the academy, which is based in the same province as the leading automaker.
Toyoda spearheaded an initiative that raised ?20 billion (US$170 million) in corporate donations to build the sprawling school on reclaimed land in a bay.
The academy was inspired by Eton College, the prestigious school in England that has trained elites since its founding in the 15th century.
"These 123 students are little acorns now. But they will be great trees by the time they graduate in six years," said George Fussey, an Eton biology teacher who will instruct at the Kaiyo Academy for a year.
comics banned
Boys at the academy will have their own rooms, but the dormitories will ban typical favorites of Japanese children from comic books to video-games to skateboards.
Students will be required to carry a chip-embedded device that tells the school their exact whereabouts at all times and they must get approval for any outings.
No boys were roughing one another up -- or even chatting -- at the enrollment ceremony, in which they stood for the Japanese national anthem that praises the emperor.
"We will make every effort to attach importance to every single lecture we attend and awaken ourselves and enjoy the nobility of study," student representative Taiki Aoyama said before turning and bowing several times before the school principal.
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