**6. The Japanese style of classroom management that leads to long working hours**

The reason for the long working hours of Japanese elementary school teachers lies in the Japanese-style classroom management.

**Figure 1** summarizes the overall picture of educational activities in Japanese elementary and junior high schools. School life in elementary and junior high schools generally lasts approximately 8 hours, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (club activities in junior high schools are held until around 6:00 p.m.). The remaining two-fifths of the time is spent on nonacademic activities such as recess, cleaning, lunch, and after-school *Perspective Chapter: Mental Health Issues of Japanese Elementary School Teachers… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.104530*

**Figure 1.** *Overall concept of educational activities in schools.*

**Figure 2.** *Shared Leadership in School Activities.*

activities. Surprisingly, in Japan, the classroom teacher plays the role of a leader not only during academic time but also during nonacademic times (**Figure 2**) [21].
