In all my years of studying Japanese, I never learned the word I need right now. How do you say "nocturnal emission"? I need to know because my 10-year-old son is starting sex education at school, and I haven't told him that part of "the facts of life." His Japanese is pretty good, but I think he'll understand the lesson better if I explain it to him in English first. And give him the Japanese words he'll be hearing.
In Japan, seikyoiku (sex education) generally begins in fifth grade, when kids get a very basic lesson about how their bodies will change when they enter puberty. But Japanese children are maturing earlier. This year, for the first time, the health teacher at our school decided to start seikyoiku with the fourth-graders.
I was a little surprised. My son may be the biggest kid in his class, but his hormones have definitely not kicked in yet. Girls are still gross. His only passions are computers and basketball. But one of the girls in the fourth grade just started menstruating, the health teacher told me. That means it is time to talk to the kids about the birds and the bees.