The school summer holidays are now in full swing but an increasing number of parents and their children are spending the break hunched over a desk with a stack of workbooks instead of enjoying ice cream in the park. 

The traditional rite of summer homework has been squeezing the joy out of vacations since the modernization of Japan’s school system in the late-19th century. 

For generations of children, summer homework has cast a long, dark shadow over what would otherwise be a time to relax and have fun as the mercury hits annual highs.