Japanese schools are doing poorly at teaching physical education. A new government survey conducted from April to July this year of over 2 million children in Japan found that Japanese students are doing less physical exercise than ever.
A growing number of students surveyed in the fifth grade of primary school and the second year of middle school at public and private schools do absolutely no exercise outside of their physical education classes at school.
According to the survey, 9.9 percent of fifth-grade girls said they did no exercise outside of physical education class. That is double the number from the 2010 survey. The numbers jump for middle school. Just under 25 percent of second-year middle school students reported doing no exercise outside of the required class.