Without question, the most anticipated school event in the lives of Japanese students is the class trip. When Japanese elementary and middle school students reach their final school year, they get to take a trip lasting around three days and two nights. These exciting excursions usually take place in late spring, early summer, or autumn. Among the many different destinations, the most popular are Kyoto and Nara, which are known for their many old shrines and temples, but some schools from rural areas journey to Tokyo. Recently, some schools have even begun venturing abroad to such places as South Korea, China, and Southeast Asia.

All the students in one school year travel together on these trips (usually around 150 students or so). During the bus or train ride to their destination, the students engage in lively karaoke and quiz contests. These activities provide the kids a great chance to get to know fellow classmates and students whom they don't otherwise have a chance to speak with. Discovering that they share similar interests or are fans of the same pop singer helps spark up the conversation. Venturing far away from their school sets the students' spirits soaring high.

At the end of the first day's activities, the class arrives early at their lodgings. Groups of kids take it in turns to have a bath, before everyone gathers to eat dinner together in a big dining room. After eating the kids return to their rooms, spread out their futons (Japanese mattresses), and get ready for bed. Ten o'clock is lights out: as this is a school-organized event, rules are rules. So ends an exciting first day. Well, not exactly. This is where the real fun begins. After all, who can fall asleep at ten o'clock with everyone gathered together in one room at night, far away from school? Nobody turns out the lights. Instead, a wrestling match begins atop a pile of mattresses shoved together in the big Japanese-style room. In the next room over, there seems to be a sumo match going on. And in the room next to that, raucous voices can be heard. Once the kids get bored with wrestling, the pillow fight begins! Pillow fights have been part of many school trips since way back. Of course they are super popular with girls as well. The kids are filled with glee as pillows fly back and forth across the room.

Occasionally teachers come to check up on the kids, so the pillow fights are conducted while listening out for footsteps. If a student hears a teacher coming, they alert the others, and within moments the lights are out and everyone pretends to be asleep, even though the futons are all over the place. Once the footsteps disappear, the pillow fight begins again. However, some cunning teachers remove their slippers so they can tiptoe close to the students' quarters without being heard. Students who are caught are scolded severely, and are punished by being made to sit in the hallway in the seiza (traditional Japanese kneeling) position. Sitting in seiza can be quite painful on the legs, so everyone takes extra care not to get caught.

As well as raucous pillow fights, there are always some adventurous types who sneak off to visit their friends in other rooms, taking care that the teachers don't find out. And there are those who stay up through the night chatting with their close friends while tucked under the blankets, eating candy brought from home. These trips are also where students can unexpectedly make friends by discovering common interests as a result of sharing comics, novels, CDs or MDs that they smuggled into their luggage.

For a long time, school trips, which are thought to have begun at the end of the 19th century, were occasions where students would visit tourist spots and view cultural artifacts. But in recent years, this has slowly begun to change. Instead of following a set timetable, "research excursions," where the kids create their own schedules and explore freely in small groups, have been increasing. Some students have even begun selecting independent research themes related to the environment, while other, career-minded kids visit companies they are interested in working for in the future.

Although these class excursions are short, and however much their form may change, it's often said that classes suddenly become closer as a result of traveling together. Girl students especially tend to make new friends. One girl said: "My best memory of middle school would have to be the school trip. Tucked up in our futons at night, we talked for hours and hours about boys we liked and our dreams for the future."

Summer of the final school year for elementary and middle school students is also an awesome season for making great new friends.

Photos: (top) A group of students pose next to their futons; (above) This class had some unexpected guests, two deer, for their class photo; (bottom) Students visit a company to get ideas for their future careers. (PANA)