She Went to Tour Her Dream High School and Came Back Having Won Back Her Brother's Casino Losses

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In Japan, students pick a high school around age 14 or 15 and have to pass that school's entrance exam to get in. Autumn is school festival season, and many middle schoolers use a high school's festival as an informal open house: a chance to see the buildings, the students, and the general vibe of a place they might spend the next three years.

At these festivals, each class runs its own booth or attraction. Food stalls, haunted houses, and plays are classics. So, it turns out, are mock casinos. Gambling for money is illegal in Japan, so these run on play chips, and the prizes, when there are any, tend to be candy.

One mother sent her middle-school daughter to the festival at her first-choice high school, with her older son along as a chaperone. She asked how it went. The answer was not about the school.

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My second daughter wanted to go to the school festival at her first-choice high school. A middle school girl going alone? No. So I had my eldest son, who’s home for a visit, tag along. “Did you have fun?” “Yeah, big bro went all in at the casino booth and lost everything, so I won it back” “…You did go there to tour the school, right?” (The original uses “zentsuppa,” a mahjong term for pushing ahead no matter the risk — basically going all in.)

第一志望の高校の学祭に行きたい次女に、女子中学生1人で行くのはダメ、と帰省中の長男に付き添ってもらう「楽しかった？」「うん、模擬店のカジノでお兄ちゃんが全ツッパしてスるから私が取り返して」「学校見学行ったんやんな？」

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“Didn’t know they allowed a gambling parlor kind of booth” “The prizes were candy, and it was a proper stall run by grown-ups. Probably the parents” “A PTA casino…?”

「そんな遊戯場みたいな模擬店ありなんや」「景品お菓子やし、ちゃんと大人の人がやってる屋台やったし。あれ多分保護者の人たち」「PTAカジノ⋯？」

I graduated high school over 20 years ago, and back in my day, when our class said “let’s run a snack bar!” it got shot down…. (A “snack” in Japan is a small neighborhood bar where a hostess, usually called “Mama,” pours drinks and chats with the regulars.)

20年以上前に高校を卒業しましたが、私の頃はクラスで「スナックやりたい！」言うたら却下されましたね…。

Less of a school tour, more like the siblings came home with some real-world education.

学校見学というより、兄妹で社会勉強して帰ってきてる。

Can’t trust the eldest with anything anymore lol

もう長男には任せられんなww

The prizes are candy, but you can “win it back.” Which means everyone who received candy will now kindly be escorted to the room over there.

景品はお菓子だけど「取り返す」ことができる。つまりお菓子をもらった方は皆さんあちらの方へ行かれますね。

zawa… zawazawa… (The ominous crowd murmur from the gambling manga “Kaiji,” drawn into the background whenever the stakes get high.)

ざわ…ざわざわっ…

The little sister who won it back, though lol

取り返した妹さんがすごいwww

Haunted houses got banned because some people would get up to no good in there, and food stalls were kind of a hassle, so tons of classes ended up doing casinos or fortune-telling

お化け屋敷は良からぬことするやつがいたりして禁止だったり、飲食は結構めんどいとかの理由でカジノとか占いみたいなのやってるクラスめちゃあったわ

wait what lol

どゆことｗ

School festival casinos aren’t a universal thing? I thought everyone did them

学祭のカジノって一般的じゃないんだ　どこもやってるもんかと

High school festivals these days have a lot of casinos, maid cafés (good chance the servers are boys), concept cafés (good chance (etc.)), hostess clubs (good chance (etc.))… makes you wonder about the age rating. When I took my older kid’s much younger sister to their festival, she yelled “What’s a hostess club!?” right in front of the booth. Talk about awkward…. (Concept cafés are themed cafés where costumed staff chat with customers — one step further than a maid café.)

最近の高校の文化祭はカジノとかメイド喫茶（高確率で接客は男）とかコンカフェ（高確率で（以下略））とかキャバ（高確率で（以下略））とかR規制大丈夫かってのが多いですよ。年の離れた妹連れて上の子の文化祭行った時に店の前で「キャバクラって何！？」と大声で聞かれて気まずいったら…。

This surprised me too when I went to a school festival, so many classes were running casinos. Is that just how it is now? I regret skipping the horse racing. Should’ve given it a try.

これ私も学祭見に行って驚いたんたけど、カジノ模擬店やってるクラスめっちゃ多かった。最近あんななの？競馬に参加しなかったの後悔してる、やってみれば良かった。

I ran a casino too! Handing out prizes would’ve broken the festival rules, so we got around it by writing the day’s top 10 on a whiteboard. We also had IOU slips ready, so plenty of people went home flat broke lol

私もカジノやったことあります！景品とか渡すと文化祭規則に違反しちゃうので本日のトップ10をホワイトボードに書き出しておくことにして規則掻い潜りました。借金手形も用意したのでスカンピンになって帰る人も多かったです笑笑

My class did a casino today too! And the prizes were candy lol

今日うちのクラスもカジノやりました！しかも景品お菓子www

Casino 😂 High schoolers, go do a dance or something lol

カジノ😂 高校生はダンスとかやってw

My second son’s class ran a casino where the dealers were boys in super short maid outfits. The concept was “maid café.”

うちの次男のクラス、男子が超ミニメイド服着てディーラーやるカジノだったよ。コンセプトはメイドカフェだった。

Wait, are school festival casinos… a standard thing?

学祭のカジノってひよっとして定番……？

At my son’s festival, the class next door was running a casino too 🤫 Prizes were candy

息子の学祭でも隣のクラスでカジノやってた🤫 賞品はお菓子

I assumed every high school did a casino, but apparently not

どこの高校もカジノやってるのかと思ったけど意外とそうでもないらしい

At my eldest daughter’s high school festival, my son (3rd grade at the time) went missing. I searched like my life depended on it, and

in the casino booth (a dim classroom), there was a kid who’d gone all in on black 17, got the whole room buzzing, and was being slapped on the back by a high school boy going “You’re a real man!” That kid was mine.

長女の高校の文化祭で連れてった長男(当時小3)が行方不明になって死ぬほど探したら模擬店のカジノ(薄暗い教室)で黒の17に全ツッパして周りをどよめかせ高校生男子に『お前漢だな！』って背中叩かれてる子がうちの子だった思い出

Just remembered my school originally tried to run a legit casino with actual money.

我が校は最初金絡んだガチカジノやろうとしたの思い出した。

Casinos are a school festival staple

文化祭のカジノは定番

My second daughter’s class opened a casino at their festival the other day. On day one, she played blackjack against several teachers (she was the dealer) and won big. One teacher, apparently sore about losing, came back the next day for a rematch and lost again.

次女のクラスは先日学祭でカジノを開いたので、初日から学校の先生数名とブラックジャックに興じ(娘がディーラー役)大勝ちしたそう。負けて悔しかったらしい先生は、翌日にも勝負を挑んで再び負けたそうな。

These days almost every school has a casino, about as often as a shooting gallery or that kind of thing Maid stuff might be rarer

最近はほとんどの学校で射的とかそういうのとおんなじくらいの確率でカジノあるよメイドとかは珍しいかも

Went to two school festivals and the quality was really different

The buildings were different quality too

Both of them had casinos though 🤔🤔 Guess that’s something to look at too…

文化祭2校行ったけどクオリティにほんと差があったなぁ校舎のクオリティも差があったカジノも両者ともあったな🤔🤔 そういうとこも見といたらいいのか…

I always stop by the casino at every school festival too The quality varies with the school’s hensachi (a standardized score for how hard a school is to get into, used to rank Japanese high schools)

Slot machines running on homemade programs Chips made from bottle caps The creativity is fun

The horse race with odds calculated by a homemade program was fun too The horses were students running on all fours in the courtyard It was rigged 🐎

私も文化祭では各学校で必ずカジノに寄る偏差値でクオリティーに差が出ます自作プログラム組んだスロットあったりチップをペットボトルキャップで作ってたり創意工夫が面白い自作プログラムでオッズが出る競馬も面白かった馬は中庭で生徒が四つん這いで走る出来レースだった🐎

My kid’s class ran a maid café, so I went to check on them, and my own child was wearing an outfit so risqué I had to wonder, “Is this okay? They’re showing this to elementary schoolers and parents who come to tour the school?” Then they did the “moe moe kyun” for me with zero enthusiasm. Apparently maid cafés were banned starting the next year (lol) (“Moe moe kyun” is the heart-hands chant maid café staff perform over your food to make it “tastier.”)

うちの子のクラスがメイド喫茶をやっていて、我が子の様子を見に行ったら「これは大丈夫なのか？学校見学にくる小学生と保護者にこれを見せるのか？」と心配になる際どい衣装を我が子が着ていて、投げやりな態度で萌え萌えキュンをやってくれました。翌年からメイド喫茶は禁止となったそう（笑）

Between the strict rules and nobody’s motivation lining up, school festivals basically always end up as a haunted house or a casino

規制厳しいのとみんなのやる気が一致しないからだいたいお化け屋敷かカジノになるよね学祭って

My take

When choosing a school, the feeling that you could actually enjoy your time there counts for just as much as test scores or placement rates.

#Funny #Culture #Parenting

Source & translation note

Comments loosely translated for tone. Reactions collected from Togetter and X threads.

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