School Lunch in Japan is for the students and served by the students.  After it's delivery from some mysterious school

 lunch facility that I have a sneaking suspicion is populated by sadistic workers who love to feed pregnant grilled fish, fermented soybeans, fried

 anything with cheese, and a lot of oil laden foods to growing Junior High school students, it is carried to it's next destination by none other than my students.   Before school lunch gets to the students plate, it's carried through hallways and upstairs to land on a table to be dished out by class members. 

In Japan everyone eats the same lunch, at the same time, with the same people everyday.  Some days the lunch is ok and many days I just want to go back to my desk and dig around for an old granola bar. It's amazing the various ways that someone can prepare fish and I long ago stopped being surprised by the voracious appetites many of the boys have for fried squid and stuffed cuttlefish. 













 

To each his own, I shrug and politely pass the fish to the starving soccer player sitting next to me.  One Japanese students octopus is another English teacher's worst nightmare.