| Summary/Abstract |
The literature on education in Japan typically focuses attention on achievements in the classroom. In this study, I cross the border of scholarly attention to bukatsu (extracurricular school clubs), including their demanding schedules and mandatory activities, to analyze their rich roles in preparing students for future jobs. Refocusing attention from the classroom to the playground blurs hierarchies of activity and suggests a more holistic view of education. Drawing from extensive fieldwork in Japan that includes interviews and participant observation, I locate the value of bukatsu as generating a specific type of embodied cultural capital that is explicitly requested during the hiring process in the adult work world. The bukatsu experience reinforces certain attitudes that correspond with the bu (‘warrior’) part of the old bunburyōdō (‘the way of both pen and sword’) ideal. This research demonstrates the limits of academic credentials (i.e., test scores) in achieving larger societal goals. What seems to matter increasingly in a shrinking job market are dispositions derived from long-term participation in sports organizations, gained specifically through the institution of bukatsu.
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