Cooperation, responsibility, discipline, hygiene, and nutrition: transforming Japan’s school lunch program in the 1960s

This is a case study of Japan’s school lunch program (kyūshoku) in the long 1960s. Using previously unexamined archival materials, I present concrete evidence for the ideological and practical transformation of kyūshoku during those years. I argue that with basic nutrition essentially assured after 1958, hygiene, discipline, mutual responsibility, and other aspects of social learning were increasingly prioritized over the original goal of improving school attendance and performance. Put differently, kyūshoku’s functions shifted―in line with Maslow’s needs hierarchy―from physiological and safety needs to social needs, a development common among successful social programs. As codified since the mid-1950s, the program is a cornerstone of Japanese compulsory education with a dual mandate to nurture healthy, responsible citizens. Schools therefore emphasize “proper” dietary habits on the one hand and sociability, cooperation, gratitude, etc., on the other. Through structured, unified, participatory daily rituals including serving and cleanup, children learn hygiene, teamwork, responsibility, and more. Embodied knowledge from collective experiences of discipline become part of children’s habitus and values. These aspects of kyūshoku suggest the need for a nuanced vision of the role of discipline and technologies of the self in educational and childrearing spaces.