学校の生活その１：食堂 (がっこうのせいかつその１：しょくどう - gakkou no seikatsu sono ichi: shokudou) - School Lifestyle 1: Canteen

School life in Japan is different to that of Western Australia in many ways. In an attempt to try and capture some of these, I'm going to give you a tour of my two schools in a series of posts called 学校の生活. If you're planning to come over here on a school trip or exchange, hopefully this information will be particularly useful for you. Like all good things, this one starts with food. Have a look at the 食堂 (しょくどう - shokudou - canteen) menu and see what you think.

Firstly, you have to choose what you want from the 自動販売機 (じどうはんばいき - jidouhanbaiki - vending machine). Have a look at the menu and see if you can recognise some of the meals. I recommend the 親子丼 (おやこどん - oyakodon). It's kind of a chicken and egg scramble with a salty sauce on top of rice. The name literally means "parent and child on rice" though, which may put you off a bit!

Once you've worked out what you're having, you put in your money and press the right button to get a ticket. Notice how much they cost - usually the prices are very reasonable for full meals like this! They're also very healthy, with a few noticeably deep fried exceptions.

Hand your ticket in to one of the staff and they'll busily start preparing your meal. In the meantime, you can also buy any extras you would like, which you can see on the counter there. This is generally referred to as パン (pan - bread) and usually includes a selection of sandwiches and sweet and savoury breads and pastries. A lot of these are European imports as we know them - croissants, danishes and cannolis, but there are usually some uniquely Japanese staples. At the very least, don't leave Japan until you've tried アンパン (anpan - a bun filled with sweet bean paste) and メロンパン (meronpan - a bread bun covered in sweet, crumbly cookie dough that looks vaguely like a melon).

While you wait for your meal, help yourself to tea from the 薬缶 (やかん - yakan - kettle) and grab some 箸 (はし - hashi - chopsticks) or 割り箸 (わりばし - waribashi - disposable chopsticks).

Grab yourself a chair at one of the bench tables next to some of the other students and dig in. Don't forget to say いただきます (itadakimasu - literally "I will receive") before you start and ごちそうさまでした (gochisousama deshita - literally "that was a feast") when you're finished.

To finish off, make sure to clean up properly. Leftover scraps of food and soup go in the bucket, 箸 in the metal tub, plates and bowls in the sink and trays on the shelf above. The staff will often say 恐れ入ります (おそれいります - osoreirimasu) when you do this. It's a polite way of saying "I'm very grateful". It's the only situation I've heard it said and they do it everywhere - even in McDonald's!

The first time I went to the canteen I got all of this wrong, so if you make it this far you'll be doing much better than I did. After a few days of practice, you'll be an old hand at it. You may also wonder how you ever made it through the day on a pie and chips!