NIIGATA -- The Niigata City Board of Education is starting to serve school lunch to every student at all municipal junior high schools from the 2025 academic year.

Until now, some schools provided common lunch menus to all students while others had students choose either to bring their own "bento" boxed lunch or apply in advance for school lunch. The education board is introducing a unified system to deliver dishes and soup cooked at school lunch centers and elsewhere to schools in thermal food containers, making it possible to serve hot and delicious lunches to the growing students.

At Nigorikawa Junior High School in the city of Niigata's Kita Ward, the new initiative commenced April 9. On Day One, a nutritionally balanced menu was offered, including soup of wakame seaweed and bamboo shoot, a stewed hamburger steak and bean salad, complete with cooked rice. After students themselves served the dishes delivered from a school lunch center, everyone in the classroom chanted "itadakimasu" (thanks for the meal) in a show of gratitude with their hands pressed together before eating.

Yuzuha Tsurumaki, a third-year student, appeared delighted, saying, "I used to bring my own bento, so it was refreshing to have a hot school lunch. It was easy to eat."

According to the city's board of education, 29 of the 57 municipal junior high schools either cooked meals on their premises or had meals delivered from school lunch centers. The remaining 28 adopted the "bring your own bento or preregister for school lunches" system. There were problems with this, however, such as students missing lunch because they forgot to apply in advance or cooked meals becoming cold before lunchtime.

Upon recommendation from an expert panel, the education board decided to launch the "school lunch for all students" system. Nigorikawa and four other junior highs were ahead in implementing the initiative, to be followed by 23 other schools after the summer break.

Atsuhiro Ebina, head of the education board's public health and school lunch division, explained, "It is now possible to serve hot lunch to all students, allowing them to eat from a common menu. This will make it easier to promote dietary education."

(Japanese original by Shuichi Kanzaki, Niigata Bureau)