Saga Remedial School

**Saga Remedial School** is the primary location of *Love Letter: My True Feelings*. It is a ***Yobikō,*** or ***cram school,*** where students study in preparation for university entrance exams, including the protagonist of *Love Letter* Setsuna Haichi.

Standardly in Japan, students who complete secondary schooling (known in North America as 'high-schooling' or 'high school') are then expected to complete an entrance exam for admittance to the university of their choice. A student who initially fails to pass their university entrance exam is called a ***rōnin (浪人, ろうにん)*** and may seek further education at cram schools in preparation for future re-tests. Certain Yobikō schools also allow students who have not yet applied for university to study for their upcoming exams there; Saga is one such school.

University entrance exams happen only once per year, demanding the creation of Yobikō schools like Saga Remedial. Generally, no student studies at a cram school who is not approaching their university entrance exams, the age bracket for which begins at eighteen years old.

Saga Remedial features a wide variety of students, including transfer students and students who are returning to higher education . Despite its name, the school is not located in the Saga prefecture.

## Americanization

As Love Letter is being developed by a North American team, an Americanized understanding of the Japanese school system persists, which contributes to certain translation errors.

Saga Remedial is translated as a "remedial school" in English, a term which in English-speaking countries refers to education for students who are falling behind in test scores or require special re-education because of learning difficulties. These difficulties could be behavioral (including learning disabilities), familial (such as frequent moving or domestic abuse) or societal (such as bullying). American Remedial education is available at all age-levels.

However, Remedial education does not exist in Japan. Supplemental education schools such as yobikō or juku do exist, but tend more towards tutoring for university entrance exams. Unlike yobikō, Juku schools do not provide total re-schooling, as with American remedial education. Additionally, Juku schools only offer supplemental or 'after school' classes and are not full-time institutions in contrast to yobikō schools.

Because Japan does not offer Remedial education, the only school which would offer total re-schooling to a student who is unable to receive it in the standard school system would be a Yobikō school.

As such, the proper English translation would be '**Saga Preparatory School**'. A preparatory school in English-speaking countries is a school which exists to re-educate students in preparation for university, much like the Japanese 'cram school'.

## Trivia

* Saga Remedial has an American exchange student named Audrey Reyes.
* Not every student of Saga Remedial attends because of poor test-scores. Various reasons are stated, such as bad grades, bullying or other personal life difficulties such as misbehavior.
* 'Cram school story-lines' are common in Japan, with popular media such as '*Love Hina'* featuring stories with rōnin characters.

1. ↑ Love Letter: September 2020 Progress Report
2. ↑ *"The school consists of students ages 18-21 [...] [that] need an extra push to graduate on time or late."*
3. ↑ *The student-base of Saga Remedial is discussed by the Love Letter team on Twitter.*
4. ↑ "Is Saga Remedial in the Saga Prefecture of Japan?"
5. ↑ American Remedial education.
6. ↑ College-preparatory schooling.
7. ↑ https://twitter.com/LetterFeelings/status/1300762417958391809
8. ↑ "[...] it would be amazing if this was a college instead of a high-school."