The Japanese school system is composed of  three grades each of middle school and high school. In the beginning of the series, Usagi is in the equivalent of 8th grade (second year middle school). School runs year-round, starting in April, and runs six days a week (with Sundays off). There is a two-week summer break, and a week long break for winter holidays. I'm not completely sure about any other days that students might not have school.

Uniforms are standard for Japanese public schools. For girls, they are often sailor suits. Uniforms for both boys and girls were derived from the uniforms worn by the Imperial Japanese Navy in the Meiji era (1868-1912).

There are also fierce high school and college entrance exam competitions in Japan, and what college you go to ultimately determines a great deal of your standing for the rest of your life. The exams are nothing like the U.S. entrance exams (SAT's). They are very long and involve a lot of regurgitation. That's why a lot of students go to special cram schools, called "juku," for years just to study for them. Ami attends juku (computer class in the dub).

Rei goes to a private Catholic school for girls. It includes middle school and high school grades, so the attending students don't have to take high school entrance exams. There are also schools, like the high school in Marmalade Boy, which have attached colleges or universities. Students attending those schools don't have to take college entrance exams unless they decide to attend a different post-secondary school.

School is very difficult for students in Japan. In fact, students often receive hours of homework each day, leaving much less time for socializing than what is usually shown in anime. However, college itself is often easier than in North America. Although high school is optional in Japan, most people choose to take the entrance exams and attend high school. If you fail the college entrance exam, you are given a year to study before re-taking the test. The series Maison Ikkoku by Rumiko Takahasi is about a young man who failed his college entrance exam.

Japanese students study English for years, but unfortunately learn via one of the worst foreign language teaching systems in the world. Thus, most Japanese can speak very little proper English. They tend to learn "Japanese English," which allows them to know some English words (which are mixed into normal Japanese conversation), but even the pronunciation is skewed.

The pronunciation of English words is altered to make it easier for Japanese people to say them, but ends up sounding awkward compared to regular English. Words with the letter "L" have the most pronounciation changes because there is no sound for the letter "L" in Japanese. Usually, the letter "L" is replaced with an "R," but there are exceptions. Vowels are also sometimes added to the ends of words to make the pronounciation easier for a Japanese person. Store signs in anime and manga that are written in English are often mispelled as well.