食堂

Pattern visualization

Examples

1. 学生食堂で食べた。▶ —
   I ate at the student cafeteria.
2. 社員食堂が安い。▶ —
   The company cafeteria is cheap.

Collocations

Mnemonic

Shokudou (食堂) is "dining hall / cafeteria" — kanji 食 (eat) plus 堂 (hall). Cluster: shain shokudou (corporate employee cafeteria), gakusei shokudou or gaku-shoku abbreviated (student cafeteria), taishuu shokudou (cheap canteen for the masses). Japanese kyuushoku (school lunch) is a cultural staple: mandatory at elementary and middle schools, designed by national nutritionists, with rotating kyuushoku touban (students who serve food) and bookended by itadakimasu and gochisousama (covered in itadaku). Japans kyuushoku — launched 1889, made compulsory in 1954 — surpasses Korean school lunches in system precision and the Chinese xuexiao shitang counterpart. Teishoku (set meal) matrix: main dish, rice, miso soup, tsukemono. JLPT N5 plus school and corporate cafeteria cultural cluster.

Quick check

1. Year Japans kyuushoku became compulsory?

   • 1954 (launched 1889, mandated by 1954 Compulsory Education Act)
   • 1900
   • 1945 postwar
   • 2000s