How does the age breakdown work in schools in Japan? Preschool, K-12? How does this system work?

I'm researching schools in Japan, and I've found some data, but no particulars. How often is school in session? Is the a generic ';secondary'; education and ';primary'; education?How does the age breakdown work in schools in Japan? Preschool, K-12? How does this system work?
Usually it's kindergarten (like preschool sort of), elementary school, middle school and high school.


then of course there's university.





i rmb middle school being.. somewhere about 12-14 then you would start high school at around 15 and finish when you are 18.





i assume elementary school being around the same as ours, so around 5 or 6 - 11 sounds about right.





kindergarten to middle school is compulsary and when you get to high school, you can either choose to go or start working.


school starts in.. april (around the time when cherry blossoms start to bloom) and then they get 2 months off for summer vacation but many kids opt for smth that's similar to summer school. then of course, there's winter break, and there's a week (around the same as spring break) that most high schoolers get off for ';studying week';.





and that's pretty much all i know, i can't be certain if all of this information is correct but a majority of it should be right.How does the age breakdown work in schools in Japan? Preschool, K-12? How does this system work?
there is a kindergarten which goes on for 3 years, ages 4,5,%26amp;6


some kindergartens have 3 year olds too.





then comes elementary school which is from 1st to 6th grade.


(ages 7-12)





then comes middle school which is from 7th to 9th grade


but they are called middle 1st, middle 2nd and middle 3rd grade





then you go up to highschool





and yes, school does start in april and end in march in japan





btw, summer vacation is only 1 and 1/2 months!!!