Japanese teachers are a key component in the success of the Japanese educational system. They work long hours, and are responsible for a variety of tasks within the school, including administration, discipline, and cleaning. This study was designed to facilitate a more thorough understanding of the various roles of the teacher in both lower and upper secondary schools in Japan.This research took place in Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture, Japan, and utilized a combination of personal interviews and sustained direct observations of individual teachers as they went through their daily routines schools. A questionnaire was also administered to in Iwate Prefecture in order to quantify the data, and the responses were subjected to a comparative analysis to determine the percentages of time teachers spend on different kinds of activities.The roles of the teachers were interpreted after analyzing the case studies and questionnaire responses, the results indicated that Japanese secondary teachers spend over sixty hours a week performing various functions within their schools. The roles range from police officer, friend, individual guidance counsellor, and administrator, to career councellor, librarian, and surrogate parent. Japanese teachers take their roles and responsibilitis seriously and are committed to insuring that all their students succeed. / Department of Secondary, Higher, and Foundations of Education