出席カード
Meaning
An attendance card submitted during university lectures to prove you were present in class.
出席カード is a physical card or slip distributed at the start or end of a university lecture that students fill out and submit to record their attendance. Since many Japanese university courses grade partly on attendance, the 出席カード becomes strategically important. It's infamous for enabling '代返' (daiken — having a friend submit your card while you skip class), which is technically cheating but widely practiced.
Examples
- 出席カードだけ出して授業サボる人、毎回いるよね。 There's always someone who just submits the attendance card and skips the lecture, right?
- 出席カード忘れて出席扱いにならなかった、最悪。 I forgot my attendance card and it didn't count as attending — the worst.
- 友達に出席カード頼んだらバレて教授に怒られた。 I asked a friend to submit my attendance card and got caught, and the professor was furious.
Usage Guide
Context: university, friends
Tone: practical, conspiratorial
Do Say
- 出席カード出し忘れないようにね、あの授業出席厳しいから。 (Don't forget to submit the attendance card — that class is strict about attendance.)
- 出席カードを友達に頼むのはリスク高いからやめとけ。 (Having a friend submit your card is risky — don't do it.)
Don't Say
- 教授の前で「代返してもらった」は絶対言わない (Never admit to proxy attendance in front of the professor)
Common Mistakes
- Thinking 出席カード is just for tracking attendance — some professors use it for in-class writing exercises or brief quizzes (コメントカード), making proxy attendance much harder
Origin & History
From 出席 (attendance) + カード (card, from English). A pragmatic tool that became standard in Japanese university lecture halls as a way to track attendance without calling roll in large classes.
Cultural Context
Era: Modern university system, ongoing (though increasingly replaced by digital systems)
Generation: University students
Social background: Universal at Japanese universities
Regional notes: Used across all of Japan. Some universities have switched to IC card systems or smartphone apps, making 代返 harder.
Related Phrases
Flashcards, quizzes, audio pronunciation and spaced repetition