The school food service system has been an important national policy in Korea. To find out the reference data of the school food service system, we surveyed four primary schools, one middle school, and one food service center in Nara, Japan. The results are as follows; 1. The school food service was carried out in 99.4% of primary school children and in 82.5% of middle school students. 2. The central commissary school food service system was utilized at 49.0% of primary schools and 68.5% of middle schools. 3. The expense of the system is supported partially by the student's parents and partially by the government, of which the support rate was noticed by the law of school food service. 4. The dietary content of school food service was laid down by 'The rule of the operation basis of school food service'. The menu was chosen by the 7 kinds of stepwise meetings. 5. The teachers emphasized on the food etiquette, the appreciation to the food and the personal relationship during meal, as well as on the nutritional balance. 6. We found other problems in Japanese food service system, such as the sanitary problems, the problems of the new tableware, and whether the central kitchen had less advantage than the individual school kitchen. We can conclude that the school food service system is becoming the essential part in school education, and hope to design not only economical but also educational system in Korea, with the consideration of Japanese system.