Japan

Basic Data
Official Country Name:	Japan
Region:	East & South Asia
Population:	126,549,976
Language(s):	Japanese
Literacy Rate:	99%
Academic Year:	April-March
Number of Primary Schools:	24,376
Compulsory Schooling:	9 years
Public Expenditure on Education:	3.6%
Foreign Students in National Universities:	53,511
Libraries:	3,561
Educational Enrollment:	Primary: 7,855,387
	Secondary: 9,878,568
	Higher: 3,917,709

Educational Enrollment Rate:	Primary: 101%
	Secondary: 103%
	Higher: 40%
Teachers:	Primary: 420,901
	Secondary: 702,575
	Higher: 401,509
Student-Teacher Ratio:	Primary: 19:1
	Secondary: 14:1
Female Enrollment Rate:	Primary: 101%
	Secondary: 104%
	Higher: 37%

History & Background

The Japanese people consider the love of learning to be one of life's main virtues. That fact has led to education playing a crucial role in their culture, especially since the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Virtually all Japanese people complete education through the high school (also called upper secondary) level, and most go on to further technical or university training. This emphasis on the value of education has contributed to the success of Japan in the modern world.

Despite its overall exemplary record in education, Japan does face some serious challenges in the new century. For example, minorities such as the native Ainu and the Korean-Japanese still do not participate adequately in the educational system. Also, the system has been criticized for focusing too much on test-taking and not enough on critical-thinking skills. Because many parents believe public school fails to prepare students adequately, they send their students to juku (private academies), after school and on weekends, to prepare for the next level within or beyond the public school system. But the Japanese educational system does satisfy the needs of the vast majority of the population and has helped the nation compete on the international scene for over 100 years.

The Ancient Period: Formal education in Japan started when the Chinese language system was introduced into Japan in about 500 A.D. At that time only the aristocracy had access to education through schools that primarily taught Confucianism and Buddhist thought and practice. The first real school, the Daigakuryo (the university), was started by Emperor Tenji during this period. Located in the capital of Kyoto, the Daigakuryo focused mainly on providing prospective government officials with a background in Confucian practice that would relate to their future jobs. Later the school became an official institution under the Taiho Code of 701. Young men usually entered the university in their early to mid-teens. When they graduated, they were placed in government positions at levels that corresponded to their success at the university. The Taiho Code also called for establishing colleges called kokugaku, located in each of the country's provincial areas. Besides teaching the Chinese classics, these early provincial schools provided training in medicine and in divination.

During the Heian Period (794-1185 A.D.), the height of Japan's aristocratic age, educational institutions continued to be focused on the nobility and were located in the capital of Kyoto. However, the curriculum of the Daigakuryo made a transition from Confucianism to the arts, reflecting the great emphasis on aesthetics during the Heian Period. Perhaps more than any other time in Japanese history, this period placed the highest value on the ideal of courtly love through the medium of poetry, music, visual art, calligraphy, and dance. Such refinements were of course reserved for those privileged to be educated in the court. Education also continued to take place in the Buddhist temples, both in the capital and in the provinces. After completing their training, priests became the primary means for providing education to those who were not among the aristocracy.

Thus education and religion were intertwined during the ancient period. Two of the most prominent figures in religious education were Saicho (767-822) and Kukai (774-835). Saicho established the Enryakuji Temple at Mt. Hiei near Kyoto. Besides being the center during the Heian Period for educating monks in the Tendai sect of Buddhism, it became a focal point for Japanese religious education for hundreds of years. Saicho's friend and rival, Kukai, established a monastery on Mt. Koya, which became the educational center for Shingon Buddhism. Kukai's central role in the history of Japanese education is evidenced by his having invented Kana, the Japanese alphabet, and by his effort to establish a school that addressed the needs of commoners, a group not enrolled in the Daigakuryo or the kokugaku. His private academy, the Shugei Shuchiin, did not exclude the lower classes and promoted the personal, moral, spiritual, and intellectual development of its students.

Medieval Period: During the Kamakura Period (1185-1333) and the Muromachi Period (1333-1573), Japanese education paralleled the militarism of the times. With the rise to power of the bushi (warrior class, made up of samurai) and the shogun (chief lord and military dictator), education in the cities and countryside added skills for warfare to the religious training. A departure from the aesthetics of the Heian Period, the medieval education for warriors included training in weaponry and horseback riding—while still teaching young samurai the importance of good manners and knowledge of their culture. Schooling revolved around the warrior's home, the estate of his lord, and the local temples. As for the shogunate and the ruling families, there continued to be educational opportunities unavailable to commoners.

Rather than start new schools, however, the shogunate established several major learning centers that contained libraries open to scholars and members of the priesthood. A famous one called the Kanazawa Library opened in 1275 and remains open today as a museum. Another medieval Japanese educational center, the Ashikaga School, opened in 1439 and offered curricula in Confucianism and military science. Thus even schools and libraries for the ruling class focused on traditional Confucian values and on military education, matching the cultural themes of the age.

Toward the end of the medieval period, Japan's educational system was subjected to a new influence—Jesuit Catholic missionaries, beginning with the arrival of Francis Xavier in 1549. These missionaries established schools and churches that emphasized general education, vocational training, Western technology, and—of course—Christianity. Although Christianity was banned less than a century after Xavier came to Japan, and wasn't permitted back into the country for more than two centuries, it did help shape education in late medieval Japan.

Early Modern Period: The early modern period in Japan comprises the years of the Tokugawa Period (1600-1868), during most of which Japan remained isolated from the rest of the world. One positive byproduct of this isolation was that the country could focus on the development of its own culture, including the educational system. Although the very best education remained open only to the upper classes, the period did witness the spread of education among the commoners in a way that had not occurred previously in Japan. By the end of the period, about 40 percent of the boys and 10 percent of the girls were provided education outside the home. These figures probably meant Japan's education opportunities and literacy rate were ahead of most countries in the world, with the exception of two or three nations in the West.

The Tokugawa educational system included several main types of schools such as the hanko, terakoya, Shoheiko, and shijuku. Established in each of the domains of the daimyo (lords), the hanko mainly educated the children of the lord's samurai on topics related to Confucianism. Only later in the Tokugawa Period did the schools enroll a wider range of social classes and expand their curriculum to include non-Confucian topics such as medicine, Japanese studies, and Western science.

Unlike the hanko, the terakoya were independent schools intended mainly for the children of the merchants and townspeople—not the samurai. Usually set up in Buddhist temples, they offered instruction in a wide range of basic subjects such as penmanship, reading, and arithmetic. Children entered at the age of seven or eight and stayed for about three or four years. In addition to the terakoya were the shijuku, private academies that often were housed in the homes of the teachers and that focused on subjects usually considered to be the favorite fields of the teacher. Finally, the Tokugawa Period also had an official school of the shogunate called the Shoheiko, located in Edo (Tokyo). Here the children of the nation's leaders were educated by Confucian scholars.

Thus far our discussion of educational opportunity in Japan has mostly included only male children. Girls generally were not sent to schools and instead were trained at home in matters of homemaking and etiquette. Although a few girls may have been exposed to education in literature and the arts, most were not. However, opportunities for girls to receive an education did increase in the closing years of the period, with an increase in female students in terakoya and even the start of a few schools exclusively for girls. But the curriculum in these schools was slanted toward nonintellectual subjects such as tea ceremony, flower arranging, and etiquette.

Modern Period: The modern period in Japan began with the restoration of the emperor in 1868, about 15 years after the country had been "opened" to the outside world by the expeditionary tour of U.S. Admiral Matthew Perry. This period saw a tremendous amount of educational reform as the country sought to catch up to the West after more than 200 years of virtual isolation. Although World War II, including its prelude and aftermath, certainly devastated Japan's educational system, the country has witnessed unparalleled educational advancement from the Meiji Period to the present.

Educational goals in the modern period were reflected in the Gokajono Goseimon, the Imperial Oath of Five Articles (or Charter Oath) issued by the emperor in 1868. Article 5 best articulated Japan's international objectives for education that would become the theme of the modern era: "knowledge shall be sought all over the world, and the foundations of imperial rule shall be strengthened." The document also made it clear that "the common people... shall all achieve their aspirations," thus setting out a second basic theme of education in Japan's modern era: availability of the appropriate level of education to all the people.

Four years into the Meiji Period, the government issued the Educational Order of 1872 (Gakusei, ) which formed the basis for the modern public system of education in Japan. The Gakusei called for strong control of education by the central government and integrated many of the Tokugawa-era schools into the new system. For example, the terakoya—previously the schools in the provinces for commoners—were transformed into the new primary schools. These primary schools formed the core of the new public school system and numbered 25,000 by the mid-1870s. Students throughout the nation were required to attend primary school. Although schooling was compulsory, the cost still had to be paid by the students' families. Resentment toward the new system led to several later revisions, including Kyoikurei, the Education Order of 1879. It permitted more local control of the curriculum and school policies, and it also relaxed the compulsory requirements.

Despite these revisions, the trend toward national standards for public education continued throughout the rest of the modern era, as did the effort to bring basic education to all the people. The end of the shogunate in 1868 meant an end to the class system that had created significant differences between education for the lords and samurai families and the common people. Now the four former classes—samurai, farmers, artisans, and merchants—were viewed as equal participants in the new schooling.

Besides the new primary (also called elementary) schools, Japan's modern educational system included two other main elements: secondary schools and universities. Secondary school was not yet compulsory and was intended for children deserving of additional training. Then, an even smaller group of highly qualified candidates would proceed on to the university system. The most distinguished university of the period was Tokyo University, which had its roots in the elite shogunate institutions of the past. It became the forerunner of other imperial universities such as those established in Kyoto, Tohohu, Kyusha, Hokkaido, Osaka, and Nagoya. Private universities that began during the period include Keio, Waseda, Doshisha, Meiji Gakuin, and Tsudajuku.

During the early years of the Meiji Period, there was a strong and intentional reliance on Western assistance in the development of all levels of education. The government sent emissaries abroad to learn as much as possible about all elements of Western culture, including education, so that Japan could achieve Western-style success in technological advancement. The most famous group to go abroad was the Iwakura Mission, a large group of high-ranking government officials and students that traveled to the United States and Europe from 1871 to 1873. Such missions had a strong influence over the curricula adopted at all levels of schooling in Japan.

Just as important as the Japanese missions to the West were the Western experts who traveled to Japan in the 1870s and 1880s. David Murray, hired to serve as an advisor to the Ministry of Education, came to Japan in 1873 and worked on a wide range of new educational initiatives, including the Education Order of 1872. He also was instrumental in having the government establish the Tokyo Women's Normal School, as well as being heavily involved in planning Tokyo University. Like other Western experts, Murray faced the challenge of deciding what combination of Western and native Japanese features would produce the best educational system for modern Japan. That's the challenge Japan faced throughout the period during which Western influence was strong.

Another Western contributor to the development of Japanese education was James Curtis Hepburn, a missionary doctor who came to Japan in 1859, just six years after Admiral Perry's arrival. Hepburn founded Meiji Gakuin University, became the university's first president, invented a system of Romanizing the Japanese language, and took part in translating the Bible into Japanese. Many other Western Christians were instrumental in promoting education in Meiji Japan, including those who established the so-called "Schools of Western Learning." The three most famous such schools, or "bands" as they were called, were located in Kumamoto, Sapporo, and Yokohama. The Kumamoto Band was led by an American teacher, L. L. Janes, who taught a Western curriculum of mathematics, history, and English, but who also exposed his young sons-of-samurai students to the tenets of Christianity. These young men in the Western bands learned about Western science, technology, and religion. Some of the early leaders of modern Japan were Christian, even though Christianity remained a minority religion in Japan, never gaining more than 1 percent to 2 percent of the population.

Perhaps Japan's best-known private university, Doshisha University, was founded in 1875 by Niijima Jo, a former member of the Kumamoto Band, and by Jerome Davis, a Congregational minister. Niijima was one of the first Japanese to be educated in the United States (at Amherst College). Like some other private universities in Japan, Doshisha adopted curricula similar to that of Western educational institutions. It has six main academic groupings—theology, law, economics, letters, commerce, and engineering—with over 25,000 students enrolled.

Doshisha also was the first university in Japan to admit women. Private universities served an important role in coeducation in that the government, in 1879, restricted coeducation to the primary (or elementary) schools. It was only through the support of private groups that high schools and university-level education became available to women. Christian missionaries were particularly active in supporting coeducational and women's high schools and colleges. Also serving an important role in the development of women's education during the Meiji Period was Tsuda Umeko, who had been a student member of the Iwakura Mission in 1871 and became one of the first Japanese women to study in the United States. After completing studies at Bryn Mawr College and also working as a tutor and teacher of young women in Japan for many years, Tsuda founded the Women's English School (now called Tsuda College) in Tokyo in 1900. The government did strongly support coeducation in primary schools in the Meiji Period, but it took support from many dedicated individuals and private groups to maintain educational opportunities for women at the high school and postsecondary levels.

Notwithstanding the efforts Japan was making to pattern much of its modern education after Western content and procedures, by 1890 there was strong sense among many leaders that the nation also needed to emphasize "moral education" that was unique to Japan. The document that resulted from this concern for morality in education was the Imperial Rescript on Education, issued on October 30, 1890, in the name of the Emperor Meiji. Written with the advice and counsel of the Confucian scholar, Nagazane Motoda, the Rescript made clear the essential connection between the education of the people and the tenets of Confucian thought and loyalty to the emperor. A few excerpts from the 315-word document follow:

Know ye, Our subjects: Our Imperial Ancestors have founded Our Empire on a broad basis and everlasting... Our subjects, ever united in loyalty and filial piety, have from generation to generation illustrated the beauty thereof. This is the glory of the fundamental character of Our Empire, and herein lies the source of Our education. Ye, Our subjects, be filial to your parents, affectionate to your brothers and sisters; as husbands and wives be harmonious, as friends true; bear yourselves in modesty and moderation; extend your benevolence to all; pursue learning and cultivate arts, and thereby develop intellectual faculties and perfect moral powers; furthermore advance public good and promote common interests; always respect the Constitution and observe the laws... and thus guard and maintain the prosperity of Our Imperial Throne coeval with heaven and earth.

The promulgation of this document served as a corrective measure to the more liberal Western influences on education since the beginning of the Meiji Restoration. Distributed throughout the country by the Ministry of Education, the Rescript reminded the populace that education was inextricably connected to the nation's needs, to traditional Confucian values, and to an Imperial House descended from Heaven. It was read during ceremonial events in schools throughout the nation, with the appropriate bowing required. Though generally accepted by the people, one famous incident of an inappropriate response remains well known in Japan even today. Uchimura Kanzo, a high school teacher who had been educated in Japan and in the United States, apparently failed to bow deferentially enough to the Emperor's signature on the Rescript when it was read at his school. This incident led to his leaving the school, after which he became a famous journalist and religious figure until his death in 1930. In about 1900 Uchimura founded what became the largest branch of indigenous Christianity in Japan, Mukyokai, or nonchurch Christianity.

By the end of the 1900s, Japan had seen considerable development of all parts of its education system—both under the influence of Western experts and under the watchful eye of nationalists who made certain the country retained its Confucian and imperial focus. With direction from the Ministry of Education—and its influential first minister, Mori Arinori—the country had a compulsory primary school system throughout the country; about 500 secondary schools throughout the country, with some providing technical training and others providing traditional academic subjects; and an elite system of public and private universities that prepared students for teaching, medicine, law, government service, and other professions.

In the early years of the twentieth century, attendance in primary schools continued to rise to over 90 percent, and in 1907 the years of compulsory education were increased from three to six. From the 1890s to the start of World War I, Japan's rush to industrialize and to create a strong military led to a greater focus on industrial education and training than in the past. Victories in the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) and Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) had stimulated this change in direction. Japanese education came somewhat under the influence of the democratic, socialistic, and related worldwide movements that were "in the air" after World War I and after the Russian Revolution. One example was the Shin Kyoiku Undo (New Education Movement), which emphasized the individuality of children and encouraged each child's effort to demonstrate initiative in ways that were largely not reflected in conventional Confucian education. Although this movement lost favor when a more conservative climate returned during the militarism of the 1930s, it did significantly influence the direction of Japanese education during the Taisho Period (1912-1926). Another noteworthy trend of the period after World War I was the expansion in the number of colleges and universities. The University Order of 1918 stimulated this growth by extending government recognition to postsecondary institutions that were not associated with the government. Students surged into the private schools as a result of this change.

The militarism of the 1930s and the beginning of World War II ended Japan's brief period during which progressive ideas had been promoted in education. Now the schools could best be characterized as tools of the state. Even the name of primary schools was changed to kokumin gakko, or national people's schools, reflecting their mission of training loyal subjects for the Japanese empire. Graduates of the kokumin gakko were obligated to attend seinen gakko, schools that emphasized the kinds of vocational skills that would serve the country in its effort to marshal a major militaristic expansion. Even textbooks were used during the wartime period to reinforce the ultranationalistic objectives of the state. One set of texts, called the Kokutai No Hongi (Cardinal Principles of the National Entity), served the government's purpose to control the people's thinking and their access to a full range of historical information.

After its defeat in World War II, Japan was occupied by the Allied Forces under the command of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP), General Douglas MacArthur. From 1945 until 1952, the Occupation forces aimed to transform Japan into a democracy and to demilitarize the country. A significant part of the plan involved altering the educational system that had been part of the prewar and wartime culture. The socalled "moral education," central to the ultranationalism of the wartime period, was ended. The major catalyst for all changes was the United States Educational Missions to Japan, which took place from 1946 to 1950. The recommendations of these missions formed the plans by which education was reformed after the War.

The centerpiece of the postwar educational transformation in Japan was a series of reforms that took place in 1947. They were overseen by SCAP and by the Education Reform Council, consisting of Japanese civilians. At the core of the reforms was the Fundamental Law of Education, which replaced the 1890 Imperial Rescript on Education that had been issued by the Emperor Meiji. Consisting of a preamble and 11 articles, the law replaced the former emphasis on training to be a loyal subject of the emperor with a new focus on the following principles: equal opportunity to education for all citizens, coeducation, the full development of one's personality, an appreciation and respect for truth and justice, and a new emphasis on academic freedom for faculty. Following are some specific features of the reformed system:

1. The 6-3-3-4 structure with six years of primary school (also called elementary school), three years of lower secondary school (also called middle school or junior high school), three years of upper secondary school (also called high school), and four years of university
2. Compulsory education for nine years—that is, both for primary and lower secondary school
3. Education of handicapped persons
4. Replacement of government-produced textbooks with texts that were published privately, with less involvement by the government than in the past
5. New emphasis on the training of public school teachers at the university level
6. Shift from total central control of education to much greater autonomy in villages, cities, and prefectures
7. Permission to have teacher unions and other support organizations such as parent-teacher groups

Most reforms were retained after the Occupation ended, but there was some backtracking when a conservative government came to power in 1956. For example, the government increased its efforts to review textbooks, influence appointments to local school boards, place restrictions on leftist teachers' unions, and reestablish some level of moral education in the school system.

The decades since the 1950s have brought few structural changes to Japanese education. However, a number of social and political events have related to education, such as the following: criticism of government influence on textbooks in the 1960s; student demonstrations in 1968 against rising costs of a university education; the introduction in 1979 of a common general admission exam for public universities; and concern that private academies are needed to supplement a child's public education if he or she is to have a good chance of being accepted to a university.

Constitutional & Legal Foundations

In 1946, the Allied forces orchestrated the effort to write the new Constitution of Japan, which replaced the Meiji Constitution of 1889. Based on the U.S. and British constitutions, the new document included a level of freedom and democracy that was unprecedented in Japan. Effective May 3, 1947, it perhaps is best known for Article 9, which states that "the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat of use of force as a means of settling international disputes." Also noteworthy is the restriction of the emperor to being only a "symbol of the State and of the unity of the people, deriving his position from the will of the people with whom resides sovereign power." So certainly the new Constitution would never again permit approval of a document like the 1890 Imperial Rescript on Education, which in a sense mainly viewed education as a means of respect for, and praise of, the Japanese emperor.

The new Constitution also specifically addressed the rights of children to be educated. Article 26 reads as follows:

All people shall have the right to receive an equal education correspondent to their ability, as provided by law. All people shall be obligated to have all boys and girls under their protection receive ordinary educations as provided for by law. Such compulsory education shall be free.

For the first time in its history, the Japanese people acquired constitutional rights to an education. These rights were further defined by the 1947 Fundamental Law of Education. This law replaced the 1890 Prescript on Education and articulated a variety of legal educational rights in its Preamble and 11 articles.

A related law was the School Education Law of 1947, which outlined the general structure of the Japanese school system. Another law—the 1956 Law Concerning the Organization and Functions of Local Educational Administration—regulates the operations of local schools around the country. For example, it covers operational details related to boards of education, superintendents, attendance policies for students, and the appointment of teachers. It tended to reestablish some of the previous centralized authority over local school districts, though certainly not to the degree of the pre-World War II system.

Educational System—Overview

Since the end of World War II education has been compulsory for all children in Japan for nine years, which includes six years of primary school (also called elementary school) and three years of lower secondary school (also called middle school or junior high school). Children start their schooling at the age of six. After graduating from primary school six years later, and then lower secondary school three years after that, they have completed their compulsory educational period by the age of 15. At that point, most students move along to upper secondary school (high school) for three additional years, followed by four years of university education for an even more select group. Because of changes in the population patterns of Japan, the number of students in primary school has declined steadily since 1980, though the number of students enrolled in universities has increased every year since the end of World War II.

Academic Year: The academic year in Japan begins in April and ends the following March. Students have a summer vacation of several weeks starting in July, as well as a two-week break at New Year's. The year is broken down into three main terms beginning in April, September, and January, respectively. School generally starts at 8:30 a.m. and ends about 3:00 or 3:30 p.m. on weekdays. There was a half day of additional schooling on Saturday morning, but schools have gradually been dropping the Saturday schedule and moving instead to a five-day school week.

Language of Instruction: The language used most predominantly in Japanese schools is, of course, the Japanese language. Dominant features of this language are the high dependence on context to determine meaning, the precise ordering of words in a sentence, and the use of three different types of character systems in the written language (kanji, hiragana, and katakana ). The complexity of the written language means that Japanese students spend many years studying their own language.

Although Japanese is the dominant language of instruction, there is no law declaring it the official language of the country. In fact, a school could use other languages. There are now a few schools that use English to teach science and mathematics classes. Although English is usually not the language of instruction, it is now studied by almost all students in Japan—making it the most commonly used foreign language in the country. The entrance exams for high school and for universities test for English ability.

It appears that the question of the role of English in the school system—and, indeed, in the entire culture—will remain a controversial subject for some years to come. A report entitled "Japan's Vision for the 21st Century," submitted to the Japanese prime minister's office in early 2000, suggests that the government consider establishing English as Japan's official second language. Given the need to increase the "global literacy" of the population, the report went on to urge that all students should be able to speak English before they start working after their schooling. Although the reading and writing of English is taught in schools, speaking and listening skills lag behind. So the recommendation of the report would require a significant upgrading of English language training in Japan.

A final point about the language of instruction concerns the minority populations in Japan. Although Japanese remains the dominant language in the classroom, there are significant numbers of Japanese residents whose native language is not Japanese. The native Ainu population, located mainly in the northern island of Hokkaido, is not permitted to receive courses in the Ainu language and culture in the public schools. Other linguistic minorities include Chinese and Ryukyuan (Okinawa). The teaching of ethnic languages and cultures remains a politically charged subject in Japan, though the debate has not yet presented any significant challenge to the dominance of Japanese as the language of instruction in the school system.

Use of Technology: Japan continues to emphasize the use of technology in education at all levels. In 1998 the Curriculum Council submitted a major recommendation report to the Ministry of Education, in which it advocated the use of computers throughout the educational system. Apparently that report has brought even more attention to the need to increase the exposure of Japanese students to instructional technology.

Statistics from 1999 suggest that although almost all public schools have computers, many teachers have not yet learned to use them in their teaching. As of March 1999, computers were used in 97.7 percent of primary schools, 99.9 percent of lower secondary schools, and 100 percent of upper secondary schools. The average number per school was 12.9, 32.1, and 76.4, respectively. Contrasted to these figures are the relatively low percentages of teachers who can use the technology effectively: 28.7 percent in primary schools, 26.1 percent in lower secondary, and 26.0 percent for upper secondary.

More traditional audiovisual media are widely used in Japan, especially in the primary schools. Television, audiotapes, and videotapes are common support for teaching. Especially popular is the use of broadcasts of educational programming produced by NHK, the Japan Broadcasting Corporation. Also, in July 1999 the Ministry of Education started a television station devoted exclusively to the education of Japan's children. Called the Children's Broadcasting Station, the channel beams programs by communications satellite to receiving stations that have telephone links. When the station broadcasts programs on the second and fourth Saturdays of each month (school holidays), children can send faxes back to the television guests and take part in videoconferences.

Another technology Japan has started to use is distance education. Although the country is probably behind the United States in the development of distance education, some educational institutions are now becoming quite active in the field. One prestigious institution, Waseda University, has linked up with five universities around the country to offer real-time online classes, as part of a trial program. What has enabled universities like Waseda to begin such programs is the relaxing of previously strict standards for transferring credit from one institution to another. As of 1998 college and junior college students have been allowed to earn up to almost half the credits for a degree from institutions other than their home institution. That change, as well as the spread of Internet and related technology, suggests that Japan will be a major player in distance education in years to come.

Entrance Exams: The Japanese system places great emphasis on the use of exams as qualifiers for all levels of schooling. Exams exist for students entering preschool, primary, lower secondary, upper secondary, and universities. Yet clearly the most crucial tests are those given for entrance to the upper secondary schools (high school) and universities. The high school entrance tests are mainly for determining what type of school students will attend—not if they will attend, because well over 90 percent of middle school students go on to high school. Both private and public high schools require such tests and usually test students in five main fields: English, mathematics, Japanese, social studies, and science.

For admission to most public universities and some private ones, students are required to take the University Entrance Examination Center Tests. These standardized tests comprise mostly objective questions in the Japanese language, social studies, mathematics, science, and foreign languages. When students receive the test results, they then have a much better idea of the range of colleges and universities to which they would likely be admitted. The final decision for admission to a particular institution may depend on the standardized test results, the test given by the individual college or university, and the student's high school record.

International Issues: A major international issue related to education in Japan concerns Japanese who are living, or used to live, abroad. The number of children of Japanese who have lived overseas has grown considerably in recent decades because of the large number of government and industry employees who have been assigned to positions outside Japan.

In the 1998 school year, for example, the following number of students lived overseas for at least one year and returned to Japan: 7,700 at the primary school level, 2,908 at middle school level, and 7,700 at the high school level. Returning elementary and middle school students do not have to take entrance exams, but returning high school students do. Often students are given special consideration in testing, but they also may need to take additional course work—especially in reading and writing Japanese. Language proficiency can be a problem if students did not regularly attend Japanese schools overseas.

Curriculum Reform: It is important to observe that there are serious efforts taking place to analyze and respond to problems with the curriculum in Japanese schools. Of particular note is a recommendation report submitted in 1998 by the Curriculum Council to the Minister of Education. The report suggests that the public school system should do a better job of emphasizing problem-solving activities, independent thinking, the use of computers in all subjects at all levels, and interdisciplinary courses that integrate content from diverse content areas. It also suggests that the school day be reduced to weekdays only. Some of these recommendations, such as the shorter school week, are being implemented. The report reflects the interest of the Japanese to improve an educational system that, overall, has worked well for them.

Preprimary & Primary Education

Over 95 percent of Japanese students enroll in some form of preschool, which is not compulsory. These schools are intended to develop the cognitive skills of infants from age three and up, and thus to prepare them for the six years of compulsory elementary school that follow. Preschool education is provided either through a kindergarten, which is considered to be an educational institution, or through a day care center, which is considered a type of welfare institution as defined by the Child Welfare Law.

One indication of the extreme competitiveness of Japanese education is a phenomenon called ojuken. "O" is a prefix that means "politeness" or "childishness," and juken means "taking entrance exam." The complete term refers to parents who are so eager to have their children be accepted into the most competitive schools at every level that they seek to enroll them in a top-notch preschool. Graduates of these prestigious preschools are usually permitted to go all the way to a prestigious high school without having to take entrance exams. These kindergartens are extremely competitive, in some cases admitting only 1 in every 20 applicants. Parents sometimes pay as much as $10,000 to educate their children so that they can take the entrance test for just private preschools or primary schools.

Ojuken has become a well-publicized issue in the media. Some critics point out that young mothers have equated the success of their infants in being admitted to prestigious private schools with their own success as mothers. Others see it as one more sign that Japan places too much emphasis on testing in the education process. But there are also those who view the ojuken phenomenon as a sign of the mediocrity of public schools, resulting in parents willing to pay heavily for private schooling.

After preschool, children begin six years of compulsory primary (or elementary) school. The curriculum of the elementary school has three main groupings: regular subjects, moral education, and extracurricular activities. Regular subjects comprise the following nine topics: Japanese language, social studies, arithmetic, science, life environmental studies, music, arts and crafts, physical education, and homemaking. Although there is some room for local control in organizing subjects, the actual content of the academic areas flows from national standards that are imposed on the schools. In any particular year, the curriculum is the same for all students in the same grade across the country. Students cannot skip grades, nor are there special groupings of students according to abilities.

Besides academic subjects, elementary school students are taught the importance of personal values through what is called "moral education." For those schools that are funded privately, religious education is permitted to substitute in this area. After academic and moral education, the final emphasis in primary schools is extracurricular work. These include activities such as clubs, festivals, competitions, class trips, athletics, and entrance and graduation ceremonies.

Secondary Education

Secondary education in Japan comprises two main divisions: lower secondary (also called middle school or junior high school) and upper secondary (also called high school or senior high school). Included here is information on juku, the private schools that many students attend in addition to public school.

Junior High School: After completing their six years of elementary school, students shift to the last three years of compulsory education—called variously junior high school, middle school, or lower secondary school—usually when they are between the ages of 12 and 15. One significant change is that their curriculum is now divided by subject matter, creating a more regimented environment than elementary school. Classes last longer than in elementary school—50 minutes as opposed to 45 minutes. Unlike many U.S. schools, the Japanese junior high schools require the teachers to move from classroom to classroom instead of the students. Teachers generally teach only one of the three grade levels. Thus both students and teachers acquire a sense of community in their grade, and students view themselves as part of a home-room class.

The curriculum of middle school includes four main groupings: required subjects, elective subjects, moral education, and extracurricular activities. The eight required subjects are as follows: Japanese language, social studies, mathematics, science, music, fine arts, health and physical education, and industrial arts or homemaking. Students are exposed to courses that provide vocational and technical classes as well as academic subjects. This feature is especially important because classes at this level include a broad range of students, not just those who are likely to attend college or even high school.

Elective subjects include a foreign language or another special subject such as music or art. But almost all students in middle school choose to take English. Like primary school, the middle school schedule includes one hour of moral education each week, but there is no specific religious education in public schools. The final category of the curriculum—extracurricular activities—includes sports, clubs, assemblies, ceremonies, plays, musical events, field trips away from school, and educational guidance, such as instruction for using the library and safety advice for walking in traffic-congested streets. Such activities may take place on or off the school campus.

A curious phenomenon seen among both primary and middle school Japanese children—but more among the latter—is called "school allergy." This term describes an emotional condition whereby a child develops fever, headaches, nausea, or other medical symptoms that make him or her stay home from school. The numbers of affected students have risen sharply in recent decades. A Ministry of Education survey determined that in 1991, 54,112 middle school children missed 30 or more days of school in a year as a result of emotional problems. That was up from 7,310 students in 1974. The numbers for primary school students were 2,651 in 1974 and 12,637 in 1991. Reasons vary for this "allergy," but three notable ones are as follows: fear of being bullied by other students, which has been a growing problem in Japanese schools; anxiety about entrance examinations; and reaction to the strict administration of the schools. Though physical bullying is said to have decreased since the late 1980s, both physical and verbal bullying and other forms of violence continue to be a larger problem in middle schools that in any other component of the educational system.

Senior High School: The term upper secondary school, also called high school or senior high school, is used to indicate the noncompulsory education beyond middle school. High school provides general or specialized education in three main formats: full-time, part-time, or correspondence. Although the full-time option generally lasts three years, part-time or correspondence school usually takes additional time for completion. Over 95 percent of junior high school graduates enter some form of high school, and about 70 percent of these students attend a public high school.

Admission to high school is based on the results of a test, and competition for acceptance into the best schools is incredibly fierce. To prepare for the exams, many students attend what are called yobiko (cram schools) in the evening—to gain admission both to high school and also to the university. With a full school day and evening obligations such as yobiko, many secondary school students have little if any time remaining for personal activities beyond the routine of schooling. This phenomenon worries many Japanese leaders and has led to a reevaluation of the average number of hours students spend in school each year.

Most high school students follow an academic track that prepares them to apply for entrance to universities. Once in an academic high school, students discover that their school day resembles that of junior high in that class periods last 50 minutes, courses are given in essentially the same subjects, and the extracurricular activities are similar. However, students in vocational high schools have a different routine. They often take on part-time employment, and they almost always enter the workplace after graduation.

The curriculum of academic high schools commonly includes courses in the following subjects: Japanese language, geography and history, civics, mathematics, science, health and physical education, the arts, and home economics. The vast majority of students also take English, with a lesser number taking European languages such as French or German. As for the particular content level of the coursework, here is an overview:

• Japanese language: The focus in high school is on classical Japanese. Students are expected to enter high school having learned the 1,945 kanji characters known as the joyo kanji.
• Social Studies: Geography and history are taught as one course in high school, along with a civics course. Students at this level have gone beyond local and regional issues to study Japan and East Asia in an international context.
• Mathematics: High school math courses include general math, algebra, geometry, basic analysis, differentiation and integration, and probability and statistics.
• Science: High school students are required to take two from the following list of courses: comprehensive science, basic science, physics, chemistry, biology, or earth science.
• Health and Physical Education: Options in physical education classes include gymnastics, track and field, swimming, ball games of different types, kendo, sumo, judo, and dancing. Health classes focus on the prevention of disease and on the cultivation of healthy habits as a young adult.
• The Arts: High school students generally select two of the following courses: music, art, calligraphy, or crafts. Art course offerings may include painting, drawing, sculpture, or graphic design.
• Home Economics: As in lower schools, high school home economics comprises courses for both boys and girls that stress skills such as cooking, sewing, consumer skills, and computer use. Courses for boys tend to be called "Industrial Arts."

As mentioned earlier, the Curriculum Council submitted a report to the Ministry of Education that included a number of substantive recommendations for changing the public school system. This 1998 report suggested that secondary schools should offer a new required course called "Information Study." Such a course would help students learn to think independently, to process and send information via computers, and to fully participate in an information-driven society. Recommendation reports like this one are commissioned by the Ministry of Education as part of its periodic review of the Japanese education system.

Juku: Japanese education includes a "shadow" system of private schooling that students use to supplement the conventional education they receive. In addition to the yobiko (cram schools), the umbrella term juku is often used by Japanese students and teachers to encompass the full range of academic options outside the school system. The two main types of juku, other than cram schools, are as follows: naraigato/okeikogoto, courses that provide personal enrichment such as calligraphy or piano; and gakushu, (academic) juku, courses and tutoring that are directly related to academics. Academic juku can be taken to gain remedial help in particular courses or to provide advanced learning in preparation for entrance exams. These courses are to be distinguished from the specific type of juku called yobiko, which exclusively prepares students for particular exams. Although ideally juku are taken while a student is still in school, students who fail to gain admission to colleges of their choice may spend a year or two after high school studying in yobiko in hopes of being admitted on their next try.

A very high percentage of students attend juku. In 1998 it amounted to 71.8 percent of public junior high students, 54.9 percent of private junior high students, 35.1 percent of public senior high students, and 40.9 percent or private senior high students. These schools have turned into a huge business in Japan. In the mid-1990s, the largest such school in the country, called Yoyogi Seminar, had 27 branches, 2,000 employees, and a gross revenue of tens of millions of dollars.

Opinions about juku vary widely in Japan. The public has generally accepted them as a "second" school system that complements the public system and fills the gap between what the conventional schools teach and what the next level of schooling and related exams require. Even many educators recognize the value of juku in this respect. Of course, the juku employees and owners would agree that they provide an essential service. Critics of juku use the same argument to point out that the popularity of juku reflects the absolute failure of the Japanese educational system to prepare students for an academically rigorous future. Others note that juku focus primarily on rote memory learning. The time devoted to the schooling on nights and weekends keeps youth from balancing both work and play in their lives. But there are others who claim that juku in fact create an environment for social interaction of children, much like high school clubs do. You can find almost as many opinions about juku as there are people ready to talk about them. The fact is that juku are a part of the educational landscape that provide a necessary service and are not about to disappear.

Higher Education

Students who complete high school have these main options available to them: colleges or universities, junior colleges, technical colleges, special training, or employment.

Universities & Colleges: Japan has over 500 four-year colleges and universities. No special distinction is made between institutions called "college" and those called "university." (The term university is used here to indicate both.) There are basically three types of four-year institutions: (1) national universities that are supported by the central government, such as Tokyo University; (2) public universities that are supported by governments at the municipal or prefecture level; and (3) privately funded institutions. Approximately 75 percent of all universities in Japan are private.

The quality of education varies widely among Japan's four-year colleges and universities, which accounts in part for the stiff competition among students who wish to enter the best schools. Generally, universities aim to expose students to a broad range of knowledge while providing a context for research to be conducted by faculty. As of 1999 there were 99 national universities, 66 nonnational public universities, 457 private universities, altogether enrolling about 2,700,000 students, including graduate students. Overall, about 40 percent major in social sciences, 19 percent in engineering, and 17 percent in humanities. When just considering national universities, however, the proportions change to 31 percent in engineering, 18 percent in education, and 17 percent in social science. Most students do not have a "minor" field in their university studies.

Most university programs are completed in four years, with the exception of medical, dental, and veterinary undergraduate preprofessional programs, which take six years. Universities establish graduate programs in areas where they aim to provide opportunities for profound research and scholarship for both their faculty and their students. For admission to a graduate school, an applicant must have completed an undergraduate degree program or its equivalent. Most master's programs require two years of study beyond the undergraduate degree, whereas most doctoral degrees require five years. Exceptions are medical, dental, and veterinary graduate programs, which last four years. About 10 percent of university students went on to graduate school in 1999. The number has continually increased since 1980, when it was about 4 percent. In 1999 about 65,000 students began master's programs, and about 16,000 began doctoral programs.

The academic environment in Japanese universities and colleges has come under criticism in recent decades. It is extremely difficult for students to gain admission to universities, and they often only do so after taking a particular university's admission test two or three times. Having been admitted, however, many students often lapse into what are sometimes called "leisure lands" in Japan—that is, universities where little real academic work is completed. For example, students may dedicate a good portion of their time to extracurricular activities such as sports, music, arts, or even a part-time job. In the 1960s many students were extremely politically active and spent much of their time on leftist causes. Although that is not so much the reason for the leisure lands today, the result in that period is similar to the result today— students often skip class and fail to spend much time on their studies. Some reasons often given for this phenomenon are as follows: first, many students do not get admitted into the school of their first choice and are less motivated to work hard; second, they have not yet grasped the significance of the course of study they have selected and its importance to their future; third, many of the professors have given in to the phenomenon and are less than inspiring teachers, preferring instead to conduct their research and other duties; and fourth, there remains the perception that companies or government agencies traditionally hire their employees from the same universities, with little regard for the degree of academic achievement of graduates. Some aspects of this approach to university life have changed in recent years. The educational and working culture has changed as a result of globalization and as a result of Japan's economic downturns, creating a more competitive atmosphere in universities and in companies. But there is still work to be done to raise academic standards in universities.

Junior Colleges: Established during the Occupation after World War II, junior colleges usually involve two or three years of training and traditionally have enrolled mostly women. In fact, about two-thirds of the women who go on to higher education after high school enroll in junior colleges, though that number is decreasing as women gain access to more professional careers and attend universities in greater numbers. Taken together, about 12 percent of men and women who participate in higher education attend junior colleges. As of 1999 there were a total of 585 junior colleges in Japan, with 503 being private and 82 being public. Some of the most popular majors in junior college are as follows: home economics or domestic science (24 percent of students), humanities (23 percent), education (17 percent), and social science (13 percent).

Technical Colleges: Technical colleges were established in 1962 as five-year institutions for students who had completed their lower secondary (middle) schooling. These colleges emphasize specialized subjects that prepare students for a vocational life. Japan's technical colleges can be grouped into two main categories: industrial and merchant marine. For the industrial track, students can take courses in subjects such as industrial chemistry, public works, metalworking, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, electronic control, information technology, material/bio-engineering, civil engineering, and management information. The merchant marine track focuses on various aspects of marine studies and takes an additional six months, for a total of 5.5 years. In 1999 there were 62 technical colleges, 59 of which were national or public and 3 of which were private. A total of 56,436 students were enrolled, up from 52,930 students in 1990. Technical education continues to be a solid option for students who enjoy skilled labor and do not plan to advance to a university.

Special Training Schools: Another postsecondary option is "special training schools" and other miscellaneous schools that focus on specific vocational needs. Started in 1976 to fill particular niches in the industrial community, these schools are required to enroll at least 40 students and to last for at least one year, offering 800 hours of training for that one-year course. The courses at special training colleges can be grouped into three categories: advanced courses designed for graduates of upper secondary school (high school), high school level courses for graduates of middle school, and other courses. Courses in the high school group usually comprise two-year programs of study in business, engineering, foreign languages, hygiene, or medicine. As of 1999, there were 3,565 special training colleges, 3,206 of which were private and 359 of which were public or national. That year there were 753,740 students enrolled, up from about 40,000 in 1989.

Sometimes grouped with special training schools are "miscellaneous schools," a category that included special training colleges until they were declared a special type of institution in 1976. After the higher category of special training colleges was established, the miscellaneous schools began to be recategorized and thus declined precipitously in number. From 1980 to 1989 the number dropped from about 5,400 to 3,570, and the enrollment dropped from 724,000 to 442,186.

Administration, Finance, & Educational Research

The Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture (often shortened to Ministry of Education) represents the central educational authority in Japan. It is headed by the minister of education, who is appointed by the prime minister and serves on the prime minister's cabinet. The Ministry oversees many national institutions such as universities, museums, research institutes, and youth centers. It gives assistance to all levels of education throughout the country, especially at the municipal and prefecture level. Following are some of the specific responsibilities of the Ministry:

1. Plans and coordinates educational projects at all levels
2. Provides advice upon request from educational units around the country
3. Gives financial assistance to enhance education
4. Operates many educational institutions including universities, junior colleges, and technical colleges
5. Gives final approval for establishing public and private higher education institutions
6. Promotes lifelong learning throughout the country, because Japan has been making the cultural shift to this sort of system
7. Requires heads of municipal and prefecture governments to submit reports about their organizations, as deemed necessary
8. Orders local authorities to make adjustments in policies, procedures, or situations that may be in violation of regulations or laws
9. Oversees the curricula
10. Coordinates the selection of textbooks
11. Controls the programs for the training of teachers
12. Establishes standards for various types of equipment used in the schools

The Ministry has purview over essentially all educational institutions and serves as a central clearinghouse for proposals that aim to improve the national system of education.

Japan is composed of 47 prefectures. Every prefecture has a board of education that coordinates education in that geographic unit. Each board comprises five members who are appointed by that prefecture's governor, approved by the legislative assembly, and serve for a four-year term. Some of the main responsibilities of the board are as follows:

1. Manage the wide variety of educational units in the prefecture, from secondary schools and schools for the handicapped to museums and public libraries
2. Promote events and activities related to physical education and the social education of youth
3. Provide advice and financial assistance to the mayors and municipal boards within the prefecture
4. Establish or close down kindergartens, upper secondary schools, special education schools, special training schools, and miscellaneous schools
5. Issue certificates to teachers

In addition to the board having a wide range of responsibilities, the governors of the prefectures are charged with the following tasks: managing universities and junior colleges in the prefecture, approving the establishment of a variety of schools, and overseeing the drafting of budgets for a variety of educational activities.

Education administration at the municipal level is handled by a municipal board of education. Each board includes five members selected by the mayor of the municipality with the agreement of the elected assembly. Holding office for four years, these board members have the following responsibilities: selecting a municipal superintendent of education from among its own membership, managing a variety of educational institutions in the municipality, promoting cultural activities, and selecting textbooks for elementary and middle schools. Then the municipal mayor has the responsibility to oversee the municipal universities and junior colleges and the process of preparing educational budgets.

Several advisory councils assist the minister of education. The most important is the Central Council for Education, established in 1952 for the purpose of studying possible changes related to education, culture, and the arts and sciences. Composed of up to 20 members appointed by the minister of education, with the approval of the cabinet, the council has taken on a variety of issues—some of them quite controversial—during its tenure. In its first few years its work was primarily related to instituting compulsory education, maintaining the teaching profession as a politically neutral group, and improving the system by which textbooks are compiled. In the 1960s the council issued reports on subjects such as the junior college system, technical and scientific education, and financial aid for students.

In 1984 the Central Council for Education suspended its work and was temporarily replaced by the Provisional Council on Educational Reform, an advisory group installed by the cabinet to address serious issues related to the reform of the entire educational system in Japan. It consisted of 25 members, a strong staff of technical specialists, and a chairman, Okamoto Michio, a well-known figure in Japanese education and the former president of the prestigious Kyoto University. All four major reports completed by the Provisional Council focused on the importance of reinforcing a respect for individuality at all levels of education. The council offered proposals to improve adult and continuing education; create new university admission tests that would apply to national, public, and private universities alike; convert the separate three-year middle school and three-year high school systems into a six-year secondary school system; initiate a more flexible system for high schools whereby students could graduate after completing three years of work and a prescribed number of credits; and improve the training provided to teachers during their first year on the job. In the late 1980s the Ministry of Education began working to put a number of the group's recommendations into practice throughout the country. After the Provisional Council completed its work, the Central Council for Education was reconvened in 1989 and issued several important documents at that time.

In 1995 the Central Council for Education was reorganized by the Ministry of Education and asked to consider the educational challenges ahead for Japan in the twenty-first century. In its first report, issued in July 1996, the council showed that it was willing to take on many of the difficult challenges that would confront Japanese education in the new century. Following are a few of its observations and recommendations:

1. Advancements in information technology will change the nature of education in the coming years, and Japan must be prepared to incorporate these new technologies into the classroom.
2. Excessive focus on completion, especially for entrance to many levels of schooling, is a problem that must be addressed because it works against the need to nurture "competencies for positive living"—or balance—in the lives of children of all ages.
3. The family, schools, and community must do a better job of working together to solve growing problems such as school truancy and bullying within the schools.
4. The curriculum of schools should be reformed to include less straight memorization and more emphasis on critical thinking and independence of mind.
5. Schools should supplement the traditional classroom activities with additional programs in sports, volunteer work, nature studies, and other means of developing the full personality of the child.
6. There should be more emphasis on the importance of the home in the education of children, for example, with the use of new media and with the expansion of networking among groups of parents.
7. All elementary and secondary schools should begin to make the transition to the five-day school week, and "special attention should be paid to the following needs: the enrichment of children's out-of-school activities; an increase in the educational functions of the home and community; the mitigation of excessive competition for entrance examinations; the securing of some latitude in children's life; and the implementation of the five-day school week for all schools irrespective of different categories: national, local public or private" (Outline of Education in Japan 1997 ).

As a result of the council's 1996 report and the many other recommendations for reform in the years leading up to and following the report, the Ministry of Education has implemented a number of significant changes in all levels of education. The last few decades have witnessed serious efforts to reform education by the administrative units charged with overseeing the Japanese educational system.

Finances: Three main entities share financial responsibility for supporting public education: the national, prefectural, and municipal governments. Through the use of taxes and other means of acquiring income, each of these units funds a diverse array of educational programs at its level.

At the national level, the Ministry for Education funds two main units: first, the national educational establishments, such as universities; and second, various public and private educational institutions at the prefecture and municipal level. In 1999, the budget for the Ministry of Education was a little over 7 percent of the entire national budget. About half of that amount was related to liability of the cost of compulsory education, about a quarter was devoted to subsidizing national institutions such as universities, and the remainder was devoted to programs such as life-long education. At the level of the local governments, the relative expenditures for education are as follows for a typical year, in this case 1997: 35 percent for elementary schools, 20.8 percent for junior high schools, 18.3 percent for senior high schools, 17.3 percent for social education, and 5.6 percent for education administration.

Special mention should be made about the significant level of financial support provided to private institutions by the national government. The part that private institutions play in Japanese education is huge. In 1995, for example, the following percentages of Japanese students were enrolled in private schools: 74 percent of students in universities and junior colleges, about 30 percent of high school students, and about 80 percent of kindergarten students. Because of this major contribution, and the important research that goes on in many of these organizations, the government provides major subsidies under the provisions of the Private School Promotion Subsidy Law. Assistance is given to private universities, junior colleges, colleges of technology, secondary schools, and elementary schools.

As for scholarship aid, student aid programs are available through many private and public organizations. The primary benefactor is the Japan Scholarship Foundation, a public corporation supported by the national government, by prefectural and municipal governments, and by not-for-profit organizations. The foundation provides students with loans, either with or without interest. The no-interest loans are mainly directed to students attending upper secondary schools, universities, junior colleges, graduate schools, colleges of technology, and special training schools. The loans with interest generally are geared for students in universities, junior colleges, master's degree programs in graduate school, and specialized training schools. These loans do not accrue interest while the students are enrolled. Upon graduating, students begin to repay the loans, which have a relatively low annual interest rate. The heads of educational institutions have authority to choose the students who will receive loans in their respective institutions. In fiscal 1996, about 484,000 students received such loans.

Educational Research: Research on education in Japan is conducted both by government agencies and by private academic societies. The first main unit to support such research was formed in 1949 by the Ministry of Education. Originally called the National Institute for Educational Research, this agency had nine departments and had a wide range of official duties both within and outside the country. In particular, it coordinated research work being done by both private and public organizations throughout the country. Also, it linked up with research institutes in other Asian countries. In 2001 the institute was reorganized by the government and also renamed. Now called the National Institute for Educational Research, the organization has added to its agenda of research topics the study of educational policy.

In addition to the National Institute sponsored by the Ministry of Education, there are many other consortiums and academic societies that support educational research. A prominent one is the National Federation of Educational Policy Research Institutes, which in 2001 had a membership totaling 279 educational institutes throughout Japan. As for academic societies that support research in education, the most well known one is the Japan Society for the Study of Education. Founded in 1941, as of May 1999 it had 2,920 individual members and 340 organization members, of which 255 are universities and research institutes and 85 are bookstores.

Besides the Japan Society for the Study of Education, many other groups are involved with research in education, such as the following:

• Council for Improvement of Education through Computers (CIEC)
• History of Educational Thought Society (HETS)
• The Japanese Association of Educational Psychology (JAEP)
• The Japanese Association for Methods of Moral Education (JAMME)
• The Japanese Association for the Study of Educational Administration (JASEA)
• The Japan Academic Society for Educational Policy (JASEP)
• Japan Association for Women's Education (JAWE)
• The Japan Educational Administration Society (JEAS)
• Japan Society of Educational Information (JSEI)
• The Japan Society for Education System and Organization (JSESO)
• The Japanese Society for the Education of Young Children (JSEYC)

In addition to the above organizations, each subject taught within the school system is represented by its own society of education.

Nonformal Education

Japanese nonformal education comprises the various forms of learning that are not covered under the Fundamental Education Law of 1947 (which established the 6-3-3-4 system that extended from primary school through university education). Nonformal education includes the types of learning that occur outside the formal educational system. Though still under the oversight of the Ministry of Education, these forms of learning include supplemental learning quite unlike what is included in the formal system. Examples of nonformal education includes the following: juku or yobiko, social education, adult education, correspondence courses, and English language training.

"Social education" (or community education) generally refers to a wide range of organized activities beyond the structured school curriculum, aimed especially for adults and young people. Facilities often used for these activities include public halls, libraries, museums, youth houses, children's centers, women's education centers, and sports facilities, as described below.

Citizens' public halls exist in over 90 percent of Japanese communities and serve as centers for various activities. Besides lending books to members of the community, they provide a venue for lectures, exhibitions, meetings, physical training, and other forms of recreation. Public libraries and museums also serve as centers of learning, both by giving citizens access to their collections and by opening their facilities to community groups. Youth houses and children's centers give young people an opportunity to participate in activities that involve an overnight stay. Often located in areas with beautiful natural surroundings, these facilities focus on teaching young people skills such as self-discipline, collaboration, and service. Women's education centers aim to provide an opportunity for women to gain experience in leadership skills and to get together to share experiences and develop networks for support. Most of these centers are nongovernmental organizations or are run by local governments. Finally, there are many facilities throughout the country that encourage physical education of people of all ages. Besides playgrounds, swimming pools, and gymnasiums that are open to public use, many colleges and schools permit their physical education facilities to be used by members of the general public when not scheduled for students.

Adult education can also take the form of courses that are taken outside the classroom through correspondence or through other media such as radio, television, satellite transmission, or the Internet. Traditional correspondence course work was introduced in the 1880s at Waseda University, one of the most prestigious universities in the nation. Generally, two main options are available in correspondence work. First, the courses can be taken for actual course credit that applies to degrees, certificates, or diplomas given by the institution. Second, the curricula offered through correspondence may have no credit attached to it and instead can be taken to gain vocational background, to advance in cultural understanding, or to develop an outside interest or hobby. Courses range widely in content and include topics such as bookkeeping, drafting, calligraphy, childcare, and computer literacy.

One type of correspondence course of special note is the so-called Hoso Daigaku "University of the Air," a college that is operated by the Broadcast College Special Corporation and that is administered from an office in the city of Chiba. This organization was established in 1983 to provide university-level curricula on television and radio. Generally, students are required to have graduated from high school; however, students who are 18 or older and who have not received a high-school education can participate in the program. The system works in this fashion: a participant gets two credits by listening to 15, 45-minute lectures and then by completing some on-site work at local study centers located throughout the country. The course work falls into three main groups: domestic science, business/social science, and humanities/natural science. Once a student gains enough credit, he or she receives a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Students of all ages participate in the University of the Air, but about half the students are over the age of 40. The University of the Air is just one example, therefore, of the shift in Japan away from a strictly traditional student body receiving traditional professional degrees. Now certificates or nontraditional degrees, such as those gained through the University of the Air, are gaining credibility as mechanisms for seeking new employment or promotions in current positions.

One type of nonformal education that is extremely popular is training in the English language. An entire private industry has developed to teach English to those who feel they need more language preparation than they received in public school. As of the mid-1990s there were more than 400 such schools around the country, usually offering courses of one year or more. Much of the popularity of such courses arises from the fact that English has become the language of business and industry throughout the world, including Japan. Many of the Japanese people feel that the kind of English training they received in public school was inadequate for their purposes in the workplace, thus requiring nonformal courses later in life. Yet the subject of English language teaching certainly is not without controversy in contemporary Japan. In the year 2000 the prime minister's office received a report from a prestigious advisory group that suggested much more emphasis on English literacy in Japan's universities. Entitled "Japan's Vision for the 21st Century," the report even noted that it may be time to consider declaring English to be the country's official second language. Such a change would help provide the impetus for giving young people an adequate working knowledge of English before they enter the workforce, reducing the need for so much extra training after exiting the school system. Although establishing English as an official second language would be a controversial subject in a country that takes such pride in its own linguistic inheritance, there continues to be a strong demand for English training in nonformal education.

Teaching Profession

The aftermath of World War II saw significant changes in teacher training that had been in existence since the Meiji Restoration of 1868. Prompted by the recommendations of the 1946 U.S. Education Mission to Japan, the education of teachers was upgraded. Previously, most teachers received their training at "normal schools" or gained a certificate by passing an exam. The postwar reform grouped teacher training curricula into three main areas: general education, professional courses related to the subject matter being taught, and professional courses related to the practice of teaching. Other changes included the restructuring of the normal schools into professional teachers' colleges that required four years of education and the introduction of teacher training programs into traditional universities.

Teacher training today occurs at various types of institutions, depending on the level. Preschool or kindergarten teachers are educated at private junior colleges or at special institutes approved by the Ministry of Education. Teachers in primary schools or in special schools (e.g., schools for the handicapped) are trained in education departments of universities and at national teachers' colleges. Finally, middle and high school teachers are educated mainly at regular universities.

Teaching certificates, which are required for the profession, are divided into two groups, first class and second class, according to the amount of education received and the level of education being taught. Teachers can sometimes be given temporary certificates. They may advance from temporary to second class or from second class to first class by taking additional coursework, such as through in-service training while they are employed. Japanese educators have three main types of in-service training available to them:

1. Training done on their own or through the school where they work
2. In-service training completed at designated education centers operated by the Ministry of Education
3. In-service training at regular universities

A variety of opportunities exist for teachers to upgrade their skills. In addition, teachers who strive to advance their skills through such training often are selected for midlevel management positions within their school systems.

Teachers' incomes tend to be comparable to employees in other industries and actually slightly higher than other types of government workers. They have a standardized pay scale that is based primarily on their level of education, and middle school teachers have a separate salary scale than do high school teachers; however, beginning teachers in both groups with the same educational level start their career at the same salary. Besides their basic salary, teachers receive family allowances, bonuses, and other types of special pay adjustments. All teachers receive their bonuses three times each year. The amount of these bonuses is considerable, possibly totaling five times the individual's monthly salary. Teachers certainly deserve all the salary they earn because they are charged with a wide range of responsibilities within their schools.

Besides teaching in their subject areas or grades, teachers are responsible for guidance counseling, student activities such as clubs, homeroom supervision, and oversight of field activities conducted outside the school. Like teachers in many other countries, they also are obliged to commit time to tasks associated with their parent-teacher associations. One way that the system attempts to reduce "burn out" and stagnation in the profession is by periodically transferring teachers among schools within the same prefecture.

Teachers are appointed in various ways, depending on level and affiliation. If they teach at schools associated with national universities, the minister of education is responsible for appointing or dismissing them. If they teach at public elementary or middle schools, they are appointed or dismissed by the board of education in their prefecture. And if they teach in public high schools, they are appointed or dismissed by either the prefecture or municipal board of education. Oversight of the profession corresponds to the general administrative hierarchy for the national prefectural, and municipal governments.

Unions continue to play a role in the Japanese education system, with well over half of the teachers belonging. The largest teachers' union is Nikkyoso (the Japan Teachers' Union, or JTL), founded in 1947. Over the years it has tended to oppose the educational policies of the Ministry of Education. There are also more conservative teachers' unions such as the Nihon Kyoshokuin Remmei (Japan Federation of Teachers) and the Nihon Kyoshokuin Kumiai Rengo (New Japan Federation of Teachers Union). Union membership among teachers is most prevalent in the public schools at compulsory levels, but certainly unions are also represented in the high schools and even in the universities.

Summary

In many ways, Japanese education can be considered an overall success story, though certainly not without its problems in the early part of the twenty-first century. Highlights of what has worked well in Japanese education follow:

1. The nation is almost universally literate, with a high level of fluency and with a large amount of shared cultural knowledge among the populace.
2. About 96 percent of students who complete the nine years of compulsory education proceed on to the optional three years of upper secondary school.
3. Students completing high school enjoy a wide range of education options that include universities, junior colleges, technical colleges, and special training schools.
4. The organization overseeing the system, the Ministry of Education, has helped to promote a fairly high level of student standards and achievement, teacher training, and educational funding over the years.
5. The nation has remained reflective enough to recognize the problems in its education system and thus to initiate reform movements at critical periods in its history.

There are many nations throughout the world that are envious of the educational achievements in Japan. Japan's success seems especially remarkable in light of the huge efforts that had to be mounted at two particularly significant historical junctures: after the "opening" of Japan in 1853, when the country raced to modernize following over 200 years of virtual cultural isolation; and after World War II, when much of the countries' infrastructure lay in ruins.

Its overall success in education notwithstanding, Japan now confronts a number of heady challenges that will once again require the nation to overcome major obstacles. Here are five needs that are most prominent:

1. Need to Reduce Regimentation: The very quality that helped Japan's educational system take its part in the technological success of the country has come under criticism. One main result of recent reform movements has been to introduce more creativity and critical thinking skills into the curriculum. But the nation still has challenges ahead in reducing the emphasis on memorized learning, entrance exams, and outside "cram" schools.
2. Need to Reduce Rebelliousness and Related Problems: Figures from 1999 show some downturn in the bullying cases that were a large problem in the 1980s. However, statistics from 1999 also reveal troubling numbers of cases that involve problems such as general acts of violence, truancy, and violence against teachers—at least when compared with early data. Violence against teachers increased markedly in the last 15 years of the 1900s, a fact of particular concern in a culture with a history of Confucian respect for teachers and others in authority.
3. Need to Respond to Issues of Minority Communities: Some minority communities feel that the overwhelming sense of homogeneity in the Japanese culture affects the culture of the classroom as well. More sensitivity to the linguistic, social and intellectual needs of minority children is needed.
4. Need to Enhance the Intellectual Atmosphere in Universities: Although there have been some positive changes in the academic and social structure of universities, many of them still fail to challenge students intellectually. The system needs to rid itself of the perception, and in some cases reality, that a university education is more a reward for the hard work of completing high school and scoring well on entrance exams than it is a chance to take advantage of a stimulating intellectual environment.
5. Need to Increase Opportunities for Women Students: There have been significant advances in Japanese culture in general, and education in particular, with regard to gender equity. But work remains in ensuring that women are not expected, by their families or by the culture, to attend a certain type of postsecondary school or to enter a certain type of profession.

These needs notwithstanding, Japan has an enviable education system that has served the culture and its people quite well. If its history and the industry of its people are any indication, then one should expect that Japan will continue to reform its educational system to meet the needs of the future.

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—Minoru Moriguchi and William Sanborn Pfeiffer