Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Keio University - Japan

Keio has a proud history as Japan's very first private institution of higher learning, which dates back to the formation of a school for Dutch studies in 1858 in Edo (now Tokyo) by founder Yukichi Fukuzawa. Since the school's inception, the students of Keio have risen to the forefront of innovation in every imaginable academic field, emerging as social and economic leaders.
In today's internationally interdependent world, Keio places great effort upon maintaining the finest teaching faculty and superlative facilities. Based on the knowledge and experience of their predecessors, today's Keio students strive to develop the leadership qualities that will enable them to make valuable contributions to tomorrow's society. In 2008 the University celebrated its 150th anniversary.
Best Courses :
Graduate School of Letters
Graduate School of Economics
Graduate School of Law
Graduate School of Human Relations
Graduate School of Business and Commerce
Graduate School of Medicine
Graduate School of Science and Technology
Graduate School of Business Administration
Graduate School of Media and Governance
Graduate School of Health Management
Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Law School
Graduate School of Media Design
Graduate School of System Design and Management
more details : www.study-japan.info

Finance Course in International University of Japan

Corporate Finance
The objective of this course is to provide a thorough introduction to the fundamental principles of asset valuation and financing in competitive financial markets. The course examines the important issues in corporate finance from a perspective of financial managers who need to make significant investment and financing decisions. We start with the NPV rule, which leads us to the valuation of debt and equity. We then investigate the efficient market hypothesis and examine the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and the portfolio theories in such a market. We also learn to use the NPV rule to justify capital investment decisions. Option pricing will be the last step in our venture into the world of corporate finance. While this course is not designed to teach an abstract mathematical theory of modern financial economics, a basic theoretical understanding of various topics is essential to competent analysis and intellectual discussion. Furthermore, in examining issues in portfolio diversification, knowledge of basic statistics and spreadsheets will be essential and assumed. Prerequisite: Statistics. Co-requisite: Financial Accounting and/or Managerial Economics.

Managerial Economics

This course provides the concepts and tools of microeconomics most often applied in managerial or business contexts. It focuses on optimal resource-allocation, pricing strategies, and tactical decisions that are made by private firms and public institutions of an economy. Some mathematics will be used but emphasis is placed on understanding the economic implications of the equations. The course will take the form of lectures and discussion in class. Active class participation is encouraged.

Investments
This course will introduce you to major issues currently of concern to all investors in global financial markets. First, you will understand the basic mechanism of financial markets over viewing major players, assets, and conventions. Second, you will understand basic theories of investment analysis. Finally, you will obtain basic skills necessary to implement theories in real financial markets. Throughout this course, students will be equipped with knowledge and skills essential to start investments as an investment professional or a sophisticated individual investor. In addition, if you plan to take elective finance courses at IUJ such as Portfolio Management, Derivatives Markets, and Debt Securities Markets, this course will be an important foundation.
more details : www.study-japan.info

Study in International University of Japan

1976 The Foundation for the Establishment of the International University of Japan was formed.
The inaugural General Meeting of Promoters of the International University of Japan was held.
Representatives of Promoters of the International University of Japan: (Titles: at that time)
Tadashi Sasaki, Chairman, Japan Association of Corporate Executives
Toshio Doko, Chairman, Japan Federation of Economic Organizations
Sohei Nakayama, Advisor, The Industrial Bank of Japan, Ltd.
Shigeo Nagano, President, The Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Tatsuzo Mizukami, President, Japan Foreign Trade Council, Inc.
more details : www.study-japan.info
Mar 16, 1979 The Charter of establishment of the Foundation for the Establishment of the International University of Japan was issued.
Jan 16, 1982 The Charter of the Educational Foundation of the International University of Japan was approved. The International University of Japan and Graduate School of International Relations were established. As of this date, The Ministry of Education fully approves of, and accredits IUJ and GSIR as a Japanese private university under its authority.
Apr 1, 1982 The Graduate School of International Relations began to operate.
Apr 1, 1983 Students for the Graduate School of International Relations were accepted.
May 1, 1985 The Centre for Japan-U.S. Relations and the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies were established.
Mar 23, 1988 The Graduate School of International Management was established with full approval and accreditation from The Ministry of Education of Japan
Apr 1, 1988 The Graduate School of International Management began to operate.
June 1, 1988 Matsushita Library & Information Centre was established.
Aug 1, 1988 The International Management Research Institute was established.
Sep 1, 1988 Students for the Graduate School of International Management were accepted.
Apr 1, 1991 The Research Institute of Asian Development and the Global Communication Centre were established.
Sep 1, 1995 The Graduate School of International Relations reorganized its curriculum into two programs; International Relations Program and International Development Program.
Apr 1, 1997 The Centre for Japan-U.S. Relations, the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies, the International Management Research Institute and the Research Institute of Asian Development were unified. (IUJ Research Institute was established.)
Sep 1, 2001 Accepted the first Students for the E-Business Management program (One-year Master’s Degree program) of the Graduate School of International Management.
Sep 1, 2005 The International Peace Studies Program (IPSP) of the Graduate School of International Relations started.
more details : www.study-japan.info

Hitotsubashi University - Japan

As was noted in the preceding section, Hitotsubashi University began as the Institute for Business Training (Shôhô Kôshûjo), established privately in the business district of Tokyo in 1875, about twenty years after Japan had emerged from two and a half centuries of national isolation. The founder of this institute was Arinori Mori, who was later to become the first Minister of Education and play a leading role in establishing the educational policy of the new government. In his youth, Mori had studied at the University College of London, and was later appointed as a Japanese diplomat to the United States. While in London and Washington, D.C., he was able to observe directly the economic prosperity of Western countries, which he realized was due to a rational system of management in commerce and foreign trade, and to the dynamism of their businessmen. Looking at the contemporary economic situation of his own country, which had just started on the long path to modernization, he felt keenly the need to produce businessmen of a more modern kind, who could conduct business on equal footing with foreign businessmen, and who could take the place of the traditional merchants trained under the apprentice system. With this in mind, he established his institute, which expanded gradually with the support of influential figures such as Eiichi Shibusawa and Takashi Masuda. Shibusawa is regarded as the father of modern Japanese industry and established a number of large enterprises still active today, while Masuda was the founder of Mitsui & Co., Ltd. After coming under the administration of the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and then of the Tokyo Prefectural Government, the institute became a national school under the direct supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce in March of 1884, and changed its name to the Tokyo Commercial School.
more details : www.study-japan.info

Graduate Schools at Ritsumeikan - Japan


Ritsumeikan is home to 15 graduate schools located at the Suzaku, Kinugasa and Biwako-Kusatsu campuses. Ritsumeikan also has in place a number of graduate programs in English, giving students who have not mastered the Japanese language the opportunity to study in Japan. Click on the links below to see each graduate school's site.


more details : www.study-japan.info

Study Ritsumeikan University's

Rumeikan University's fundamental objectives include academic innovation and the development of young people, through higher education, to contribute to societal progress and the well-being of humankind. The colleges provide courses based on a methodical system in response to students career aspirations, while adhering to academic requirements. Combined with minor specializations and public lectures, RU provides a wide-ranging academic environment. Additionally, the Colleges of Law, Economics, Business Administration, Social Sciences, and Letters offer evening courses suitable for working people. more details : www.study-japan.info

Undergraduate School in Japan

Undergraduate School Japan
School of Political Science and Economics
School of Law
School of Letters, Arts and Sciences I
School of Letters, Arts and Sciences II
School of Culture, Media and Society
School of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Education
School of Commerce
School of Fundamental Science and Engineering
School of Creative Science and Engineering School of Advanced Science and Engineering
School of Social Sciences
School of Human Sciences
School of Sport Sciences
School of International Liberal Studies

more details : www.study-japan.info

Graduate Schools - Japan

Courses : Graduate Schools
Graduate Schools -
Graduate School of Political Science
Graduate School of Economics
Graduate School of Law
Graduate School of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Graduate School of Commerce
Waseda Business School

Graduate School of Fundamental Science and Engineering
Graduate School of Creative Science and Engineering Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering
Graduate School of Education
Graduate School of Human Sciences
Graduate School of Social Sciences
Graduate School of Sport Sciences
Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies
Graduate School of Global Information and Telecommunication Studies
Graduate School of Japanese Applied Linguistics
more details : www.study-japan.info

School of International Politics, Economics and Business, Aoyama Gakuin University

Aoyama Gakuin’s history dates from 1874 when missionaries sent from the American Methodist Episcopal Church established three schools which eventually became the present Aoyama Gakuin system, and this year Aoyama Gakuin is celebrating its 135th anniversary Aoyama Gakuin University.
Best Courses :
College of Literature
College of Education, Psychology and Human Studies
College of Economics
Faculty of Law
School of Business
School of International Politics, Economics and Communication
School of Cultural and Creative Studies
College of Science and Engineering
School of Social Informatics
The Aoyama Standard

more details : http://study-japan.info

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Securing the best education for your child

in some countries face a scarcity of options when it comes to educating their children, but in Japan the reverse is true: The array of alternatives and the potential permutations of language, curriculum and environment can be utterly overwhelming.
Parents — especially in Tokyo — have access to flyers, magazine ads, online parenting Web sites and schools' own informational sites, plus a host of other informational sources. But out of sheer exhaustion many fall back on a familiar source of information: the grapevine. The grapevine, of course, has one major drawback: sour grapes.
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Parents already desperately trying to educate their children are hardly trustworthy sources of neutral information. The wish to provide one's child with the best of everything can be compounded by the sense of vulnerability often felt by expats and, indeed, the feuding and competition over international school placings in Japan is legendary.
Caroline Pover has waded into the morass of gossip, anxiety and disappointment with a remarkably simple approach. Shunning any attempt to objectively rank schools on factors that are undeniably subjective, she invited the schools to describe themselves in their own words, supplementing some responses with interviews (schools were asked to pay a fee to be included in the guide, but Pover insists no school was excluded for financial reasons).
The strength of the compilation is not so much that the information is new, since much of the content (though by no means all) can be gleaned from the schools' own PR materials, but in the sheer number of options presented side by side. One hundred and one schools, preschools and after-school programs are packed into the book alphabetically, without regard to location or type of curriculum.
Although I found the organization unwieldy — I found it confusing to have preschools and after-school programs mixed in with elementary and high schools — within the massive context certain patterns do emerge.
For example, while one school offers an impassioned description of their approach to children with special needs and gifts, another responds with an equally enlightening "N/A." Ditto for answers about security, sex education, bilingual support and other hot-button topics. What a school chooses to omit from its profile can be just as informative as what it includes.
As someone who attended five different international schools in Japan as a child, in addition to public schools in both Japan and America, I have a high degree of skepticism about "international" schools. Even the best of intentions can produce a lousy educational setting.
I had friends in school who failed to master their mother tongue because they were so intent on learning a second language, and others who spoke better English than the teacher who was charged with instructing them. On the other hand, one of my richest learning experiences took place in a tiny, haphazard, one-room schoolhouse with a fuzzy curriculum and outdated materials.
For years I was amused by parents' mighty anxiety about their children's schooling. Look, I wanted to say, if even my patched-together education turned out OK, then your kids will be fine. Then I had a child of my own and I lost the ability to be so glib.
I asked Pover why she chose to have the schools self-report, rather than ranking the schools or rating them according to set criteria. Her perspective, as a seasoned educator without children of her own, was refreshing.
Ranking systems can lead parents to become hung up on which school is the biggest or the best, she said, so the guide deliberately eschews all judgment and opinion. Its goal is purely to collect the rich array of available options. Pover said she hopes it will encourage parents to consider which schools will best complement their child's individuality, and reject the notion that there exists one school that is "the best."
The uncategorized presentation is rather awkward, but also consistent with Pover's overall philosophy that education is a continuum of individualized experience.
Although some parents will balk at the price and the many advertisements smattered among the listings, I predict that most copies will end up looking like my own: well-thumbed, dog-eared and feathered with hopeful sticky notes. RELAED LINK : http://study-japan.info

Japan's Waseda University opens bioscience institute in Singapore

SINGAPORE, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Waseda University opened the Waseda Bioscience Research Institute in Singapore (WAIBOS) on Monday.
The WABIOS marks the first time that Waseda University is setting up research operations overseas independently.
WABIOS will focus its research in the areas of bio-imaging, bioengineering, biophysics and nano-biotechnology. It will also further develop the neuroscience, focused research findings derived from the Waseda-Olympus Bioscience Research Institute, a joint initiative between Waseda University and Olympus Corporation from 2004 to 2009, according to a statement by Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).
WABIOS has committed 2 million Singapore dollars (1.4 million U.S. dollars) for its research activities here and will start with a few researchers from both Japan and Singapore.
President of Waseda University Katsuhiko Shirai and Chairman of A*STAR Lim Chuan Poh also signed on Monday a Memorandum of Intent (MOI) here at the opening of WABIOS.
The agreement aims to facilitate research collaborations between scientists from the two organizations through joint symposia and workshops as well as enable graduate students from Waseda University to spend up to 2 years at A*STAR research institutes during the course of their PhD studies under A*STAR's Research Attachment Program.

For TV anchor, learning the lingo is key

Japanese national who attended an international school in Kobe throughout his youth, had to take Japanese lessons as a salaried worker when he realized he needed more skill in reading and writing.
Wordsmith: Gene Otani poses in front of the NHK headquarters in Shibuya, Tokyo, on Sept. 1. YOSHIAKI MIURA PHOTO

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Convinced that "communication is everything," Otani, now a main anchorman for the "NEWSLINE" program on the NHK World English-language channel for overseas viewers, gives foreign residents in Japan the same advice he gave himself — take Japanese lessons.
"If you want to live in Japan happily and successfully for a long time, please take Japanese-language lessons," Otani, 45, born to a Japanese mother and part-British and part-Japanese father, said in an interview.
"I have seen many foreigners who have lived in Japan about 10 years and cannot speak Japanese well. Japanese people are very kind and make them feel it's OK, but I would say Japanese spoil them too much," says the self-acknowledged surfing addict.
"In the U.S., foreigners would be told, 'Why can't you improve your English? Why can't you get along with others?' "
Otani grew up speaking Japanese with his mother. but English was the main language when he talked with his father. At the Canadian Academy in Kobe, which he attended from kindergarten through high school, he experienced a unique culture — a mixture of Japanese words in the Kansai dialect mixed with English sentences.
He says the only thing he regrets about high school — and most of his former classmates share his thoughts on this — is that the school back then offered a third-rate Japanese-language program.
But all in all, he says, he can't completely blame the teachers or the school. Otani says he wasn't really into studying during his youth. He was more interested in baseball, basketball and skateboarding.
"The first time I enjoyed studying was when I went to Lewis & Clark College," a school in Oregon where he majored in international politics and Russian, he says.
Some of the professors didn't use textbooks. And a former CIA agent was teaching international politics, which made classes extremely unique and interesting, he says.
After graduating from Lewis & Clark, he came back to Japan to work for Recruit Co., a magazine publisher known for nurturing future entrepreneurs, in 1986.
Recruit paid him for the round-trip air fare between Oregon and Los Angeles and a hotel there for a job interview, he says. He was among nine Japanese and an American being interviewed. Only Otani and the American were eventually hired.
Newsman: Gene Otani on the set of NHK World's "NEWSLINE" program. NHK
"At Recruit, I realized how bad my reading and writing was. I got frustrated and began studying Japanese at International Christian University" in Mitaka, western Tokyo, he said. He also began learning Japanese in the Kumon method, in which students repetitively practice languages and math until they are memorized. He said the Kumon method worked better than going to ICU.
After working as an advertising salesman for an international travel magazine at Recruit for just a year, he moved to California to start a real estate business in 1988 — when Japan's economy was at the peak of the asset-inflated bubble boom.
That didn't last long. In 1990, he closed down the business and went to a broadcasting school in Portland, Oregon, because he wanted to get involved in work that involved more creativity. He was tired of dealing with interest payments, construction framing, sheet rock painting and all the other tasks involved in real estate development, he says.
He sent demo tapes to radio stations in Japan, and FM Osaka hired him later. Since then he mostly forged a career path as a radio or TV personality, including seven years as a news anchor and reporter for the financial news broadcaster Bloomberg TV.
On Jan. 17, 1995, he was working for Kiss FM in Kobe. Due to an abrupt change in management, he was told his three-month contract wouldn't be renewed and would expire in a few days.
Early that morning, Kobe was devastated by the Great Hanshin Earthquake. He spent two hours getting to the radio station, walking through collapsed buildings and pulling people out of the debris in a commute that normally takes only 15 minutes.
He then worked 50 hours straight airing news in English and Japanese, broadcasting information about where people could get food and shelter.
"It still brings tears to my eyes. I was supposed to be laid off at the end of the three-month contract but was given an award by the company instead (for the effort). That gave me a taste of how important a journalist's job can be."
Otani says he often hears complaints from some foreigners that police tend to target them in questioning over bicycle thefts, possessing a knife or other illegal acts.
He says the situation is unfortunate and doesn't know if there is an easy solution "because xenophobia to a certain extent exists in almost every country, though Japan may have it more than other countries."
He suggests following the "when in Rome" concept. He travels to Bali, Indonesia, and says people there treat him entirely differently when he speaks a few Indonesian words — an approach that he believes is more friendly toward the local people and conveys a feeling of gratitude on his part.
Foreigners may also be better off if they know how not to look and act like a magnet for police questionings, Otani says. For example, most of his male foreign friends never ride a "mama chari," or a bicycle for mothers typically equipped with a grocery basket and a baby chair, because police think men don't usually ride one, he says, adding his friends also usually wear bicycle helmets.
Otani remembers being called a "Jap" when he was studying in the United States. It took him by surprise because of the international surroundings he had been brought up in Kobe. He says wherever you go there are bigots and suggests spending no time with people who use such words.
He also says some non-Japanese here don't like to be called foreigners or "gaijin." He can relate to such feelings and believes any words that can offend should not be used. And what specific words are offensive "should be defined by the person who feels offended, not by the person using the word."
Otani also has a piece of advice for "kikoku-shijo," or Japanese students returning from overseas — a sense of humor bridges the gap with their Japanese classmates.
"For instance, if people say you are different because you speak English, you should say, 'Sure and I can do a few other tricks, too!' My point is you have to play catch (like with a baseball) in conversation, or the conversation stops," he said. "This is a technique kids learn at international schools."

DPJ AT THE HELM / Minister aims for spring start to free high scho

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Education, Science and Technology Minister Tatsuo Kawabata early Thursday announced his intention to make public high school education effectively free from next spring by having the related bill pass as a part of the fiscal 2010 budget bills in an ordinary Diet session next year.
To secure necessary funds for the plan, which is estimated to cost about 450 billion yen a year, Kawabata emphasized the need for increasing his ministry's budget. "We'll eliminate wasteful spending in the ministry, but I don't think that will be enough," he said.
Regarding the details of the system, Kawabata implied both the possible adoption of an indirect provision--in which the government would grant money equivalent to tuition fees to prefectural governments or educational corporations--and direct payments to parents, the payment method the Democratic Party of Japan proposed in its manifesto.
"It's still debatable if the direct payment to individuals is the best way. I haven't decided yet," Kawabata said. Related link http://study-japan.info

More foreign students than ever

The Association for the Promotion of Japanese Language Education recently convened over a government proposal to increase the number of foreign students in Japan to 300,000 by 2020. That plan is positive not only for students, schools and teachers, but also for Japan as a whole. This increased opening of Japanese education to foreign students is better late than never. The benefits are immense.
Japan was flooded with foreigners in the '80s and '90s. Many came on false documents and overstayed their visas. Those problems with foreign students are largely in the past. Nowadays, schools and immigration are better at managing the application process and focusing more on students in higher-level programs. Students these days have often already studied the Japanese language back home. While they might eventually also want to find work in Japan, they know the value of studying first. The programs and courses of study have improved tremendously in recent years.
Japanese schools are already well into a process of internationalizing, as more and more students from abroad arrive on campuses. These academic exchanges and casual contacts help to transform traditional mind-sets and outdated ways of thinking. However, the important counterpart to foreign students coming here is Japanese students going overseas. The number of students studying abroad has fallen in recent years, so high schools, universities and exchange programs need to encourage students more.
Many of the students who come to Japan are likely to stay and work in Japan, or find work that makes use of their Japanese-language, social and cultural skills. This, too, will be a tremendous benefit all around. After studying and experiencing Japanese culture firsthand, those who choose to stay will be quite different from the last generation that took hard physical labor jobs in factories. The exchange between foreign and Japanese students will prepare them for a future of internationalized workplaces and complex tasks.
Japan should welcome this plan and work toward its full realization. Its positive effects extend far beyond helping just individual students and school budgets. These ongoing educational exchanges can potentially establish a very different worldview for the next generation.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Education & Study in Japan

From the ancient times education and study in Japan have had an immense importance in the Japanese Society. The array of schools in Japan includes Private schools, Public schools and private schools that are not affiliated by ‘MEXT' of Japan. In the mid of nineteenth century the prime aspiration of Japanese Education was to attain the educational standards of west. To achieve this target the Education or Study method in Japan was mainly designed on French and German Educational System. Batter you visit this site where you found full details http://www.study-japan.info/
In Japan ‘Compulsory Education' integrates several basic school and high schools. More than 85% among all students receives graduate degree from high schools while about 39% students acquire degrees from junior colleges or university. This array of schools and universities makes the Study in Japan extremely privileged as well as updated.
Commonly in the Japanese schools the academic session commences from the month of April and comprises of three terms. Along with one month of vacation the terms are divided by small seasonal recess in winter and spring seasons. From the ancient times education and study in Japan have had an immense importance in the Japanese Society. The array of schools in Japan includes Private schools, Public schools and private schools that are not affiliated by ‘MEXT' of Japan. In the mid of nineteenth century the prime aspiration of Japanese Education was to attain the educational standards of west. To achieve this target the Education or Study method in Japan was mainly designed on French and German Educational System.
In Japan ‘Compulsory Education' integrates several basic school and high schools. More than 85% among all students receives graduate degree from high schools while about 39% students acquire degrees from junior colleges or university. This array of schools and universities makes the Study in Japan extremely privileged as well as updated.
Commonly in the Japanese schools the academic session commences from the month of April and comprises of three terms. Along with one month of vacation the terms are divided by small seasonal recess in winter and spring seasons. www.study-japan.info

study-japan.info

The Japanese Educational System (Overview) Some Statistics The National School Curriculum About School Life The Hidden Face of Japanese Education The Role of Modern Schooling Educational Reform & Other Current Issues Higher Education International Schools Alternative Education Bibliography and Online Readings details visit www.study-japan.info
The topics listed above generate the most-asked questions or most-discussed issues relating to Education in Japan today. In addition, the above headings will lead you to pages of information that represent the range of educational options that are open to parents and their children who are residing in Japan today. Please click on the above link(s) for more information on the topic that interests you the most.

The Japanese Educational System
details visit http://www.study-japan.info/
Assembly time at a public elementary school
The schooling years in the Japanese education system are segmented along the lines of 6-3-3-4: 6 years of primary or elementary school; 3 years of middle or junior high school; 3 years of high school; and 4 years of university. However, the government has just announced (October 2005, Daily Yomiuri) that it is intending to make changes in the Education Law to allow schools to merge the 6-3 division between elementary and middle schools. The key purpose for this change is to allow elementary and middle schools to pool or share their resources, with special regard to making available specialist teachers of middle schools to elementary schools.
Many private schools, however, offer a six year programme incorporating both junior high school and high school. Specialised schools may offer a five year programme comprising high school and two years of junior college. There are two options for tertiary education: junior college (two years) and university (four years). details visit http://www.study-japan.info/
A school year has three terms: summer, winter and spring, which are each followed by a vacation period. The school year begins in April and ends in March of the following year.
An elementary school (from 6 years) and junior high school (3 years) education, i.e. nine years of schooling are considered compulsory (see pages on legality of homeschooling).
This system, implemented by the School Education Law enacted in March 1947 after WWII, owes its origin to the American model 6-3-3 plus 4 years of university. Many other features of the Japanese educational system, are however, based on European models.
Compulsory education covers elementary school and junior high school. A break from the past, modern public schools in Japan today are mostly co-ed(more than 99% of elementary schools). The Japanese school year begins in April and students attend school for three terms except for brief spring and winter breaks and a one month long summer holiday. details visit http://www.study-japan.info/

Some Statistics
Japan has 23,633 elementary schools, 11,134 junior high schools, 5,450 senior high schools, 995 schools for the handicapped, 702 universities, 525 junior colleges, and 14,174 kindergartens (May 2003 figures). School attendance rate for the nine years of compulsory education is 99.98%.
About 20.7 million students (May 2003 figures) were enrolled in educational institutions in Japan from the kindergarten to university levels.
Enrolment of the population of students may be broken up into:
1,760,442 in kindergartens;7,226,911 in elementary schools; 3,748,319 in junior high schools;3,809,801 in senior high schools; 250,065 in junior colleges (usually two years);2,803,901 in universities (four years) and graduate schools; 57,875 in technical colleges; 786,135 in special training schools; and 189,570 in other types of schools.
Japanese children enter primary school from age 6. The average class size in suburban schools is between 35-40 students, though the national average had dropped to 28.4 pupils per class in 1995. 70% of teachers teach all subjects as specialist teachers are rare in elementary schools. 23.6% of elementary school students attend juku (mostly cozy family-run juku).
Suburban schools tend to be large with student populations ranging from around 700 to over 1,000 pupils, while remote rural schools (19% of schools) can be single-class schools.
From age 12, children proceed to middle schools. At this point, about 5.7% of students attend private schools. The main reasons why parents choose such schools are high priority on academic achievement or because they wish to take their children out of the high school selection rat-race since such schools allow their students direct entry into their affiliated high schools (and often into the affiliated universities).
2005 results of a survey-questionnaire sent to schools of 6th grade parents in 2 Tokyo wards showed:

Parents who select a private junior high school for their child tend to be parents with time and economic influence (home-makers or self-employed with one child) base their decisions and place top priority on academic achievement. The most common reason for sending their children to a private junior high school was that they wanted their children to achieve a higher level of academic achievement. Parents who select public junior high schools make their choice on the basis of location, incidence of bullying, and personal guidance. Among parents who selected a public school outside the school district, 45% reported that a particularly important criterion was little incidence of bullying and truancy, indicating that bullying was a crucial consideration. The most important criteria for these parents in selection were distance to school, environment and whether good friends also attended the school. A large percentage of parents (65.1%) tend to select the school based on hearsay.
90.8% of the parents send their children to a juku or cram school, and those whose children attended cram school four or more days a week accounted for 65.2%.
98% of 15 year-old middle-school graduates go on to high schools or private specialist institutions. A high-school diploma is a considered the minimum for the most basic jobs in Japanese societies. The rate of students who advance on to senior high schools was 97.0% in 2002.
One-fourth of students attend private high schools, a small number of which are elite academic high schools. Over 97% of high-school students attend day high schools, about three-fourths are enrolled in academic courses. Other students are enrolled in the one or other of the 93 correspondence high schools or the 342 high schools that support correspondence courses.
There are 710 universities (not counting junior colleges). Almost three-fourths of university students are enrolled at private universities. The rate of students who went on to universities and junior colleges was 44.8 %.
Special education institutions exist: 70 schools for the deaf (rougakko); 107 for the blind (mougakko); 790 for those with disabilities (yougogakko). This number is considered to be inadequate.

The National School Curriculum
The elementary school curriculum covers Japanese, social studies, mathematics, science, music, arts and handicrafts, homemaking and physical education. At this stage, much time and emphasis is given to music, fine arts and physical education. (See sample curriculum here)
Once-a-week moral education classes were re-introduced into the curriculum in 1959, but these classes together with the earlier emphasis on non-academic subjects are part of its "whole person" education which is seen as the main task of the elementary school system. Moral education is also seen as more effectively carried on through the school routine and daily interactions that go on during the class cleaning and school lunch activities.
The middle curriculum includes Japanese, mathematics, social studies, science, English, music, art, physical education, field trips, clubs and homeroom time. Students now receive instruction from specialist subject teachers. The pace is quick and instruction is text-book bound because teachers have to cover a lot of ground in preparation for high-school entrance examinations.
High schools adopt highly divergent high school curricula, the content may contain general or highly specialized subjects depending on the different types of high schools. To view a sample curriculum of a high school (Ikoma High School), visit the following link.
High schools may be classed into one of the following types:

Elite academic high schools collect the creme de la creme of the student population and send the majority of its graduates to top national universities. Non-elite academic high schools ostensibly prepare students for less prestigious universities or junior colleges, but in reality send a large number of their students to private specialist schools (senshuugakko), which teach subjects such as book-keeping, languages and computer programming. These schools constitute mainstream high schooling. Vocational High Schools that offer courses in commerce, technical subjects, agriculture, homescience, nursing and fishery. Approximately 60% of their graduates enter full-time employment. Correspondence High Schools offers a flexible form of schooling for 1.6% of high school students usually those who missed out on high schooling for various reasons. Evening High School which used to offer classes to poor but ambitious students who worked while trying to remedy their educational deficiencies. But in recent times, such schools tend to be attended by little-motivated members of the lowest two percentiles in terms of academic achievement.

About School Life
School life often receives bad press on delinquency, bullying (ijime) or behavioral problems or the spate of horrendous and baffling crime knifings and killings taking place in schools in the past decade that were once unheard of in the country. Student life in public elementary schools in general is however acknowledged by most Japanese to be largely enjoyable, except for some students that can set in during the transition to junior high school.
Rigorous swotting for entrance exams is said to characterise student life in Japanese schools beginning just before entry to middle schools. To secure entry to most high schools, universities, as well as a few private junior high schools and elementary schools, applicants are required to sit entrance exams and attend interviews.
As a result, a high level of competitiveness (and stress) is often observed among students (and their mothers) during pre-high to high school years. In order to pass entrance exams to the best institutions, many students attend private afterschool study sessions (juku or gakken) that take place after regular classes in school, and/or special private preparation institutions for one to two years between high school and university (yobiko).
Follow the following links to find out more about: Hoikuen (Daycare centers)Preschools & Kindergarten LifeElementary School LifeJunior High School LifeHigh School LifePrivate Schools
The Hidden Face of Japanese Education
Beyond Academics -- School Culture
Children learn early on (beginning in preschool) to maintain cooperative relationships with their peers; to follow the set school routines; and to value punctuality (from their first year in elementary school). Classroom management emphasizes student responsibility and stewardship through emphasis on daily chores such as cleaning of desks and scrubbing of classroom floors. Students are encouraged to develop strong loyalties to their social groups, e.g. to their class, their sports-day teams, their after-school circles, e.g. baseball and soccer teams. Leadership as well as subordinate roles, as well as group organization skills are learnt through assigned roles for lunchtime (kyushoku touban), class monitor or class chairperson and other such duties.
Despite the assigned leadership-subordinate roles, group activities are often conducted in a surprisingly democratic manner. Teachers usually delegate authority and responsibility to students. Small-group (han) activities often foster caring and nurturing relationships among students.
The teaching culture in Japan differs greatly from that of schools in the west. Teachers are particularly concerned about developing the holistic child and regard it as their task to focus on matters such as personal hygiene, nutrition, sleep that are not ordinarily thought of as part of the teacher's duties in the west. Students are also taught proper manners, how to speak politely and how to address adults as well as how to relate to their peers in the appropriate manner. They also learn public speaking skills through the routine class meetings as well as many school events during the school year.
Noisy and lively classrooms, the absence of teacher supervision along with the effective use of peer supervision are most often noted of elementary school classrooms. Homework workload is not overly heavy at this stage, daily portions typically comprise kanji (Chinese characters) or kokugo (Japanese language) worksheets and one or two pages of arithmetic worksheets. Various after-school hamako or club activities or remedial classes may be held by individual home-room teachers (or schools) as they see fit.
Middle-school (i.e. junior school) instruction of academic subjects shifts gear into intense, structured, fact-filled learning and routine-based school life. Small-group han are dispensed with during academic classes. Hierarchical teacher-peer and senior-to-junior relationships as well as highly organized, disciplined and hierarchical work environments such as various established student committees, are observed at middle schools.
Juku and Exam War culture
High school environment shifts the student to a lecture-centered and systematic learning mode which is alternatively lauded for its high levels of achievement in math and science and criticized for its monotony and lack of creativity during a time geared towards competitive examinations when an intensive selection process occurs.
From middle-school to high school years, students are affected more by the after-school activities and juku culture. 59.55% of middle-school students attend juku usually the large-scale cram school chains (1993 MOE survey) compared to the 23.6% figure for elementary school students. To know more about the importance of cram schools, read Jukus: The Hidden Face of Japanese Education
Peer group culture
Peer group culture or school culture is at its peak during high school years. Entrance examinations play a strong differentiating role here. High school culture tends to be distinctive and markedly different depending on the type of high school. At this stage, students become aware of the nature and ranking of high schools that influence their future, and career opportunities, and hence of the differentiation or sorting that is taking place.
An elaborate hierarchical labyrinth exists in each school district in which high schools are ranked, based on the difficulty of admission. Different high schools also have markedly different missions, preparing their students for different destinations. Consequently, different high schools develop distinctly different subcultures.
The high school rankings also correspond strongly to the relative wealth and privilege of the students. Students with more privileged backgrounds (in terms of parental occupations and income) concentrate at the higher-ranked schools while those with less privileged background congregate at lesser ranked schools.
A key feature noted of high school culture is the competitive socialization that takes place towards university entrance examinations. Since high school institutions play the role of selecting young people based on their academic achievement, identifying some for leadership positions and others for subordinate positions. The competitive nature of university entrance examination exemplifies the selective function and ultimate sorting role of Japanese high schools.
Elite High Schools offer well-prepared one-hour lecture-style text-bound classes. Such schools have few disciplinary problems and students are spirited and well-rounded or active in after-school extra-curricular activities. Vocational High School students, on the other hand, often suffer low morale problems. Disciplinary, truancy, and delinquency (smoking and vandalism) problems are common.
Perspectives on school culture
Various viewpoints exist but the main ones may be summarized as the consensus theory and the conflict theory.
The former explains the school culture as being an important aspect of fostering the relative stability, consensus and harmonious nature within Japanese society. Viewed from this perspective, societal problems tend to be addressed by attempts to create more caring environments within schools.
The latter view sees the school culture as responsible for socializing children into accepting the dominant ideology, and for legitimizing school versions of knowledge, values and worldviews, as well as the existing inequalities across society. Schools, according to this view, recognize and reward certain types of ability in children, conduct differentiation based on so-called merits and have the effect of differentiating children into leadership and subordinate positions, thus preserving inequality across generations.
Incidentally, the consensus theory tends to correspond to the interpretative viewpoint of the Ministry of Education while the conflict theory reflects that of the teachers' union and intellectuals. The interactionist approach adopts the viewpoint that it is the participants, i.e. the students, families, teachers and other significant players in schooling who interact with the school in diverse ways and shape the schooling experience and outcomes.

The Role of Modern Schooling
Modern schools are regarded as performing four key roles:
1. Transmitting cognitive knowledge;2. Socializing and acculturating;3. Selecting and differentiating young people;4. Legitimating what they teach.
Modern schools perform these roles, but the emphasis placed on the different roles varies during the course of schooling and in each different segment of the educational system.
National policy is constantly shifting priorities placed on the different aspects and roles of education. Teachers do not always agree on the nationally set priorities. Interest groups constantly assert their views on where priorities should lie.
Public schools tend to be different from private ones, following the national policy guidelines more closely than private ones. Individual schools also derive differing philosophies, based on tradition and character of the body of principal and teachers running the school.
Educational goals and the quality of education in the schools of Japan as such can be diverse, with the resulting reality that schooling scene is a complex one.
Nevertheless, some similarities can be observed and generalizations made about Japanese thinking on the role of Japanese schooling.

There is still relatively strong consensus among the Japanese that schools are the main conduit for transmitting the basic literacy and numeracy skills and core body of useful knowledge, a necessary preparation for adult society. This is role of cognitive development. The schooling process and interactions within the school day are considered vital for instilling particular values and desirable behavioral dispositions esteemed by Japanese society. Many socialization studies have emphasized common features of socialization in Japanese school life, namely strong group consensus and socialization by group or peer pressure. Schooling is regarded to be a preparation for appropriate positions in the workforce and for adult society. By and large, most Japanese believe that schooling offers an opportunity for all children to move up the social ladder if they are willing to work hard. Equal opportunity is thought to exist in Japan through its educational system. It is widely thought that selection to higher schools is based on merit and is therefore fair and that all who work hard will achieve their goals. Schooling also plays the role of selecting young people based on their academic achievement, identifying some for leadership positions and others for subordinate positions. The competitive nature of university entrance examination exemplifies the selective function of Japanese schools. Schools legitimate the version of knowledge imparted to students as true and neutral by teaching it. This comes to light especially in the brewing political hot potato that is the history textbook controversy.

Educational Reform & Other Current Issues
More than 90% of all students graduate from high school and 40% from university or junior college. 100 % of all students complete elementary school and Japan is repeatedly said to have achieved 100% literacy and to have the highest literacy rate in the world since the Edo period.
The Japanese educational system has been highly regarded by many countries and has been studied closely for the secrets to the success of its system, especially in the years before the economic bubble burst. However, following the bursting of the bubble and the ensuing decade of recession, a number of issues have come under scrutiny both at home and abroad. To read more about other current issues such as bullying, school refusal and youth delinquency, click here.

Higher Education
Japan has already begun to experience a population decline, with the result that many universities are already having difficulty maintaining their student populations, although entry into top ranks of the universities remains hugely competitive. The emerging and foreseeable trend is that many universities will have to try to attract large numbers of foreigners or diversify or face closure. It is also now said that a university education in Japan is within easier reach of students today, but that the quality of that higher education is now in question despite the many educational reforms that have been set in motion.
In his book Challenges to Higher Education: University in Crisis Professor Ikuo Amano noted that the critical public is far from being satisfied with these series of reforms. The reason is that the selection process of old for entry to the so-called 'first-tier universities' remains fundamentally unchanged. That is, there has been nothing done to ameliorate the entrance war for entry into these most notoriously difficult to enter institutions that are at the nucleus of an examination based on numerous subjects. Furthermore, in a society that places more importance on 'credentialization' or labelization or branding (gakkooreki) of the name of the school from which one graduates, than on simply possessing a university education, no matter how much the selection process of the university applicants is reformed, students will continue to strive to enter a small number of 'top-tier' or 'brand-name' universities (gakureki) and the severe examination war will not disappear. In this sense, the university entrance reform is a permanent issue for Japanese universities.
Each academic year begins in April and comprises of two semesters. Basic general degrees are four-year degrees, a feature adapted from the American system. Undergraduate students receive instruction via the lecture and seminar group method. The general degree may be followed by two-year Master's degrees (generally a combination of lectures and guided research) and then a three year Doctorate (largely based on research) where these are offered.
Graduate education in Japan is underdeveloped compared to European countries and the United States with only slightly more than 7 percent of Japanese undergraduates going on to graduate school as compared to 13 percent of American undergraduates. Postgraduate educational offerings are weak and the number of universities offering postgraduate programmes or a wide variety of programmes, is small, compared to that in other industrialized western countries.
Japan has about three million students enrolled in 1,200 universities and junior colleges and consequently the second largest higher educational system in the developed world. Japan also has one of the largest systems of private higher education in the world. The 710 odd universities in Japan can be separated into 3 categories: highly competitive, mildly competitive and non-competitive (the schools that are first-tier being the infamously difficult to enter ones). Public universities are generally more prestigious than their private ones with only 25 percent of all university-bound students being admitted to public universities.
More than 65 percent of high school graduates continue their studies; of these, over 70 percent are enrolled in private colleges and universities. Only about 10 percent of private institutions receive their financial resources from public funding, with most public funds on higher education being spent on the national and local public universities. Despite the impressive statistics, Japanese universities are considered to be the weakest link in the country's educational system.
While many western writers have, time and time again, attributed the economic success of Japan to the well-educated and highly literate population of Japan, recent writings and studies tend to be far more critical, lamenting the deplorable state and quality of higher education in Japan today. Despite the famed exam rigors and competitiveness, declining standards in education and the high school student's lack of interest in studying have lately been under spotlight. Some attribute this disinterestedness to the fact that academic effort no longer assured automatic rewards with the disintegration in the formerly stable and guaranteed lifetime employment system. details visit www.study-japan.info
Japanese students are also widely known to traditionally consider their university days to be a social playground, a reward for the hard work and having made it there, and, as many critics have recently pointed, professors demand relatively little from their students. Brian McVeigh in his book Japanese Higher Education as Myth indicts the local university system as a de facto system of employment agencies or at best a waiting room before students hit the assembly line working world.
Despite the institutional change and sweeping national reforms underway in response to these criticisms, the key problems remain unresolved: the pyramidal-structure of the university system and entrance exam wars; the centrally-controlled curriculum and lack of individuality and creativity of students as well as the lack of competitiveness in educational suppliers. details visit http://www.study-japan.info/

study-japan.info

The Japanese Educational System (Overview) Some Statistics The National School Curriculum About School Life The Hidden Face of Japanese Education The Role of Modern Schooling Educational Reform & Other Current Issues Higher Education International Schools Alternative Education Bibliography and Online Readings details visit www.study-japan.info
The topics listed above generate the most-asked questions or most-discussed issues relating to Education in Japan today. In addition, the above headings will lead you to pages of information that represent the range of educational options that are open to parents and their children who are residing in Japan today. Please click on the above link(s) for more information on the topic that interests you the most.

The Japanese Educational System
details visit www.study-japan.info
Assembly time at a public elementary school
The schooling years in the Japanese education system are segmented along the lines of 6-3-3-4: 6 years of primary or elementary school; 3 years of middle or junior high school; 3 years of high school; and 4 years of university. However, the government has just announced (October 2005, Daily Yomiuri) that it is intending to make changes in the Education Law to allow schools to merge the 6-3 division between elementary and middle schools. The key purpose for this change is to allow elementary and middle schools to pool or share their resources, with special regard to making available specialist teachers of middle schools to elementary schools.
Many private schools, however, offer a six year programme incorporating both junior high school and high school. Specialised schools may offer a five year programme comprising high school and two years of junior college. There are two options for tertiary education: junior college (two years) and university (four years). details visit www.study-japan.info
A school year has three terms: summer, winter and spring, which are each followed by a vacation period. The school year begins in April and ends in March of the following year.
An elementary school (from 6 years) and junior high school (3 years) education, i.e. nine years of schooling are considered compulsory (see pages on legality of homeschooling).
This system, implemented by the School Education Law enacted in March 1947 after WWII, owes its origin to the American model 6-3-3 plus 4 years of university. Many other features of the Japanese educational system, are however, based on European models.
Compulsory education covers elementary school and junior high school. A break from the past, modern public schools in Japan today are mostly co-ed(more than 99% of elementary schools). The Japanese school year begins in April and students attend school for three terms except for brief spring and winter breaks and a one month long summer holiday. details visit www.study-japan.info

Some Statistics
Japan has 23,633 elementary schools, 11,134 junior high schools, 5,450 senior high schools, 995 schools for the handicapped, 702 universities, 525 junior colleges, and 14,174 kindergartens (May 2003 figures). School attendance rate for the nine years of compulsory education is 99.98%.
About 20.7 million students (May 2003 figures) were enrolled in educational institutions in Japan from the kindergarten to university levels.
Enrolment of the population of students may be broken up into:
1,760,442 in kindergartens;7,226,911 in elementary schools; 3,748,319 in junior high schools;3,809,801 in senior high schools; 250,065 in junior colleges (usually two years);2,803,901 in universities (four years) and graduate schools; 57,875 in technical colleges; 786,135 in special training schools; and 189,570 in other types of schools.
Japanese children enter primary school from age 6. The average class size in suburban schools is between 35-40 students, though the national average had dropped to 28.4 pupils per class in 1995. 70% of teachers teach all subjects as specialist teachers are rare in elementary schools. 23.6% of elementary school students attend juku (mostly cozy family-run juku).
Suburban schools tend to be large with student populations ranging from around 700 to over 1,000 pupils, while remote rural schools (19% of schools) can be single-class schools.
From age 12, children proceed to middle schools. At this point, about 5.7% of students attend private schools. The main reasons why parents choose such schools are high priority on academic achievement or because they wish to take their children out of the high school selection rat-race since such schools allow their students direct entry into their affiliated high schools (and often into the affiliated universities).
2005 results of a survey-questionnaire sent to schools of 6th grade parents in 2 Tokyo wards showed:

Parents who select a private junior high school for their child tend to be parents with time and economic influence (home-makers or self-employed with one child) base their decisions and place top priority on academic achievement. The most common reason for sending their children to a private junior high school was that they wanted their children to achieve a higher level of academic achievement. Parents who select public junior high schools make their choice on the basis of location, incidence of bullying, and personal guidance. Among parents who selected a public school outside the school district, 45% reported that a particularly important criterion was little incidence of bullying and truancy, indicating that bullying was a crucial consideration. The most important criteria for these parents in selection were distance to school, environment and whether good friends also attended the school. A large percentage of parents (65.1%) tend to select the school based on hearsay.
90.8% of the parents send their children to a juku or cram school, and those whose children attended cram school four or more days a week accounted for 65.2%.
98% of 15 year-old middle-school graduates go on to high schools or private specialist institutions. A high-school diploma is a considered the minimum for the most basic jobs in Japanese societies. The rate of students who advance on to senior high schools was 97.0% in 2002.
One-fourth of students attend private high schools, a small number of which are elite academic high schools. Over 97% of high-school students attend day high schools, about three-fourths are enrolled in academic courses. Other students are enrolled in the one or other of the 93 correspondence high schools or the 342 high schools that support correspondence courses.
There are 710 universities (not counting junior colleges). Almost three-fourths of university students are enrolled at private universities. The rate of students who went on to universities and junior colleges was 44.8 %.
Special education institutions exist: 70 schools for the deaf (rougakko); 107 for the blind (mougakko); 790 for those with disabilities (yougogakko). This number is considered to be inadequate.

The National School Curriculum
The elementary school curriculum covers Japanese, social studies, mathematics, science, music, arts and handicrafts, homemaking and physical education. At this stage, much time and emphasis is given to music, fine arts and physical education. (See sample curriculum here)
Once-a-week moral education classes were re-introduced into the curriculum in 1959, but these classes together with the earlier emphasis on non-academic subjects are part of its "whole person" education which is seen as the main task of the elementary school system. Moral education is also seen as more effectively carried on through the school routine and daily interactions that go on during the class cleaning and school lunch activities.
The middle curriculum includes Japanese, mathematics, social studies, science, English, music, art, physical education, field trips, clubs and homeroom time. Students now receive instruction from specialist subject teachers. The pace is quick and instruction is text-book bound because teachers have to cover a lot of ground in preparation for high-school entrance examinations.
High schools adopt highly divergent high school curricula, the content may contain general or highly specialized subjects depending on the different types of high schools. To view a sample curriculum of a high school (Ikoma High School), visit the following link.
High schools may be classed into one of the following types:

Elite academic high schools collect the creme de la creme of the student population and send the majority of its graduates to top national universities. Non-elite academic high schools ostensibly prepare students for less prestigious universities or junior colleges, but in reality send a large number of their students to private specialist schools (senshuugakko), which teach subjects such as book-keeping, languages and computer programming. These schools constitute mainstream high schooling. Vocational High Schools that offer courses in commerce, technical subjects, agriculture, homescience, nursing and fishery. Approximately 60% of their graduates enter full-time employment. Correspondence High Schools offers a flexible form of schooling for 1.6% of high school students usually those who missed out on high schooling for various reasons. Evening High School which used to offer classes to poor but ambitious students who worked while trying to remedy their educational deficiencies. But in recent times, such schools tend to be attended by little-motivated members of the lowest two percentiles in terms of academic achievement.

About School Life
School life often receives bad press on delinquency, bullying (ijime) or behavioral problems or the spate of horrendous and baffling crime knifings and killings taking place in schools in the past decade that were once unheard of in the country. Student life in public elementary schools in general is however acknowledged by most Japanese to be largely enjoyable, except for some students that can set in during the transition to junior high school.
Rigorous swotting for entrance exams is said to characterise student life in Japanese schools beginning just before entry to middle schools. To secure entry to most high schools, universities, as well as a few private junior high schools and elementary schools, applicants are required to sit entrance exams and attend interviews.
As a result, a high level of competitiveness (and stress) is often observed among students (and their mothers) during pre-high to high school years. In order to pass entrance exams to the best institutions, many students attend private afterschool study sessions (juku or gakken) that take place after regular classes in school, and/or special private preparation institutions for one to two years between high school and university (yobiko).
Follow the following links to find out more about: Hoikuen (Daycare centers)Preschools & Kindergarten LifeElementary School LifeJunior High School LifeHigh School LifePrivate Schools
The Hidden Face of Japanese Education
Beyond Academics -- School Culture
Children learn early on (beginning in preschool) to maintain cooperative relationships with their peers; to follow the set school routines; and to value punctuality (from their first year in elementary school). Classroom management emphasizes student responsibility and stewardship through emphasis on daily chores such as cleaning of desks and scrubbing of classroom floors. Students are encouraged to develop strong loyalties to their social groups, e.g. to their class, their sports-day teams, their after-school circles, e.g. baseball and soccer teams. Leadership as well as subordinate roles, as well as group organization skills are learnt through assigned roles for lunchtime (kyushoku touban), class monitor or class chairperson and other such duties.
Despite the assigned leadership-subordinate roles, group activities are often conducted in a surprisingly democratic manner. Teachers usually delegate authority and responsibility to students. Small-group (han) activities often foster caring and nurturing relationships among students.
The teaching culture in Japan differs greatly from that of schools in the west. Teachers are particularly concerned about developing the holistic child and regard it as their task to focus on matters such as personal hygiene, nutrition, sleep that are not ordinarily thought of as part of the teacher's duties in the west. Students are also taught proper manners, how to speak politely and how to address adults as well as how to relate to their peers in the appropriate manner. They also learn public speaking skills through the routine class meetings as well as many school events during the school year.
Noisy and lively classrooms, the absence of teacher supervision along with the effective use of peer supervision are most often noted of elementary school classrooms. Homework workload is not overly heavy at this stage, daily portions typically comprise kanji (Chinese characters) or kokugo (Japanese language) worksheets and one or two pages of arithmetic worksheets. Various after-school hamako or club activities or remedial classes may be held by individual home-room teachers (or schools) as they see fit.
Middle-school (i.e. junior school) instruction of academic subjects shifts gear into intense, structured, fact-filled learning and routine-based school life. Small-group han are dispensed with during academic classes. Hierarchical teacher-peer and senior-to-junior relationships as well as highly organized, disciplined and hierarchical work environments such as various established student committees, are observed at middle schools.
Juku and Exam War culture
High school environment shifts the student to a lecture-centered and systematic learning mode which is alternatively lauded for its high levels of achievement in math and science and criticized for its monotony and lack of creativity during a time geared towards competitive examinations when an intensive selection process occurs.
From middle-school to high school years, students are affected more by the after-school activities and juku culture. 59.55% of middle-school students attend juku usually the large-scale cram school chains (1993 MOE survey) compared to the 23.6% figure for elementary school students. To know more about the importance of cram schools, read Jukus: The Hidden Face of Japanese Education
Peer group culture
Peer group culture or school culture is at its peak during high school years. Entrance examinations play a strong differentiating role here. High school culture tends to be distinctive and markedly different depending on the type of high school. At this stage, students become aware of the nature and ranking of high schools that influence their future, and career opportunities, and hence of the differentiation or sorting that is taking place.
An elaborate hierarchical labyrinth exists in each school district in which high schools are ranked, based on the difficulty of admission. Different high schools also have markedly different missions, preparing their students for different destinations. Consequently, different high schools develop distinctly different subcultures.
The high school rankings also correspond strongly to the relative wealth and privilege of the students. Students with more privileged backgrounds (in terms of parental occupations and income) concentrate at the higher-ranked schools while those with less privileged background congregate at lesser ranked schools.
A key feature noted of high school culture is the competitive socialization that takes place towards university entrance examinations. Since high school institutions play the role of selecting young people based on their academic achievement, identifying some for leadership positions and others for subordinate positions. The competitive nature of university entrance examination exemplifies the selective function and ultimate sorting role of Japanese high schools.
Elite High Schools offer well-prepared one-hour lecture-style text-bound classes. Such schools have few disciplinary problems and students are spirited and well-rounded or active in after-school extra-curricular activities. Vocational High School students, on the other hand, often suffer low morale problems. Disciplinary, truancy, and delinquency (smoking and vandalism) problems are common.
Perspectives on school culture
Various viewpoints exist but the main ones may be summarized as the consensus theory and the conflict theory.
The former explains the school culture as being an important aspect of fostering the relative stability, consensus and harmonious nature within Japanese society. Viewed from this perspective, societal problems tend to be addressed by attempts to create more caring environments within schools.
The latter view sees the school culture as responsible for socializing children into accepting the dominant ideology, and for legitimizing school versions of knowledge, values and worldviews, as well as the existing inequalities across society. Schools, according to this view, recognize and reward certain types of ability in children, conduct differentiation based on so-called merits and have the effect of differentiating children into leadership and subordinate positions, thus preserving inequality across generations.
Incidentally, the consensus theory tends to correspond to the interpretative viewpoint of the Ministry of Education while the conflict theory reflects that of the teachers' union and intellectuals. The interactionist approach adopts the viewpoint that it is the participants, i.e. the students, families, teachers and other significant players in schooling who interact with the school in diverse ways and shape the schooling experience and outcomes.

The Role of Modern Schooling
Modern schools are regarded as performing four key roles:
1. Transmitting cognitive knowledge;2. Socializing and acculturating;3. Selecting and differentiating young people;4. Legitimating what they teach.
Modern schools perform these roles, but the emphasis placed on the different roles varies during the course of schooling and in each different segment of the educational system.
National policy is constantly shifting priorities placed on the different aspects and roles of education. Teachers do not always agree on the nationally set priorities. Interest groups constantly assert their views on where priorities should lie.
Public schools tend to be different from private ones, following the national policy guidelines more closely than private ones. Individual schools also derive differing philosophies, based on tradition and character of the body of principal and teachers running the school.
Educational goals and the quality of education in the schools of Japan as such can be diverse, with the resulting reality that schooling scene is a complex one.
Nevertheless, some similarities can be observed and generalizations made about Japanese thinking on the role of Japanese schooling.

There is still relatively strong consensus among the Japanese that schools are the main conduit for transmitting the basic literacy and numeracy skills and core body of useful knowledge, a necessary preparation for adult society. This is role of cognitive development. The schooling process and interactions within the school day are considered vital for instilling particular values and desirable behavioral dispositions esteemed by Japanese society. Many socialization studies have emphasized common features of socialization in Japanese school life, namely strong group consensus and socialization by group or peer pressure. Schooling is regarded to be a preparation for appropriate positions in the workforce and for adult society. By and large, most Japanese believe that schooling offers an opportunity for all children to move up the social ladder if they are willing to work hard. Equal opportunity is thought to exist in Japan through its educational system. It is widely thought that selection to higher schools is based on merit and is therefore fair and that all who work hard will achieve their goals. Schooling also plays the role of selecting young people based on their academic achievement, identifying some for leadership positions and others for subordinate positions. The competitive nature of university entrance examination exemplifies the selective function of Japanese schools. Schools legitimate the version of knowledge imparted to students as true and neutral by teaching it. This comes to light especially in the brewing political hot potato that is the history textbook controversy.

Educational Reform & Other Current Issues
More than 90% of all students graduate from high school and 40% from university or junior college. 100 % of all students complete elementary school and Japan is repeatedly said to have achieved 100% literacy and to have the highest literacy rate in the world since the Edo period.
The Japanese educational system has been highly regarded by many countries and has been studied closely for the secrets to the success of its system, especially in the years before the economic bubble burst. However, following the bursting of the bubble and the ensuing decade of recession, a number of issues have come under scrutiny both at home and abroad. To read more about other current issues such as bullying, school refusal and youth delinquency, click here.

Higher Education
Japan has already begun to experience a population decline, with the result that many universities are already having difficulty maintaining their student populations, although entry into top ranks of the universities remains hugely competitive. The emerging and foreseeable trend is that many universities will have to try to attract large numbers of foreigners or diversify or face closure. It is also now said that a university education in Japan is within easier reach of students today, but that the quality of that higher education is now in question despite the many educational reforms that have been set in motion.
In his book Challenges to Higher Education: University in Crisis Professor Ikuo Amano noted that the critical public is far from being satisfied with these series of reforms. The reason is that the selection process of old for entry to the so-called 'first-tier universities' remains fundamentally unchanged. That is, there has been nothing done to ameliorate the entrance war for entry into these most notoriously difficult to enter institutions that are at the nucleus of an examination based on numerous subjects. Furthermore, in a society that places more importance on 'credentialization' or labelization or branding (gakkooreki) of the name of the school from which one graduates, than on simply possessing a university education, no matter how much the selection process of the university applicants is reformed, students will continue to strive to enter a small number of 'top-tier' or 'brand-name' universities (gakureki) and the severe examination war will not disappear. In this sense, the university entrance reform is a permanent issue for Japanese universities.
Each academic year begins in April and comprises of two semesters. Basic general degrees are four-year degrees, a feature adapted from the American system. Undergraduate students receive instruction via the lecture and seminar group method. The general degree may be followed by two-year Master's degrees (generally a combination of lectures and guided research) and then a three year Doctorate (largely based on research) where these are offered.
Graduate education in Japan is underdeveloped compared to European countries and the United States with only slightly more than 7 percent of Japanese undergraduates going on to graduate school as compared to 13 percent of American undergraduates. Postgraduate educational offerings are weak and the number of universities offering postgraduate programmes or a wide variety of programmes, is small, compared to that in other industrialized western countries.
Japan has about three million students enrolled in 1,200 universities and junior colleges and consequently the second largest higher educational system in the developed world. Japan also has one of the largest systems of private higher education in the world. The 710 odd universities in Japan can be separated into 3 categories: highly competitive, mildly competitive and non-competitive (the schools that are first-tier being the infamously difficult to enter ones). Public universities are generally more prestigious than their private ones with only 25 percent of all university-bound students being admitted to public universities.
More than 65 percent of high school graduates continue their studies; of these, over 70 percent are enrolled in private colleges and universities. Only about 10 percent of private institutions receive their financial resources from public funding, with most public funds on higher education being spent on the national and local public universities. Despite the impressive statistics, Japanese universities are considered to be the weakest link in the country's educational system.
While many western writers have, time and time again, attributed the economic success of Japan to the well-educated and highly literate population of Japan, recent writings and studies tend to be far more critical, lamenting the deplorable state and quality of higher education in Japan today. Despite the famed exam rigors and competitiveness, declining standards in education and the high school student's lack of interest in studying have lately been under spotlight. Some attribute this disinterestedness to the fact that academic effort no longer assured automatic rewards with the disintegration in the formerly stable and guaranteed lifetime employment system. details visit www.study-japan.info
Japanese students are also widely known to traditionally consider their university days to be a social playground, a reward for the hard work and having made it there, and, as many critics have recently pointed, professors demand relatively little from their students. Brian McVeigh in his book Japanese Higher Education as Myth indicts the local university system as a de facto system of employment agencies or at best a waiting room before students hit the assembly line working world.
Despite the institutional change and sweeping national reforms underway in response to these criticisms, the key problems remain unresolved: the pyramidal-structure of the university system and entrance exam wars; the centrally-controlled curriculum and lack of individuality and creativity of students as well as the lack of competitiveness in educational suppliers. details visit www.study-japan.info