This volume documents the significant changes that have occurred in Japanese schools since the collapse of that nation’s economic bubble. Before the recession, Japan was the country that most educational reformers sought to emulate due to its students’ performance on standardized tests. Now, however, a different and more complicated picture of the Japanese education system emerges. This book places Japanese education in a global context, with particular attention given to how their education system is responding to changing expectations and pressures that emerge from rapid social change. Chapters written by respected scholars examine issues related to equality, academic achievement, privatization, population diversity, societal expectations, and the influence of the media, parents, and political movements. The research in this book will provide valuable lessons for policymakers and practitioners facing similar challenges.

Contributors: Motoko Akiba, Christopher J. Frey, Rebecca Erwin Fukuzawa, June A. Gordon, Akiko Hayashi, Diane M. Hoffman, Victor Kobayashi, Yeon-Jin Lee, Kaori H. Okano, Hyunjoon Park, Tomoaki Nomi, James Shields, Kazuhiko Shimizu, Joseph Tobin, Ryoko Tsuneyoshi

Gary DeCoker is professor of Japanese Studies at Earlham College, professor of education emeritus at Ohio Wesleyan University, and editor of National Standards and School Reform in Japan and the United States. Christopher Bjork is associate professor and chair of the Education Department at Vassar College.

“In the face of the challenging paradoxes and contradictions of education in Japan and around the world, it is more important than ever that we seek better ways to understand each other and our educational systems and societies as a foundation to improve our respective lives and the world we live in.”
—From the Foreword by James J. Shields, professor emeritus and founder of The Japan Initiative, The City College, City University of New York

“The understanding of the limits of schools as never-ending investments in the wealth of a nation situated on a fragile planet—an island in the solar system—could lead to a greater appreciation of the value of education in conserving and advancing the best of world traditions.”
—From the Afterword by Victor Kobayashi, professor emeritus, University of Hawaii