Japanese Education in the 21st Century

The Center for US-Japan Comparative Social Studies (www.usjp.org) is an Internet-based nonprofit organization. Since its inception in 2000, the Center has provided information about education, culture and society in the United States and Japan. The author of this book, Miki Y. Ishikida, is Director and a principal researcher at the Center.

Japanese Education in the 21st Century is an introduction to contemporary Japanese education and provides the latest information and resources for educators and anyone with an interest in the Japanese school system.

Author Miki Y. Ishikida describes

• The rapid changes in today’s Japanese schools and communities that came about from the implementation of the 1987 recommendation of the National Council on Educational Reform that relaxed rigid school regulations
• Compensatory education and ethnic education for minority and disadvantaged children—Buraku children, Ainu children, Korean children, Nikkei children and disabled children—that are designed to improve their academic achievements and to give them a sense of pride in their heritage
• Human rights education aimed to instill respect, acceptance, and tolerance for all people by teaching the history and culture of minority population.

Ishikida discusses the current state of the Japanese educational system, and the issues of minority education, special education, and lifelong education based upon her examination of administrative documents, school journals, and secondary literature. She also presents the results of case studies from her classroom observations and interviews with teachers and administrators from a cross-section of Japanese schools.