One interesting aspect of education in Japan is how students face competition in many forms which helps make them better students.
Starting with junior high school, many students are ranked according to their test scores, with a board hung outside the class that lists each student’s rank is in relation to everyone else. If you’re […]

The New York Times has an interesting article about the shortage of engineers in Japan. It’s really an astounding fact given how Japan is such a leader in science and technology. A big theme of the article is the Japanese attitude towards foreigners since allowing engineers to immigrate - as U.S. high-tech companies do to a large extent - […]

Do you know the story of the “homeless junior high school student”?
When Hiroshi Tamura was was just ten, his mother died of an illness, which was a terrible shock to his family. A bigger surprise was in store five years later, however, when Hiroshi and his older brother and sister arrived home to find […]

Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about Japanese school uniforms here.
Thanks to Len Cullum.

planning a trip with the kids? looking for something a little bit more original than disney? or maybe you want the kids to experience something educational while they’re having fun. well if your visiting japan, korea, china, or vietnam; you might consider the following amusement parks.
probably NSFW

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It’s interesting, looking at Japan through some of the “firsts” in its history.
Like John Kendrick, the ship’s captain who participated in the Boston Tea Party and fought in the Revolutionary War then went on to be an explorer, eventually becoming the first American to visit Japan.
Or Horace Wilson, a teacher at the predecessor […]

Here is a great idea from China that should be implemented in Japan, the U.S., and just about everywhere else.

In January, more than 8,000 high school teachers sat for the same end-of-term exam that their students did. A teachers scoring less than 80 out of 100 points are disqualified from receiving future rewards and […]

Have you ever noticed that when two groups occupy a similar space, rivalries emerge? Whether you’re talking about Mac vs PC, Coke vs Pepsi, or the national rugby teams of Australia and New Zealand, each party will try as hard as they can to win against their hated rivals.
The top two private universities in […]

The Tokyo District Court has thrown out a suit against Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara and the metropolitan government by a group of French and Japanese citizens who claimed that Ishihara “insulted the French language.”
At the Tokyo District Court, Presiding Judge Katsuhiko Kasai said, “What he said is not true, but it was not targeting […]

Oh wise Japundits, please help me with a Christmas gift.

There’s a special person in my life who claims he is determined to learn some speaking Japanese by next April. He’d like to do this via CD/tape/DVD.
I went to the new Kinokunia in New York recently (more on that later) to look at study kits. I […]

That’s the title of a Newsweek article that explores why Japan is not more of a powerhouse on the world technological stage.
Japan is a technological powerhouse. If you exult in brilliantly bizarre gadgetry, engineering wonkery and prodigious feats of craftsmanship, you’ll feel right at home. It’s also an extremely sophisticated business environment. The Japanese domestic […]

Caught TV commercial the other day for kodomo no nomimono (kid’s drink).

Though they call it “kid’s drink,” I think the appearance of the stuff doesn’t leave much doubt about what it is supposed to be.
Language Note
The refrain they are singing in the commercial is Kodomo no nomimono de kampai. It means something like, […]

“I wanted to get the kids interested in water, so decided to make my classes as much fun as possible, but I went too far.”
Fukuoka junior high school phys ed teach who was forced to resign after writting sexually suggestive questions on golf balls, which he threw into the school’s swimming pool to have them […]

Police in Sapporo have discovered a treasure trove of child poonography in the home of Takayuki Hosoda, an elementary school vice principal they recently arrested for paying minor girls for sex.
A police raid on Hosoda’s home netted hundreds of pornographic photos and movies of underage girls and he received payments totaling about 18 million yen […]

Acting on a tip, Kitakyushu police have discovered that two young sisters, aged 5 and 4, have been living at a nursery school for two years after their parents never showed up to retrieve them.
The police have located the parents and their mother showed remorse for abandoning her daughters.
“I’m sorry for my children. But […]

The modern lifestyle of running water, electricity on demand, and abundant food, clothing, and shelter got you down?
Well, why not cast your fate (and perhaps your very life) to the wind and head on over to Pyongyang for a 10-month stint of teaching English?
The British Council, which serves as the Cultural and Education Section of […]

A high school teacher at a prefectural school in Hokkaido is in hot water for giving first-year students reference materials containing racy expressions for their summer vacation homework assignments.
The materials given to students included scenes illustrating how men and women hook up together. The materials included inappropriate (but quite useful) expressions, such as […]

One observation I’ve made about Japan in the 15+ years I’ve spent there is, they pay a little more attention to music-related culture than we generally do in the States. It’s quite common for Japanese kids to take piano lessons as they go through school, and my own kids went beyond this stage, becoming quite […]

OK, at first this story from Kanagawa reads quite simple:
According to the board of education, the teacher, who is in his 20s, attached the note to the student’s back as punishment after a female student complained that some boys were trying to sneak into their changing room. Without confirming the facts, the teacher accused the […]

The teaching of eikaiwa, or English conversation, is quite an industry in Japan, and there are many schools where people of all ages can learn the language, usually for around $100 a month for four weekly lessons.
Although there are many small schools offering ESL, usually also operating after-hours tutoring schools (juku) on the side, […]