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This paper examines educational policies toward indigenous minorities in Japan and Canada during the period of nation-building, from the latter half of the nineteenth century to the first half of the twentieth century. Both Japan and Canada first segregated indigenous children into separate educational institutions and then tried to assimilate them into mainstream society. Beneath these broad policy similarities, however, lie different rationales, with substantially different implications for education and social policy in diverse societies. In Japan, national integration was promoted through a cultural or ethnic rationale, a socially coherent approach that nonetheless allows little room for minorities. Canada approached national integration using a notion of citizenship that both allows considerable space for minorities but is challenged by unity. These two strategies can be seen in two polar models of the state - a civic-assimilationist approach of the 'French model' and an ethnocultural exclusionist model of the formation of the German state. The paper argues for a multicultural pluralist model including both civic and cultural/ethnic identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the political-economic analysis of globalisation and education as well as a culturalist approach to education policy borrowing, the paper analyses the role of local actors, specifically, national newspapers and the Ministry of Education, in mediating the potentially homogenising curricular policy pressure of globalisation exerted through the PISA league tables. Using the recent Japanese education policy debate as a case study, the author demonstrates how the Japanese media interpreted the PISA 2003 findings in a way that resonated with the specific cultural, political, and economic context of the time and how the Ministry used the findings to legitimise otherwise highly contentious policy measures. Questioning the conventional interpretation that the PISA 2003 shock caused the Ministry to redirect its controversial yutori (low pressure) curricular policy, the paper reconstitutes the Ministry as an active agent that capitalised on an external reference (PISA) to re-establish its political legitimacy in a time of increasing neo-liberal state-restructuring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines interactions between the global and the local in the context of Japanese mainstream schooling, by focusing on the development of local government policies to manage diversity in schools. This paper reveals how local governments developed education policies in interaction with grassroots professional groups, activists and schools, and by selectively incorporating national policies. These local policies are multicultural education policies but differ in two significant ways. The first is their predominant concern with human rights education, leaving celebration of cultural diversity as a marginal consideration, and the other is the official use of the term ‘foreigners’ in the title of these policies; both of which reflect the pre‐existing local context. The paper demonstrates that new immigrants do not unilaterally impact on supposedly ethnically homogeneous Japanese classrooms, but that the pre‐existing local contexts (national, local and institutional) have mediated global forces in effecting changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A variety of perspectives exist on the evaluation of Japan's educational reform of 2002, which has evolved since the 1980s. However, thus far, little attention has been paid to the emerging influence of civil society on educational policies and practices. This paper shows that the origin of the current educational reforms can be traced to reports prepared by various neo-liberal/conservative business leaders and politicians. Further, it shows their privatization and decentralization principles happen to coincide with the increasing interest of progressive citizens' groups and educators. Their impact on the Japanese education system remains latent, especially as more scepticism grows towards progressivism as a philosophy behind the current educational reform. However, the expanding civil society and new progressive education movements in Japan are trends worth exploring in the context of globalization at the grass-roots level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In our internationalizing world, even countries that have had a reputation of being so-called 'homogeneous' are facing cultural diversification within. Though Japan is a country often described as homogeneous or, at least, homogeneously minded, with the inflows of new types of foreigners, it is presently experiencing what has been dubbed the process of 'internal internationalization.' Such new forms of diversity trigger the formation of new social alignments, and challenge existing categories of the Different. This paper takes the Japanese example as a case in point to re-examine the social nature of the construction of difference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internationally, the simple assimilation of minority students is gradually being replaced by an emphasis on pluralism and multiculturalism, reflecting increased awareness of the value of cultural diversity. How to allow for cultural diversity, however, remains largely undetermined and controversial in various respects. Japan in particular is experiencing the challenge of cultural diversity, even though the country has often been portrayed as ethnically homogeneous. This paper focuses on the situation of Korean residents, one of several long-time minority groups in Japan, and discusses the significance of Korean ethnic schools in light of socio-historical considerations. Factors affecting the bicultural identity of Korean residents in Japan, and minorities in general, are considered. It is concluded that, although separate schooling for cultural minority students is not usually favoured in western societies, a strong case can be made for recognising the legitimacy of Korean ethnic schools in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the image of the Japanese education in the minds of those in the United States policy circles. In this context, the author of this article talks to a Japanese professor. According to the professor, some in the U.S. admired the Japanese education for its centralized educational policies, its rigid testing and its move towards a national curriculum. Discussing the Japanese education system it refers to a popular role playing game named after the well-known navigator Marco Polo. The author in this article presents a response to Harry Judge, a well-known academician. In his study Judge is playing Marco Polo. The article notes that there is first of all an old and honorable tradition of taking certain features of a foreign culture as a kind of ideal toward which one wants to propel the home culture. According to the author, in the United States and Great Britain alike a certain style of conservativism has held sway in politics and education. The British Conservatives have been more radical and in the short run successful than their U.S. counterparts.

This article presents a response to William K. Cummings, a well-known academician regarding the views he has expressed about the Japanese education in the United States. The author recalls an incident when he partnered Cummings for publishing a book entitled "Educational Policies in Crisis: Japanese and American Perspectives." This enabled the author to discuss extensively some assets and difficulties for the American experts in the Japanese studies. The author of this article states that in the first part of his study Cummings stated that there have been only a handful of specialists in the Japanese education in the United States and than even intellectuals and leaders are not very knowledgeable about the Japanese education. The second part of his study cites seven examples of the American myths relating to the Japanese education. It is pointed out that those myths have originated from some earlier studies of Japan, which stressed differences between the two societies and which were liable to draw sweeping generalizations from insufficient data. Although the author of this article has little objection to the Cumming's comment but he notes that Cummings occasionally oversimplifies.

This article focuses on the perception of the United States on the Japanese education system. In the decade prior to the present study the U.S. business establishment had passed through an interesting cycle in its penetration to Japan. The U.S. elites and educators were largely indifferent to the Japanese education during the period of the early 1980s. It was perceived by the Americans that the Japanese business practices violated the acceptable principles of free trade. These assumption came after when the U.S. business establishment had passed through an interesting cycle in it's perception of Japan. In 1981, for the first time, the U.S. experienced a sizeable negative trade balance with Japan and by 1984 the imbalance had increased to an alarming level. It is further noted in this article that the U.S. Commission on Excellence had highlighted a new dimension of the Japanese economic challenge. According to the Commission, American youth performed poorly on measures of academic achievement compared with the other industrialized nations, while Japanese youth tended to be among the best.

The article evaluates the educational policy that has been adopted in Japan. The employers have long been complaining in Western Europe that the school curricula are too academic and faraway from the world of work. However such employer criticism of the educational system has been absent in Japan. It has been provoking to suppose that Japan's economic success stems in no small measure from the willingness of the educational system to do the very things which European employers urge on their own educational systems. Japanese education is said to be free from the more obvious embodiment of vocationalism as relatively specific skill training which is being pressed on European educational systems. On the contrary the educational system of Japan is notable for its emphasis on a broad academic content.

The article analyzes the Chinese-western scholarly interaction. China has signified its willingness to strengthen ties with western universities and maintain or increase the flow of scholarly exchange. Chinese leaders are confident that their scholars will absorb from the West techniques that will be useful for a modern, independent China. An examination of China's academic exchange with Great Britain, France and West Germany was undertaken, and the exchange policies and programs of the U.S. Canada and Japan in relation to China was reviewed.

The article forecasts the possible educational policies in Japan by 1980s. A brief overview of Japan's educational situation during the past decades were given to help examine the prospective trends in the educational sector. Improvement of educational quality is one fundamental factor which Japan should strive for. Moreover, diversification and globalization of the school system is much needed because the country is expected to intensify its relation and participation in the world community in 1980s.