History

It is generally known that when Japan opened itself to the world in 1868 (the Meiji era), it wanted to catch up to Western standards of education in science and technology. The Japanese education system was reformed according to the German and French models, which were thought highly advantageous and better suited. This continued until after the second world war.

After the second world war, the Americans, then occupied in Japan, took over and reformed the education system according to their own model: six years of elementary school (shogakko), three years each for junior high (chugakko) and senior high school, and four years of university (daigaku) or two years of junior college.

Today, the Japanese education system is still in place and with no major reforms such as the one undergone after the second world war. There are still, however, areas of concern regarding it that will be briefly discussed below.