Education in Japan and the World

Education in Japan and the World

This week's lesson focused on the Japanese education system. We watched a YouTube video about what a day in the life of a Japanese university student looks like. A student at the University of Science Tokyo showed her busy schedule, which was highly structured and disciplined, reflecting the values of commitment and achievement, which are very important values in Japanese culture.

Comparing the Japanese education system to the Canadian system, clearly, all cultures value academic success and extracurricular activities. However, the Japanese education system has very different expectations; high levels of organization and students' participation in school clubs and after-school programs are almost mandatory. I realized that students devote a lot of their time, even evenings, to study clubs and extracurricular activities, whereas in my experience in Canadian schools, evenings and after-school time tend to be for relaxing and are much more flexible. 

In Education in Japan: a century of modern development, Anderson (1975) explains that education in Japan provides "an understanding of the close relationship between the schools, society, and culture". This explains why the structure of the education system is so similar to Japan's traditional Bushido values, such as discipline and loyalty, because the Bushido values are integrated not just into society and work, but also into education.

References

Anderson, R. S. (1975). Education in Japan: A century of modern development (DHEW-OE-74-19110). U.S. Government Printing Office. 

Comments

  1. EmilijaOctober 20, 2025 at 11:11 PM

    I reallyyy liked the comparison in Canada as I had no idea what kind of system there is and how it’s different, even from Lithuanian one. 😅
    The additional research really adds value to the topic and argumentation of your narrative, very nice!

    ReplyDelete
  2. ZimnakoOctober 20, 2025 at 11:13 PM

    Nice to read about the Canadian school system and how it is different with Japan. Good blog!

    ReplyDelete
  3. caryOctober 20, 2025 at 11:17 PM

    free time is king. it's possible there's a culture of thinking if you're not in a club or afterschool activity people assume you're lazy

    ReplyDelete

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