Discusses problems in the Japanese educational system, such as increasing school violence, controversy over textbook revisions, budget cuts and the educational discrimination against minorities, particularly Burakumins and Koreans. (CMG)

Democratization of education in Japan is still recent, and women continue to lag behind men in higher education. However, women's expectations of social participation are increasingly higher, and in another 10 years women graduates of the mass stage of higher education will reach the age for influential decision-making positions. (JHZ)