Globalization and Japanese Exceptionalism in Education

Ryoko Tsuneyoshi is a professor of comparative education at the Graduate School of Education, The University of Tokyo. She is the present head of the secondary school attached to the Department of Education (2016-2017), and the former Director for the Center of Excellence in School Education (2013-2015). Ryoko Tsuneyoshi earned her Ph.D. at the Department of Sociology, Princeton University. She conducts cross-cultural comparisons of schooling through fieldwork, and she has also written extensively on multicultural issues. She was an executive board member of the Science Council of Japan, and is on the executive committee of the Intercultural Education Society of Japan and the Japan Educational Research Association.

"Long a model for scholars and policy makers around the world, the Japanese education system is undergoing dramatic change to keep up with a globalized world. This volume presents how these changes are shaping Japanese education a host of levels, from the expansion of English education at the university level to the increasingly multicultural classrooms. The contributors are also on the front lines of policy reform and their insights provide an understanding of the changes in Japan, but also provide a framework for broader challenges facing all educational systems in the 21st century." - Christopher Bondy, Associate Professor of Sociology, International Christian University, Tokyo, Japan"A uniquely coherent and well-grounded analysis of the ‘globalization’ craze gripping Japan’s educational debate. This volume takes readers beyond the often misleading rhetoric of policymakers, examining the capacity for change, its actual extent and, in some respects, its desirability." - Edward Vickers, Kyushu University

• AcknowledgementsNotes on contributorsPart I. Setting the StageChapter 1. Introduction Chapter 2. "Exceptionalism" in Japanese education and its implications Chapter 3. Japan’s challenge in fostering global human resources: policy debates and practices Chapter 4. Global citizenship education in asia Part II. Globalization and the multicultural challenge in JapanChapter 5. From high school abroad to college in Japan: The difficulties of the Japanese returnee experience Chapter 6. Breaking in or dropping out?: filipina immigrant girls envisioning alternative lives in a globalized world Chapter 7. Transition from university to work in Japan: Approaching expectations of international students Part III. Case studies in meeting the global and multicultural challengeChapter 8. The University of Tokyo PEAK program : Venues into the challenges faced by Japanese universities Chapter 9. Developing human resource for multicultural coexistence society: A case study of gunma university-gunma prefecture cooperation project “multicultural community advancement officers certificate program” Part IV. The issues revisitedChapter 10. Why does cultural diversity matter? Korean higher education in comparative perspective Chapter 11. Globalization or anglicization?: A dilemma of English language teaching in Japan Chapter 12. Japanese schooling and the global and multicultural challenge: Globalization from below Index