Welcome to the Education in Japan website. This website’s mission is to empower parents and educators who are seeking to provide their children with the best possible education - within their means and - while living in Japan.

Nietzche once said, “I can endure any how if I have a why.” One of the aims of this website is to explore the range of educational options available to parents and educators, in other words, the “whys” underlying the various educational issues, choices and methods.

This space is thus intended to be a networking plaza for those who want to know “how” to enrich the lives of children as well as a resource-rich marketplace for the exchange of ideas, news and resources. As the needs of parents, educators and children vary greatly, so does the scope of the contents of this website.

In a nutshell, this website caters for readers seeking:

• Information on Education in Japan, public school system, national curriculum, private schools (and private schools directory), cramschools and educational policy in general, current concerns and educational news;
• Directory Information on International Schools; Cram Schools; Alternative Education Institutions and Free Schools, etc.;
• Homeschool Networks in Japan; Homeschool Umbrella Schools; Tutoring Services; and Special Needs Services;
• Resources for providing a Bilingual Education for their children;
• School’s Out activities (camps, clubs, etc) and suggestions for local nature activities and historical field trips and world heritage and nationally treasured sites;
• Information & Resources for a Home Education (Homeschooling and Afterschooling);
• Our community Ask Kawagoe Blog is where our hottest and most recent topical discussions, feature articles and shared resources for home-educating may be found;
• Reading Room resources (includiing information on where to find bookstores in Japan, local and digital libraries, books on Education in Japan, recommended booklists on Education in Japan, children’s literature and storybooks) and booklist recommendations.

This website is the result of the interactions of a community residing in Japan. For more about our e-community and the history of this website, see About Us. Also enter our Yahoo-based Discussion Room to know the gist of our hot discussions or to join our educationally-involved online community here in Japan.

Not forgetting our children, the precious benefactors of our efforts, we have set aside a space specially for children called the Heritage House.

Heritage House is designed to introduce kids of all ages to the wonderful things that are a part of the Heritage of Japan, a rich heritage that is theirs to know and theirs to enjoy. The resources presented in the Heritage House include the Heritage of Japan; Culture Vulture, Japan Explorer, Plant Paradise, Bug Boy's Guide, and Nature in Japan's pages (where the Birding Box and Animal Ark - still under construction).

These resources are being developed in conjunction with a bilingual social studies curriculum produced for international schools as well as homeschooling families here in Japan. The resources are aimed at helping our children acquire knowledge about Japan, and the heritage of Japan so that they might understand the cultural and value orientations influencing their social world.

The bicultural or expat parent residing in Japan will frequently ask, “what do we want out of an education in Japan?”

“Dr Brian Hill, professor of education at Murdoch University in Australia suggests seven basic outcomes parents in cross-cultural settings should look for from their children’s educational experience. The experience should enable them to maintain a stable and positive self-image while learning new things; acquire survival skills appropriate to their own culture; identify and develop their personal creative gifts; gain access to the major fields of human thought and experience; become aware of the dominant worldviews and value orientations influencing their social world; develop the capacity to think critically choose responsibly; and develop empathy, respect, and a capacity for dialogue with other persons, including those whose primary beliefs differ from their own. Any specific choice for schooling should be measured in terms of how well it will help meet these larger goals of the educational process.” -- Third Culture Kids, David C. Pollock and Ruth E. Van Reken

The above quote has been the source of inspiration behind the design and contents of this website.

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