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November 22, 2024
 

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Walt Gardner
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 14, 2015
Education key in getting young people to vote
If Japan wants its young people to vote, it needs to educate them about their civic rights and responsibilities.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 29, 2015
A place for humanities in the global economy
The humanities remain a constant source of knowledge and skills with intrinsic value that transcends time and place.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 24, 2015
Newspapers play a critical role in education
Attempting to shield students from the realities of life that newspapers cover on a daily basis is an exercise in futility.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 23, 2015
University grad job survey severely flawed
It's heartening to know that the employment rate for university grads is up, but without a proper breakdown of the data, the situation may not be as bright as it appears.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 15, 2015
Schools can do little without addressing poverty
Household income inequality has a bigger impact on students' academic performance than the quality of schools.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 23, 2015
Supplementary aids place teachers on thin ice
Teachers in Japan, as in the U.S., may find themselves without legal cover if they choose to use supplementary classroom materials that they've picked out themselves.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 11, 2015
Teacher-student interaction needs boundaries
Instead of banning teachers from having private online communication with students, schools should to provide teachers with a set of clear guidelines followed by ongoing training.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 12, 2015
Preparing students for the global economy
It's not uncommon for teachers in Japan to teach a subject well enough but for their stale techniques to teach students to hate the subject for life. That's why it's so important for Japan to move away from its obsession with testing.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 1, 2015
Japanese and U.S. law schools at a crossroads
Law schools in Japan and the U.S. find themselves trapped between a rock and a hard place as the number of applicants continues to shrink in the face of a bleak legal job market.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 8, 2015
College entrance exams fail to make the grade
Before Japan's Central Council for Education undertakes the formidable task of revising Japan's university entrance exam, it needs to understand why such exams, both here and in the U.S., fail to make the grade.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 20, 2014
A better way to spend yen on schools
Japan's Finance Ministry wants to increase the number of students in each class to save ¥8.6 billion in personnel costs. This will result in 3,325 schools being shuttered and up to 4,000 teachers cashiered. A good idea perhaps, but why not prioritize spending on students who need the most attention?
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 14, 2014
View private operation of schools with caution
Education reformers take for granted that strategies borrowed from business will improve schools. But the evidence is hardly convincing.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 2, 2014
Moot prospects for law schools in U.S., Japan
Once considered a lucrative career, the practice of law is undergoing far-reaching changes that call into question the future of all except top-tier law schools in the U.S. and Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 18, 2014
Shaming students' teachers shows little class
The Finns, known for having the world's best schools, would be aghast at the thought of revealing the names of teachers alongside their students' annual achievement test scores — a future possibility in Japan.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 31, 2014
Understanding chronic student absenteeism
No matter how chronic absenteeism is defined, it is crucial that school districts in both Japan and the U.S. intervene early to stem a threat to the future of the younger generation.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 3, 2014
Japan has a word to add about teaching math
Before critics conclude that Americans suffer from an incurable case of innumeracy, they might want to ask if the long-standing poor performance of U.S. students in international math test competition, compared with Japanese students, is the result of the way the subject is taught in American schools.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 7, 2014
High test scores, low expectations
Young people in Japan, like their counterparts in the U.S., know that high scores on tests have little to do with their job prospects. So why do a higher percentage of American students still report being hopeful about their prospects for a good life?
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 31, 2014
Bullying weakens Japanese, U.S. schools
Bullying of LGBT students is reaching epidemic proportions in schools in Japan and the United States even as greater tolerance is demonstrated for students of different races, cultures and abilities.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 20, 2014
Design tests to measure priority outcomes
The discovery of fraud in the adminstration of the high-stakes TOEFL and TOEIC tests is disturbing, but the larger issue — which has been given short shrift — is that these tests are designed to emphasize written English rather than spoken English.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 9, 2014
Japan should treat test scores with discretion
Although the education ministry's decision to allow local boards of education in Japan to make public the results of achievement tests for individual schools appeals to those who are frustrated by what they perceive as a lowering of standards, the tests are far too unstable to be considered reliable or fair.
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Tokyo Metro’s overseas efforts begin in earnest with London deal
Tokyo Metro will soon have a role in the running of London's Elizabeth Line, a major train route serving the U.K.’s capital city and environs.
Russia fired experimental ballistic missile at Ukraine, Putin says
Ukrainian firefighters work on a spot following an airstrike in Dnipro on Thursday.
Ex-yokozuna Kitanofuji dies at 82
Yokozuna Kitanofuji enters the ring during the May 1970 grand sumo tournament in Tokyo.
Man charged with murder allegedly made victim date other men for money
A car carrying suspect Ryotaro Masuda, who was indicted for allegedly beating his 25-year-old girlfriend to death, leaves the Shibuya Police Station in Tokyo on Thursday.
Shohei Ohtani wins National League MVP award
Shohei Ohtani celebrates after hitting a three-run home run against the Padres during the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles last month.
The slow-burn success of ‘A Samurai in Time’
A 19th-century warrior gets struck by lightning and wakes to find himself in 21st-century Kyoto in Junichi Yasuda’s surprise hit “A Samurai in Time.”
Around a quarter of Japan married couples in their 20s met through dating apps
A survey released by an organization promoting “Good Couples Day” shows that 24% of couples in their 20s met their marriage partner through a dating app.
'Tokyo Swindlers': Get deep into the minds of real estate con artists
In Ko Shinjo's "Tokyo Swindlers," a group of con artists manipulates real estate giants into falsified deals within the highly competitive, quick market.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world
mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world

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