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An important aspect of efforts to improve career guidance in lower secondary schools from the four viewpoints mentioned above is the expansion of instructive experiences that encourage students to think for themselves through firsthand experience, such as visits to upper secondary schools, trial enrollments, visits to and experience in various workplaces, and the invitation of people in various sectors of society to talk to students about their own experiences.

Prefectures, municipalities, and schools have implemented various measures at those levels, while the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture is putting a number of programs into practice. For example, in fiscal 1993 the Ministry requested the cooperation of government agencies closely involved with various industrial sectors, which enabled lower secondary schools to collaborate with the regional offices of those government agencies to expand the opportunities for students to participate in instructive experiences, including workplace experience and study, relating to their career paths.

In fiscal 1994 the Ministry initiated the Comprehensive Program to Improve Career Guidance in Lower Secondary Schools in 59 municipalities throughout Japan. This program is designed to expand instructive experiences and other activities in cooperation with local communities. It is being implemented in designated municipalities in cooperation with lower secondary schools, higher-level schools, PTAs, local companies, social education groups, government agencies, and other organizations. The activities start in the first year of lower secondary school and provide a systematic approach to the fostering of career awareness in students over a three-year period. The purpose of the program is to improve career guidance through practical research, including work experience and social service.

Efforts to improve career guidance in upper secondary schools include a program popularly known as Labor Experience Trial Study (LETS), which was introduced in fiscal 1993. Targeted primarily to general-course students, this program is intended to heighten students' awareness of their own career paths, including their choice of future occupation and way of life, by enabling them to experience the joys of work and social service. The program, which focuses on participating upper secondary schools, involves workplace visits, workplace training, and social service, with the cooperation and collaboration of PTAs, local companies, and other organizations in designated municipalities.