1.Educational mission

The Basic Act on Education, which was amended in 2008, stipulates that, while it continues to respect universal ideals such as the “process of character formation” and “individual dignity,” it also aims to nurture the following:

  • independent individuals with a harmonized balance of academic abilities, richness in humanity, health, and physical strength, who will strive for self-fulfillment throughout their lives;
  • Japanese people who embrace a public spirit and actively contribute to shaping our nation and society;
  • Japanese people who participate in the international community while embracing Japanese culture and traditions as their core.

To realize these principles, it is necessary to understand the current social economic situation and future outlook of the country itself, to consider specifically the most desirable concept of education that is fit for an education-based nation, and to implement relevant policies.

2.Changes in the country in various fields

(1)Rapid social changes in relation to globalization, the declining birthrate, and the aging population

The world is moving further toward an uncertain society as globalization and communication technologies advance while human, commercial, economic, and information resources, as well as cultures and values, become borderless.
The world is seeing global economic growth, including the rise of developing countries. Japan, on the other hand, has faced 20 years of economic stagnation since its economic bubble burst in the 1990s, and this is combined with one of the world’s fastest and most seriously declining birthrates and a rapidly aging population.
These situations are, as explained further below, affecting various aspects of social life in Japan and thus require an immediate response.

(2)Various crises facing the country

Decrease of social vigor caused by the declining birthrate and aging population

By 2060, the national population will have decreased to approximately 90 million, which is 30% less compared to 2010. Forty percent of that population is expected to be 65 years or older. This will lead to a decreased productive age population, contracted economy, less tax income, and increased social security expenditures.(*1) The immediate question is how and by whom the burden of building a sustainable and vigorous society shall be borne.


 *1 It should be noted that a comprehensive reform of the social security and tax systems is in progress, including an increase in the consumption tax.

Increasingly severe economic environment and migration toward a knowledge-based society

At the same time, the economic environment surrounding Japan has become ever more severe, marked by escalating international competition triggered by development (e.g., the BRICS economies) and deindustrialization caused by corporations moving their production bases abroad. Consequently, we are faced with the danger of a declining international profile. The world is heading toward a knowledge-based society, in terms of both quantity and quality—This should be considered a key to Japan’s future success because our country lacks natural resources.

Changes surrounding the employment environment

As the country sees the expansion of its service industry, increased employment of an international workforce, and wider implementation of output- and merit-based salary systems, equality-oriented practices such as lifetime employment and seniority systems are no longer the norm. There are concerns that the traditional corporate function of nurturing human resources through in-house education and training is on the decline. The employment situation has become harsher than ever. In particular, the younger generation faces rising unemployment and a fluctuating hiring rate, underlined by problems such as ill-matched employment.

Weakened social connectivity

The safety net mechanism supported by human bonds and connections within communities is weakening, especially in the urban areas, against a backdrop of urbanization, depopulation, changes in family structures, and diversified values and lifestyles. Further isolation of individuals is a concern, and it may become difficult to ensure that our culture and norms are passed on to the next generation. This can also be seen as one of the problems facing education, as exemplified by weakened normative consciousness.

Reproduction and/or immobilization of disparities

A certain amount of disparity derived from different individual efforts should be admissible, but opportunities to exert one’s merits should be equally accessible regardless of one’s economic and/or social conditions.
However, regional imbalances caused by degeneration and exhaustion, social and economic inequality between or among generations, and even disparities of hope have often been pointed out. There is growing concern that, together with education and employment issues, disparity is being reproduced and/or entrenched, leading to weakened social energy and increased instability.

Global challenges

Furthermore, the world now faces numerous global issues including environmental, food, and energy problems, as well as ethnic and religious disputes. In the process of resolving these issues, each member of the international community must depart from the conventional pursuit of material affluence and strive to build a sustainable world society.

3.Lessons from the Great East Japan Earthquake

Impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake

The Great East Japan Earthquake was a compounded disaster that began with an earthquake and tsunami and subsequently included a nuclear power plant failure. It took away lives, properties, and livelihoods, and devastated communities in a series of catastrophic events. The effects are still evident in the disaster-stricken areas as well as throughout the country.

The various crises mentioned above are not new, but the earthquake has exposed and accelerated them further by disrupting living, economic, and employment standards and widening social gaps.

Hope after the Great East Japan Earthquake

The earthquake has also taken its toll on education in disaster-stricken areas. Not all schools have been able to resume classes in their original locales, and the situation is far from recovered—yet hope still remains. This hope is especially evident in the children of the affected areas. They have played important roles, such as volunteering to help manage the shelters or take care of the elderly. The fact that the children continue studying even while they live in shelters or temporary housing, working on their assignments with notebooks spread on the floor or schooling themselves in the dark, demonstrates their unwavering will to learn and to overcome hardships.

The international community has been deeply impressed by the strength of the bonds among our people. The dedicated and active practices of community members (including teaching staff), volunteers, universities, non-profit organizations (NPOs), and businesses, and the rescue actions of police officers, firefighters, and self-defense officials, coupled with their deep sense of professional mission, impressed the world as demonstrations of the human bonds within Japan. At the same time, various supports received from around the world have reminded us of our connections with the world.

Lessons from the Great East Japan Earthquake

Through the experience of the earthquake and its aftermath, we have gained insights into ways to overcome the crises that we now face. Examples include the importance of the following:

  • the ability to grasp a situation accurately, to think and act proactively, and to not give up, even in the face of adversities;
  • developing human resources to restore and build a future-oriented society, with innovation and creativity to develop new social and economic values;
  • improving the educational environment such that every child and youth, regardless of his/her region of residence and/or economic background, can learn and acquire necessary skills and knowledge in a safe atmosphere, including quakeproof facilities;
  • connections among people, communities, and countries, as well as coexistence with nature.

In various regions in the Tohoku area, people are beginning to create new educational innovations aimed at reconstruction with help and support from both within and outside the country. These innovations can serve as an inspiration for education in our country in general, and it is vital that such futuristic educational models be supported, not only in the Tohoku region, but also nationwide.

4.Directions in society

The need to alter the social system

Neglecting to act against the crises mentioned above will accelerate the negative chain reaction of depopulation, declining economic growth, deteriorating fiscal conditions, social instability caused by employment insecurity and widening economic disparity, and staggered social security. This will inevitably lead to a decline of the nation.

However, it should be noted that Japan still boasts a number of strengths and advantages. It has rich and diversified culture and art widely known as “Cool Japan”; world-leading science technology in various fields, including environment, energy, and healthcare; and basic manufacturing technologies, to name a few. All these are underpinned by the population’s diligence, cooperation, consideration, high level of basic knowledge and skills (e.g., reading, writing, and arithmetic), and strong human bonds (that we gained new awareness of following the Great East Japan Earthquake). These characteristics and strengths will help us overcome adversities.

To address the above crises, we need to break through the prevailing sense of stagnation and alter the chain reaction from negative to positive. This will be possible by capitalizing on our strengths and establishing a model suitable for a diverse population and a mature society that coexists with nature.

New social model: Realizing a lifelong learning society as the model of independence, collaboration, and creativity based on knowledge

Global issues abound and, while capitalism shall remain as the basic social structure, we are nearing the end of the era of material pursuit. Hence, problem-solving collaboration and an innovative perspective that guides us toward new social values are necessary. On the other hand, the world is rapidly changing and becoming ever more diversified, and it is unrealistic to expect the state to present a uniform direction of sustainable growth and development for the entire society: Each relevant party needs to seek and attain different focuses.

Thus, while self-help shall be at the core, it will be ever more important to act on the notion of “support and cooperation,” where each citizen takes the initiative to participate in society and people in the society as a whole support each other. Public help shall be sought only where these schemes prove difficult to implement. In other words, we must aim to build a flexible society in which independent individuals may each exert their uniqueness and strengths and collaborate to create new values.

The key to success is inarguably qualitative and quantitative knowledge, wisdom, and motivation of individual and groups in society as well as those of whole society. With the arrival of a knowledge-based society, both within the nation and abroad, where knowledge drives social and economic dynamics, each person will need to continue to maximize his/her abilities and potentials throughout his/her life and to cooperate and collaborate with others in order to fulfill individual goals and contribute to society. We must build a lifelong learning society(*2) in which people can seize opportunities anywhere and anytime to proactively and voluntarily engage in various learning activities according to their needs. Their learning should then be applied toward social contributions.


 *2 “Lifelong learning society” is defined in Article 3 of the Basic Act on Education as follows: “Society shall be made to allow all citizens to continue to learn throughout their lives, on all occasions and in all places, and to apply the achievements of lifelong learning appropriately to refine themselves and lead fulfilling lives.”

 Therefore, this plan aims to build a lifelong learning society to achieve the three principles of independence, collaboration, and creativity.

  • Independence: A lifelong learning society in which every person can develop his/her personal characteristics and abilities to actively explore and realize a fulfilling life
    We aim to secure, for each individual, a place in society and opportunities for social participation throughout his/her lifetime and to encourage the active acquisition and utilization of competencies for survival according to personal characteristics as well as abilities, in order to ensure every person’s social independence.
  • Collaboration: A lifelong learning society with mutual support, mutual enhancement, and social participation achieved by respecting personal and social diversity and maximizing each person’s strengths
    It is important to respect our country’s strengths, such as our language, tradition, culture, localism, history, nature, and social cooperation. We should also create environments where people and social groups with various identities can learn from, support, and encourage each other by accepting diversified values and lifestyles, in order to build society-wide bonds.
  • Creativity: A lifelong learning society that enables the further creation of new values through independence and collaboration
    We aim to foster an environment where diverse values are respected in different areas of social life, from everyday practices to the front lines and where those values clash and merge to allow for the creation of new values.

Scenario to prevent crises by investing in the future

In realizing independence, collaboration, and creativity, education will be more important than ever, as it enables citizens to engage proactively in skills development while ensuring broader connectivity within the society.
The foundation of this perspective is the concept of positive welfare, whereby society as a whole encourages every citizen of every generation to learn, improve his/her abilities, and participate in society as a main player in guiding the next generation. This is investment toward our future growth. We aim to realize the following crises prevention scenarios by improving the quality of education, drawing on the various national advantages mentioned above.

Encouragement of self-fulfillment, increase in the number of active social players, and disparity reduction

In order to maximize individuals’ potentials in various areas, we seek to build a society of lifelong engagement, with the participation of all citizens. This society will include diverse individualities and abilities for every generation and every community member, including the following individuals:

  • children developing social independence;
  • mature people/workers improving their career skills;
  • the elderly contributing their experiences to society and learning throughout their lifetimes.

Under the idea of a cohesive society, community members include women, foreign people, and persons with disabilities, who are sometimes viewed as lacking the ability to participate fully in society. At the same time, taking into account the continued low birthrate, we seek to realize a secure environment where parents can bear and raise children, who are the hope of our future, with confidence in quality of education.
Through these measures, we aim to increase the number of active social players and reduce social disparities.

Improvement of social productivity

By implementing a system that offers lifelong opportunities for improving one’s abilities to respond to globalization and changes in industrial structure, and which appreciates such abilities, we will create an environment where individuals can visualize their future and recognize events (e.g., career changes) as opportunities. This will lead to cultivating and securing human resources with highly advanced occupational skills, global competence, and/or innovational strength, which in turn will stimulate industries in growth areas and create new industries.

Establishment of human bonds

We will build social capital(*3) by ensuring that each individual embraces the concept of public interest and collaboration with others, and by securing an environment for learning and social participation through the realization of optimal work-life balance and coordination between schools, households/families, and communities. In this network of social capital, individuals, as well as the society as a whole, are bound by mutual ties.


 *3 Social capital: the ties and trust between people within a community.

Fulfillment of nationwide happiness

Through the measures described above, we will realize national growth, whereby each citizen will regain pride and confidence, and a wide range of the population will be able to appreciate their own achievements. At the same time, by contributing to the resolution of global issues and building a sustainable society, we will make a dramatic leap to become an internationally trusted and respected country that has a strong global presence.

(Lifelong Learning Policy Bureau, Policy Planning and Coordination Division)