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This article gives a historical overview of Japan's system of education. The country had
various schools for children of various class of society members until 1872 when the task of
establishing modern public education system was commenced and open to all children
notwithstanding the societal status of their parents. The aims of this new education system
were to "catch up industrially with the West and to instill a sense of national, albeit emperor-
centered, identity", and several aspects of western education—those of the US, Germany and
France—were combined in the new education system.
I have chosen this artifact because of the insight it gives into the educational history of a non-
Western country like Japan. It particularly interests me to see how they moved away from
segregation to inclusion in their education, even though that was politically motivated, and I
think the quest for political relevance should not have been the only motivation for such a
great move.
