Home > Statistics > Handbook > Chapter 16 Education and Culture
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A shot from the Aoi Festival, one of the three greatest festivals of Kyoto. Said to have originated approximately 1400 years ago, it is known as an elegant festival rich in quaint charm represented by a procession of people dressed in Heian period costumes.
Japan's primary and secondary education is based on a 6-3-3 system: 6 years in elementary school, 3 years in lower secondary school, and 3 years in upper secondary school. The period of compulsory schooling is the 9 years at elementary and lower secondary schools. Higher education institutions are universities, junior colleges, and colleges of technology. Other education establishments include kindergartens, which provide pre-school education, and special education schools for mentally and/or physically challenged children. There are also specialized training colleges and miscellaneous schools for a wide range of vocational and other practical skills learning. Given the nearly 100-percent upper secondary school entrance rate, the School Education Law was amended in 1998 to authorize combined lower and upper secondary schooling, which began at some lower and upper secondary schools in 1999. On an additional note, school years in Japan start in April and end in March.
Of the March 2009 upper secondary school graduates, 53.9 percent went straight on to enter a university or junior college. The ratio of upper secondary school graduates who entered a university, junior college, etc. in 2009 was 56.2 percent (57.2 percent of male and 55.3 percent of female graduates), including graduates from previous years.
Fiscal 2007 public expenditure on education in Japan was 22.7 trillion yen, which was equivalent to 15.5 percent of the net expenditure of national and local governments. Fiscal 2008 school expenditure by households with children attending public school averaged 56,019 yen per elementary school pupil, 138,042 yen per lower-secondary school student and 356,937 yen per upper-secondary school student.
As of May 1, 2009, a total of 101,956 foreign students were enrolled in Japanese junior colleges, universities, and graduate schools. Of the total foreign students, 90.5 percent were from Asia, including 60,833 from China, 14,341 from the Republic of Korea and 3,380 from Taiwan.
A broad range of changes are occurring in Japan in line with the maturation of society, including aging of the population, the social advancement of women, the rapid progress of informatization and the expansion of leisure time. Amidst these changes, the mindset of the Japanese people is shifting from a focus on materialistic wealth to a focus on cultural/spiritual wealth and leading a meaningful life.
Today, efforts are being made to link school education, social education, cultural activities, sports activities, recreational activities, volunteer activities, and corporate in-house education, in order to create a society where people have the freedom to continue learning throughout their lives. In providing places and opportunities for such lifelong learning, educational institutions, social education facilities (public halls, libraries, museums, etc.) and sports facilities play a vital role. Staff members of these institutions and facilities regularly consult and exchange views with prefectural boards of education, private education organizations, NPOs and business groups.
The results of the 2006 Survey on Time Use and Leisure Activities conducted with people aged 10 and over show that the per-day average amount of free time was 6 hours and 23 minutes, which is the time remaining after activities that are physiologically necessary (sleeping, eating, etc.) and societally essential (work, housework, etc.). It was found that 1 hour and 17 minutes of free time was spent for hobbies, sports, studies, volunteer activities, etc.
The participation rate (percentage of people who engaged in the activity within the past 12 months) for "sports" was 65.3 percent. The most popular sport for both genders was "walking and light exercise" (men: 30.6 percent; women: 39.0 percent). Other popular sports for men were "bowling" (21.0 percent) and "fishing" (16.0 percent). For women, such sports were "bowling" (16.3 percent) and "swimming" (12.8 percent). The participation rate for "studies and researches (excluding school and professional activities)" was 35.2 percent. Men preferred "information processing using PCs and other related technologies" (14.6 percent) and "commercial skills and other business-related topics" (11.1 percent), while women preferred "cooking, sewing and other household management-related topics" (13.8 percent), as well as "arts and culture" (13.3 percent).
The total number of books and magazines published in Japan during 2008 was 1.47 billion and 3.85 billion, respectively, of which 2.32 billion were monthlies and 1.53 billion were weeklies. It is estimated that 11.5 books and 30.2 magazines (18.2 monthlies and 12.0 weeklies) were printed per Japanese citizen in 2008.
A total of 78,013 new book titles were released in 2008. The number of magazine titles published was 4,353 (including 2,532 monthlies and 118 weeklies) in 2008.
A total of 121 daily newspapers were in circulation, and the penetration was 1.0 newspaper per household as of October 2009.
Japan has a public broadcasting network (NHK: Nippon Hoso Kyokai, or Japan Broadcasting Corporation), as well as commercial networks. NHK was the pioneer broadcasting station, and has been funded through fees paid by subscribers.
Major broadcasting services can be divided roughly into three categories: terrestrial, satellite, and cable television. Terrestrial digital broadcasting was launched in some areas of the Kanto, Kinki and Chukyo regions in December 2003 and then also in other areas, including all prefectural capitals, in December 2006. Satellite broadcasters offer an increasing number of channels through, for example, new digital broadcasting which began in March 2002. Currently, terrestrial television is in the process of going digital, with analog broadcasting scheduled to end by July 2011.
Subscribers of cable TV services (self-originating broadcasting using licensed facilities) have steadily increased to 24.7 million households, or 46.7 percent of all households in March 2010.
In 2009, advertising expenditures on the four major media types in Japan (newspapers, magazines, radio and television) totaled 2.8 trillion yen, marking a drop from the previous year. This accounted for 47.8 percent of total 2009 advertising expenditures, which were 5.9 trillion yen. Advertisement on the Internet, a new advertising medium, was 11.9 percent, up 1.2 percent from the previous year.
As a country with a long history, Japan has been endowed with an abundance of valuable cultural assets, including works of art, historic landmarks, and many natural monuments. To pass on this cultural heritage to future generations, the Japanese government has accorded many of the most important assets as national treasures, designated important cultural properties, historic sites, places of scenic beauty, or natural monuments, based on the Cultural Assets Preservation Law. The government has also been engaged in efforts to preserve and repair existing cultural assets, search for and recover other buried artifacts and restore historic landmarks.
As of May 1, 2010, 12,709 items were assigned as designated important cultural properties, of which 1,079 were classified as national treasures. In addition, the government has provided support for such activities as theatrical performances, music, handicrafts and other important intangible cultural properties. It also has worked to preserve important folk-cultural properties such as annual cultural events and folk performing arts, as well as to train people to carry on such traditions.
Japan ratified the UNESCO World Heritage Convention (the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage) in 1992. In July 2005, Shiretoko in Hokkaido was registered as Japan's 13th World Heritage site. Shiretoko is the lowest latitudinal area in the world where drift ice arrives and where a variety of marine and ground animals and plants form diversified biota.
In June 2007, the Iwami Ginzan silver mine and its cultural landscape was registered as Japan's 14th World Heritage site. The site features mines, smelting and refining sites, along with mining settlements and transportation routes including the port, dating from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries. In the seventeenth century, the output accounted for one-third of the total silver production in the world.
In 2006, the UNESCO Convention for the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage entered into force. Entries from Japan are: noh theater, ningyo johruri bunraku puppet theater and kabuki theater (the kind of kabuki performed by a traditional method of acting and directing).
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