Reconceptualizing the Politics of Japanese Education, Reimagining Comparative Studies of Japanese Education

Drawing on recent critical investigations into the politics of Japanese education reform, this chapter presents a conceptual framework for emerging new politics of Japanese education. It firstly reviews the existing English-language literature on the 'Third Great Education Reform' from the perspective of a critical sociological approach to education policy. The review demonstrates that many English-language comparative education studies on the 'Third Reform' under-appreciate the critical insights presented by Japanese scholars, hold on to the frameworks premised upon the post-war continuity of Japanese education, and consequently do not fully grasp the nature of its fundamental transformation. Furthermore, this critical discussion identifies some of the problems associated with the current state of the English-language comparative studies of Japanese education in particular and comparative education in general. In conclusion, ways are discussed to address these issues, calling for re-imagining comparative education as a dialogic space where scholars both in English-speaking, Western 'centers' and non-English-speaking, non-Western 'peripheries' make equal contributions to the theoretical knowledge production of the field.