Customer Reviews

Shogun's Ghost: The Dark Side of Japanese Education

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Ken Schoolland's book, "Shogun's Ghost" offers a compelling picture of Japanese schools that is likely to surprise those who may have formed their opinions of Japan based on sterotypes. In particular, Schoolland does a masterful job of portraying the pressure that Japanese schoolchildren face in a society that values education as almost its sole means of determining status.

Where Schoolland falters, it could be argued, is in not presenting anything to balance the dark picture he paints of Japanese schools. They are either too strict or too lax; the students are either victims or bullies. He seems to imply that every day is sheer nightmare. It's possible that this was his intent; that he feels everyone already KNOWS all the good stuff, he wants to shine light on the bad. He does a fine job of that, and the book is quite an eye-opener. One has to question, however, whether a more balanced approach might not have been more valuable, especially in terms of longevity. Iijime (bullying) still goes on in Japanese schools, and there is a new, violent "knife culture" among even junior high children, but as the problems get fixed, the book will fall by the wayside except as a history text. The inclusion of more general information about the schools might have been a wise choice.

This book is just too vague in bashing Japanese society. I walk away from it not knowing much more about teaching in Japan other than the author did not enjoy his experiences. I'm sorry to hear that, but respect is a two way street. Are there problems? Are there jerks. Sure, just like in any other country.

When people come to the United States from another land they should consider the basic tenets of being a good guest, and vice versa. And people should review the book, not make their own political statements.

worked 8 years in Japan teaching first business classes and then graduating to college level. If you want an idea of what I had to put up with, just read my review of Japanese Higher Education as Myth. It's too long to post here.

It never ceases to amaze me how some people seem to "know it all" about places they've never been and feel obliged to comment. Since I did ACTUALLY spend 8 years of my life teaching in Japan, I'll submit my two cents and clear up a couple of issues:

1. Extreme discipline vs. no discipline

Japanese are disciplined with an extremely heavy hand for the 3 years of middle school - and hardly at all at any other time in their careers.

Middle school is where the horror stories abound - when I was there, some students were taken by a teacher down to the beach at night and buried up to their necks in sand close to the surf as a punishment. God knows, considering the behavior of some of my Japanese students, I felt like doing similar things a number of times.

2. "As the problems get fixed..."

No, I don't think so. In the time since I left, I have kept up with news from Japan and the behavior of students seems to be getting worse, considering the plight of the economy. As the economy worsens, sociopathic behavior becomes more widespread, with more young people committing murders, rapes, theft, burgalaries, and so on. It's not getting any better.

Meth, hash and glue sniffing, along with more socially acceptable alcoholism, are common forms of entertainment. Most of the Japanese Mafia's income is from meth and has been for a long while.

Keiji Oda, founder of the Guardian Angels in Japan, estimates there are 100 dealers in Shibuya, and meth accounts for about 80 per cent of sales.

Now, consider that one hardly notices this drug epidemic (except for excessive drinking) while one is living in Japan as a foreigner. When one observes a country from far away, the view gets even more myopic. Or as the Japanese like to say - Japan is like Fuji - beautiful at a distance and uglier the closer one gets.

3. News

If you've ever been a long term expat, you begin to realize that there are a lot of things happening in foreign countries that never, ever get reported in the US. You cannot find out about other countries by reading about them in your own press, by living in them via the US military, by having a cushy job with a firm in a foreign country that gives you a huge salary and chaffeur and all the amenities you ever wanted, or by being a tourist, which is famously useless for understanding anything.

You have to live "on the economy" with a standard equal to the natives, and even then it's difficult to figure the place out if you don't take the time to study it, don't know the language, and don't get intimately involved in some way.

The author did a good job of substantiating his own experience with clippings from the local press, and yet somehow this isn't good enough for some people. Did he hallucinate everything? I don't think so.

Overall, the book attemps to give a picture of what the Japanese school system is really like. In spite of some of the better aspects of it (grade school is probably the best of the bunch) it comes up seriously lacking. I'd just wished I'd read it when I was there instead of finding the book just recently - for a long time I blamed the apathy and rude behavior of the students on myself.

The PC crowd and defenders of Japan will call this bashing - that's a typical reaction to a good dose of reality for those who are reality challenged - or as Dr. Phil says, you can't fix a problem that you won't recognize.

The book serves as a much needed balance to the immense amount of puffery lauding the Japanese education system.

This book was written during the height of our fear and misgivings about Japanese takeovers in the late 80's and early 90's. Their economy was incredibly strong and our's was not so swell. Movies like Black Rain and Rising Sun that displayed corruption in Japanese society were relished by the public at the time.

Now, in the introduction to the book, the author complains about students being too rowdy and undisciplined. Then he shifts to complaining about too much discipline, too many rules. He recounts numerous tales of harsh corporal punishment for minor infractions. How can mutually exclusive themes of too little discipline and too much discipline possibly be universal?

There is little if anything presented as positive about the Japanese school system from elementary to college. The book is clearly playing to an audience and lacks much that would imply any balance. A view is taken that Japanese schools are bad and anything that supported that view was included with nothing that discounted the view.

I don't know-- the Japanese school system could theoretically consist of nothing but negative qualities. They could just put on shows of quality for visiting gaijin. However, this seems like a potential exageration to say the least. Although, I am sure there are many problems with bureaucratic intransigence, with abuse of corporal punishments, and with teenage rebellion, would millions of Japanese just live with it if it did not produce any positive results at all?

The major thesis that no system is a panacea is valid, but the execution is just as heavy handed as the Japanese schoolmaster's portrayal.

Seemed a little one sided to me.

I don't think there are many people in the U.S. today who think our public schools are doing such a good job they can't learn from overseas. That is, people employed outside of the education system.

I just saw a news story that yet again our children can't find New York on a map.

If you are doing research about current (2007) conditions in Japan, this book is rather outdated. However, if you are looking for background information to inform you about how things have gotten the way they are now, then this is a good place to start.

A lot has changed since this book was written. Anyone teaching in a metropolitan area in Japan can testify that the draconian conditions described in Schooland's book have all but vanished, replaced by a helpless permissiveness that has lead to chaos in a large portion of Japanese public schools.

Schooland does do a good job in debunking a lot of the widely held beliefs about the "perfection" of the Japanese education system. For a more contemporary view of education in Japan, I would recommend "Japanese Higher Education as a Myth" by Brian J. McVeigh Japanese Higher Education As Myth (paperback)or "Importing Diversity" by David L. McConnell Importing Diversity: Inside Japan's JET Program