Hi, Adam here. Some of you might remember me from Mutant Frog Travelogue. I’ll be posting some of my translations and thoughts here while MF is down.

I’d like to take a look at the state of education reform in Japan. Since at least 1997, when Japan’s senior ruling coalition party, the LDP, formed its first study group on the issue, voices calling for major educational reform have grown louder, particularly from conservative elements in the LDP who sought a more traditional curriculum that instills patriotism and focuses on learning the basics. Current educational policies, particularly “relaxed education” that calls for fewer teaching hours and less strenuous lessons, were increasingly seen as failing as Japan’s place in international education rankings fell and social problems such as the phenomenon of NEETs (people Not in Employment, Education, or Training) seemed to spell doom and gloom for Japan’s future. Perhaps more importantly, the decline in the political power of teachers’ unions that has coincided with the decline of Japan’s leftist political parties has made it possible for the LDP to push reforms forward that would have generated unmanageable protests in the past.

Last year, one of Prime Minister Abe’s biggest legislative triumphs was to pass the first major revision to Japan’s Basic Law on Education since it was enacted during America’s occupation of the country after World War 2. Features of the law, hammered out after years of coordination within the LDP and with its coalition partner, the Soka Gakkai-backed New Komeito, included a requirement that schools teach students to “love” their country. The bills passed handily thanks to the ruling coalition’s numbers in the Diet, but not without a swarm of controversy and criticism from Japan’s political left, including perceived insensitivity by Education Minister Bunmei Ibuki over a spate of student suicides and the discovery that the government had planted questioners in town meetings held to promote the new education policy.

The “Basic Law” (full text available in Japanese here) was, true to its name, short and lacked detail, and left the numerous existing supplementary laws, cabinet orders, and other regulations unchanged. As a next step, the Abe administration established the Central Council for Education, a private advisory body to the prime minister set up to outline proposals for more detailed changes, such as how many hours students should attend class, just how patriotism should be instilled, and what mechanisms for teacher accountability should be established. The council released its first report in January, which included proposals for a 10% increase in classroom hours, suspension for perpetrators of classroom bullying, and a system that would require teachers to renew their licenses periodically.

Meanwhile, a separate advisory council, this one set up by the Education Ministry, is putting out its own recommendations in competition with the kantei (prime minister’s office)’s group. Predictably, the Education Ministry is a stronger advocate for central control of education, specifically recommending that Education Minister be granted the power to issue “redress orders” to problem schools.

However, the education issue has been out of the headlines lately as other issues have taken the lead, including the numerous scandals dogging administration officials, upcoming elections, and other legislative priorities. But in a recent Nikkei column, political reporter Makoto Nakayama takes a closer look at whether the Education Reform Council has the guts to push for what Abe wants. Here’s his column translated in full:

How Serious is the Education Rebuilding Council?
by Makoto Nakayama, political reporter
March 19

The government’s Education Rebuilding Council (”ERC,” chaired by nobel laureate Ryoji Noyori) has begun work to complete its second report. The first report, which called for reforms including a system of periodic license renewals for teachers, stood out during the drafting process chiefly because it was watered down at the last minute. Once the ERC begins debate on specifics, it is certain that coordination will hit even more snags. How will the council maintain the public’s interest, the supposed source of its mandate? The council’s level of seriousness is being tested.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was emphatic on February 22 when he showed up at a joint subcommittee meeting of the Education Rebuilding Council for the first time in a month: “I’d like you to put together a framework suitable to education rebuilding leading up to your next report.” However, the council members’ expressions remained stern. Eriko Yamatani, a special assistant to the prime minister, said almost nothing aside from administrative announcements.

The first report included “4 emergency measures” such as the institution of a renewal system for teaching licenses and reforms of local boards of education. All have been put into bills that are on track for submission during the current Diet session. Yet, the proposed teacher license renewal system is a significant retreat from the ERC’s original concept of ‘removing bad teachers from the lectern.’ Now the proposal is for system that renews licenses simply by taking some classes, just like driver’s licenses … And reform of boards of education was reduced to minor reforms out of consideration of local governments who were against strengthening the national government’s authority.

One council member recalls: “Opposition was stronger than expected from related parties.” In the final stages of bill drafting based on the Council’s recommendations, attention focused mostly on coordination between the Central Council on Education (an advisory body to the ministry of education), causing some on the ERC to complain “Where did the Revitalization Council’s proposals go?”

“Review of the Textbook Approval System,” “Prioritizing Japanese and Mathematics as basic topics,” “Shortening Summer vacation by one week…” Enthusiastic proposals such as these came out from subcommittee on revitalizing schools held on March 14 held by chief examiner Toyo University Professor Masumi Shiraishi. Every proposal is highly likely to cause “a mass wave of protest” from currently service teachers and boards of education. Even still, council member Motoyuki Ono emphasized, “We must make even more eye-catching proposals than we did in the first report.”

Looking at the ERC overall, the members’ initial passion is starting to die down. Initially, the public’s interest in the ERC was high, with membership featuring “mavericks” including Miki Watanabe, who holds dual titles as chairman of the board at a school and corporate executive, Hideo Kageyama, purveyor of the “10×10 calculation table,” and Hirosuke Yoshiya, famous as the “Yankee teacher.” However, some council members admitted that when these mavericks were forced to actually take action some “lost their nerve” when putting together the first report.

The ERC embarked on observation trips after the ERC put together its first report, but one member publicly expressed doubts about these trips at a meeting: “Are these observation trips really necessary?” A senior ruling coalition leader was also skeptical: “Debate over the education issue has already been boiled down. Why are they going on excursions when speedy reforms are needed?” Actually, the number of members allowed on each trip is limited, and there is still squabbling over how to run meetings.

Some also point out that the ERC has been less than positive about building public support, which is the council’s lifeline. Minutes of subcommittee debates were moving toward public release, but at the last minute they were made non-public. The reason cited was because “a consensus could not be reached.” That is regardless of the fact that almost all council members were in favor of it.

One council member shook his head: “If we can’t have public meetings when we need to have the public on our side, then we can’t help it if people think we don’t have the confidence to get them on our side.” There are 2 months left before the second report is finalized. Up to now, Prime Minister Abe, who set up the ERC, has so far kept relatively quiet about the specifics of education reform. His level of seriousness is likely to be tested as well.

Comment: This practice of pitting rival study groups against each other to compete in the deliberation process for reforms is essentially a continuation of a practice that former Prime Minister Koizumi was largely successful at. You may have seen reports that Abe faces a large amount of criticism for setting up too many policy committees to tackle issues ranging from economic development to dealing with the declining birth rate. However this practice has proven effective in the past because it places Japan’s powerful ministries in danger of losing power by giving the initiative on issues in their jurisdiction over to the prime minister’s office. Koizumi’s effective use of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy was considered a key example of how the process can work.

The equation for the kantei is simple: Take the original policymaking process (outlined below very generally):

1. Ministries use private advisory committees for input in drafting bills. The advisory committee’s proceedings are not open to the public and final proposals usually reflect what the ministry had already internally decided;
2. Build consensus among legislators using Diet members friendly to the ministry;
3. Submit to the Diet for rubber stamping;
4. Send the passed law back to the ministry so it can be filled in with specific regulations

And add the following twists:

1. Set up a rival advisory body within the kantei (only this time make all proceedings public and invite the press for full coverage)
2. Make sure the top leadership uses its bully pulpit to keep the media focused on the kantei’s side of the issue

Essentially, Koizumi’s trick was to take the old politburo-style policymaking process and establish the kantei’s own, flashier politburo and open the debate to the public (though often on the government’s terms). It took a while, but the public and media have grown used to this style of politics.

However, as seen in the above article, these policy councils have suffered due to factors including bad choices for committee members, a lack of attention from the top partly due to the sheer number of committees Abe has set up, and ultimately for their lack of “seriousness,” resulting in watered-down proposals and a lack of media savvy. The CEFP itself was derided late last year for not setting numerical targets for its fiscal 2007 budget recommendations, and former Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister and architect of Koizumi’s economic reform policies Heizo Takenaka has been making interestingly dual-tracked criticisms of the Abe administration lately - he’s both come out in support of Abe and defended his commitment to carry on the Koizumi agenda but also criticized the CEFP for not making enough concrete proposals. The danger in losing the initiative, Takenaka has warned, is that the “vested interests” will grab it up and make sure that their people are taken care of, regardless of whether the direction of reforms benefit the public at large — a warning that applies to education as much as fiscal policy.