80% of Japan mayors oppose, wary of shift to Sept start of school year

bass4funkJune 1  08:42 pm JST

Who’s surprised by this? I’m not, if anything involves a big change in Japan especially one that makes sense and is a productive and logical idea, be prepared for some heavy resistance. “Change” is a dirty word in Japan and has a negative connotation attached to it.

Spot on there. You should stick to writing about Japan.

Who’s surprised by this? I’m not, if anything involves a big change in Japan especially one that makes sense and is a productive and logical idea, be prepared for some heavy resistance. “Change” is a dirty word in Japan and has a negative connotation attached to it.

The only reason is because start of a new life= cherry blossoms. This is old japanese culture and cannot be changed. It's symbolic of japan, who cares about the logic of starting after summer.

Absolute cowards. What's more is they say the people of Japan are completely stupid and unable to adapt to change.

Was always a non issue really as fewer and fewer Japanese students wish to study abroad anymore. The more alarming thing is the very low opinion those in charge seem to have of ordinary Japanese people. They are so easily burdened, easily confused and seemingly rendered clueless with any proposed changes. But that’s not borne out in reality as most (non elderly) Japanese I see are typically pretty sharp and savvy and can adapt quite readily.

This should have nothing to do with a bunch of old mayors who have no knowledge and training about education policy. A group of specialists in the Ministry of Education (yes, there are people who major on education policy!) should make a recommendation, and the government should balance their arguments with the economical impact (again not the dinosaurs with a degree in ancient history, but the actual specialists), and make a decision.

And from my experience with higher level education, at least for universities (undergrad and graduate) they MUST change it asap.

There has got to be a better way, a Better opinion those in power can't see it and prefer doing nothing rather than actually changing for the better. This idea to sink together has certainly not done Japan any good over the last 40 years.

Apparently it is only the LDP heads who want to change this.

People in the education ministry are opposed.

80% of Japan mayors oppose, wary of shift to Sept start of school year

Which could also mean: 80% of Japan mayors are very old, stubborn and hate change, whereas the other 20% are younger and open minded to new ideas.

@expat, you are spot on, I was called ageist for a simulular comment so wait for it.

@ istheriezak oh no the burden the burden oh the burden is just too much of change, it's so difficult? Overwhelming impossible due to having a brain the size of a pee.

;-)

why does the sun rise in summer happen at 4am.....oh the burden the burden.

There is negligible reason for Japan to feel any pressure to change their school year ...

You haven't been following the news, then. It was proposed to make up for the three months of school that have been lost due to the school shutdowns. Other reasons include moving exam season out of the flu/allergy season, etc. There are actually quite a few reasons to do it that have nothing to do with foreign "pressure".

Australia (and probably other southern hemisphere nations) don't align with the September academic year commencement. We start at the end of January after our main summer break which begins with Xmas. We certainly don't suffer any real issues with our education export programs (currently devastated however by the virus shutdowns). There is negligible reason for Japan to feel any pressure to change their school year unless they want to for their own reasons. Not everything in the world revolves around the US and Europe.

The best reason given for not change is Cheery Blossoms and being uncomfortable with change. Which leads me to believe the whole education system could use a massive overhaul not just a date change. Never happen. Poorly educated people are in charge so expect more poorly educated people to suffer and be placed in positions of authority.

What's good for the goose, is good for the gander. Change is extremely difficult for the older generation. The goose wants to keep it the way it was for grandparents. The gander wants to consider change. The switch from kanji, et al, to romaji didn't happen because the goose (geese, pl.) didn't want it. Before covid-19 Japan was preparing for the Olympics and started changing signs so the rest of the world could read them in romaji.

Now, the question of changing the opening day of school was considered by the goose. The goose vote was overwhelmingly NO, probably without much research. The opinion of a few mayors is important but the NO vote is not necessarily the public's opinion.

There are probably plenty of readers who can list YES and NO reasons regarding the change. Perhaps some of them will follow this posting.

"Keep growing, keep learning, keep changing"

And I believe everything written in this article.

The myriad advantages of changing are numerous;Japanese mayors need to see the bigger picture.

There is no reason to change the culture of a country.

There is a reason - to align with other school systems in the world, making it easier for both Japanese students to study abroad and other students to come to Japan.

Whether that is a good enough reason is one to be debated. But a reason does exist.

Very sensible decision to leave it as it is. There is no reason to change the culture of a country.