For those interested in the current process of education reform in Japan

If you are following Japan's process of education reform, there is a good article in the Economist about it. If you are unfamiliar with the process, one of the government's main aims is to teach and test patriotism. Everyone in the country wants their children to be competitive in a global market, and in recent years, Japan has seen its educational outcomes slip. That means that the population wants the government to help their kids get ahead, in math, science and languages. They are also concerned about bullying and suicides among young people. Instead they get a return to pre-WW2 style nationalism. It's just plain weird.