ABSTRACT
The misinterpreted Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology directive was far too explicitly tied to the legal framework in which Japanese national universities operate for it to have any quasi-compulsory or even indicative meaning for private institutions. The writers who lamented that universities were going to be made into 'vocational' schools at government behest were guilty of two other sins: wild exaggeration and not paying attention to what has been happening in the private sector. The use of 'vocational training' particularly in English made it appear that Japanese universities might be teaching welding or bricklaying. Programmes and departments are continually being 'abolished' in the private sector as institutions look for a combination of course and programme names that will, as the British expression goes, 'put bums on seats'. Moreover the programmes in schools of education that lead to a teaching credential are explicitly vocational.
