ABSTRACT
This chapter distinguishes two axes of analysis: the difference between globalization from above and below and the difference between primary and secondary education and higher education. These two axes are useful in discussing Japanese education in relation to globalization. Globalization is pressuring societies around the world to transform their education and the image they have of what qualities the next generation should acquire. The chapter deals with globalization and Japanese education using several axes of analysis: globalization from above, globalization from below, differences between the primary and secondary school and the higher education level, and the role of Japanese "exceptionalism" in education. The present direction of the globalization from above, pressuring education at various levels to produce "global talent", has led to some rather ironic consequences. Globalization from below, as a response to the reality of globalization at the grass roots level, unlike the globalization from above, is a varied and uneven process even at first sight.
