ABSTRACT
This chapter describes various historical developments of distance education and online distance education in Japan from social and cultural perspectives. It also discusses the significance of different forms of distance learning in Japan, both domestically as well as globally. In October 2013, a consortium of universities and corporations in Japan established the Japan Open Online Education Promotion Council (JMOOC), as a means to promote the spread and use of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and open education in Japan. In terms of open education in Japan, the Open University of Japan (OUJ) has broadcasted university-level lecture programs on its television channels as well as radio stations for 30 years to anybody in Japan who has television or radio sets to receive the signals. In Japan, the idea of establishing a university which utilizes broadcasting as its instructional medium was first conceived by the Minister of Education in 1967.
