ABSTRACT
This study clarifies the mechanisms of high school educational expansion and regional variations in postwar Japan, with regard to the kinds of opportunities that were provided. The national policy could not explain how it was possible to accommodate the surging demand. Based on an examination of the regional variations in high school policy and the roles played by private schools, prefectures are characterized into four groups: “Average,” “Public expanded,” “Private expanded,” and “Urban.” In conclusion, we discuss how these variations may affect the provision of high school education in the near future, in a society experiencing depopulation.
