ABSTRACT
In the early 1980s, US élites and educators were largely indifferent to Japanese education. But over the past few years interest has quickened: numerous articles about Japanese education have appeared in scholarly journals as well as in major newspapers and weeklies, including Time, the US News and World Report, and the Education Weekly, several popular books have come out, television networks have featured special reports, and the US Department of Education has prepared a major report entitled Japanese Education Today. What accounts for this surge of interest, who are the actors and what are their roles, what is its substance, and what is its likely impact? These are the questions I address in this interpretative essay.
