International Journal of Institutional Research and Management
International Institute of Applied Informatics
2017, Vol.1, No.1, P.37 – 51

The Issues Japanese Higher Education Face in the Digital
Age—Are Japanese Universities to Blame for the Slow
Progress towards an Information-based Society?
Miho Funamori *Abstract
A quarter of a century has passed since the Internet was opened to general use. The impact of
the Internet, which was initially moderate, is gradually taking shape. The Fourth Industrial
Revolution is materializing with the advent of the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence.
At the same time, higher education is in a period of drastic reform, driven by the globalization,marketization, and massification of higher education. However, adapting to the digital age has
not been a priority, and as the turmoil of reforms is settling down, the gaps among universities
in terms of adapting to the digital age have become apparent. Japanese universities are among
the adaptation laggards. They have also drawn criticism for not being effective enough in
producing skilled IT engineers and fostering the development of IT-related startups. But are
Japanese universities to blame for the shortcomings of the Japanese IT industry?
This paper analyzes the slow progress towards an information-based society in Japan by firstcomparing the measures taken by universities at the beginning of the digital age and thecriticism Japanese universities have drawn. It then discusses the issues Japan is facing intransitioning to an information-based society and the contributions Japanese universities could
make.
Keywords: Digital age, higher education, information-based society, university reform.

1 Introduction
A quarter of a century has passed since the Internet was opened to general use. In the early
1990s, when Internet use started spreading, the change was fairly moderate—transactions weretransferred from the physical space to the digital sphere. Then, as information accumulated in
the digital sphere and platforms providing various services became common, Internet traffic
grew. New means of communication such as social networking and “wisdom of the crowd”
querying became prevalent [1][2]. Mobile devices such as the smartphones also contributed tothe expansion of Internet usage. We now live in a cyber-physical world where communications
and activities are merged across the cyber and physical spaces. In addition, the Fourth Industrial*

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M. Funamori

Revolution is materializing with the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial
intelligence (AI), enabling decision-making beyond human capabilities.
Higher education around the world transitioned into the digital age alongside theproliferation of the Internet. In general, universities were at the forefront of this transition as
most of the related technologies were invented at universities. However, it was mainly thescience-related departments that were the leaders. The other departments trailed behind, alongwith the general public. As the use of the Internet and personal computers became widespread,research and educational resources started being created digitally from the beginning andshared with ease over the Internet. Journal articles became electronically available andsearchable through the Internet. Moreover, it became possible to automatically calculate theimpact factors of academic journals and the citation counts of journal articles, changing how
researchers were being evaluated. Online learning materials became available and are now
widely used in a blended learning format. Information systems for university business use, suchas accounting and human resource management, were developed and introduced. Courses cameto be managed through learning management systems. Computer science departments offeredcomputer engineering training while other departments offered computer literacy training.
This transition at universities was not specifically planned except in the related areas such as
IT centers. Moreover, higher education worldwide has been in a state of drastic reform since the1990s.
An eminent example of university reform is the Bologna Process, which is aimed atharmonizing the higher education systems within the European Union (EU) in order to address
the globalization trend. Many other universities around the world are also implementing reform
measures. Many universities are restructuring their governance structure from collegialconsensus making to agile university management. Marketization has moved into the higher
education sphere, and universities are managing their operations more like corporate entities[3]. The shift towards a knowledge economy is driving governments to strive for greater
attainment rates in higher education, which is transforming higher education from the elite’s
restricted access to the masses’ universal access. This massification of higher education,
however, has led to shortfalls in higher education budgets, which, in turn, has pushed
universities towards stringent management practices. Massification is also resulting in a morediverse student body. This diversity has increased the need for individualized student care as
students are no longer able to follow the one-size-fits-all one-way lecture style [4]. The
introduction of world university rankings has expanded competition from domestic competition
to worldwide competition. The world’s leading universities now have to compete on a global
stage.
In the face of these drastic reforms, it is no wonder that most universities did not focus on theneed to adapt to the digital age. Adapting to the globalization, marketization, and massificationof higher education has been by far the most pressing issue. However, as the turmoil of higher
education reforms settles down, the gaps among universities in terms of adapting to the digitalage have become apparent. Universities in the U.S. are among the most advanced in thisregards. IT centers at public universities in the U.S. are generally staffed with more than 100
professionals providing Internet network infrastructures and academic services. In contrast, theIT centers at Japanese public and private universities are generally understaffed and thus
provide a minimum level of services. The information systems are mostly unsophisticated anddifficult to use. Learning management systems are used for only a small number of courses. On
top of this, Japanese universities are criticized for not producing a sufficient number of skilled
IT engineers and for not promoting the start-up of IT companies.
What accounts for these shortcomings of Japan in the digital age? Japan has been a leader in

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The Issues Japanese Higher Education Face in the Digital Age

39electronics since the 1980s, and the Japanese government has been heavily investing in policy
measures to promote the transition to an information-based society. Why is Japan lagging
behind other developed countries? Is there still a chance to close the gap? What should be done
to do so?
This paper analyzes the slow progress towards an information-based society in Japan by firstcomparing the measures taken by universities at the beginning of the digital age and thecriticism Japanese universities have drawn. It then discusses the issues Japan is facing intransitioning to an information-based society and contributions Japanese universities could
make.

2 Measures taken by Japanese universities at the beginning ofdigital age
This section provides an overview of the measures taken by Japanese higher education during
the period when computers and the Internet were introduced. The measures examined wereselected from among the policies successively developed by the Japanese government.

2.1 Forming departments in computer sciences
Measures to adapt to the digital age started in the 1940s and 50s with the development ofcomputers and research in related areas. Even though the processing power of computers was
highly welcomed, there was initial skepticism about whether a discipline focusing on
computers could be formed. However, as computers became available not only for numerical
processing but also for various forms of information processing, the research field broadened
and attracted researchers with various interests. In the 1960s, computer science emerged as an
academic discipline, and universities began to establish relevant departments.
In the early days of computing in Japan, workshops and training sessions on the use ofcomputers and information processing were held by individual academics who were excitedabout this field. Subsequently, when various theories on an “information society” were
proposed in the 1970s, the government took the initiative in propelling the transition to an
information-based society [5][6][7]. The Japanese government forecast the demand forcomputer engineers and established computer science departments accordingly [8]. In the
1980s, when microelectronics and VLSI (very large scale integration circuits) rapidly advanced,
industry experienced a serious shortage of computer engineers. Universities could not keep up
with demand, so vocational schools were established to help meet the demand.
Although these measures increased the number of computer engineers, industry required
quality engineers. Universities were criticized for not producing computer engineers with therequired practical skills. Demand increased for computer engineers with a better understandingof the needs of business and the business information systems being deployed. The Japanese
government took measures to train computer engineers through university–industry linkages. IT
companies such as Microsoft and Google are now making similar claims and attempting todevelop the needed workforce themselves.

2.2 Introduction of information literacy education
Measures to raise the information literacy of the general public were also taken. The National
Forum on Information Literacy defines information literacy as “the ability to know when there
is a need for information, to be able to identify, locate, evaluate, and effectively use that

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M. Funamori

information for the issue or problem at hand” [9]. Whereas information literacy is the ability touse information in general, computer literacy, or digital literacy, is defined as “the ability to use
computers and related technology efficiently, with a range of skills covering levels fromelementary use to programming and advanced problem solving.” When computers were first
introduced for general use, skills in their use were in demand, and universities began to offer
courses and training sessions for general students on how to use them [10]. In the late 1980s,
several research universities in Japan began to offer information processing courses. Other
universities followed suit in the 1990s. The focus was on the use of personal computers and not
on information processing, such as computer programming and performing numericalcalculations.
By 2000, more than 30% of the population owned a computer, and after 2006, when students
who had taken compulsory “information” courses began to enter universities, many universities
discarded computer literacy education and switched to information literacy education. The
courses were built around “locating information,” “processing information,” and “expressing
through information” [11]. These courses are now commonly provided as freshman seminars aspart of academic literacy education.

2.3 Establishing IT infrastructure
Along with the development of human resources, IT infrastructures were deployed atuniversities to support the growing use of personal computers and information networks. The
computers were initially shared among labs, and it was some time before personal computerswere installed in each lab. Educational computer centers were established to serve students, andcomputers for university business use were established on a larger scale to serve management.
Information networks were established on both a nationwide scale and a campus scale. Japan
has a special institute—the National Institute of Informatics (formerly the National Center for
Science Information Systems)—that provides information networks and services exclusively
for academic institutions. Academic institutions use public information networks only in alimited capacity. This limited usage came about as there was no demand for the Internet in theprivate sector in 1986 when the Institute started to provide Internet services to universities. The
government did not anticipate the growth in demand for the Internet from either the private
sector or for general use. Local area networks at each campus were deployed almost
simultaneously during the 1990s and early 2000s.

2.4 Establishing information systems and archiving documents
Scholarly communication could be said to be the most affected by the digitization trend. Almost
all scholarly communication, previously reliant on printed articles and books, was transformed
into digital format. Information systems were established to manage the digital archives, andmeta-information for articles and books was also digitized.
In Japan, the Japan Information Center for Science and Technology had been providing
science and technology journal articles on demand in printed form since 1957. This service
became available online in 1976. At that time, there were only ten terminals available forobtaining article meta-information and abstracts. Even such a limited service required thecreation of Japanese keywords and abstracts for each article. Technological developments toprocess Chinese characters were also needed as Asian language processing was not common atthat time [12]. In parallel, bibliographic catalog systems were established in 1976. The
development of these systems and the inputting of meta-information required vast amounts oftime and energy [13]. Electronic libraries providing Japanese articles were also developed.

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The Issues Japanese Higher Education Face in the Digital AgeApart from scholarly communication, information systems for university business use, suchas accounting and human resource management, were developed and introduced. Because of
the specifics of the Japanese language and Japan’s unique business practices, Japan had todevelop its own information systems. What is more, because Japanese universities had practices
very different than those of Japanese companies, special systems had to be developed foruniversities.

2.5 Establishing policies for digital education
Along with the provision of e-learning and online programs at universities came the need toestablish policies for digital education. There has been some skepticism around e-learning, thecriticism being that it did not provide the same level of interactivity as in face-to-face lectures.
As such, the maximum number of credits that could be achieved through media was limited to
30 out of the 124 credits needed to graduate from an undergraduate program. This limit has
now been increased to 60 credits, but no further. For distance education, it was required that aminimum of 30 credits be provided face to face, out of the total 124 credits. Now, all credits canbe achieved through some sort of media [14].
Intellectual property law has also been amended to incorporate new digital needs. However,Japanese intellectual property law has not changed so far as to affect academic activities [15].

3 Criticism Japanese Universities Face
There is widespread concern in Japan that Japan is lagging behind other developed countries interms of adapting to the digital age and transitioning to an information-based society. This isreflected in Japan’s “Network Readiness Index” given in the Global Information Technology
Report published annually by the World Economic Forum: Japan hovered around 20th in the
rankings until it finally reached the 10th position in the 2015 report [16]. Even though Japan is
now in the top ten for the overall index, it still ranks 15th and 16th for the economic and social
impact sub-indices. More specifically, Japan ranks 24th for “Impact of ICTs on businessmodels,” 33rd for “Impact of ICTs on organizational models,” 58th for “Knowledge-intensive
jobs,” 28th for “Impact of ICTs on access to basic services,” 37th for “Internet access in schools,”
and 37th for “ICT use & government efficiency” [17]. These rankings are by far unacceptable
for Japan as it is one of the leading economic powers in the world. The Ministry of Internal
Affairs and Communications (MIC) conducted an international comparative survey on theusage of ICT. Japan ranked 5th among the seven countries surveyed. Especially in the fields ofeducation/human resources and business management, Japan ranks at the bottom, with adeviation score of 35 [18]. These findings support the widespread concern that Japan is lagging
behind other developed countries.
Japanese universities have been blamed for these deficiencies for several reasons.

3.1 ICT services at minimum level
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) conducts aquestionnaire survey on ICT usage in higher education every few years [19]. The results arecompared with those for other countries. This section presents some of the results in the latest
report for 2015.
Learning management systems (LMSs) are commonly used at universities in developed
countries. Their penetration rate is roughly 60% in the U.S. and South Korea. In contrast, in

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M. Funamori

Japan, the rates for national, public, and private universities are 80%, 40%, and 20%,
respectively. Since private universities are the majority in Japanese higher education, theoverall average is close to the private universities’ level. In addition, even for the universities
that have introduced LMSs, they are used for only 1–20% of all courses. This low level of LMS
utilization means that Japan will have difficulties introducing personalized learning throughadaptive technology which is attracting high expectations to assist students in learning but
requires the use of LMSs.
The survey revealed that the ICT tools most widely introduced by Japanese universities are:syllabus systems (89%), student information systems (63%), and campus WiFi networks (79%).
The less widely introduced tools are OpenCourseWare (OCW) or open educational resources(OERs) (11%), digital textbooks (4%), e-portfolio systems (26%), and official social
networking systems (28%). In short, while an IT backbone has been deployed at a majority ofJapanese universities, there has been less deployment of application tools for use in education.
Application tool deployment in the U.S. was found to be much greater: contents/ learning
management systems (90%), digital textbooks and/or OERs (70–75%), and “e-portfolio
systems (50%). A great gap is evident here in the adoption of ICT tools between those twocountries.
The Japanese survey asked about barriers to introducing ICT tools. More than 95% of
responding universities reported a lack of staff for creating digital contents and maintaining ICT
systems, insufficient ICT skills for both academic and general staff, and a limited budget. Morethan 20% reported not having a support organization, not having a budget allocation, and nothaving support staff for online learning or ICT-assisted learning. It is clear that the lack ofhuman and financial resources has been impeding the introduction and promotion of ICT tools
for educational use.
Information systems for university business use, such as accounting and human resource
management, were also reported to be unsophisticated and difficult to use. Since many schools
have no budget or support staff allocated for these either, the information systems for businessuse are difficult to improve.

3.2 Not meeting need of IT industry for skilled IT engineers
Skilled IT engineers are in short supply in many countries of the world, and Japan is no
exception. According to the “White Paper on IT Human Resources” published annually by the
Information-Technology Promotion Agency, more than 90% of companies report a great lack(24%) or lack (67%) of IT human resources [20]. Japan is suffering more than other countries
as it is an aging society. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) forecasts thatthe number of people entering the IT industry will be less than the number of people leaving by
2019 and that the mean age of people in the industry will increase from 39 in 2015 to 41 by
2030. The shortage of human resources in the IT industry is estimated to increase from 170,000
in 2015 to 590,000 by 2030 [21].
The Japanese IT industry is particularly unattractive compared to those of other countries.
METI conducted a comparative survey on IT human resources among eight countries (the U.S.,
Japan, South Korea, China, India, Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia), with 500 people in eachcountry working in IT responding to the web survey. Only 34% of the Japanese respondents
agreed or strongly agreed that jobs related to IT were attractive whereas the percentage wasaround 80% for the other countries, except Korea with 50%. Job satisfaction showed a similar
result. Japan ranked especially low in terms of job achievement and salary/benefits. The
average salary for U.S. respondents was almost double that for Japanese ones (11,570,000 vs.

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The Issues Japanese Higher Education Face in the Digital Age

5,980,000 yen). The Japanese IT industry tends to follow the traditional seniority system inwhich one’s salary rises in accordance with age whereas the average salary in the U.S. washighest for the respondents in their 30’s and lower for those in their 40’s and 50’s. That is, theU.S. has a merit-based system that presents attractive job opportunities for young adults. The
average job position of the Japanese respondents was the lowest among the eight surveyedcountries. Only 38% of the Japanese IT workers were in managerial positions withresponsibility for a business unit or division or were in an executive position even though theaverage length of employment was greater than that of all the other countries [22]. In contrast,
74% of the U.S. respondents were in managerial positions. In Japan, IT engineers are regarded
as low wage workers rather than professional staff. There is a saying that IT-related jobs inJapan are 3K (kitsui (tough), kaerenai (not able to go home), kyuryo-ga-yasui (low salary)). It is
no wonder that the IT industry has trouble attracting skilled young professionals.
Even though Japanese universities cannot be blamed for the unattractiveness of jobs in theJapanese IT industry, they are still criticized for not meeting the demand of the IT industry forskilled IT engineers. To meet this demand, several academic programs have been set up to
produce IT engineers with practical skills or to produce human resources who can makebusiness breakthroughs.

3.3 Not producing startup companies
In this age of drastic change, there is a strong need for startup companies that can makebusiness breakthroughs on the strengths of new technologies and new business models.
Established companies typically enter new markets only in an adaptive way; they are not adept
at creating an entirely new market. Since a new market in the Fourth Industrial Revolution
requires cutting-edge technologies and intelligent business operations, there are highexpectations for universities to foster startups. For example, Google and Facebook were
founded by graduate students at leading U.S. universities. The Japanese government andindustry are demanding the same from Japanese universities.
The Japanese government set a target in 2001 to have 1000 startups from universities within
three years—the so-called Hiranuma-Plan. It is set forth in the Basic Program for Science andTechnology, which is laid out every five years and lays the foundation for science andtechnology policy in Japan. The target was met in 2004 thanks to the advocacy work of thegovernment and the adoption of new regulations for startups. However, the government seems
to have lost interest in university startups. The number established annually decreased
dramatically after reaching a peak of 252 in 2005 (Figure 1) [23]. Since the number ofuniversity startups established per year is 400–500 on average for the U.S., the gap between
these two countries continues to widen [24]. The market shares of Japanese IT companies
established after 1990 is 19% in terms of the number of companies and 9% in terms of theamount of sales. The numbers are 56% and 19% for the U.S. and 70% and 47% for the UK. In
Japan, large established enterprises dominate the market, making it difficult to adapt to the new
digital economy [25].
A questionnaire survey revealed that a downtown in the economy, difficulty raising funds
and entering the market, a lack of success stories, high risk, little support from universities or
the government, and occupation with education and research duties are among the leading
reasons for the decrease in the number of new university startups [26]. In Japan, there havebeen almost no budget allocations for new policy agendas since the economic bubble burst in
the early 1990s. The promotion of university startups is also failing with no additional
investments.

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M. Funamori

300
252

250

226
195

200
151

150
95

100
50

47
9

19

33

167

252
210
166

90

74

41

69
47

51

52

65

0

Figure 1. Number of university startups established

4 Missteps in transition to information-based society
What is the reason for the deficiencies of the IT industry in Japan? Japan has not overlooked theimportance of becoming an information-based society. In fact, Japan was one of the first
countries to address this need as a leader in electronics. Nevertheless, at the turn of the century,
Japan came to realize that the country was lagging in terms of IT. This led to the establishmentof the IT Strategy Headquarter under the Cabinet. The headquarter drafts the “e-Japan Strategy”
and implements and monitors the related policy measures on an annual basis. Broadband
networks, such as the fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network, were successfully deployed due tothese measures. However, the software and applications industry is still struggling to succeed ininternational markets.
This section discusses the issues facing Japan in its efforts to transition to an
information-based society. It starts by examining the measures taken by universities at the
beginning of the digital age, as described in section 2, and then considers the criticism Japanese
universities has received, as described in section 3.

4.1 Misinterpreting the real value of IT: computation vs. communication
As described in section 2.1, Japan started early on to set up computer science departments to
educate computer engineers. This effort was accelerated due to the strong demands of thecomputer industry in the 1970s and 1980s. The demands were especially high for engineers
who could work on research and development (R&D) of computers, smart electronic devices,
and information systems for business use. Even the information literacy education for general
students was based around the usage of computers and computer programming, as seen in
section 2.2. In short, the academic programs were focused on developing human resources in
hard sciences strong in computational needs.
In contrast, the business targets of successful IT companies such as Google, Amazon,
Facebook, and LinkedIn are formed around human communications and information gathering

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The Issues Japanese Higher Education Face in the Digital Age

45

rather than meeting computational demands. Google invented a search engine that puts themost relevant information for the user at the top. Amazon invented a 1-click ordering,recommendation engine and gift certificates that take it beyond simply being an e-commercesite. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are social networking services that meet the human desire
to communicate. Even big data analysis, which has been attracting much attention recently, isaimed at meeting the human desire for relevant information, especially in shopping.
Kokuryo pointed out that Japan failed to understand that computers were becoming
communication tools rather than computational tools [27]. This is a very revealing statement.
Electronic contents only become information when there is human intervention. Information
technology needs to interact with people in order to convey meaningful information.
Since most computer science departments are still in the school of engineering, they attract
students mainly interested in hard sciences and not in human communication and interactions.
Since the faculty members are generally graduates of similar departments in the same discipline,
an ecosystem with people interested in hard sciences has formed in those departments, making
it difficult to pursue an alternate path to human-related research topics. The IT industry reflects
this problem as their IT employees came from those same departments.
Even the way ICT is used in classrooms is preventing Japan from seeing ICT tools as
communication devices. Toyofuku pointed out that since classes are designed to fulfill the goalsof the teacher, there is a belief that ICT tools should be used exactly as directed by the teacher[28]. ICT tools are usually used to complete certain tasks given by the teacher, such ascomposing a document or searching for particular information. In general, teachers avoid using
ICT tools to share information with and communicate with students. With the widespread useof smartphones and similar devices, there is hope that this is going to change as students areusing ICT tools to communicate outside the classroom.

4.2 Neglecting importance of professional IT support staff
As seen in section 3.1, a minimum level of ICT services is generally provided at Japanese
universities. Only 49% of universities report having a helpdesk to handle network trouble
shooting and Internet security. Support for academic activities in education and research israrely available. The reasons given for this are, as mentioned, a lack of staff for creating digitalcontents and maintaining ICT systems, insufficient ICT skills for both academic and generalstaff, and a limited budget. There is a lack of understanding regarding the importance of aprofessional IT support staff. In the U.S., three-quarters of the universities provide, on average,
80 hours of helpdesk support a week. This support goes beyond maintaining the IT
infrastructure and troubleshooting information systems. It extends to academic activities such as
assisting faculty members in using ICT tools for education and research. There are training
courses and one-to-one consultations available. In large public universities, the IT centers arestaffed with more than 100 people. There is even a saying that secretaries are laid off and IT
staff is hired instead in the digital age.
ICT should have been seen as human services rather than physical goods. As described in
section 2, efforts to adapt to the digital age in Japan were mainly related to educating computerengineers and deploying IT infrastructure. There was the assumption that high-tech IT goods
lead directly to marketability. However, the adoption of a new technology by society depends
on the efforts of facilitators. Facilitators are needed to advocate for the new technology andassist people in using it. Especially in the case of ICT, which is not a physical good but a virtual
system, the functions performed by a human facilitator are essential. Japan overlooked the factthat the transition to an information-based society requires human support as well as key

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M. Funamori

technologies.
The reason for the rich support at U.S. universities and at those in other Western countries isdue to the demand of the students and to having a younger generation as users of information
services. In many countries, wireless networks and information systems such as LMSs arewidespread already at the high school level. When students enroll in universities, they demand
the same level of support. In Western countries, it is common for graduate students to givelectures, lead classes, and give final grades. Close to thousand students can comprise one class,meaning that ICT tools such as an LMS are needed to handle the class. Since graduate students
typically adapt to new technologies quite easily, ICT tools rapidly come into use. In Japan, only
qualified professors are allowed to give lectures and lead a class. The number of students in aclass can range from several dozens to two hundred. The professors are of course older than
graduate students and thus more reluctant to use new technologies. Moreover, the class size
does not demand the use of such technology.

4.3 Too much emphasis on creating digital contents
Another reason for Japan lagging behind in transitioning to an information-based society is thatJapan has put too much emphasis in creating digital contents rather than developing an
information system to host those contents.
For example, a great amount of time and effort went into creating the catalog, keywords,
abstracts, and other metadata in digital format for the Japanese journal article database andbibliographic catalog system described in section 2.4. Even though the development of theinformation system also needed elaboration, a much greater amount of time and effort went intocreating the contents. Another example is the “e-Japan Priority Policy Program,” which is
published annually under the “e-Japan Strategy.” It includes many measures for creating digitalcontents in various fields and only a few for developing an information system or for
determining what kinds of information systems will be needed in the future.
It seems as though Japan misinterpreted “information-based society” as a society full ofdigital contents. Certainly, Japan had to work on preparing digital contents in Japanese as its
society is based on the Japanese language. However, as the information-based societymaterializes, we see that creating a new way to link information and people to increase
communication and exchanges among people is by far more important than creating digitalcontents or implementing high-tech computer processing. Digital contents are naturally createdas people spend more time in cyberspace.

4.4 Avoidance of ICTThere is also a culture of avoiding ICT in Japan. ICT-related policy papers over the last two
decades consistently mention the “light and dark side” of using of ICT. There is a notion that
ICT should be introduced carefully to avoid the dark side.
This warning is especially strong for policy measures related to elementary and secondary
schools. The Ad Hoc Council on Education set up by Prime Minister Nakasone (1984-87) wasvery influential in reshaping the elementary and secondary school systems in Japan. Its main
goal was to revive Japanese schooling, which was considered broken due to school violenceand excessive competition on entrance exams. In addition, the Council addressed the transition
to an information-based society, the challenges of an aging society, and the trend toward
globalization. It discussed how school systems should respond to the structural changes inindustry and employment. Nonetheless, its policy measures were not aimed at introducing ICT
into education in a straight-forward manner. Rather, the “light and dark side” of ICT was

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The Issues Japanese Higher Education Face in the Digital Age

47

repeatedly mentioned. The guidelines created for introducing ICT into the school system
mainly follow the recommendations of the Council and include a whole chapter devoted to the“light and dark side” of ICT.
Toyofuku observed that there is a widespread belief that addiction to and prolonged usage of
ICT will harm the human nature of students. ICT thus has to be restricted by adults as it willaffect the health and school achievements of students. This includes forbidding students tobring mobile phones to school and to use them at night. Such measures also prevent the use of
e-mail for communication between the school and parents and restrict communication between
students and parents via electronic services [28].
The beliefs that ICT will harm the human nature of students and that deep learning can only
be achieved through thorough reflection are also evident in higher education. The positive sideof ICT, that work can be performed more efficiently and that it enables communication beyond
time and space restrictions, is not acknowledged as much. Even though people have come toappreciate the benefits of ICT tools, they are still viewed as being in the same dimension as
basic infrastructures such as electricity and telephony. There seems to be minimal
understanding that ICT can lead to a better life.

4.5 Japanese language environment
Although Japan cannot be blamed for having Japanese language environment, it is obvious that
this environment has been a great barrier to transitioning to an information-based society.
Japan is the only country where Japanese is the main language and where Japanesecharacters, which is also making use of Chinese characters, are used. Since ICT inherently
requires the use of language and characters, the hurdle created by this characteristic isunavoidable. Almost every information system had to be produced in Japanese as well as inEnglish. Since Japan was one of the leaders in electronics, it developed many systems on its
own without copying the system from other developed countries and translating it into Japanese.
When Japan developed information systems on its own in Japanese, it naturally developed
systems that fit Japan’s societal and cultural needs. They suited Japanese people but weredifficult to market outside Japan. This became known as the “Galápagos syndrome,” referring
to isolated development in Japan apart from the global trend. Mobile phones in Japan are
examples of this. The Japanese IT industry expended much time and great effort in developing
goods that are marketable only in Japan.
The Japanese keyboard system alone required tremendous R&D to be able to input Japanesecharacters, display them on a screen, print them out, and make them searchable on the Internet.
The Western alphabet has only 26 characters whereas the Japanese language uses threedifferent sets of characters amounting to several thousands of characters as Chinese characters
are also used. Creating a Japanese information processing system was not enough. Digitalcontents in the Japanese language needed to be created and accumulated as well. Since theinput of Japanese letters through the special keyboard system required professional skill, it took
some time until a substantial amount of digital contents could be accumulated. Japanesecompanies still required typists until the beginning of the 1990s.
It took almost two decades before everyday people could type Japanese letters using the
keyboard system. Even today, most people older than 70 do not have this ability. They thus
miss out on the use of e-mail and the Internet. The penetration of mobile phones was the major
factor in the younger generation being able to type Japanese letters electronically. It was not
until 2008, when the penetration rate of mobile phones crossed the 80% line that the use of
e-mail and the Internet expanded dramatically. Western countries thus had a tremendous

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M. Funamori

advantage due to having only 26 letters in general and due to mechanical typewriters being incommon use since the beginning of the 20th century.

5

Measures to be taken in Japan to transition to
information-based society

The missteps taken in transitioning to an information-based society, as described in section 4,
show that Japanese universities were not to blame for most of the problems. It was not theirfault that Japan misunderstood that the real value of IT was not computer processing but rather
communicating. Japanese universities were not responsible for too much emphasis being placedon creating digital contents rather than on developing systems to enhance information exchange
and communication. Universities appreciated the need for professional IT support staff but were
hamstrung by severe budget constraints.
Certainly, universities have been providing academic programs and conducting R&D incomputer sciences and have been in a position to point out the missteps as they became awareof them. However, the misunderstanding of the meaning of an information-based society wascommon across all areas in Japan including universities, industry, and government. Criticism
has been directed towards Japanese universities because there is no clear target for the blame.
The easiest way is to accuse the universities as they are responsible for nurturing humanresources and conducting R&D in the new field and are the closest to the innovations. Since
universities are in a period of drastic reforms, such claims are easy to make.
The issues described in section 4 were pointed out by various people on various occasions.
The real issue is that there is no one stepping up to tackle these issues in a serious manner.
Arguments such as “Japan is not good at developing systems” are repeatedly heard. However,
if people know where the problem is, they should be able to solve it. If Japan is really not goodat developing systems, experts from overseas could be recruited to help.
The fact that the government seems to have lost interest in working on the issues related to
ICT is also a concern. While there are several policy measures targeting ICT-related issues,
such as including more women and more seniors in the IT workforce and developing IT
systems for emergency response and agriculture, there are no policy measures targeting thefundamental issues related to transitioning to an information-based society, as described in
section 4.
Most of the issues have not been carefully thought through because of budget limitations.
Japanese culture, in general, is frequently blamed. Startups are not succeeding because “Japan
has no culture of giving,” “there is limited venture capital in Japan,” “startups don’t work inJapanese culture,” and so on. Governments could have established programs dictating that acertain proportion of governmental spending must be allocated to startups, thereby providing
the necessary funds, providing employment opportunities, and developing innovativetechnologies and services all at the same time. Policymakers often talk about the importance ofa “career path” if IT-related jobs are to become attractive. However, the hiring of staff is leftentirely to companies and universities. These actors are unable to hire people on the basis of job
position stability. They have to prioritize efficiency, which results in low wages and poor
working conditions.
So what should Japanese universities do? Is it OK to stand aside, doing nothing, as it is nottheir business? At this moment, all the stakeholders (government, industry, and society) seem tohave left the arena. Even universities are avoiding acting on the issues as they are suffering

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The Issues Japanese Higher Education Face in the Digital Age

from long-lasting university reforms and tight budgets. This will only worsen the situation.
Getting away from this stagnant situation requires innovation. In this milieu, it remains up to
universities to drive the changes needed. Universities are in the best position to makebreakthroughs in their role as academic institutions creating new knowledge and developing
human resources.
Fortunately, digital natives are entering the workforce. Most of the issues described in
section 4 are not relevant to this younger generation. They look upon ICT tools as
communication tools. They have lived in the cyber-physical world their whole life and have nohesitation in using ICT tools. They know how to navigate cyberspace and how to innovate.
Creating applications has never been easier. The key is to let the younger generation take thelead. In Japan, the seniority system is king—younger employees are expected to follow thesame paths taken by the senior employees. However, the ideas of younger employees are more
likely to lead to a breakthrough than those of the older employees, especially when it comes totransitioning to an information-based society.
Universities are places where ideas are born and students are trained to change the world.
Universities are thus the most promising change agent, speeding up the transition to an
information-based society in Japan.

Acknowledgments
This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 22653097 “Academic
Management in Top Research Universities,” 22653097 “The Impact of MOOCs on Higher
Education,” and 15K13175 “The Impact of US Mega-Foundations on Higher Education Policy
Formation.”

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