Homeschooling and Education

Japan is not alone in confronting demographic decline: China, which also effectively excludes immigration, except by ethnic Chinese, is facing a more dramatic challenge after Mao’s call to “populate or perish” was replaced in 1979 by a one-child-per-couple policy. Japan is an extremely competitive society, yet competition within the group must be suppressed. Minor issues are sometimes dealt with by appeals to higher authority, but they may well smolder unresolved for years. Japan is now a highly industrialized country and the leading economic power in the world.

Japan is a founding member of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and a signatory to most major treaties regarding intellectual property rights. Recent legislative amendments include a reduction in the time required by the patent office to treat patents cases and the introduction of a post-grant opposition system; thus, the average approval time for patent and utility model applications was reduced to under 24 months by end-1995. Japan is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary government, according to these Rocket Japanese reviews. There is universal adult suffrage with a secret ballot for all elective offices. Japan is at once exotic and esoteric, yet at the same time as maddeningly bustling and busy as any other modern industrialized country. While comfort and convenience are everywhere for the traveler, attempts to find and understand Japan’s soul are well-documented, but very elusive.