This note provides an overview of Japan’s digital education ecosystem, including the digital tools for system and institutional management and digital resources for teaching and learning that are publicly provided to schools and educational stakeholders. The note outlines how public responsibilities for the governance of digital education are divided and examines how Japan supports the equitable and effective access to and use of digital technology and data in education. This includes through practices and policies on procurement, interoperability, data privacy and regulation, and digital competencies. Finally, the note discusses how Japan engages in any initiatives, including with the EdTech sector, to drive innovation and research and development towards an effective digital ecosystem.
Country Digital Education Ecosystems and Governance
17. Japan
Abstract
Key features
Japan has a rather decentralised digital education policy, and leaves to its prefectures and municipalities most of the decisions related to the country’s digital infrastructure. It is one of the few OECD countries that does not maintain a national student information system.
Two major national initiatives have provided incentives for the digitalisation of its education system. The Global and Innovation Gateway for All (GIGA) school digital learning programme provides all students in compulsory education (primary and lower secondary) a digital device (tablet or laptop) on a 5-year lease. The MEXT’s new computer-based testing system (MEXCBT) also provides incentives to all municipalities to comply to certain interoperability standards. While both programmes are optional, all prefectures and municipalities have opted in.
The government-supported ICT supporter scheme allows for “supporters” employed by private companies to be dispatched to public schools to offer teachers professional support regarding the use of computers and software for teaching.
General policy context
In Japan, public responsibility for managing the education system is split between central, prefectural, and municipal governments.1 The national Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (hereafter MEXT) sets the national curriculum, promotes and regulates the use of digital technologies in education, and funds local governments – 47 prefectures and 1 719 municipalities (which include 23 special wards of Tokyo). However, it is the prefectures and municipalities that make most decisions on school management, from procuring infrastructure to providing learning resources.
Division of responsibility
Public responsibilities for offering schools with access to digital tools and resources follow this devolved context. Part of the infrastructure is provided centrally (e.g. computer-based testing system), but a larger proportion is procured locally or by schools themselves. For instance, prefectures and municipalities maintain their own student information system, and procure for schools some privately developed tools and resources for school management such as learning management system. Generally, prefectures are responsible for upper secondary schools (which includes vocational schools at the upper secondary level), and municipalities are in charge of primary and lower secondary schools.2 Schools then procure by themselves other tools and resources for school management, such as administrative function system. They also acquire digital teaching and learning resources from education stakeholders, for example universities and education technology (EdTech) companies.
The central government plays a more prominent role in supporting and promoting the uptake and in regulating the use of digital education infrastructure. MEXT provides various guidelines to help schools make well-informed decisions regarding their procurement of digital infrastructure. In addition, the central government enacts the rules governing the access to and use of data and digital technologies in education. The Act on the Protection of Personal Information governs the handling of personal data, including education data when they constitute personal information.
Digital education strategy
In 2021, the Japanese government established the Digital Agency, a government agency aimed at coordinating digitalisation and ensuring a coherent use of digital technologies across sectors. The agency recently approved the Priority Policy Programme for Realising Digital Society, which outlines Japan’s plan for digital transformation of the country.3
In line with this programme, and taking stock of the COVID-19 experience, the Digital Agency (along a few other ministries) published in January 2022 the Roadmap for Utilising Education Data.4 Its mission is to build “a society where anybody, at any time and place, can learn with anybody in his/her own way”. Therefore, this roadmap aims to create an environment that promotes the use of education data and incorporates digital technologies as a tool for supporting learning, while ensuring the interoperability across the technology used in education.
Such innovation is built against the country’s digital education infrastructure, which has been enhanced gradually over the past years. Particularly during the pandemic, MEXT made changes in their digital education policies and expenditure to enhance the digital infrastructure in schools, improving Wi-Fi and mobile coverage in all schools as well as broadband connection in vocational institutions. According to a recent MEXT survey, the average rate of Wi-Fi adoption across all levels of schools in the country has shown a steep increase – from 48.9% in 2020 to 94.8% in 2022.5
MEXT has also further reinforced the Global and Innovation Gateway for All (GIGA) school digital learning programme.6 This programme was first launched in 2018 as a nationwide initiative, and as part of a broader government strategy towards a post-information society (called Society 5.0 initiative in Japan). One of the major objectives of the GIGA programme is to provide a digital device for all students, and build a school infrastructure for ICT-supported teaching and learning, to optimise and standardise the educational data collection (see Equity of access section later for more details).
In future years, MEXT will continue investing in hardware infrastructure, including improving the broadband and Wi-Fi connections in schools, and providing digital devices for student to use in schools and at home.
The public digital education infrastructure
This section reviews two aspects of the public digital infrastructure in Japan: digital tools and resources for system and school management, and digital resources for teaching and learning.
Digital ecosystem for system and school management
Student information system and learning management system
In Japan there is no centralised education database or student information system managed at the central system level. For calculating educational statistics, MEXT therefore distributes to schools annually a questionnaire about school and student information (e.g. gender, number of students, etc.). Schools are then required to complete the questionnaire and submit it back to MEXT.
While no education database or student information system is operated at the central level, generally each local government – prefecture and municipality – has its own database and a student information system, so that they can manage information about the schools and students for whom they are responsible.7 The local governments collect various types of data, ranging from administrative data (such as student lists and attendance records) to learning-related data (such as computer/device usage logs). However, the exact kinds of data collected across different local governments may vary from one to another. Whether a student is allocated a unique identifier in the system is also a decision made differently at local government-level.8
A vast majority of schools in Japan use a learning management system (called Gakushu e-Portal, meaning Learning e-Portal) to help organise teaching and learning. Examples of these systems are Open Platform for Education, L-Gate, and Manabi Pocket.9 These systems vary in detailed functions, but they are all cloud-based and single sign-on (SSO) enabled platforms, and offer access to the MEXT’s new computer-based testing system (MEXCBT).10 Some of them also display analytic dashboards, offer tools for schools to communicate with students or parents, and are interoperable with system-level administrative systems.
However, there is no direct MEXT involvement in providing, procuring, or subsidising one of these learning management systems.11 These systems are developed by private companies (such as NEC Corporation or Uchida Corporation) and procured for schools by local governments – typically by municipalities (for primary and lower secondary education) or prefectures (for upper secondary education).
Other management support systems and assessment systems
Many schools procure and use further tools and resources for school management, such as customer relationship management systems and administrative function systems, to help teachers deal with academic affairs, keep students’ health records, and so forth. Although not all schools are using these systems, their usage has increased over the past years. For instance, the proportion of schools using an administrative function system has increased from 48.7% in 2017 to 81.0% in 2022.12
While MEXT does not provide either kind of system, it promotes the use of administrative function systems. It also provides the National Assessment of Academic Ability (Zenkoku Gakuryoku Gakushuu Joukyou Chousa), a low-stake annual national standardised assessment of mathematics and Japanese language, taken by all students in the final years of primary and lower secondary education.13 The assessment has so far been primarily paper-based, yet part of the assessment will be administered digitally from 2025 on. Although taking this assessment is optional in principle, all municipalities have opted for it, making it a de facto comprehensive system-level assessment.
In addition, in 2021 MEXT introduced MEXCBT, a computer-based testing system that students may use for self-assessment, covering many fundamental subjects at the primary and lower secondary levels including mathematics, Japanese and English language. Subjects at the upper secondary level will also be covered in the near future. Like the National Assessment of Academic Ability, MEXCBT is also optional. However, MEXT has been promoting its use for a wide range of purposes, for instance, for regular classes and home study, for annual nationwide academic achievement and learning situation surveys, and for local governments’ own academic ability surveys.14 As of June 2023, 25 000 schools and 8 million students and teachers were registered on MEXCBT.
Digital ecosystem for teaching and learning
Schools in Japan have a good degree of autonomy regarding their choice and use of digital educational resources, and they may autonomously procure various resources from private vendors, as well as other stakeholders. Still, there are several digital resources for teaching and learning that are publicly provided. All those publicly provided resources are classified according to a national taxonomy (at all educational levels) and tagged with codes specific to each subject of the curriculum. Teachers can thus search for the appropriate contents easily.
Several of the public digital teaching and learning resources are openly accessible to anyone in the country. The Japan Broadcasting Corporation (Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai, NHK), the country’s main public broadcaster, delivers educational contents at the primary and secondary levels via their public radio and television channels. While those contents are neither created nor guided by MEXT, a large proportion is curated in accordance with the national curriculum. Information on these resources as well as other learning materials and educational programmes has been curated and offered on the Children’s Learning Support Website.15 Some municipalities also created and deliver educational contents via their own YouTube channels.16
Some digital teaching and learning resources are available only to those enrolled in formal education, and accessible through one of the learning management systems mentioned above (e.g. Open Platform for Education, L-Gate, and Manabi Pocket). These resources include both privately developed materials and applications – such as Surala Drill, an AI-powered, adaptive and interactive lesson drill – as well as publicly developed resources – such as MEXCBT.17 Teachers can also add their own questions on MEXCBT and make them available to other teachers and students. In addition, a system-level online platform for teacher professional development is forthcoming in April 2024, which will curate the contents offered by various educational stakeholders – from the National Institute for School Teachers and Staff Development and local boards of education to universities and EdTech companies – so that teachers can take necessary training anytime and anywhere.18
Beyond MEXT, other government ministries also have contributed to the digital teaching and learning resources. Under the Learning Innovation project, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has developed and launched several initiatives.19 The STEAM Library is for example a collection of digital educational materials that are accessible by all students, teachers and parents, and used for learning in classes and for self-study at home.20
Enabling the use of digital tools and resources
Providing a public digital education infrastructure or funding to use digital resources does not necessarily mean that schools and teachers will use them. Different rules and guidelines are thus in place to support access to, and use of, digital technologies in education.
Ensuring access and supporting use
Equity of access
While the Basic Act on Education (Kyoiku Kihon Ho) guarantees equal opportunities for receiving education for all citizens of Japan, no binding rule exists that specifically governs the equitable access to digital education and use of technologies in education. Nonetheless, the Japanese government has undertaken several efforts to enhance digital equity. Since 2019, a JPY 481.9 billion (USD 3.2 billion) investment has been made for the GIGA school digital learning programme, with a view to ensuring that students have access to digital education in a sustained and equitable way. As part of the GIGA programme, all students in compulsory education (primary and lower secondary) are offered a digital device (tablet or laptop) on a 5-year lease. For students with special educational needs and disabilities, assistive technologies are also offered, such as braille display, speech-to-text technology, or eyegaze system.21 MEXT is also promoting the distribution of devices to students in upper secondary education, aiming to ensure that all upper secondary students will have received a device by 2024.22
The funding for the GIGA programme comes from the central government – from MEXT but also other ministries, such as the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). Until 2022, METI had subsidised EdTech businesses that provide services and contents to local governments and schools (e.g. learning management systems). Yet, making the actual choice of a digital device for students falls under the remits of municipality (for primary and lower secondary schools) and prefecture (for upper secondary schools), reflecting the varying regional priorities. On these publicly provided digital devices, students can access educational resources, such as learning management systems (e.g. Manabi Pocket) and MEXCBT. While providing a device to students is, technically, not mandatory, all local governments have opted to do so, creating a level playing field in terms of access to digital devices.
Besides the GIGA programme, MEXT’s digital education strategies do not target a particular group, and the public responsibility to provide schools with access to the digital education ecosystem (software) is devolved to municipalities and prefectures, as already highlighted. Independent private schools are also in the same scope of the government, though. MEXT provides subsidies to private schools to partly cover the cost needed for preparing the necessary ICT equipment, including tablet devices for students. The way the support schemes for private schools operate may differ from those for public schools though.
To some extent, uneven access to digital learning platforms and resources in schools may remain an issue given that MEXT does not proactively monitor how schools internally manage and allocate their operating budget for digital infrastructure. Nor does MEXT has the right to designate the use of funds held by municipalities and prefectures. Yet, MEXT conducts various surveys to ascertain the status of digital environment in schools and, where necessary, advises local governments on the use of their budgets for schools’ digital infrastructure.
Supporting the use of digital tools and resources
All publicly provided or procured digital tools and resources, such as computer-based testing system (MEXCBT) and learning management systems (Learning e-Portals), are used on an opt-in basis. None of these tools and resources are mandated for use, though there is a reference on procuring and using a learning management system that complies with the government’s standards, such as Open Platform for Education, L-Gate and Manabi Pocket.23 Using these compliant systems allows end-users to access a wide variety of learning materials through a single sign-on (SSO) service without having to create separate credentials. MEXT also maintains a support website for MEXCBT to promote its use among students and schools.24
On digital teaching and learning resources, generally schools in Japan have practically approving authority regarding the choice, use, and procurement of the resources. The only exception is (paper and digital) textbook, as MEXT authorises and compiles a list of textbooks (Textbook Catalogue), which may then be adopted by local authorities. From this list, municipalities and prefectures choose one for public primary and secondary schools; for private schools, this decision is made typically by school principals. The central government bears the cost of textbooks for compulsory education (primary and lower secondary education).
From 2019, it has become possible to use digital textbooks in place of paper textbooks for parts of the curriculum. In addition, in 2023, MEXT has provided some digital textbooks (e.g. for English language) to all primary and lower secondary schools, and conducted surveys to assess whether they are being used effectively.25 Findings from a recent MEXT survey shows that whereas only 7.9% of public schools used at least one digital textbook for students in 2020, the figure has risen to 36.1% by 2022.26
MEXT has also created an in-house ICT advisory board comprising highly qualified teachers, intellectuals, and experts in primary and secondary education. The board delivers lectures, seminars and webinars, as well as study tours for educational committees, schools and teachers, and explains how the stakeholders can use digital tools and resources and resources for education. In addition, at the municipal and prefectural levels, there are staff dedicated to supporting teachers to integrate digital resources into their teaching.27 These supports are intended to support everyday use of ICT in education, and not limited to the publicly provided or subsidised resources.
Cultivating the digital competence of education stakeholders
In accordance with the Act for Enforcement of the Educational Personnel Certification Law, MEXT has stipulated key competences for the minimum level of practice expected of primary and secondary teachers, including their digital skills and competences. For instance, this comprises skills about the pedagogical use of digital technologies and managing educational data (e.g. study logs) as well as about teaching students how to use digital devices (including assistive technologies).28 Universities providing teacher-training courses set up their teacher education curriculum based on these competences. Teachers then take competitive exams before they embark on teaching, and sometimes these exams include elements about digital competences (although this decision is made differently at the prefectural level).
For in-service teachers, as of 2023 there is no obligation to develop their digital competences. This may relate to the findings that around 30% of Japanese teachers are not confident in using ICT in class and nearly 15% of them do not use ICT for resource development, class preparation, assessment, or academic affairs.29 MEXT has therefore developed the ICT supporter scheme. These “supporters” are employed by private companies but dispatched to public schools by the government, to offer teachers professional support regarding the use of computers and software for teaching. Generally, one supporter is assigned to four schools. In addition, during the COVID-19 pandemic, extra measures were introduced to further enhance teachers’ digital skills and ensure that teachers have the technique to teach students how to use digital devices and learn online.
In parallel, developing students’ digital competences constitutes a core objective of the national curriculum, both in primary and secondary education. This may provide indirect incentives for teachers to develop their own digital skills and competences. The curriculum sets forth the fostering of “information literacy” of all students – defined as the abilities to search, organise, compare, share and use information, using appropriate technologies.30 At the upper secondary level, the curriculum also underlines the need to develop students’ broad understanding of network infrastructure, artificial intelligence (AI), and their economic and social consequences. While teachers in Japan are largely responsible for how the curriculum is actually taught in class, MEXT has published a Handbook on Digitalisation of Education to provide teachers with guidelines on using digital technologies in class, including their pedagogical use.31
The best practices of using digital technologies – by both students and teachers – are introduced and have been updated regularly since December 2020 on the MEXT’s StuDX Style website, with a view to further encouraging the everyday use of digital device.32
Governance of data and digital technologies in education
Supporting the use of digital technology in education and the data it generates can only work if stakeholders recognise that this use will not work to their detriment. There are thus rules about governing their use in schools, protecting the data of education stakeholders, and promoting the interoperability across digital education ecosystem. No specific policy effort exists to regulate the use of automated decision-making, AI-powered algorithms, or digital proctoring in education. As of 2023 their use was very limited.
Protecting data and privacy of education stakeholders
In Japan, the Act on the Protection of Personal Information (APPI) is the primary data protection law that governs the handling of personal information (including education data when it constitutes personal information).33 Enforced by the Personal Information Protection Commission (PPC), an independent government body, the APPI regulates the treatment of personal information – from identity data such as name and date of birth, to sensitive information such as ethnicity, medical history and criminal records.34
Until 2022, the APPI regulated only the personal information held by the private sector. The personal information held by the government bodies and incorporated administrative agencies were governed by two different laws, i.e. the Act on the Protection of Personal Information Held by Administrative Organs (APPIHAO), and the Act on the Protection of Personal Information Held by Incorporated Administrative Agencies (APPIHIAA). An amendment in May 2021 has integrated those two acts into the APPI and stipulated a mandatory reporting of data leakage while placing more severe penalties for the non-compliance of PPC’s orders.
Until 2023, the APPI only covered the handling of the personal information held by the government bodies and incorporated administrative agencies, but not the handling of personal information held at the prefectural and municipal level – such as the personal information held by local boards of education for the management of student name lists. With the 2021 amendment, however, local authorities have adopted the nationwide principles, and set up ordinances for implementing guidelines and executing the Act to optimise the administration of national data protection regulations.
With regard to the handling of educational data (including administrative data) containing personal information for research purposes, some exceptions are allowed under the APPI, such as the provision of personal data necessary for academic research, upon request, by academic research institutions (except in cases where there is a risk of unjustly infringing on individual rights and interests). In addition, for statistical surveys conducted under the Statistics Act, third parties are not permitted to access raw data, except for the cases stipulated in the Statistics Act.
In terms of non-binding regulations, MEXT provides guidelines about the protection of data and privacy of students, teachers, and school staff, and continues to discuss the use of education data in expert meetings with various stakeholders (e.g. teachers, boards of education, researchers).35
Enhancing interoperability
While there is no binding regulation regarding the interoperability of digital technologies and data they generate, this is a crucial issue in Japanese education system given the diverse digital tools and resources developed by different companies. As part of the efforts to enhance interoperability, MEXT has therefore formulated the Standard Model for Learning e-Portal, a specific technical standard, which private companies providing learning management systems can follow.36 Data can be transferred from one school to another as long as they use a system complying with this standard.
In addition, by aligning the meanings of education data, MEXT has sought to enhance the (semantic) interoperability of education data, such as personal information of students and teachers (e.g. gender, date of birth, teacher license date), information about schools (e.g. number of students, intellectual property rights), and the specific code assigned to schools and course curricula.37 In establishing those interoperability standards, MEXT has engaged in international interoperability initiatives: for instance, when formulating the aforementioned standard model for Learning e-Portals, it referred to international standards such as the Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) and Experience API (xAPI) standards.
Although schools are not mandated to use a learning management system compliant with MEXT’s standards, many of them are (indirectly) incentivised to do so. For instance, MEXCBT is accessible through compliant learning management systems, and part of the National Assessment of Academic Ability will be conducted as a computer-based assessment, also via one of those systems. Still, there are a few schools using a non-compliant system.38 Moreover, several upper secondary schools do not use a learning management system, because they are not part of the National Assessment of Academic Ability and so less incentivised to use such system.
Supporting innovation, research and development (R&D) in digital education
MEXT itself does not conduct academic research on digital education, nor does it have formulated research priorities in the field of digital education. Nor is there a specific research funding programme or rules on piloting technologies. That said, the National Institute for Educational Policy Research, MEXT’s in-house research agency, established the Education Data Science Centre in October 2021, to conduct research and analysis on educational data use. In limited occasions, MEXT also provides monetary incentives to EdTech companies among others for developing educational software. For instance, they invested around JPY 600 million (USD 4 million) to commission the development of remote education model using advanced digital technology (such as Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality) for vocational education in the fiscal year 2022.39
As there is no centralised education database in Japan, no documentation of administrative data sets is available for the research community. However, as noted in the preceding section, some education data can be made available to the research community upon request, such as the data from the National Assessment of Academic Ability (subject to rigorous examination).
While there are no formal processes for the government to engage with EdTech companies, it does support and foster collaborations across schools, companies and other stakeholders. For instance, to accelerate the ICT development in schools, MEXT has allocated JPY 1.1 billion (USD 7.4 billion) to support selected schools in joining the Science Information Network (SINET), an academic network of more than 800 universities and research institutions in Japan.40 In addition, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) also runs several initiatives to promote partnerships between schools and the private sector. For instance, they subsidise small and medium-sized enterprises that develop and pilot education technologies for primary and secondary schools, so that schools can use them for free for a fiscal year. Albeit not specific to EdTech sector, METIJ-Startup programme supports selected start-ups (e.g. through subsidies measures). METI also incentivises private sector innovation through R-D tax credits, while supporting the overseas expansion of domestic technology start-ups.41
Notes
← 1. In Japan, the term “province” refers to an old administrative classification of regions, and it is thus no longer commonly used. Instead, the term “prefecture” is used to describe the current administrative classification of regions.
← 2. In Japan, Vocational Education and Training (VET) is provided at the upper secondary and tertiary levels, in addition to being provided in various other situations through the cooperation between the relevant ministries and agencies. MEXT is mainly responsible for VET at schools and universities.
← 3. Digital Agency: https://www.digital.go.jp/. For the policy document, see:
A truncated English translation is also available at:
← 4. The involved ministries are MEXT, the Digital Agency, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. For the roadmap, see:
← 7. As noted above, typically prefectures are responsible for upper secondary education including VET institutions at the upper secondary level, and municipalities are responsible for primary and lower secondary education – unless stated otherwise.
← 8. In Japan, there is a national social security ID number system for all individual residents (both Japanese and foreign), under which they are allocated “My Number”, a unique individual number. While this number is used to track income, social security, taxes, welfare and benefits, it is not used in education system or linked with education data.
← 9. Open Platform for Education: https://jpn.nec.com/educate/ope/index.html; L-Gate: https://www.info.l-gate.net/; Manabi Pocket: https://manabipocket.ed-cl.com/.
← 10. See slide 26 from: https://www.digital.go.jp/assets/contents/node/information/field_ref_resources/0305c503-27f0-4b2c-b477-156c83fdc852/20220107_news_education_01.pdf
← 11. MEXT is indirectly involved, however; for instance, by setting the previously mentioned standards or providing incentives. For more details, see the later section on Ensuring access and supporting use.
← 12. See: https://www.mext.go.jp/content/20220908-mxt_jogai02-000024927_001.pdf for the figures on usage. For more detailed information on administrative function systems, see:
← 13. They are 6th and 3rd years in primary schools and lower secondary schools, respectively. In addition, assessments of science and English language are conducted every three year, taken by all students in the same grades.
← 16. For instance, Sumida City and Yamagata Prefecture:
https://www.yamagata-c.ed.jp/ICT%E6%B4%BB%E7%94%A8%E3%83%BB%E6%83%85%E5%A0%B1%E6%95%99%E8%82%B2/
← 18. https://support2.mexcbt.mext.go.jp/files/04_%E5%95%8F%E9%A1%8C%E4%BD%9C%E6%88%90%E7%94%A8%E3%83%9E%E3%83%8B%E3%83%A5%E3%82%A2%E3%83%AB.pdf
← 20. https://www.steam-library.go.jp/. STEAM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics.
← 21. MEXT does not directly fund schools themselves, but prefectures and municipalities. Then the local governments make decisions on which device they would buy
← 23. There are learning management systems that do not comply with the government standards, such as LoiLoNote (https://n.loilo.tv/ja/), and schools are free to use them.
← 25. The law is Act to Partially Revise the School Education Law (学校教育法等の一部を改正する法律) formulated in 2019; while the guideline was first published in 2018 and revised in 2021. For further details, see: https://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/shotou/kyoukasho/seido/1407731.htm.
← 27. For the examples of the supports, see:
https://www.mext.go.jp/studxstyle; https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGpGsGZ3lmbBASFWjIRb6OAekj81r16K1
← 28. https://www.mext.go.jp/content/20210630-mxt_kyoikujinzai01-000016500-14.pdf. See also the survey on teachers’ ability to use digital devices: https://www.mext.go.jp/content/20221027-mxt_jogai02-000025395_100.pdf (p. 26-32).
← 30. For the curriculum for different levels of education, see the followings:
Primary education: https://www.mext.go.jp/content/20230120-mxt_kyoiku02-100002604_01.pdf
Lower secondary education: https://www.mext.go.jp/content/20230120-mxt_kyoiku02-100002604_02.pdf
Upper secondary education: https://www.mext.go.jp/content/20230120-mxt_kyoiku02-100002604_03.pdf.
← 33. However, the Act does not apply to persons that do not fall under this definition (e.g. individuals handing personal information).
← 36. https://ictconnect21.jp/ict/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/learning_eportal_standard_V3p00.pdf. The latest version is 3.00, published in March 2023.
← 37. https://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/other/data_00001.htm. The latest version is 3.0. For the categories and codes in this standard, see: https://www.mext.go.jp/content/20221227-mxt_syoto01-000010374_10.xlsx.
← 38. For instance, LoiLoNote: https://n.loilo.tv/ja/.
← 41. J-Startup programme: https://www.j-startup.go.jp/
R&D Tax credit: https://www.meti.go.jp/policy/tech_promotion/tax.html