Though there has been much discussion on the academic aspects of Japanese education abroad (e.g., high scores on international tests, lesson study), there has been little information on the non-academic aspects of Japanese schooling. This non-academic aspect is called Tokkatsu (tokubetsu katsudo).

Unlike math and reading, Tokkatsu is not confined to a certain period, but extends throughout the school day and even after-school activities — such as school excursions. It includes classroom activities such as classroom discussions, morning and afternoon meetings that take place daily, cleaning and serving lunch, school events such as sports day, school excursions, student councils, and club activities. Such activities occur every single day, throughout one's school years, from elementary school (actually, even kindergarten) to high school. They are, however, bound together by the common goals of the Tokkatsu framework.

This book is the foremost attempt to address a gap in English literature on Tokkatsu.

Contents: The Framework:The Tokkatsu Framework: The Japanese Model of Holistic Education (Ryoko Tsuneyoshi)The Essentials of Tokkatsu (Hiroshi Sugita)Tokkatsu for Cultivating Pupils/Students' Talents and Abilities Necessary to Live in a Future Society (Shino Takatsu)Examples of Tokkatsu Practices:Safety and Disaster Prevention Education as Education for Life (Ryoko Tsuneyoshi)Safety Education in a Global Age: The Case of a Public Night Junior High School in Japan (Maiko Sumino)Tokkatsu as the Core of Career Education (Ryoko Tsuneyoshi)Classroom Activities on Cleaning and Lunch: Tokkatsu Series DVD (Fumiko Takahashi and Ryoko Tsuneyoshi)Tokkatsu-Like Activities in Japanese Corporations (Shino Takatsu)Implications of Comparing School Cleaning Across Educational Contexts: Interpretation and Practice in Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore (Kanako N Kusanagi, Fumiko Takahashi, Chun-Yi Tan and Ryoko Tsuneyoshi)Tokkatsu Group Stayovers as Education for Life (Kazuhiko Nambu, Wataru Ino, Shino Takatsu and Ryoko Tsuneyoshi)Seitokai: Student Committee of Secondary Schools in Japan (Yutaka Ochi)Japanese Essay Writing for Life Education: The Case of C Secondary School (Yutaka Ochi and Ryoko Tsuneyoshi)Teacher Learning and the Kenkyukai: The Japanese Model of Collaborative Teacher Research (Kazuhiko Nambu)'Group-Making' Matsubara Style (Kokichi Shimizu)Tokkatsu Reform: Learning Better Together (Kazuaki Iwabuchi, Aiko Komoto and Hiromi Shimizu)Rebuilding the Community Through Education: The Case of Futaba Future School in Fukushima (Maiko Sumino)The Japanese Model of Schooling as an International Model:Tokkatsu Plus in Egypt: Extending the Tokkatsu Concept (Shinichiro Tanaka)Lesson Study in Singapore (Edmund Lim)Transformation of Lesson Study in Indonesia: From Government-Assisted Projects to Professional Learning Communities (Kanako N Kusanagi)Education Reforms in the National Institute of Technology (KOSEN) (Hidenori Isami)Interview With Professor Hideyuki Horii Human-Centered Innovation at i.school Is the Key to Educate Students for Creating New Values in New Ways (Shino Takatsu)Concluding Remarks (Ryoko Tsuneyoshi)
Readership: Teachers, policymakers, and scholars who are interested in what could be learned from the Japanese model of schooling more generally.Tokkatsu;Tokubetsu Katsudo;Japanese Education;Lesson Study00