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[Neonivek]

The Japanese education system is definitely very strict.  I dunno about language services but they do put restrictions on what students can do.

Language services might depend on the school or might have outside things. It is like "Japan doesn't have child protective services" where I looked it up and they do, but there was catch I forgot (something like "They are folded into another institution")

Also I forgot about the Wall of Shame... where they publically release your scores. No wonder students with low scores get self-esteem issues.

[Reelya]

while looking up info about  this, I found this very interesting article about Japanese teaching methods.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2014/11/23/issues/teaching-quality-lesson-quantity-may-key-japans-top-math-marks/#.VlKbjCvCdyw

Basically, Japanese schools perform way better than many western ones in mathematics in the PISA test of 15 year olds. So, maybe they're spending a lot more class time on maths?

Students in Japan spend nearly 235 minutes a week learning math, according to Miki Tadakazu, an education analyst with the OECD, only about 20 minutes more than the OECD average.

Well, strike that theory then. Well, maybe they're spending all night in cram school then?

In PISA’s 2012 questionnaire, Japanese 15-year-olds reported spending an average of just over half an hour a week in a commercial after-school learning environment — read juku — which is in line with the OECD average. In fact, the Japanese polled came in below the OECD average in time spent on all other forms of after-school work, whether it was teacher-set homework or study assisted by a home tutor, family member or computer.

Yeah, for all the vaunted "cram schools" it's actually less time spent doing homework than the West.

So, what's the difference. Perhaps they're really, really into rote learning. That's the other theory you heard bandied around: asians just have a thing where they soak up all this knowledge delivered in the least engaging way possible and score higher than westerners because they're just super study machines.

Unfortunately, if you read the article, the western method sounds more like rote learning compare to the Japanese method. The western model of maths teaching is that the teacher writes the solution up on the board for a sample problem, the students write this down, then you individually solve additional problems using the provided solution. After that, you're given homework where you repeat the teacher's "one true method" of solving the problem over and over again. Now, that's how you rote-learn a maths formula.

Whereas the typical Japanese maths class is described in the article. The teacher gives the children an unknown problem. The teacher then gets the children to try and solve it. When one does, they get their work checked by the teacher. After that. they can stand up, move around and help other students. So it morphs into ad-hoc study groups where the quick students help the others. After that, it morphs again into a class discussion of the problem and the various ideas students came up with to solve the problem. Yeah, sounds like just about the opposite of rote-learning to me ...

[majikero]

They let each kid have some time to try and solve the problem, and each person who already "gets" the problem is treated as a tutor for the other students. Then, they discuss the different solutions that the kids came up with to solve the same problem. Because each student is required to be able to not just solve the problems, but be able to explain how they did it, so they remember what they did much better.

This is basically what we did in the Philippines, mostly, Which is why Math was my favorite subject. Teacher writes like 5-10 problems on the board. We were pretty much free to do what we want for 20 mins so long as we answer the questions. While copying is pretty much a given, everyone is at least smart enough to ask the whys and hows of the problems instead of just blindly copying. Then its finished off with random people answering on the board.

[JoshuaFH]

I'm really loving how over-the-top Ring Ni Kakero is. The boxing show sees no problem pitting an 8+ foot giant black man stolen directly from Alcatraz against a just barely over 4 foot scrawny Asian who's only special ability is being a living representation of Japan's Tenacious and Unbreakable national fighting spirit!

Even more bizarrely tilted into the giant's favor when his punching force is described as "THREE HUNDRED TONS of punching force with every swing! Like a 4 ton truck traveling at 100 kilometers per hour smashing right into you!", that's just such a ridiculous exaggeration I love it so much.

[Neonivek]

Whereas the typical Japanese maths class is described in the article. The teacher gives the children an unknown problem. The teacher then gets the children to try and solve it. When one does, they get their work checked by the teacher. After that. they can stand up, move around and help other students. So it morphs into ad-hoc study groups where the quick students help the others. After that, it morphs again into a class discussion of the problem and the various ideas students came up with to solve the problem. Yeah, sounds like just about the opposite of rote-learning to me ...

That is a big factor. It even flows out to homework with siblings and sometimes parents and is why "Asians" tend to do well even in other countries.

[Orange Wizard]

Learning the subject vs. learning the test, I suppose.

[Arx]

The reason for that is complex and much pondered.

[Leafsnail]

I'd say the big mark against the Japanese education system is that it drives a lot of kids to suicide

[Reelya]

I always like to check these apocryphal statements and compare them to other countries to see if it's really high, or just the perception is that it's high (that could be a result of the specific country focusing a lot of news on the topic).

The Japanese 15-24 suicide rate is about 15 deaths per 100,000 people. This is higher than the 10 deaths per 100,000 people for the same age bracket in the USA, but not a whole lot higher than the college-age death rate in USA, which is about 12.5 deaths per 100,000 people.

Additionally, about 2000 15-24 year olds in Japan kill themselves per year (the first link, above paragraph), but only 1000 highschool and college students did so. Japan has a highschool enrolment rate of 94% and a college enrolment rate of 60%. Since the bulk of people in this age-bracket are students, and the total suicides for students vs non-students is almost identical, it's clear that being a student is not a good predictor of Japanese youth suicide.

[Neonivek]

I heard a Rumor that Dragon Ball Super would have Goku and Vegeta out of the anime and basically involve all the other characters.

I know it isn't true... but I actually would find that really neat. The show has so many interesting characters who are sidelined because they aren't Goku or Vegeta.

Also I will admit Frieza's hell is pretty hellish.

[JoshuaFH]

Cue every other character besides Krillin dying, and then it's just the Krillin show.

[Radio Controlled]

Cue every other character besides Krillin dying, and then it's just the Krillin show.

I'd watch the shit out of that.

(Provided Krillin acts like his DBZA counterpart)

[Leafsnail]

I always like to check these apocryphal statements and compare them to other countries to see if it's really high, or just the perception is that it's high (that could be a result of the specific country focusing a lot of news on the topic).

The Japanese 15-24 suicide rate is about 15 deaths per 100,000 people. This is higher than the 10 deaths per 100,000 people for the same age bracket in the USA, but not a whole lot higher than the college-age death rate in USA, which is about 12.5 deaths per 100,000 people.

Additionally, about 2000 15-24 year olds in Japan kill themselves per year (the first link, above paragraph), but only 1000 highschool and college students did so. Japan has a highschool enrolment rate of 94% and a college enrolment rate of 60%. Since the bulk of people in this age-bracket are students, and the total suicides for students vs non-students is almost identical, it's clear that being a student is not a good predictor of Japanese youth suicide.

This is a really weird mangling of statistics to try and make your point.  Japan's child suicide rate is very high and there's a massive spike after vacations end.  It's true that there's also a massive suicide problem among young people who are forced to drop out of education as well, but that doesn't somehow imply there isn't a problem.

[Flying Dice]

Isn't Japan on the high end of global suicide rates anyways? That suggests that it's less "Japanese education system drives children to suicide" and more "Japanese society drives people to suicide".

preemptive edit: factchecked myself, as of 2012 the WHO puts Japan at #17.

So yeah, I'd argue that the root of the problem is probably more to do with societal expectations, pressure to conform/excel, &c., and that school is naturally one of the places where this manifests most heavily, just as it is for different societal expectations in different places. It's less something you solve by, I'unno, lowering grading standards or whatever so much as reorienting society. Otherwise the kids that couldn't handle the stress in school are just going to grow up and kill themselves because they can't handle the stress at work or whatever.

[Neonivek]

Well watched Black Jack...

And one episode in and in a single episode it was more entertaining (heck, I'd say better) then all the current Young Black Jack episodes combined.

It helps that it isn't too squeamish to actually have medicine happen in the medical show. It really bugs me in Young Black Jack when they just imply that medicine is happening, sometimes curing a patient without even showing him once during the entire procedure.

Though, it sure as heck makes me a lot more squeamish that is for sure.

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I am a bit surprised how many Japanisms make it into Black Jack