Abstract
At first sight, Japanese education system seems to be truly meritocratic. Indeed, in Japanese consciousness, all are born equal. It is only thanks to their work and efforts, that they achieve their goals. As the education system is grounded on those principles, we may think that only the most studious and brilliant pupils will enter the top universities. Yet this statement should be qualified. Even if, from now on almost every student can get into a university, since the number of young people has decreased, the Japanese education system remains highly competitive, for entering the most prestigious tracks. In other words, it is as difficult as before to get in the top universities (Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Tokyo Institute of technology, Tohoku, Keio, Kyushu, Nagoya…), but as there is about 700 universities in Japan, the students who decided not to be competitive, can still graduate from High School to work in small local companies. As worldwide Japanese companies hire students only from top universities, we could hence first observe that upward mobility is directly related to academic merit. Is it to say that education system in Japan is truly meritocratic?
