Until the early 1990s the Japanese education system was often commended for achieving outstanding outcomes. However, this book reveals growing educational inequality, with an increasing gap in the attainment and aspirations of students from different social backgrounds. By looking at class in close conjunction with developments in education in Japan, Takehiko Kariya is able to focus closely on current developments in Japanese society, and the underlying factors which are driving these. Translated into English for the first time, the Japanese language version of Education Reform and Social Class in Japan won the first Osaragi Jiro Prize for Commentary sponsored by the Asahi shinbun.