Cutting school

In relation to students who refuse to attend school, the numbers at both the elementary and secondary school levels have been steadily increasing over the years. In 1991, for example, some 12,645 elementary school students were considered to be refusing to attend school since they missed thirty days or more. The number rose by about 1,000 more students a year until 1996, when it jumped almost three thousand. By 1999, some 26,047 students at elementary level were refusing to attend, over double the original number in less than one decade.

Secondary school numbers were similar. For 1991, some 54,172 students refused to attend school; by 1995 the number had increased to 65,022, and by 199 it stood at 104,180 students, almost double the number in 1991.(Source: The Research and Statistics Planning Division, Minister's Secretariat, Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture)

Secondary school numbers were similar. For 1991, some 54,172 students refused to attend school; by 1995 the number had increased to 65,022, and by 199 it stood at 104,180 students, almost double the number in 1991.(Source: The Research and Statistics Planning Division)

The book Japan Unbound: A Volatile Nation's Quest for Pride and Purpose, 2004, says that:

"The conservative estimate is that 150,000 children between the ages of six and seventeen are permanently absent from school. Others assert, extrapolating from their own classrooms, that up to 5 percent of the student population, 350,000 children, are chronically truant."

The author goes on to point out that truancy, as such, is not against the law.

The actual dropout rate from senior high, though, remains very small, about 2.1%. This compares to levels of 40% or more in many American cities.

Truancy rates in Japan are still only about one-fifth that of the U.S., however. Dimensions of Japanese Society: Gender, Margins and Mainstream, 1999

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