I also had a chance to visit some schools and educational centers while in Tokyo and the sister city of Saitama City and they were awe inspiring. As a teacher I don't think I've ever seen anything so organized- Japan might lack at times in the educational creative side but they have structure and efficiency down to a science. Being that High School is not mandatory in Japan the nicer schools are a teachers dream (at least in appearances) because every student wants to be there and is usually working and attentive.
More than anything else the clear importance and respect for education struck me on these visits. The arts were a very present element in the schools, even in schools that were focused on the core subjects, and the work was terrific. The use of technology was very different than that in the US and the learning on my part was enormous.
