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The purpose of this paper is to examine how internationally recognized styles of transactional, instructional, transformational and distributed leadership have emerged in the Japanese education system.

National legislation and policy documents in Japan since 1945 were collected by searching for the word “principal” or “head of school.” Then, four types are excluded: those that are unique only to one school type, do not explicitly deal with the role of the principal, are in subordinate laws prescribing contents that essentially overlap with those in superordinate statutes and define procedural roles of the principal. As a result, 17 legal provisions and 35 policy documents remained, each of which was analyzed by using four leadership styles.

Despite an increasing focus on instructional, transformational and distributed styles, Japan has not comprehensively articulated attributes and abilities expected of the principal. Additionally, a movement away from instructional leadership in the 2000s contrasts with the recent emphasis on “educational leadership.” Moreover, transformational leadership has centered on the school–family–community collaboration and the expansion of principal autonomy, and distributed leadership has taken the forms of new positions that support the principal, both of which were influenced by the decentralization movement.

It points to the susceptibility of the role of the principal in Japan and western countries alike to broader structural reforms but with different implications and distinct timing of the advent of leadership styles among them. Additionally, Japan has adopted a modified approach to distributed leadership style, which is somewhat similar to delegation, to make a compromise between the emergent theory and the centrality of the principal in the school hierarchy. Furthermore, instructional leadership seems to be a “late bloomer” in Japan because of its practice-based nature and unsuitability to daily realities of the principal.

As an arguably unprecedented attempt to apply leadership styles to legislation and policy documents, this study builds a foundation for understanding how school leadership is shaped by education policies. Moreover, while making connections to the western view, it creates a paradigm for future studies of school leadership in Japan and in the field of comparative educational administration.

The purpose of this study is to develop empirically an international comparison of the extent of student entrepreneurship and the factors influencing it. This study explores the factors responsible for the richness of entrepreneurship in Taiwan through a comparison with entrepreneurship in Japan. Looking at factors that determine the extent of entrepreneurship, the discussion builds on previous studies based on individual traits and those that are based on environments, such as a social system or climate. This study focuses on the individual and the environment.

After identifying pertinent issues through a survey of relevant studies, a comparative study of Taiwan and Japan was undertaken. A questionnaire survey was distributed to around 20-year-old university students. Statistical analyses were performed to determine whether there is cause–effect relationship between environmental and individual factors and university students’ entrepreneurship, and to assess the significant differences between entrepreneurship in Taiwan and Japan. In addition, a qualitative case study of university politics related to entrepreneurship in Taiwan was conducted to complement the quantitative analysis.

Results of the study by country indicate that the environmental factors and individual factors that influence entrepreneurship differ.

The reciprocal complementarity of the environmental factors and the individual factors or the likelihood of co-evolution cyclic dynamism is demonstrated.

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the lesson study (LS) processes and evaluate their effectiveness in Japanese elementary and secondary (middle and high) schools, through a school survey by the National Institute for Educational Policy Research of Japan (NIER).

The authors randomly selected 1,000 elementary schools and 1,000 middle schools and 500 high schools in Japan. Survey items are methods of LS, and indicators of building professional learning communities (PLC) through LSs, close communication between teachers, high quality instruction by teachers, and test scores of students of the school.

Based on the school survey in elementary and middle schools, almost all schools set up a school‐wide committee, a research theme, and a schedule for LS, and LSs were implemented as part of a school‐wide lesson study from which an action research report is produced. On the other hand, in high schools, almost all the schools implemented LSs, but each LS is independent and implemented specifically for the professional development of the individual teacher who undertakes the research lesson. The authors consider LS as a way to facilitate a PLC in the school. There are correlations between the methods of LS and the indicators of a PLC in elementary and middle schools. However, the effectiveness of LS differs between elementary and middle schools. With respect to the research theme and the organization and discussion of lesson plans, LS methods in middle schools are developed into LS methods in elementary schools. The LS methods may be developed gradually both in elementary and middle schools.

Statistical data of LS in Japanese elementary and secondary schools are presented for the first time, demonstrating the effectiveness of LS.

Discusses issues associated with the subcontracting of manufacturing activity within the supply chain for electronics assembly products. The principal focus of the work is the operational issues surrounding the organization, management and control of the subcontract process, but related issues and research streams are also considered. Some of the operational issues are placed within the context of current practice by presenting case studies of two small to medium‐sized manufacturing enterprises (SMMEs) in the electronics assembly sector which use subcontract manufacture. The approaches of the two companies to the management and control of the process are compared and contrasted, and mapped onto generic models. This work is considered timely because of the increasing importance of the subcontracting of manufacture within the supply chain, and because of the lack of supporting theoretical and practical work. It identifies key issues which need to be addressed by academic researchers and by industry practitioners in the pursuit of world class manufacturing ideals, as part of a process of concentrating on core competencies and expertise.

Marketing and corporate risk‐taking are always included as elements of industrial competitiveness and yet discussions of industrial policy are strangely silent on these important determinants of firm performance. The inability of Japanese industrial policy to develop these skills has been an important factor in determining the competitive position of the Japanese commercial airplane manufacturing industry. In this industry where domestic demand was not guaranteed, and where the Japanese competitors were not prepared to assume the risk‐taking position common to successful foreign competitors, Japanese industrial policy was unable to match its earlier success in basic industries.

The aim of this study was to examine the extent to which several workplace factors are implicated in school principals' well-being. Two job resources (i.e. participatory climate and collegial climate) and two job demands (i.e. barriers to professional learning and staff shortages) were investigated, along with two well-being outcomes (i.e. job satisfaction and occupational commitment). Interaction effects between the job resource and job demand variables were also tested.

Data were from 5,951 principals in 22 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries that participated in the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2013. Path analysis of direct and interaction effects was tested, along with multigroup path analysis to determine any differences in results across nations.

The results showed that staff shortages and collegial climate predicted job satisfaction. All of the job resources and demands predicted occupational commitment. In addition, one interaction effect was significant showing that a participatory climate was especially important for occupational commitment under conditions of high staff shortages. The findings were similar across the 22 countries.

The study yields important knowledge about the cross-national salience of four job resources and demands that are associated with principals' well-being at work.

Describes an empirical study examining the strategies of auto parts suppliers to transplanted Japanese OEMs. Finds that suppliers have become more customer‐focused, following the marketing concept, and also more aggressive in buying from second tier suppliers, in accordance with reverse marketing. Examines the background to the growth of Japanese OEMs in North America, together with an analysis of the traditional marketing concept, reverse marketing and the Japanese hierarchical structure of suppliers. Concludes that reverse marketing leads to strong partnerships, and that relationships with both existing and new suppliers must be developed. Relates the research to the oretical concepts and offers managerial recommendations.

Several factors and forces in school-level leaders' work can heighten emotions and incite emotionally charged situations. Challenges that heighten school-level leaders' emotions are related to systemic factors, people factors and personal factors. The extent to which each of these different factors influence the emotional experiences of school-level leaders, and whether that influence ends up being positive, negative or neutral, is contextual in nature. The systemic factors include encountering barriers when advocating for students, managing an intensified and expanding workload, working within disorienting policy contexts, and receiving a lack of support from their employer. Changes in school-level leaders' work and workload due to the COVID-19 pandemic that heightened emotions and emotional labour are also considered when discussing the systemic factors. People factors evident in the literature include workplace conflict, gendered power relations and crises and tragedies in the school community. The emotional labour inherent in school-level leadership comes to the forefront when considering the impact of these people factors on emotions at work because school-level leaders are tasked with making decisions that can have an immense impact on peoples' lives. Personal factors discussed in this chapter surround a school-level leader's individual emotional intelligence abilities and media attention directed towards them.

Fujikane (2003) indicates that there are three goals of globalization as educational imperatives. They are: (1) the intensity of interdependence in all aspects of human life, (2) the changing pattern of actors on the world stage, and (3) the growing moral sense of “oneness” transcending national borders. The new worldviews behind the contemporary movements are fundamentally different from the rationalists’ perspective, which supported early educational efforts for international education (Fujikane, 2003). That perspective intended to develop national citizens who could understand, sympathize, and help others in order to create international harmony. In contrast, the revised imperatives are now embracing the idea of new world citizens who acknowledge interdependency, act independently of their own nation states, and are constructing universal morality in order to create a more just global society (Shin, 2003).

The purpose of this paper is to investigate and review how the practices of Lesson Study fare in enhancing the professional capabilities of mathematics teachers when introduced as part of a pilot project in reforming the post-primary mathematics curriculum in Ireland.

Totally, 250 mathematics teachers teaching Junior and Senior Cycle mathematics in 24 post-primary schools constitute the population of this study. The schools which participated are representative of the range of all post-primary schools in Ireland.

Lesson Study has an important role to play in the continuing professional development of teachers in the 24 post-primary schools and beyond in Ireland. An investigation of the maths teachers’ engagement with Lesson Study reveals some considerable initial resistance. Reasons for this resistance are examined and the lessons learned from the steps taken to deal with this are reviewed. Lesson Study is an innovation that teachers need to understand deeply and to practice regularly through mutual support if they are to avail of it fruitfully. Accordingly, further approaches need to be explored, not least the important role of school leadership, to adapt Lesson Study more fully and more productively to the professional cultures of teaching in Ireland.

An analytic and evaluative account of the challenges and complexities involved in introducing Lesson Study to post-primary schools in Ireland is presented for the first time.