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From the end of the twentieth century, the higher education systems in the new
industrial economy and other emerging countries started to draw the attention of
higher education researchers and policy makers in Japan as new models from which
to borrow policy. Up to that point, the research on higher education in these coun-
tries had primarily been curiosity-driven explorations or development studies. For
example, in addition to the comparative studies of Altbach and various international
authors (Altbach and Umakoshi 2004 ), Umakoshi edited a book on higher educa-
tion in the Asia Pacific with researchers in Japan in the Japanese language (Umakoshi
2004 ). It covered topics such as world-class university policies, the transformation
into a universal state of higher education, and the transition from secondary educa-
tion to tertiary education in Asian countries.
At the same time, articles in Japanese written by researchers who had studied as
international students or postdoctoral fellows in Japan increased rapidly after the
Japanese government started to increase its acceptance of international students and
researchers in the mid-1980s. These studies reflected both the interests of the
research communities in Japan and the social demands of the researchers’ countries
of origin. The work of these non-Japanese researchers added an international per-
spective to the Japanese higher education research community. When their studies
were complete, some of them established their careers in Japan as comparative
higher education researchers, using Japanese, English, and their home languages
(see, e.g., Huang 2006 ). Some went back to their own countries but continued to
contribute to Japanese language publications, as well as to lead the research com-
munity in field research based on the positivism and comparative research in their
home countries (see, e.g., Bao 2007 ).
As noted, some works written in English have been translated into Japanese and
have had a significant influence on the Japanese higher education research commu-
nity. Studies on the Japanese higher education system written in languages other
than Japanese and English, however, have not been read widely by the researchers
in the Japanese research community and have therefore had little impact on higher
education research in Japan. At the same time, a limited amount of literature by
Japanese researchers has been translated into other languages, for example, Chinese,
by former students of these Japanese researchers or experts who accessed their
research through international conference and lectures.
Active Participation to International Projects
Beginning in the 1990s, the higher education research community in Japan grew
significantly because of the expansion of job opportunities in various professional
arenas, such as institutional research, faculty development, and finance. Researchers
started to engage in comparative studies of a variety of topics, such as entrance
examinations, graduate schools, quality assurance, and university governance.
Research on responses to the globalization and internationalization of higher educa-
tion became particularly popular in many countries, including Japan. Ebuchi ( 1997 )
A. Yonezawa