After reviewing the current five-day school week in public schools, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology says it is again considering holding Saturday classes.
The reduction of the school week to five days was fully implemented nationwide from 2003 as part of the ministry's "yutori kyoiku" (pressure-free education) policy, which, most would agree, has been less than successful. "Six days of school" may make good headlines, but not much more.
Adding another day to classes is the least likely change to bring meaningful improvement to Japan's education system. This expansion of school hours is a surface change that might appear to strengthen education, but is actually more of a way for the ministry to avoid getting into messy details.