This past year saw significant changes in Japan's social attitudes toward government policies. The conflict between those attitudes and the government's policies, though, was just as significant. Ongoing problems remain unaddressed as the central government concerns itself with its conservative agenda rather than solving issues that directly affect people's lives.
The attitude of the central government is exemplified by the amount of money it will put into education in fiscal 2016 — no more than it was in fiscal 2015. Defense spending, though, will increase. Japan already spends less on education as a percentage of gross domestic product than all other member states of the OECD. Class sizes remain large and teachers' salaries have decreased in real terms.
The increase in defense spending without any increase in the education budget accentuates the fact that higher education has increasingly become unaffordable for low-income families.