Scholarships in Japan

Back when I first came to Japan, I was an exchange student. (This was about a year ago.) I talked with my Japanese friends often about the difference between university in America and Japan. One of the huge differences I noticed has to do with scholarships! 

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In America, a scholarships is money that you receive to pay for school that you do not return. If you return the money, it is considered a loan. Loans can be taken out from both the government and other private companies. 

However, in Japan, shougakukin, or a scholarship is money that you return. They don't really have many opportunities to just receive the money in what I consider a typical scholarship way. This is a little confusing because the Japanese does give out no return scholarships to foreigners, such as JASSO. My Japanese friends told me that when you become an upper class man there are some no return scholarships, but they are very few and far between. Their scholarships are basically loans from the government. 

I wondered why there are not many scholarships in Japan for a while; I have come up with one theory. American university is much more expensive than Japanese university. My very cheap, in-state university  is the same price as my boyfriends brother's "very expensive" private university tuition. (Both are around 10,000 USD per year. On the other hand, my boyfriend's public university tuition is around half that price.) This means that Japanese students do not graduate with as much debt as American students. American students need more help paying for school, or at least that is my guess. 

I think this difference in university education is very interesting. I still like thinking about the range of possible reasons. 

Do you have a theory? What are some interesting differences you have noticed?