Something that took me by surprise about Japan recently

One thing that took me by surprise about Japan recently was discovering how little the government actually spends on education. I feel like Japan gets praised internationally for its schools, study culture, and high test scores, and I guess that reputation made me assume that public funding must be among the highest in the world. It turns out, the opposite is true.

According to a recent OECD report, Japan's spending on education is the fourth lowest among its 37 member nations. Only 8 percent of government outlay went to education in 2023, compared to the OECD average of 11.5 percent -- just for a point of reference, countries like Switzerland spend nearly double that share. 

Another thing that the article above mentioned is that family background often plays a big role in determining educational opportunities here, and the academic background of parents has an outsized influence on children's success compared to other countries. I thought that was pretty disappointing.

Did you know Japan was actually ranked so low on education spending among OECD nations?