cram school in Japan

As one of the modern Japanese characteristic, the prevalence of cram school (Juku or Yobikou) is outstanding. This is the school for study for entrance examinations or the school for daily study, so there mainly two types for cram school. At the beginning, the former type of cram school appeared about 90 years ago, and after World War 2, it developed remarkably as the number of people who aim at entering university and people who failed to enter university increase. This trend has been continuing and actually so many university students studied at cram school in these days too. So originally, cram school was mainly for the people aiming at entering university. But today, huge number of elementary school and junior high school children has started to go to cram school, and in 2005, 37% of 10~12 years old students and 51% of junior high school children go to cram school. Furthermore, even 5 or 6 years old children have started to go to cram school recently. That is, cram school plays a important role in Japan today.