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Institute for Social Vision Design

Corrections

A record of errors found after publication and how we corrected them, including what we got wrong and why.

June 2026

  1. The Blind Spots of 'Free' Private High School Tuition: How Removing the Income Cap Widens Inequality

    Removed "15% were in favor" from the economist survey. The figure does not appear in the cited source.

    Before
    70% opposed raising the private high school support ceiling (15% were in favor).
    After
    70% opposed raising the private high school support ceiling — 57% answering "disagree" plus those answering "strongly disagree".

    Why we got it wrong On checking the source (the Japan Center for Economic Research economist survey), the breakdown of the 70% opposition is published, but the share in favour is not stated anywhere on the page. We removed the unsupported figure and replaced it with the breakdown we could verify.

    Read the article

  2. The Blind Spots of 'Free' Private High School Tuition: How Removing the Income Cap Widens Inequality

    Corrected the annual private high school learning cost and the share covered by the tuition support grant.

    Before
    Private high school annual learning cost ¥1,030,283 / the ¥457,200 ceiling covers 44% of the total
    After
    Private high school annual learning cost ¥1,179,261 / the ¥457,200 ceiling covers 39% of the total

    Why we got it wrong MEXT revised the figures in its "FY2023 Survey on Children's Learning Costs" on 16 January 2026 (the document is marked "replaced 16 January 2026 due to numerical correction"). The private high school annual total changed from ¥1,030,283 to ¥1,179,261. Because we used the superseded figure, the coverage share was overstated as well.

    Reported by Found while auditing every article citing this statistic, prompted by a reader's report on a related article.

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  3. What 'Tuition-Free' Doesn't Cover — The Education Gap Hidden by Japan's High School Tuition Subsidy

    Updated the status of the amendment bill (from "aims for passage" to enacted on 31 March 2026, in force from April).

    Before
    Based on a tripartite agreement among the LDP, Nippon Ishin no Kai, and Komeito, the bill aims for passage within the fiscal year.
    After
    The bill passed the House of Councillors on 31 March 2026 and took effect in April.

    Why we got it wrong The article was published just after the cabinet decision and never reflected the bill's subsequent passage. We updated it while verifying facts for the statistical correction.

    Read the article

  4. What 'Tuition-Free' Doesn't Cover — The Education Gap Hidden by Japan's High School Tuition Subsidy

    Corrected the three-year public-private learning cost gap from ¥1.29 million to ¥1.74 million.

    Before
    Private high school annual learning cost ¥1,030,283 / ~¥3.08 million over three years / gap ~¥1.29 million
    After
    Private high school annual learning cost ¥1,179,261 / ~¥3.52 million over three years / gap ~¥1.74 million

    Why we got it wrong MEXT revised the figures in its "FY2023 Survey on Children's Learning Costs" on 16 January 2026 (the document is marked "replaced 16 January 2026 due to numerical correction"). The private high school annual total changed from ¥1,030,283 to ¥1,179,261, and the public figure from ¥597,752 to ¥596,954. This article was published on 20 March 2026 — two months after that revision. We failed to re-check a published statistic and used the superseded figures. We also added an explanation that these survey figures are net of the tuition support subsidy, and standardised the three-year totals on the survey's own grade-by-grade figures (Table 2), which had previously been mixed with a simpler annual-times-three calculation.

    Reported by Brought to our attention by a reader. Thank you.

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