Although Japan is becoming more diverse, many challenges and issues remain in achieving inclusive education. In fact, the number of students with immigrant backgrounds is increasing rapidly (Harada and Ito, 2024). However, the definition of inclusive is ambiguous in Japan, and there is no consensus on it, which makes it even more challenging to attain. In addition, the fact that Japan still continues to expand special needs education prevents it from accomplishing inclusive education. How has the meaning of inclusive education been shaped in Japan? This paper reveals the origin of inclusive education since the post-war era, including international influences, incidents, and citizen efforts. Also, it investigates what challenges Japan faces in achieving it now while focusing on students with special needs or foreign nationalities, followed by several examples of approaches in Osaka prefecture. Ultimately, it concludes that there are harsh work environments for teachers, such as overwork and not enough break time, and increasing the quality of school teachers or specialized teachers might be a key to spreading inclusive education.
優香 甚田 (2025) studied this question.