Japan doesn’t just educate kids, it shapes them early. Respect for teachers, gratitude to parents, discipline in the small things. That part is very deliberate.
It’s also not something you can simply copy. It depends on having a strong pool of capable teachers, which in turn comes from a consistently high baseline across society. That creates a kind of feedback loop that strengthens itself over generations.
So the advantage isn’t random, it’s built into the system.
Some people also argue that Japan maintains this by being selective about who enters the country. The thinking is that if you change the inputs, the outcomes will eventually change too.
Whether you agree or not, that’s the reasoning behind why Japan’s societal standards are difficult to match in the short term.