Twenty-one American educational researchers and policy makers present their impressions of education in Japan. Compiled as a result of a two and a half week Educational Staff Seminar tour of Japan in 1972, the articles describe public and private schools, factories, museums, educational television studios, monasteries, shrines, and the Japanese Parliament. As background for the study tour, the participants talked with Japanese scholars, politicians, labor leaders, students, government officials, businessmen, and Zen Buddhist priests. The first article discusses the social and political life and identifies the difficulties of perceiving Japan from a Western perspective. Subsequent articles discuss the role of the Japanese government in education, early childhood education, education of the handicapped, educational research, science and vocational education, cultural education, social welfare services, the status of women, and educational television. Appendices include a directory of the staff of the Japan Center for International Exchange, a roster of participants of the study tour, and a listing of Educational Staff Seminar Programs in 1973. (Author/DB)