This study compared the creative thinking areas of flexibility and fluency of fifth grade Japanese and American children. A new instrument for cross-cultural settings, consisting of ten flexibility items and six fluency items, was constructed and administered to fifth graders. The results indicated that there were no differences in fluency between the 73 Japanese and 41 American children, but American children scored higher in flexibility than did Japanese children. No gender difference for either creative thinking area was found. A list of seven references is included. (BC)