This historical paper is an introduction to curriculum thinking in Japan. It discusses contested value frameworks that have exercised professional educators in the light of two "Western" interventions: (1) the modernization initiatives of the Meiji government of the nineteenth century; and (2) the policies that followed Japan's defeat in the Second World War. Overall, it reports on conflicts between value-based and knowledge-based views of curriculum content that still prevail in the twenty-first century. In this article, the author considers the contemporary meaning of Japanese teaching culture through a review of historical processes, building on earlier reviews by Kudomi (1994, 2003) and Nakauchi (1998, 2000). What, in Japan, does it mean to be a teacher? Better still: What is an "appropriate" teacher? The author discusses three dimensions of a Japanese teacher's work: (1) its social status; (2) the teacher's virtue; and (3) the teacher's sense of duty. The author concludes with a brief discussion of the current neo-liberal reform agenda. (Contains 1 figure and 1 note.)