An empirical study on the impact of education policy after the power-shift to core executives in central and local governments in Japan.

日本实行地方分权改革后，政治领导人的影响力进一步增强。在本研究中，我们考察了教育政策在这一改革下的变化。我们分析了中央和地方政府的教育政策过程。在本研究中，我们发现政治领导人在分权之前已经能够控制教育政策，但是，他们往往没有控制教育。相反，在改革之后，他们往往在教育政策上采取主动，因为改革改变了地方政治，他们的政策偏好也发生了变化。

After decentralization reform in Japan, the influences of political leaders are more strengthen. In this study, we examined how education policy changed under this reform. We analyzed education policy process in central and local governments. In this research, we found political leaders have been able to control education policy before decentralization, however, they often didn't control education. In contrast, after the reform, they often take initiatives in education policy, since the reform changed local politics and their policy preferences have changed.