Abstract
Japanese students have serious problems in Reading Literacy. Many cannot answer open-ended questions in the PISA test. No response rates for open-ended questions exceed the OECD average. A background for this problem is that Japanese teachers do not ask open-ended questions in the classroom. They don't usually discuss materials in school textbooks, and don't ask students to give their own opinions about these materials. The response rate for open-ended questions are also low in scientific literacy in PISA. The background for this problem may be similar to PISA reading literacy, because this problem originals in the Japanese culture of so-called silent communication. Japanese dislike speaking frankly and use vague expressions. But it's time to change so that we can participate in international society.
