Virtual England in Japan

British Hills is a "virtual England" that was set up 11 years ago by a Japanese family who also run a private university and language school in Tokyo. They wanted students to have the ability to "escape" Japan and be immersed into an all-English environment within Japan. Interesting read. The JET Program is also mentioned in this article.

I would definitely agree with the view of how the English curriculum is structured at the high school level: As students get closer to graduation, they generally get stuck cramming for the College Entrance Exams. Classes become not only boring, but they tend to steer away from native English.