Resumen
The article highlights the penetration of computer science education in Japan. The proportion of high school graduates going on to some form of higher education has increased markedly over the years, to the extent that about half of Japan's students continue on to a college or university. Computer literacy education in schools was largely ignored. Universities therefore had to provide basic computer education not just for undergraduate students in general, but even for those embarking on a Computer Science degree. Until 1991, when the Ministry of Education relaxed its regulations, undergraduate degree courses generally consisted of two years of general study followed by two years of subject-specific study. Prior to 1997 most degree courses in the computing realm covered hardware in some depth but gave software engineering much less attention. The whole scenario changed when the Information Processing Society of Japan (IPSJ) published guidelines that influenced many universities to address this imbalance.