Inagakuen differs a great deal from typical japanese high schools. It offers students considerable freedom in selecting courses of study and enhances their learning with an array of technologically advanced facilities. The following description of the school should allow readers who are unfamiliar with Japan or Japanese education to understand the reasons for Inagakuen's unique place among Japanese high schools.

Facing demands for changes in Japanese education, representatives from the Saitama Prefectural Board of Education, under the direction of Japan's Ministry of Education, visited European and American schools in hopes of gaining fresh ideas for new learning institutions. Inagakuen was one of the results.

Constructed in the early 1980s, Inagakuen is one of Japan's largest puplic high schools. The campus, covering 155,000 square meters of land, provides educational and recreational space for 2893 students and 228 faculty members (the equivalent of three ordinary high schools). Its size enables Inagakuen to offer a large number of elective subjects.

This school gives students a relatively high degree of educational freedom and a large number of subjects from which to choose. The number of required courses decreases with each year of study; students receive a solid upper scondary education, but can tailor their schedules to fit their interests and talents. By meeting the needs and aspirations of individual students, the curriculum helps them achieve their full potential in an increasingly complex, specialized, and international world.

Inagakuen is located northwest of Tokyo in Ina Town, Saitana. Most students commute to school on the 'New Shuttle,' a train line connecting Inagakuen with Omiya station, the hub of this prefecture's public transportation system. It takes about one hour to travel from Inagakuen to central Tokyo.Since its opening in 1984, Inagakuen has been introducing innovative academic facilities, programs, and ideas. Inagakuen may well become the model for future high school education in Japan.