Compared with other countries in Asia, Japan is far behind in terms of introducing and delivering bilingual education, let alone effective immersion programmes. In order to make its citizens more bilingual, Japan has been introducing innovative measures including the implementation of the teaching of English in elementary education and a new curriculum guideline requirement of using English exclusively in all high school English classes. However, these innovations are met with opposition and obstacles. Before Japan can introduce effective bilingual and immersion programmes comparable to those in Europe, North America and other Asian countries, it is crucial that Japan addresses these concerns. At the same time, other linguistic resources unique to Japan are being neglected. To elaborate and explore the above issues, this article focuses on public English education and ethnic bilingual schools in Japan. (Contains 2 notes and 1 table.)