Lifelong learning is a powerful concept and perspective for transforming education systems and enabling learning societies. Developed in the advanced industrialised North, it is now being considered in poor countries where Education for All is a main educational preoccupation. The meaning of lifelong learning is confused and contested, caught up in neo-liberal policies and ideologies, and prone to being reduced from transformative vision to a set of skill training strategies. If the concept is to serve "the South" well for reducing poverty and inequality by mobilising community and non-governmental efforts for learning by and for all, it is important not to lose its wider meaning, so as to exploit its potential to serve societies in a balanced and sustainable way. This article reflects on discourse at a recent international experts' meeting in Tokyo within this concept framework.