While most schools in Japan will follow a fairly set pattern of educational approaches, the changing labor market has meant that some of these approaches may not necessarily match these changes. This project examines “alternative” schools, such as Furendo Gakuen, Jiyu Gakuen, and Jiyu no Mori Gakuen, which take approaches that educate and socialize students in different ways than the more standard schools. The study considers the following three aspects of alternative education. First, it investigates how parents and students make decisions to enroll such schools, that is, is this decision based on a rejection the mainstream education system or is it based on providing different skills for the changing labor market. Second, it examines the educational philosophy of each school. Third, it explores the experiences of graduates within the labor market.