Kyōiku mama

Kyōiku mama (教育ママ) is a Japanese pejorative term which translates literally as 'education mother'. The kyōiku mama is a stereotyped figure in modern Japanese society, portrayed as a mother who relentlessly drives her child to study, to the detriment of the child's social and physical development, and emotional well-being.

The kyōiku mama is one of the best-known and least-liked pop-culture figures in contemporary Japan. The kyōiku mama is analogous to American stereotypes such as the stage mother who forces her child to achieve show-business success in Hollywood, the stereotypical Chinese tiger mother who takes an enormous amount of effort to direct much of her maternal influence towards developing their children's educational and intellectual achievement, and the stereotypical Jewish mother's drive for her children to succeed academically and professionally, resulting in a push for perfection and a continual dissatisfaction with anything less or the critical, self-sacrificing mother who coerces her child into medical school or law school.

The stereotype is that a kyōiku mama is feared by her children, blamed by the press for school phobias and youth suicides, and envied and resented by the mothers of children who study less and fare less well on exams.