Since the 1980's, with worldwide innovations and revolutions in the field of education, school management in Japan's elementary and high school levels has been innovated and reformed a great deal. All these changes were caused not only by Japan's unique historical and educational theories such as the conflicts due to the different educational thoughts and explanations before and after World War II, but there were also socioeconomic factors behind them such as low birth-rate formulations and economic recessions, both of which played a significant role during the process. The purpose of this study is to analyze the school management reforms in Japan by researching the key issues related to school governance, decentralization, and participation. It is also hoped that the findings of this study will serve as references for related school management reform in our country. To achieve these goals, this paper starts with a detailed description of recent school management reforms in Japan, focusing on school governance, school decentralization, and school participation. Following this is a presentation and review of some concrete cases. This paper ends with a discussion of the implications these concrete cases might have for our country.