What is the major difference between Japanese schools and American schools?

As a whole, the school systems of the two countries are not very different except that in the United States medical schools, law schools, and business schools are designed as graduate schools of universities.
Differences lie in other areas of the educational systems.
For example, American schools, unlike their Japanese counterparts, do not have a uniform "study guidance" system proposed by the government, and besides solely academic courses, they offer classes for acquiring practical skills｡
Neither textbook inspection systems by the government nor keen competition to enter colleges exist in the United States.
Going to a prestigious university in Japan usually means cram schools and strong competition.
But once you make it in, graduating is relatively easy.
This is one big difference from universities in the United States where getting in is easy but graduating requires lots of work.