"Mahoutokoro"? Really?
So if you're at all interested in Harry Potter, or know people who are interested in Harry Potter, you've probbaly seen the news about the other wizarding schools. The Japanese one is called Mahoutokoro (魔法所), which literally means "magic place." 
(Disclaimer: I've read all the books, but I wouldn't describe myself as a Potter fan)
First point of annoyance. Let's leave aside that if there's going to be one wizarding school in East Asia (there are four others whose locations haven't been revealed, so one of those might be there), it should be in China, which has been the cultural capital of East Asia for millennia pretty much continuously until the 20th century, and accept that it's in Japan. Calling it "magic place" is the laziest name you could possibly imagine for it. The European wizarding schools don't have regal names, but they do have whimsical ones. Durmstrang, Beauxbatons, and Hogwarts are a little cutesy, but they say something interesting about the places they're located. Mahoutokoro doesn't say anything. It's the blandest, most generic possible name.
Since it's in Japan, maybe, I don't know, something to do with the sun? 夕焼け屋敷? That means "Sunset House" (yuuyake yashiki) and also puns on お化け屋敷 (obakeyashiki, "Haunted House"). There, I came up with a better name after literally thirty seconds of thought and actually knowing a little bit about Japanese.
Also, the pronunciation guide is fucking insulting. "Mah - hoot - o - koh - ro"? Mah-hoot?
Alright, moving beyond the name. Here's the article on Pottermore. I was talking with softlykarou about this, and we noticed that the workings of Mahoutokoro have nothing to do with the way the Japanese education system works. Like, Hogwarts is a parody/loving homage to British education, with houses headed by prefects, exit exams, and so on. So for Mahoutokoro, how come students are just selected to get in? They should have to take entrance exams like every other Japanese student does. The color-changing robes are kind of neat, but they should get different robes for each year they're in, or have the robes change color to signify the year as well (though having them change based on educational achievement does match the Japanese practice of publically posting exam grades). Instead of being sorted into houses, they should be sorted into classes, each of which has a unified course of study that all members undergo. Japanese wizards would almost certainly be more well-educated in Muggle practices because their studies would include a wide variety of information that's not strictly magically useful. I mean, we know someone who wanted to be a firefighter and the exams for that job were the general government exams, so they included Japanese history, English, mathematics, formal Japanese, and a bunch of stuff that has nothing to do with putting out burning houses.
softlykarou specifically wonders if the Japanese Ministry of Magic--probably 魔法省 (mahoushou, literally "Ministry of Magic")--imports American, British, Australian, South Africa, and New Zealander wizards to teach Japanese wizards English.
And why is it on Iwo Jima? A friend pointed out that it's a deliberate World War II analogy, but Iwo Jima seems like an odd choice otherwise. Sure, I get that it's set there to be in an isolated place on top of a mountain...but the home islands are 80% uninhabitable mountains and there's a long tradition in Japan of 山伏 (yamabushi, [one who] bows to the mountain), mountain ascetics who are half sorcerers, half religious hermits. Putting Mahoutokoro on a mountain in the home islands could have easily tied into that tradition.
Basically, with a little more effort it could have been a distinctly Japanese school of magic the way Hogwarts is a British one, and instead it was just thrown out with minimal thought.
(Disclaimer: I've read all the books, but I wouldn't describe myself as a Potter fan)
First point of annoyance. Let's leave aside that if there's going to be one wizarding school in East Asia (there are four others whose locations haven't been revealed, so one of those might be there), it should be in China, which has been the cultural capital of East Asia for millennia pretty much continuously until the 20th century, and accept that it's in Japan. Calling it "magic place" is the laziest name you could possibly imagine for it. The European wizarding schools don't have regal names, but they do have whimsical ones. Durmstrang, Beauxbatons, and Hogwarts are a little cutesy, but they say something interesting about the places they're located. Mahoutokoro doesn't say anything. It's the blandest, most generic possible name.
Since it's in Japan, maybe, I don't know, something to do with the sun? 夕焼け屋敷? That means "Sunset House" (yuuyake yashiki) and also puns on お化け屋敷 (obakeyashiki, "Haunted House"). There, I came up with a better name after literally thirty seconds of thought and actually knowing a little bit about Japanese.
Also, the pronunciation guide is fucking insulting. "Mah - hoot - o - koh - ro"? Mah-hoot?
Alright, moving beyond the name. Here's the article on Pottermore. I was talking with softlykarou about this, and we noticed that the workings of Mahoutokoro have nothing to do with the way the Japanese education system works. Like, Hogwarts is a parody/loving homage to British education, with houses headed by prefects, exit exams, and so on. So for Mahoutokoro, how come students are just selected to get in? They should have to take entrance exams like every other Japanese student does. The color-changing robes are kind of neat, but they should get different robes for each year they're in, or have the robes change color to signify the year as well (though having them change based on educational achievement does match the Japanese practice of publically posting exam grades). Instead of being sorted into houses, they should be sorted into classes, each of which has a unified course of study that all members undergo. Japanese wizards would almost certainly be more well-educated in Muggle practices because their studies would include a wide variety of information that's not strictly magically useful. I mean, we know someone who wanted to be a firefighter and the exams for that job were the general government exams, so they included Japanese history, English, mathematics, formal Japanese, and a bunch of stuff that has nothing to do with putting out burning houses.
softlykarou specifically wonders if the Japanese Ministry of Magic--probably 魔法省 (mahoushou, literally "Ministry of Magic")--imports American, British, Australian, South Africa, and New Zealander wizards to teach Japanese wizards English.
And why is it on Iwo Jima? A friend pointed out that it's a deliberate World War II analogy, but Iwo Jima seems like an odd choice otherwise. Sure, I get that it's set there to be in an isolated place on top of a mountain...but the home islands are 80% uninhabitable mountains and there's a long tradition in Japan of 山伏 (yamabushi, [one who] bows to the mountain), mountain ascetics who are half sorcerers, half religious hermits. Putting Mahoutokoro on a mountain in the home islands could have easily tied into that tradition.
Basically, with a little more effort it could have been a distinctly Japanese school of magic the way Hogwarts is a British one, and instead it was just thrown out with minimal thought.