Four skills (interpersonal relationship, information utilization, future planning, and decision-making) and three identity styles (informational, normative, and diffuse/avoidant) were measured among Japanese high school students (N = 963: 335 tenth-graders, 307 eleventhgraders, and 321 twelfth-graders), using the Basic Skills for Career Development Scale and the Japanese version of Identity Style Inventory, respectively. Grade and gender differences were found across the four basic skills and the three identity styles. Canonical correlation analyses indicated that informational style was positively related to all four basic skills for career development, whereas diffuse/avoidant style was negatively related to all four basic skills. There was no consistent relationship between normative style and basic skills. These findings suggest that improvement of basic skills through career education can advance young people's career and identity exploration process.