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In 1930, Japanese philosopher Tsunesaburo Makiguchi stated that happiness was education's main goal. The paper examines Makiguchi's work as relevant to the American educational system and teacher education. Makiguchi cautioned that children's inherent love of learning could be extinguished by systems that force-fed students information in order to pass exams. (SM)

Describes the history, current status, and future direction of technology education in Japan, including the process of curriculum transition, secondary and postsecondary structure, and lack of resources. (SK)

The instructional media created by microcomputers interconnected by modems to form long-distance networks present some powerful new opportunities for education. While other uses of computers in education have been built on conventional instructional models of classroom interaction, instructional electronic networks facilitate a wider use of apprenticeship education, in which students learn skills and acquire knowledge in contexts similar to those in which they will be used. To investigate these possibilities, an instructional electronic network (the Intercultural Learning Network) interconnecting students and teachers in the United States, Mexico, Japan, and Israel has been developed. For one project conducted in this network, students tackled a problem in their own community, the problem of the shortage of water. By addressing a problem shared across the different locations, students learned to transfer solutions used elsewhere to their own problems. They also acquired science concepts in an instructional setting that provided dynamic support for the acquisition of problem solving skills. This study raises a challenge to education: that the dominant form of instruction could become "teleapprenticeships." In this form of instruction, students would participate in globally distributed electronic problem solving networks, jointly tackling problems with other students, with teachers, and with adults outside the school. (9 references) (Author/GL)

Presents the need for a new mindset and for worker creativity and flexibility in the contemporary workplace; describes benefits of and barriers to creative education in schools, colleges, and workplaces. Suggests ways to unleash and empower the creativity of the work force. (SK)

Uses structural linguistics to offer an impartial frame of reference to analyze science education in the non-Western world. Outlines the associative relation proposed by Saussure and investigates how it works in science education. Examines the problems peculiar to science education in Japan and argues that science education should be identified with foreign language education. (Author/JRH)

Discusses early detection of hearing impairment in Japan with particular reference to the system used in Tokushima Prefecture. Suggests that a required screening of all children at 18 months of age resulted in 2 developments: (1) all the hard-of-hearing children were identified; and (2) public health nurses became more alert to hearing impairment in young children. (AA)

Presents an overview of hearing aid fitting procedures and auditory rehabilitation for hearing-impaired children in Japan. Reviews issues of audiological management in Japanese schools and discusses two kinds of simplified auditory tests. Finally, highlights several controversial issues surrounding different perspectives and methods of education related to young hearing-impaired children using conventional hearing aids and cochlear implants. (Author/AA)

Discusses the techniques used in Japan to assess and monitor the acquisition of auditory skills by hearing-impaired children. Suggests that digits, syllables, and word lists are more suited to adults. Proposes the use of words, sounds, and music familiar to children in combination with instruments based on observation of daily activities in either formal or informal settings. (AA)

Gives an overview of the present school system in Japan, focusing on early intervention for hearing impairments, auditory compensation devices, and instruction in auditory training. Suggests that recent developments in hearing aid technology have resulted in substantial improvements in the identification and rehabilitation of hearing-impaired infants and children. (AA)

Defines the trend of using educational media in early childhood education in Japan, discussing the popularization of new media and considerations needed. Describes the ways in which television and computers are utilized and the status quo of each kind of technology. Concludes that communication abilities and self-expression are promoted more effectively through the use of educational media. (MOK)

Argues that a multiscience perspective on science education affords richer implications for reflection and practice than does multiculturalism. Recognizes the existence of various types of science at play in all science classrooms, especially personal science, indigenous science, and Western modern science. Discusses implications for curriculum design. (31 references) (Author/JRH)

Argues that the pedagogy of self-expression is conceptually confused and internally inconsistent, insensitive to class and cultural differences within American society, and a symptom of the malady of postmodern emptiness. The author uses fieldwork vignettes to introduce a Japanese approach to dealing with children's expressions of feelings. Implications for practice are discussed. (GR)

Discusses the indirect style and vocabulary that many Japanese use when expressing themselves in English, explaining how the sequencing of information expressed in Japanese differs from the usual sequence in English. Also reviewed are the social norms that affect how Japanese communicate in English. (five references) (MDM)

Introduces the role of law and government in consumer protection in Japan. Suggests that recognition of cultural differences between U.S. and Japanese societies can provide insights that will stimulate the U.S. consumer movement to confront the anticonsumer structures in Japan while respecting their internal values. (Author/JOW)

Includes "The Paradox of Productive Aging" (Sicker); "Beyond Productive Aging" (Riley, Riley); "Changing Concepts; Visionary or Short-Sighted" (Holstein); "Making Aging Meaningful" (Glanz, Neikrug); and "Perspectives on Productive Aging from Austria, Bolivia, Denmark, Finland, Japan, Venezuela." (JOW)

An interview with a Japanese professor of education, Nubuo Dobashi, compared characteristics of Japanese and American higher education systems, concluding that Japan is doing an exceptional job of educating average public school students, but the system has problems of access to higher education and lack of educational opportunities for some. (MSE)

The stability of the Japanese university system encourages conformity, which may also stifle creativity and initiative. Japan needs reforms that inject flexibility and reverse the traditional focus of education. Current reform proposals to expand graduate education, break down the chair system, and expand university-industry collaboration are seen as inadequate for a new knowledge creation model. (Author/MSE)

Examines the role of social interaction as a facilitator of learning in general and conceptual change in particular. Three conditions are proposed as necessary for social interaction to facilitate knowledge construction--horizontal information, comparable domain knowledge, and availability of cognitive tools. Suggests that these conditions assure the eventual confrontation of different perspectives and foster metacognitive awareness of one's conception. (AA)

Comments on the articles presented in this issue devoted to the Japanese perspectives on conceptual change. Suggests that different approaches to knowledge acquisition and conceptual change should be carefully examined in light of their implications for the teaching of science. Discusses critically the issues advanced from the Japanese perspective, in the light of the commentator's own theory of conceptual change. (AA)

Pragmatic and semantic problem solving are examined as processes that enhance acquisition of mathematical knowledge. It is suggested that development of mathematical cognition involves restructuring and that math teachers can help restructure children's knowledge systems by providing them with situations in which semantic and pragmatic problem solving occur and by encouraging them to reflect on and reorganize solution procedures. (AA)

Comments on the articles presented in this issue devoted to the Japanese perspectives on conceptual change. Discusses the overall conveyed message: The human cognitive system is a thematically organized knowledge base with agentive causality as the main mechanism for explain phenomena and analogy as the main mechanism for promoting conceptual change. Expresses reservations about claims made in individual articles. (AA)

Proposes analogy as the central mechanism of knowledge acquisition in formal domains. Discusses experimental data on preschoolers' knowledge of one-to-one correspondence and college students' understanding of force decomposition. Suggests that a knowledge base domain is a thematically organized knowledge structure and that thematic relations in a base domain are critical to successful analogy. (AA)

Proposes causal field theory as a model of causal reasoning. Suggests that anomaly detection through comparison with natural events triggers causal reasoning. This anomaly is interpreted in terms of agency; therefore, natural phenomena can be understood through an appeal to agency. The mechanism proposed never changes with development, whereas causal relationships in each domain may change radically. (AA)

Argues that debate is not antithetical to Japanese culture and that Japan has indigenous traditions of argument and debate. Outlines the Japanese tradition of argumentation prior to the "opening to the West" in 1853. Suggests a more expansive model of debate as appropriate to cross-cultural analysis. (HB)

Discusses the need for research on current self-care practices among the elderly in various cultures. Looks at differences in self-care practices in Denmark, Japan, and the United States. (JOW)

Examines teacher's use of their personal knowledge and qualities, such as trust, acceptance, tolerance, or sympathy toward the learner, as a means of helping students in teacher education develop and use their personal knowledge. The article focuses on the element of uncertainty and its effect on the teacher student relationship. (GLR)

Focuses on educating teachers to foster healthy minds in children and stem the problem of truancy. It examines, from the Japanese perspective, the problem of students' refusal to attend school and argues that teacher's knowledge base must include counseling skills and understanding the pathology of student truancy. (GLR)

Includes "Older Workers in the European Community: Pervasive Discrimination, Little Awareness" (Drury); "Aging Workers in Japan: From Reverence to Redundance" (Takada); and "Canada's Labor Market: Older Workers Need Not Apply" (David). (JOW)

Harold Stevenson, author of "The Learning Gap," describes differences between schools in the United States, which he feels are in crisis, and those in Asia. The article includes important differences in staff development and in the working conditions of teachers in those countries. (SM)

Adult education can play a role in alleviating sex, social, and racial discrimination in Japanese society by preparing citizens for participation and paying attention to the needs of special groups: women, Baraku people, dropouts, people with disabilities, the Ainu (indigenous Caucasians), Koreans living in Japan, and refugees. (SK)

Discusses the history of different methods of representing numbers and how these representations facilitated counting and computing devices such as the abacus. (MDH)

Presents impressions of Japanese mathematics education from the viewpoint of a non-Japanese visitor, including classrooms, technology, students, attitudes towards mathematics and science, international contacts, and societal problems. (MKR)

Attracting worthy teachers to the compulsory education system in Japan requires attention to three issues: teacher salaries, strengthening initial teacher preparation, and expansion and systemization of teacher training. The one-year beginning teachers' inservice training program began in 1989 in response to the third issue. (IAH)

Part 1 of this article discusses changes in Japanese teacher education since 1949, particularly the arrangement and reorganization of teacher education universities and faculties and the establishment of graduate schools of education. Part 2 presents findings from three studies that examine the psychological adjustment of teacher education students to the teaching practicum. (IAH)

After brief histories of laboratory schools and comparable Japanese "attached schools," this article promotes preservation of university-controlled schools in a cooperating schools network that provides teacher training and experimentation sites. Although university-controlled schools may have professional development school characteristics, different tasks for specialized cooperating schools are advocated. (IAH)

The attached schools of national universities in Japan are comparable to U.S. laboratory schools. This article discusses the history of attached schools, their present condition, and restructuring the role of these schools to make them clinical schools, compatible with overall reform of clinical education for beginning teachers. (IAH)

Three issues related to Japan's recent passage of an amendment designed to reform two teacher education regulations are discussed: (1) circumstances surrounding implementation of the amendment; (2) essential points of the amendment; and (3) some controversial issues that emerged from consideration of the amendment in the national legislature. (IAH)

When compared to its counterparts in Europe and the United States, teacher education in Japan can be distinguished by its special characteristics in three areas: administration, structure and curriculum, and students. Preservice and inservice education in Japan are discussed with regard to these areas. (IAH)

Masayoshi Shibatani's "The Languages of Japan" is reviewed, with reference to the chapters on the syntax and morphology of Ainu as well as the book's massive study of Japanese. (Contains 18 references.) (LB)

Studies have berated American students for poor academic performance on standardized tests compared to their Asian and European counterparts. But education philosophy, pedagogical methodology, and learning objectives in the U.S. are simply different from those of these other countries. Rather than emphasizing rote memorization, American schools emphasize analysis and interpretation, and are much more egalitarian and pluralistic than these other systems. (EV)

Describes a movement in Japan that is taking English teaching from an out-of-context grammar and vocabulary emphasis to a conversational and contextual emphasis. Shows specific approaches that feature student-centered work as opposed to teacher-imposed exercises. (TB)

Disagrees with the tone and conclusions of the special section on United States-Japan relations in the November-December, 1991 issue. Contends that the national interests of the United States were ignored to avoid "Japan Bashing" over trade and other economic issues. Calls for a more realistic view of Japan's trade policies toward the United States. (CFR)

Presents a series of approaches suggested by Japanese business management successes. Suggests ways several tenets of the Japanese system can be used in American school management. (FL)

Analyzes the decision to drop the atomic bomb from a rhetorical point of view, arguing that the bombs were launched because of an American commitment to a particular rhetoric that focused on the propaganda slogan "unconditional surrender." (PD)

The author, a Fulbright Lecturer at Osaka University, discusses debate in Japan and the Japanese value system with its deference to age and authority. (PD)

The appearance of open universities in Asia is of interest to Australian educators, particularly since the Asian institutions differ in some respects from the British model which combined open entry to all and extensively employed the electronic media. The Asian Open Universities have provided access to higher education for many. (SSH)

Discusses problems in the Japanese educational system, such as increasing school violence, controversy over textbook revisions, budget cuts and the educational discrimination against minorities, particularly Burakumins and Koreans. (CMG)

Focuses on minority/majority relations in Japan in a discussion of the history of discrimination and liberation strategies of the Burakumin, the largest minority group in Japan. (CMG)