Search

Paul Natorp is better known as a key figure of Neo-Kantian epistemology than as a great educationist. This paper discusses the affinity for Natorp's theory of education in Japan in the first decades of the twentieth century. It presents an overview of Natorp's educational way of thinking and analyses the interest of Japanese educationists in the educational thought encapsulated in the conception of Natorp's educational theory, which he called Sozialpädagogik. Addressing the debate around Natorp's Sozialpädagogik within the Japanese national community of scholars, key points of the inception of the theory in Japan are examined, central scholars involved are identified, and the impact of Natorp's conception on the Japanese philosophy of education and educational practice is considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article sets out to elucidate the role of Japanese Protestants in the education of Koreans during the early twentieth century. Scholarship has often assigned only marginal roles to Japanese Protestants within the history of Japanese imperialism, despite the remarkable success of western missionaries in Korea at the time. As imperial expansion progressed, Japanese Protestants intensified their efforts to take up a leading role in the education of Koreans in colonial Korea and in the metropole wishing to spearhead the assimilation of Koreans. By drawing on the colonial discourses of East Asian unity under Japanese leadership, Protestant churches strove to mediate and facilitate colonial policies in Korea. Yet there were also voices of dissent from prominent Japanese Protestants critical of the assimilation policies implemented by colonial authorities in Korea. This ambivalent stance of Protestantism towards Korea is further complicated by the fact that the Korean Young Men’s Christian Association in Tokyo served as an important venue of the Korean Independence Movement. Examining Christian magazines and journals of the time, this paper delves into the contentious debates among Japanese Protestants concerning the Korea Mission and the Japanese government’s strategy of assimilation through education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of this article is to provide information about Japan and its psychology in advance of the 31st International Congress of Psychology ( ICP), to be held in Yokohama, Japan, in 2016. The article begins with the introduction of the Japanese Psychological Association (JPA), the hosting organization of the ICP 2016, and the Japanese Union of Psychological Associations consisting of 51 associations/societies, of which the JPA is a member. This is followed by a brief description of a history of psychology of Japan, with emphasis on the variation in our approach to psychology in three different periods, that is, the pre- and post-Pacific War periods, and the post-1960 period. Next, the international contributions of Japanese psychology/psychologists are discussed from the point of view of their visibility. Education and training in psychology in Japanese universities is discussed with a final positive remark about the long-awaited enactment of the Accredited Psychologist Law in September, 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Private supplementary tutoring became a widespread phenomenon in Japan during the 1960s. Since then, institutions providing tutoring known asjukuhave provided a wide range of services to supplement mainstream education. During decades of development, the shapes and functions ofjukuhave changed in response to changes in schooling. Government attitudes towardsjukuhave also shifted from rejection to collaboration, partly becausejukuhave become so entrenched in Japanese society and can no longer be excluded from public decision-making processes. Collaboration between schools andjukuis becoming increasingly evident in a series of neoliberal policy choices and socio-demographic changes. Patterns underline a government move to mobilize profit-drivenjukuto serve the public good. The inclusion ofjukuin public schooling necessitates reconceptualization of the roles ofjukuin the educational landscape. This article presents a conceptual framework based on an overview of the changing relationships betweenjukuand schooling. It also identifies challenges in the collaboration, and explores implications for future relationships between mainstream and shadow education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article aims to describe post-war continuity and change in disaster education in Japan. Preparedness for natural disasters has been a continuous agenda in Japan for geographical and meteorological reasons, and disaster education has been practised in both formal and informal settings. Post-war disaster management and education have taken a follow-up approach, which means that clusters of measures have been developed after critical national-scale disasters have occurred. Following this clustering, with a minor amendment, the article discusses continuity and change in disaster education, looking at the different versions of the national curriculum (the Course of Study) at the compulsory school level. It is argued that disaster education has always been delivered at school in post-war Japan – this is the continuity – however, its treatment in the curriculum has changed over the years, from the scientific knowledge model, to the civic participation model, to the multi-hazard model, to the everyday life model within broader economic, political and social contexts – this is the change. Through this historical description, the article sheds light on the complexity of the field ‘disaster education’, particularly its two-dimensional aspect, namely, ‘the science of disasters’ on the one hand, and ‘life skills for disasters’ on the other. Currently, these two dimensions are addressed within the policy framework of School Safety. It is argued, however, that this complexity has been a challenge in the positioning of disaster education in the Japanese system. The article concludes by exploring the direction that disaster education has been taking since the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami of 2011. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

It is known that Japanese elementary school examination was developed in the early Meiji era, around the 1870-80s, under the influences of the American school examination. But little has been known about the similarities or the differences of those examinations in both countries hitherto. Close investigation uncovered that early Meiji examination inherits many tools from the samurais' examination of the feudal ages, e.g. the examination hall's layout, preparation procedure, and the format for questioning, scoring, marking, and reporting. And those Japanese examinations were mainly given to encourage prudent learners as opposed to making selections, promotions, accreditations, or any other high-stakes decisions. Even Japanese, following the Meiji era, had imported "the purpose of testing" to make such significant decisions, the Japanese had not changed their manners of handling examinations in a true sense. This could lead to examinations in Japanese schools functioning differently from the "intended" purpose of the examination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]