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Japan Social Education
Modern Japan is unquestionably a society that values
education
highly. Nowhere is this better reflected than in "social
education," as the Japanese call nondegree-oriented
education.
Diverse institutions, such as the miscellaneous schools,
provide
these services. Large newspaper companies sponsor cultural
centers
that offer ongoing programs of informal education, and
department
stores organize curricula covering everything from cooking
classes
to music, English conversation, and Japanese poetry.
"Lifelong learning," another term for social education,
was
also a key phrase in the education reforms of the late
1980s. The
responsibility for social education is shared by all
levels of
government, but especially by local government. Local
governments
also are largely responsible for such public facilities as
libraries and museums--basic resources in social education
(see
table 8, Appendix). The ministry is interested in
increasing the
use of public school facilities for lifelong learning
activities,
increasing the number of social education facilities,
training
staff, and disseminating information about lifelong
learning
opportunities.
The Japanese are voracious readers. Popular bookstores
are full
from the moment they open their doors each day with
readers seeking
books from a staggering range of foreign as well as
Japanese
titles. The top four national newspapers alone have a
combined
daily circulation (with two editions each day) of more
than 35
million, and there are four daily English-language papers
as well.
Although education in Japan is in transition in many
regards,
it still retains its postwar organizational structure.
Even with
growing pressure for reforms and for more emphasis on
individuality
and internationalization in education, it is clear that
educational
changes would be a unique amalgam of traditional values
and modern
innovations.
Data as of January 1994
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