Teachers and Politics in Japan
Teachers and Politics in Japan

Author: Donald R. Thurston

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2015-03-08

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 1400871433

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The Japan Teachers' Union, which represents 500,000 elementary and lower secondary school teachers, is an important interest group in Japanese politics. It is especially significant as a radical group operating both within and outside the political system and in direct conflict with conservative government policies in education and other areas of domestic and foreign policy. Donald R. Thurston's descriptive and analytic study of this most controversial labor union reveals a great deal about Japan's educational and political systems, and about the teaching profession in Japan and its relations with government and the community. It will therefore be of great interest both to political scientists and to those interested in comparative education. The purpose of this broad cross-sectional case study of the Japan Teachers' Union was to find out how much influence it has had on its own members and on the formulation and implementation of educational policies. The conclusion is that the union is much more influential at the local level where educational policies are implemented, and changed in the process of implementation, than at the national level where policy is formulated. It also shows that the Japan Teachers' Union has changed teachers' attitudes towards their roles, and that although the JTU is attached to the left-wing Japan Socialist Party, it is much more autonomous than has been thought. Originally published in 1973. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Japanese Education in an Era of Globalization
Japanese Education in an Era of Globalization

Author: Gary DeCoker

Publisher: Teachers College Press

Published: 2015-04-25

Total Pages: 221

ISBN-13: 0807772089

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This volume documents the significant changes that have occurred in Japanese schools since the collapse of that nations economic bubble. Before the recession, Japan was the country that most others sought to emulate due to its students performance on standardized tests. Now, however, a different and more complicated picture of the Japanese education system emerges. This book places Japanese education in a global context, with particular attention given to how their education system is responding to changing expectations and pressures that emerge from rapid social change. Chapters written by respected scholars examine issues related to equality, academic achievement, privatization, population diversity, societal expectations, and the influence of the media, parents, and political movements. The research in this book will provide valuable lessons for policymakers and practitioners facing similar challenges.

The State and Politics In Japan
The State and Politics In Japan

Author: Ian Neary

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2019-05-20

Total Pages: 298

ISBN-13: 1509535853

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Politics in Japan is undergoing a major transformation. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party has, since 2012, embarked upon an ambitious programme of policy reforms as well as changes to Japan’s governing structures and processes. At the heart of this policy agenda is ‘Abenomics’ – a set of measures designed to boost Japan’s flagging economy, but one which is yet to deliver on its promises. In this fully revised and updated second edition of his classic text, Ian Neary explores the dynamics of democracy in Japan, introducing the key institutions, developments and actors in its politics from the end of the Second World War to the present day. Packed with illustrative material and examples, this comprehensive study traces the continuities and the changes that are underway in five major policy areas: foreign and defence, industry, social welfare, the environment and human rights. Assuming no prior knowledge of Japan, this textbook will be an invaluable and welcome resource for all students interested in the government and politics of contemporary Japan and its international profile.

The Comparative Politics of Education
The Comparative Politics of Education

Author: Terry M. Moe

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 347

ISBN-13: 1107168880

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This book provides new evidence on teachers unions and their political activities across nations, and offers a foundation for a comparative politics of education.

Education as a Political Tool in Asia
Education as a Political Tool in Asia

Author: Marie Lall

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2010-06-30

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 0415595363

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This book offers a fresh and comparative approach in questioning what education is being used for and what the effects of the politicisation of education are on Asian societies in the era of globalisation. Education has been used as a political tool throughout the ages and across the whole world to define national identity and underlie the political rationale of regimes. In the contemporary, globalising world there are particularly interesting examples of this throughout Asia, ranging from the new definition of Indian national identity as a Hindu identity (to contrast with Pakistan's Islamic identity), to particular versions of nationalism in China, Japan, Singapore and Vietnam. In Asia education systems have their origins in processes of state formation aimed either at bolstering 'self-strengthening' resistance to the encroachments of Western and/or Asian imperialism, or at furthering projects of post-colonial nation-building. State elites have sought to popularise powerful visions of nationhood, to equip these visions with a historical 'back-story', and to endow them with the maximum sentimental charge. This book explores all of these developments, emphasising that education is seen by nations across Asia, as elsewhere, as more than simply a tool for economic development, and that issues of national identity and the tolerance - or lack of it - of ethnic, cultural or religious diversity can be at least as important as issues of literacy and access. Interdisciplinary and unique in its analysis, this book will be of interest to scholars of political science, research in education and Asian Studies.

Dictionary of the Modern Politics of Japan
Dictionary of the Modern Politics of Japan

Author: Prof J A A Stockwin

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2003-08-27

Total Pages: 332

ISBN-13: 1136894888

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An accessible work of reference bringing together information and authoritative analysis on all aspects of the politics of Japan and the Japanese political system.

Nationalism, Political Realism and Democracy in Japan
Nationalism, Political Realism and Democracy in Japan

Author: Fumiko Sasaki

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 0415691524

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Masao Maruyama was the most influential and respected political thinker in post-WWII Japan. He believed that the collective mentality, inherent in the traditional Japanese way of thinking, was a key reason for the defeat in WWII and was convinced that such thought needed to be modernized. In this book Fumiko Sasaki argues that the cause of the prolonged political, economic and social decline in Japan since the early 1990s can be explained by the same characteristics Maruyama identified after 1945. Using Maruyama's thought Sasaki explores how the Japanese people see their role in their nation, the democracy imposed by the US, and the relationship between power and international relations. Further, Sasaki also considers what the essence of national security is and how much it has been forgotten in current Japanese political thought. The book solves the puzzle of how Maruyama, a teacher of political realism who emphasized the importance of power, could insist on the policy of unarmed neutrality for Japan's national security, and in doing so, illuminates how traditional Japanese thought has impacted development in Japan. Despite his status within Japan, there are few English language books available on Maruyama and his thought on national security. This book therefore will be an essential resource for students and scholars of Japanese Politics and Political Thought.

Postwar History Education in Japan and the Germanys
Postwar History Education in Japan and the Germanys

Author: Julian Dierkes

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2010-12-14

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 1135193630

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How did East and West Germany and Japan reconstitute national identity after World War II? Did all three experience parallel reactions to national trauma and reconstruction? History education shaped how these nations reconceived their national identities. Because the content of history education was controlled by different actors, history education materials framed national identity in very different ways. In Japan, where the curriculum was controlled by bureaucrats bent on maintaining their purported neutrality, materials focused on the empirical building blocks of history (who? where? what?) at the expense of discussions of historical responsibility. In East Germany, where party cadres controlled the curriculum, students were taught that World War II was a capitalist aberration. In (West) Germany, where teachers controlled the curriculum, students were taught the lessons of shame and then regeneration after historians turned away from grand national narratives. This book shows that constructions of national identity are not easily malleable on the basis of moral and political concerns only, but that they are subject to institutional constraints and opportunities. In an age when post-conflict reconstruction and reconciliation has become a major focus of international policies, the analysis offers important implications for the parallel revision of portrayals of national history and the institutional reconstruction of policy-making regimes.