Family stories and memories of competitive examinations in Japanese education: Recollections of daughters and mothers

This retrospective study explores how Japanese women experienced competitive examinations. Face-to-face, semi-structured interviews were conducted in Japanese with eight Japanese middle-class women (four women ages 32 to 36 and their mothers) in 2009 in Tokyo and Chiba, Japan. All participants had experience with entrance examinations for high school and/or tertiary education.;Interviews were facilitated by the use of artifacts (photographs and/or memorabilia), family tree mapping, and probes. These procedures helped participants recall their memories of personal and family preparations for competitive school and entrance examinations. Analysis of the interviews required careful consideration of the process of translating Japanese phrases and cultural concepts into English.;The memories and stories were considered to be a representation of the participants' reality. Themes emerging from the interview data included: processes of estimating abilities and deciding which examinations to attempt; setting women's educational and career expectations in a male-dominated society; maternal and family supports in examination preparation; coping with and accepting stresses and failures in the competitive examination system; acceptance of the severe discipline and restrictions entailed in long-term preparation for competitive examinations; and gradual modification of recollections over time, including resignation to the examination system as a necessary social ritual. The recollections of examinations by mothers and daughters revealed generational differences in the perceived difficulties of the examinations: mothers did not feel able to teach the test content and instead were devoted to supporting their daughters success through creating suitable household environments for intense study.;The research has implications for comparative understanding of the social context and beliefs about competitive examinations in Japan as well as the role of memories in intergenerational education.