Research And Reflection On Contemporary Japanese International Understanding Education

Human beings suffered from the two world wars in 20th century, and nowadays, the world is still in the shadow of hegemonism, ethnic and religious hostility. Along with the coming of economic globalization, and the expanding of international economic and cultural communication, the dependence between different countries and nations is increasingly strengthened. People in different areas have to deal hand in hand with the global problems such as environment, population, energy resources, foods, AIDS, etc. Education for international understanding is a basic approach which builds a peaceful barrier in the hearts of human beings, and deepens the understanding between different nations, religions and cultures. In answer to the initiation of UNESO, the government of Japan proposed education for international understanding in 1950s. More importantly, Japan tries to adapt to international communication in the age of globalization after becoming the second greatest county economically. Meanwhile, Japan also improves citizens' international consciousness and communicating abilities in order to reach the aim of being one of the most powerful countries politically, as well as economically, in the world. In 1970s, the process of the cultural diversification of Japanese society had speeded up as the percentage of foreign population at home was rapidly and steadily risen. International understanding education of youngsters is essentially needed for coexistence between people in different cultural backgrounds. It has been a major trend in Japanese educational internationalization since 1990s.The introduction part deals with the background and present state of research on contemporary Japanese international understanding education. The purpose, theoretical meaning and realistic value of choosing the topic of this thesis are firstly presented. A revelation of some defects in previous education research in China is also indicated.In the 1st part, the connotation of international understanding education, the curriculum development fields, and its principles are explained. In the 2nd part,analyzed.In the 3rd part, a brief description about the methods taken by Japanese to develop international understanding is given. The approaches include such contents as follows: broad researches in the fields of international understanding education; emphasizing vital importance to educational international communication; strengthening education of national culture, national tradition and mother language; improving foreign language teaching; international understanding education throughout school subjects.The 4th part focuses on how the object of international understanding education is closely connected with school subject teachings such as foreign language teaching, native language teaching, geography and history teaching. Above are substantially based on, embody or infiltrate international understanding education.In the 5th part, it discusses the practice of Japanese international understanding education under the circumstances of growth of foreigner population and diversification of social structure in Japan from 1970s onwards. In detail, it concentrates on cross-culture education of Japanese Korean children, foreigner children and returnees' children, multi-culture education, and understanding education of Japanese youngsters.The 6th part points out some Japanese social and governmental behavior that is not inconsistent with current Japanese international understanding education, and also reveals its cause of national culture and political thoughts. Furthermore, the author points out that the intrinsic limits in Japanese spirit and culture, the undercurrent of new nationalism and militarism are harmful to Japanese international understanding education of the day.