Moral Education in Japan: Four Strands of Research on Policy and Practice

Research on contemporary moral education in Japan has presented ostensibly contradictory findings. On the one hand, journalism and research have exposed nationalistic motives with direct antecedents in prewar imperialistic indoctrination. On the other hand, planned moral education contributes to the experience and character formation of all Japanese children through every grade of compulsory education. Academic research approaching the school ethnographically has consistently praised the child-centered moral atmosphere and democratic practice of school organization. Moreover, moral education is currently undergoing its greatest reform since its postwar introduction over sixty years ago. While providing an outline of moral education in Japan and some of its contemporary challenges along four strands of research, this chapter identifies two disjoints in research that have led to misconceptions and produced these seemingly contradictory findings. More specifically, current research on moral education tends to study policy through official documents, inviting assumptions about classroom practice, and tends to focus on the curriculum category and dedicated classtime labeled “moral education,” overlooking moral learning elsewhere in the curriculum. On the other hand, studies of the whole curriculum tend not to speak in the language of moral learning. Joining up the dots between strands of research on policy and practice not only overcomes misconceptions to reach a more nuanced understanding of moral education, but also holds theoretical implications. Understanding the broad taught curriculum of moral education in Japan clears the path for studies that contribute to the general theorization of moral education.