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Distance Education in Japan

Publication Date:199203
Book title: MEDIA, CULTURE, AND EDUCATION IN JAPAN [A COLLECTION OF PAPERS]
Publisher : National Institute of Multimedia Education


1. Historical Backgrounds

The term "distance education", which is literally and tentatively translated as "Enkaku Kyoiku", has been alien to Japanese lexicon until very recent years. As a matter of fact, even a professional encyclopedia of education of 1988 edition does not list this particular terminology. However, the word "Tsushin kyoiku" which stands for "correspondence education" or "education through correspondence" has been commonly and popularly used since late 19th century.

To be more exact, the first practice of modern correspondence education took place in May 1883, when a school called Houbunkan offered courses in Chinese literature to off-campus students. In September of the same year, it is recorded that another school by the name of Tokyo Gakkan inaugurated correspondence program in stenography and bookkeeping. The scale of the operation of these early schools is unknown because original documents are not accessible. But it may be safe to say that 1883 was the year when modern correspondence education was founded.

In 1885, an established college Igirisu Horitsu Gakko, the forerunner of present Chuo University, instituted correspondence course for off-campus learners, and about a dozen of universities followed suit. As a result, toward the end of the century, it is recorded that the courses thus offered to the general public reached some 300 altogether, and the number of students increased accordingly. For example, Wafytsu Gakuin in 1894 counted 8000 students. Another institution called Shisei Gakuin, which seemed to have been engaged solely in correspondence courses, proudly stated that the total number of students was 20,000 as of 1900 , and that the students' geographical distribution covered not only various parts of Japan but also China, Korea, and even Hawaii. According to an expert research, yearly number of students who took these correspondence courses came to between 250,000 and 300,000 at the turn of the century.

As will be discussed later, most of the learners who took correspondence courses in those days were not qualified for formal diploma, and their major concern was to get training in vocational knowledge and skill. However, considering the fact that the number of students who registered at regular universities in 1900 was merely 20,000, the figure just mentioned is extremely significant and important, as it indicates the aspiration for higher learning among Japanese public, and at the same time, implies potential quality of manpower which did not appear in official statistics.

The reasons for the popularity of correspondence education were multi-fold. In the first place, needless to say, higher education in late 19th century was for selected and privileged few, while there was high demand for higher and/or professional education on the part of general public. Most of the correspondence schools were open to almost everybody, and they did not give any competitive entrance examination. The tuition fee was, generally speaking, affordable for most of the people. The incentives upon completion of the courses often were attractive. For instance, Meiji Kogakkai, which was founded in 1894, served for teachers' training and licensing. Modern Japanese school system was legally instituted in 1972, and the government decided to give compulsory elementary school education to every Japanese citizen. The number of elementary school thus decided was 53,700 throughout the nation, and in order to meet this requirement, tens of thousands of school teachers were needed. Though seven national teachers colleges were established between 1972 and 74, the qualified school teachers were naturally in short supply. Therefore, in the transitory period, teachers could be, and had to be, appointed with minimum qualifications. Correspondence education was, in this connection, an effective means to produce school teachers. As a matter of fact, Meiji Kogakkai attracted some 4,000 students annually until enough teachers with diploma filled their positions.

In the second place, the advancement of stenography made university lecture series available for general public. Historical survey reveals that Japanese stenography was invented by a person by the name of Koki Tagusari in 1882, and one of his students, Kanzo Wakabayashi started to bring this new technique into practice in 1883. Wakabayashi and his colleagues transcribed, among other things, lectures delivered by eminent university professors. As a result, such transcription of university lectures were published in the form of books, and circulated among the public. The most famous series was produced on the campus of Waseda University and they came into the book market under the name of Waseda Lectures since late 1890s. With these lecture series as textbooks, another form of correspondence education came into existence. It should be also noted that these lecture series were deposited at major public libraries throughout the country so that anyone could have access to higher education.

Japanese postal system, which was legally instituted in 1871, was another encouraging factor for correspondence education. The Ministry of Post made special arrangements for educational materials used in correspondence education, and from, these materials were classified as 4th class mail at considerable discount.


2. Social Context and legal status

Though the tradition of distance education thus created continued in the past century, there seems to have been several changes, especially since the end of the World War II. First of all, it should be emphasized that education, inclusive of correspondence education, in Japan today is a right secured by the Constitution. The new Constitution which came into effect on November 3,1946, states in its article 26 that "All people shall have the right to receive an equal education corresponding to their ability, as provided by law". The "law" which is subject to this article is Fundamental Law on Education which was instituted on March 31,1947. According to this law, it is compulsory for every Japanese citizen to take 9 years' elementary and secondary education, and such compulsory education shall be free of charge (article 4) The law also states clearly that the "aim of education is to grow autonomous and healthy citizen," and "the aim shall be materialized at any opportunity at any place" (article 1,2) Since to receive education is a constitutional right and education should be given at any place at any time, the whole educational structure changed drastically.

At the time when these fundamental laws were enforced, there was a considerable population that had not received secondary education. And in order to satisfy those who needed secondary education, article 105 of School Education Law, which came into effect along with Fundamental Law, permits to give secondary education only to the age group who finished their elementary education before March 31, 1946, as a temporary and transitory arrangements. As of 1990, there are two junior high schools, one in Tokyo and another in Osaka, which give secondary education by correspondence. The number of students who took this secondary school correspondence school in its initial phase is not certain, but from obvious reasons, the number has been declining. And it is reported that in 1980s, people who registered this program were mere 200 altogether. It is estimated that correspondence school on secondary level would diminish substantially before the end of this century.

After 1945, especially in 1970s, post-secondary education turned out to be quasi-compulsory and, on average, 96% of junior high school graduates what on to senior high school. However, there are groups of the young who cannot register at senior high school for various reasons. In order to give opportunities for this group, School Education Law made special arrangements. In article 45, the law says that "Senior high schools may have correspondence program". This article was revised in such a way that those students who reside out of a regular school district can take courses. Such "wide coverage" correspondence high school can be exemplified by the one which was initiated by NHK, or Japan Broadcasting Corporation, extended its arm, as a public service, to this area, and created a new correspondence high school in 1961. The advantage of this new school, which is called NHK High School, is its full use of broadcasting facilities, both radio and television. Registered students are obliged to listen to and watch designated program delivered by broadcast, read textbooks, and take term examinations. And upon completion of courses, they can obtain high school diploma. As of 1990, there are 78 "local" and 5 "wide coverage" high schools which give education by correspondence. The number of students in high school level correspondence course is altogether 164,422 (male 80,420 and female 70,312) in 1990.

At this point, it should be added that, in 1988, new high school based on "unit system" was instituted by Ministry of Education. This new system was introduced primarily for those adult population who missed the opportunity of attending high school as well as for high school drop-outs. These people can, under this system, report to designated high schools the units they earned already, and continue their school works until they complete necessary credits. In 1990, there are altogether 13 designated schools throughout the country, and they are, without exception, those schools which already have either night courses or correspondence courses. This system also provides chances for general public to take courses they want, as a part of continuing education.

On the level of higher education, Japanese junior colleges are permitted to give degrees to students by correspondence. Upon the decision of the Ministry of Education of March 23, 1982, a new standard was set on this matter. According the regulation called "standards for junior college correspondence programs", the instruction of correspondence course in junior colleges can be given " by sending printed teaching materials, by broadcasting and similar means, classroom instructions, or the combination of these methods" (article 3). But the courses given by correspondence are limited to "those curriculums where correspondence method is appropriate and sufficient educational effects are expected" Though the regulation is only 8 years old, as of April 1990, 9 junior colleges offer correspondence courses with 24,450 registered students. All the junior colleges which took this advantage are private institutions.And upon completion of 62 units, a students is given a degree equal to that for "on-campus" students, on the condition that at least 15 units out of 62 must be earned by classroom instructions, and each college provides, usually, special session for these off-campus students.

Four years' colleges and universities were encouraged to offer correspondence courses in 1961 when Fundamental Law of education was amended. But its original text said only that "universities can have correspondence programs", and did not specify their standards until 1981 when " Standards for university correspondence program" came into effect. The contents of the regulation are similar with those of junior college correspondence program, except that total units to be earned are 124 including compulsory 30 units in classroom instruction. University correspondence program regulation further limits the kind of courses delivered to off-campus students. To be more exact, only departments of literature, education, law, economics, management, physical sciences, and home economics are approved to give such off-campus courses, and correspondence education on the subjects of medicine, engineering, and other university departments, where experimental laboratory work is needed, are not permitted to establish such correspondence programs. As of 1990, there are 12 universities offering correspondence programs with total student number of 92,250.

The implication of the series of legal arrangements of correspondence education, which took place in very recent years, is very important in the sense that the correspondence education, which has been so popular in the past century, were not recognized as a part of institutionalized educational system. In other words, the degree given by many universities in the past was not officially recognized one. Considering such already existing programs, the regulations made an exception saying that "those universities and organizations which had correspondence programs before the date of this legislation can follow their own precedents for the time being". Because of this exclusive article, old correspondence university education was able to survive as an accredited institutions.

A careful observer might have been curious while reading in these regulations that "broadcasting" is counted as one of the means of instruction, and at the same time that such legislation is extremely recent. The reason why legal actions on higher distance education were taken so recently, and "broadcasting" is included as a part of such programs can be interpreted and understood only in connection with the fact that University of the Air Foundation Law was passed in the Japanese parliament on June 11,1981. The University of the Air has been a national project since mid 1960s, in which government agencies, especially Ministry of Education ,took initiative. The objective was to deliver university level lectures by means of broadcasting so that every Japanese citizen in every corner of the nation can have access to higher education. Because of budgetary and many other obstacles and considerations, it took more than a decade until the special law was debated and passed the parliament. The initial stage was to cover Tokyo metropolitan area, and the University, with its own independent FM radio and UHF television station, started its operation in March 1984.

The university gives instruction by the combination of printed textbooks, broadcasting, and classroom instructions in accordance with the standard which was introduced before. From a legal stand point, the University is one of correspondence universities by definition, but because of its full use of broadcasting facilities (the university broadcast lectures from 6:00 a.m. to midnight everyday, or 18 hours a day) it differs from others. Keeping this new idea and practice in mind, policy makers expected and hoped that University of the Air's programs could be utilized and shared by other institutions, both conventional and correspondence colleges and universities. In that sense, the birth of the University of the Air marked a milestone not only in the history of correspondence programs but also that of higher education in Japan. It has been attracting some 30,000 students annually since its inauguration, and it is being planned to put the programs on broadcasting satellite in 1997 so that the university can be a nation-wide operation. For the time being, in order to meet with local needs, the university set up 5 "video study centers" from the northernmost island of Hokkaido to the southernmost Okinawa islands in collaboration with national universities situated in each prefecture.


3. Diplomas, qualifications, and licenses

The discussions so far were concerned and concentrated on distance education as part of institutional education from junior high school to university level. However, as in most of other societies, education is an extremely complicated process.

In the first place, it should be stressed that formal and institutional education has often nothing to do with officially recognized qualifications and or licenses. Of course, there are several cases when a diploma or certificate automatically qualifies a student for a certain occupation. For instance, university students who finished "teachers' training program", meaning the completion of certain designated curricula within the obligatory 124 units, can get a license which certifies that he/she is eligible as school teacher of elementary, secondary, or high schools, depending on the person's department and expertise. Or those who took necessary courses such as social education, audio-visual education, and others at universities are licensed as deputy museum curator. But in most of the cases, a diploma does not allow a person to take particular occupations.

For example, upon completion of graduate medical school, a student obtains the degree of Medical Doctor. But such diploma does not permit him/her to practice medicine. In order to get such license, the person must take national examination. The examination for medical practice is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Social Welfare. Another example. In order to be licensed as an architect category I, it is required that the person must be a university graduate with architecture as major plus a minimum of two years' practice in architectural companies and offices and then must apply for licensing examination given by the Ministry of Construction. Legal profession also requires national examination. In order to be a judge or lawyer, a person, regardless of his/her educational backgrounds, age, sex, must take entrance examination for Legal Training School, and only after two years training there, they must take final examination given by the Ministry of Justice. And these national examinations are often very competitive.

In other words, these highly skilled specialists must face further examinations after their completion of university diploma. In the case of medical doctors, in 1990, some 10,000 applicants took national examination and 8,800 were licensed. As for architect category I, in the same year, only 6,472 out of 52,672 were licensed. Legal examination is known as the most "tough" one. The statistics of 1990 shows that there were 23,202 applicants, and only 505 passed the examination. In this particular case, the ratio of success in licensing was mere 2.19%. University diplomas do not suffice relative to particular qualifications and licenses.

Even minor, if not unimportant, occupations require national examinations. For example, those who are interested to be barbers should take national examinations conducted by the Ministry of Welfare. A person who is looking forward to be a cook on ships must take examinations given by Ministry of Transportation. The qualifications and licenses are an extremely complicated matter, and with the diversification of occupations which came along with technological and social innovations, the kinds of occupations requiring national license have increased. At the same time, local authorities (mostly prefectures) give examinations for such professions as acupuncture, sanitation specialist for bakeries, laundry and dry cleaning, to mention a few. These public examinations are given along with national qualification examinations.

As a matter of fact, as of 1990, there are altogether 1259 occupations which cannot be practiced without license. From legal profession to real estate broker, from librarian to liquid gas security, from policeman to public accountants, huge number of occupational examinations are given and practiced in Japan almost every day.

The implication of increasing national/public examinations is that many new correspondence education programs came into existence. The most legitimate correspondence education of this kind is categorized as "correspondence social education" authorized by the Ministry of Education. Within this category, there are 45 schools and non-profit organizations which offer 189 different courses. These 189 courses include 72 clerical curriculum including business management, statistics, secretarial training,and others, 73 courses in specialized technical training such as mechanic, and computer sciences. The rest, 39 courses, fall into the category of humanities inclusive of music, foreign language, calligraphy and so forth. The authorization for this " correspondence social education" is given by the Ministry in accordance with the " regulation of correspondence social education" which was instituted on April 1, 1962. Because of practical nature of these correspondence courses, many organizations, especially commercial firms, took advantage by encouraging their employees to study such correspondence courses. According to the figure of 1986, 6,171 companies gave 144 courses to their employees as a part of on job training. Total number of learners now taking these correspondence courses is estimated at 205,000 in 1990.

These correspondence social education programs can be divided into two classes. In the first place, there is a form of distance education which is independent and autonomous in giving certificate outside of institutional education and national/public licenses. For example, "foreman's course" offered by Japan management school gives certificate for those who completed the course work by correspondence. The recipients can utilize such certificate as a token of qualification in their company. Naturally, the certificate thus earned can be submitted to the management, and eventually the person with the certificate may have opportunities to be promoted in the organization to which the person belongs. Another is the courses offered in preparation for national/public examinations. For instance, correspondence course for travel agents delivered by Sundai Travel Vocational School gives correspondence education to those who are willing to take the national examination which is conducted by Ministry of Transportation. In other words, some of the distance education within the category of "correspondence social education" is simply a preparatory course for further official examinations.

Government agencies, especially Ministry of Labor, made special efforts to encourage workers who want to take distance education by subsidizing tuition fee. For those workers whose interest is to get certain qualifications as a part of on job training, 50% of the cost is covered by government budget. Also, the Ministry subsidizes several training programs for retired people, conducted through distance education. For example, if a retired or mid-career person wants to take correspondence education in draftsmanship, he/she can apply for 50% financial aid to a government agency.

The basic difficulty on the part of schools and organizations which offer "correspondence social education" is the fact that their existence and benefits are not well known and understood by general public. In order to propagate their programs, they are almost forced to spend considerable amount of money for the recruitment of students. According to a survey report prepared by the Association of Correspondence Social Education in 1983, more than 50 % of member organizations said that they were spending at least 30% of their revenue (registration, tuition fee) for student recruitment.On the part of students, too, it was discovered that majority of them learned about their school through newspaper and magazine advertisements.

Other than two major forms of distance education, namely, distance education as a part of institutional education from secondary to university level, and "correspondence social education" authorized by Ministry of Education, there are numerous organizations which are engaged in correspondence education. They can be commercial, and they are not under any legal restrictions. Many of them are practical, especially in business management. There is a course on introductory labor law which can be very helpful for business executives, and there is a course in French language for businessmen and other interested public. There is a school which offers "do it yourself" aiming at Sunday carpenters. A school, even an individual, can advertise that they teach how to write children's picture books. The classified telephone directory lists hundreds of these "private" distance education courses. In the free market economy, any distance education can be a part of private enterprise. And interestingly enough, since "private" schools usually conduct careful market research, many of them are more up-dated and successful in comparison with the public sector. The students who take these private courses are not looking for any diploma, certificate, or qualifications. The schools or individuals may issue certificates to the learners, though such certificates do not have any legal effect. They may be sometimes not honest, implying as if the courses they offer are for official qualifications, or the completion of the courses is promising for better income. Mass media which carry these advertisement are very sensitive about these clients, but they cannot control all of the catch-phrases. This area of distance education is not well studied yet, but it is worthwhile to see the social effects of this private distance education, which is out of control of any government agency.


4. The use of media

As was mentioned elsewhere, distance education in Japan cannot be thoroughly discussed without referring to the use of broadcasting which goes back to late 1920s. Radio broadcasting in Japan was inaugurated on March 22,1924, and Shinpei Goto, the first president of NHK mentioned that one of the major missions of public broadcasting was "socialization of education" among other things. His idea was well taken by a group of progressive intellectuals and educators, but the majority of educators, especially school teachers, were against this innovative proposal saying that mechanically delivered voices were not appropriate and sufficient for education. They insisted that "real" education had to take place in classrooms where face-to-face instructions was given. Some extremists warned that radio would replace school teachers with the result of total unemployment of school teachers. At the same time, there were policy disagreements between Ministry of Education and Ministry of Post and Transportation at that time about the uses of this new mass medium.

Under these circumstances, even though the second radio channel was facilitated in 1931 to serve for educational purposes, school education was not included as the target of this new channel. Somehow, however, certain compromises were made, and in 1933, Osaka station of NHK started a new program, "radio exercise", to be broadcast primarily to elementary schools. The program is designed in such a way that school children practice simple physical exercise for ten minutes every morning before their classroom work. At the same time, the station made another ten minutes program for pre-school children, as well as "music for school" during lunch time so that children could listen to music. Following these neutral experimental programs, they programmed "teachers' hour" every day in which school teachers could listen to special lectures. Then, "elementary school children's hour" was broadcast as an "extra-curricula hour" every afternoon. NHK's Osaka station, after the practice of these five programs, categorized them under the name of "school broadcast" and from September of the same year, they distributed supplementary textbooks to 2,500 elementary schools within its service area.

With the success and further potential of educational use of radio, in March 1935, NHK, upon consultation with supervising ministries, formally decided to program "school broadcast". In his inauguration speech, Genji Matsuda, Minister of Education of the day, emphasized that "school broadcast" is not the replacement of regular classroom instruction and that the programs are "supplementary to normal teaching where curriculum related matters are delivered by different method so that children can be further motivated". In addition to, or as a special part of, "school broadcast", "Morning speech" was inaugurated. As a matter of fact, Matsuda's speech was the first of this lecture series. The time scheme was from 8:00 to 8:10 every morning, and most of the school children throughout the nation had to listen to these speeches. Considering the historical fact that 1935 was the year when Japan was reaching the peak of militarism, ironically, this morning program performed its role as ideological indoctrination.

In spite of the fact that the minister was so cautious in stating "school broadcast" as "supplementary", concerned professionals in NHK were eager to make school-targeted programs a part of regular curriculum, and in reality, programs independent from classroom instructions were designed and broadcast in the same year. In this new programming, teaching by broadcast was designed in such a way that children of each grade (from 1 to 6) could have access to its own program 30 minutes every week. The questions whether to take this new means of education in classroom, and whether the programs are taken as "supplementary" or " independent" were up to the decision of each school principal. It was natural that there were two groups of extremists and varieties of neutrals, but at any rate, this was the beginning of the use of broadcasting medium for institutional education.

After ten year's blank, which was interrupted by a series of incidents and wars, educational broadcast revived. With the encouragements from Civil Information and Education Section of Occupation Forces, NHK in cooperation with the ministry of education, resumed its school education programs, and in 1953, such programs covered not only elementary schools but also secondary and high schools. Channel 2 of NHK radio devoted 5 hours every weekday to school broadcast. With the introduction of television, NHK expanded educational programs to this new medium. Television instructions were inaugurated in 1958, and in 1964 when television receivers were diffused among general public, channel 2 of NHK television gave 7 hours instructional programs everyday. The ministry of education as well as local authorities encouraged and subsidized the purchase of television receivers by each school, and the purchase of sets was tax exempt, as they were regarded as educational equipments.

Two interesting things happened at this stage. On the one hand, many school teachers welcomed the arrival of school education programs offered by television because television demonstrated that it could bring certain visual presentations which regular classroom instruction cannot. For example, sophisticated experiments in physics and chemistry could be understood by students when they were delivered by television. In the second place, instructional television programs were found to be watched not only by the targeted students but also by certain portion of general audience. A good example is foreign language courses, especially English. And the textbooks which originally designed for secondary and high school students were in high demand.

This trend was the indication that educational programs for general public education were feasible. Channel 2, which was designated "educational station", by definition, was obliged to broadcast programs devoted to education in the broadest sense of the term. And the staff of Channel 2 has been working on the production of educational programs which range from lecture series on world history to botanical science, from computer science to oil painting, mostly weekly basis, 13 weeks as a term. NHK's affiliated publishing house printed and circulated the textbooks to accompany these programs, and popular ones such as conversational English often sold millions of copies. Though these programs are not for any credit, diploma, or official qualifications, the massive sales of textbooks was extremely encouraging for NHK. Channel 2 is still active and popular in this area, and what channel 2 has been doing is enough to demonstrate that there is a huge population of learners who are looking forward to receiving popular and liberal public distance education.

As discussed earlier, Channel 2, as soon as correspondence high school program was legalized, started its own high school by means of broadcasting. And further, channel 2 began new programs under the category of "citizens" university" in early 1970s. The term "university" was metaphorical in the sense that the "university" is neither accredited, nor meets with the standards set by the ministry of Education. And the final design for officially recognized "university" was materialized when University of the Air was established in 1984.

In its initial phase, the University of the Air was planned to be a national university in utilizing broadcasting media. However, by the restriction of Broadcasting Law, which states clearly that no government agency can have broadcasting facilities, the Ministry of Education, in cooperation with Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, the University was finally established as a part of special judicial person called University of the Air Foundation which includes broadcasting stations. However, in reality, the University's finance is some 85% subsidized by government budget. The annual operating cost of the University of fiscal year 1990-91 is \ 8.5 billion, or 6.5 million U.S.dollars, aside from capital asset of another equivalent of U.S. $ 10 million.

In addition to this new venture in higher education, 13 national universities and colleges from Hokkaido, the northernmost island, to Okinawa, the group of islands which stretch to the south, are delivering their respective university lecture series in cooperation with National Association of Educational Broadcasters, consisted of commercial broadcasters interested in educational use of broadcasting media, since 1979. This group of universities are subsidized by Ministry of Education for this project through National Institute of Multimedia Education. The Institute has been coordinating these universities both in budget appropriation and research activities on educational effects of such broadcast. Though the lectures which reach to general public are not for credit, they were proven to be new ways of university extension and public service on the part of universities, and evaluation from communities has been extremely positive. The cost is totally covered by government, and budget appropriation for this project for fiscal year 1990-91 is \ 440 million, or U.S.$ 3 million.

With the rise of new satellite technology, practically minded educators began to pay their attention to the potentials of satellite communication. The pioneers in this area were, first, business firms which were interested in delivering necessary education along with information to the employees scattered many parts of the nation. For instance, NEC, one of the largest manufacturers of electronic products, especially computers, inaugurated their own training programs via communication satellite as early as 1987. In this network, called NESPAC, 10 branch offices of the company can receive technical lectures sent from headquarter located in Tokyo. Moreover, the lectures thus given are interactive in the sense that the learners can "talk" to the instructors. In terms of cost-effectiveness, the company proved that, in the long run, it pays.

The method was followed not only by other business firms but also by schools. A good example is Kawai Juku, a preparatory school for university entrance examination. It is a private school, and with established reputation, the school attracted thousands of students. With the expansion of their business, they decided to send instructions by way of communication satellite, and 18 branch schools throughout Japan are getting the beam from the headquarter, so that students can have simultaneous access to the instructions. The school started this new program in 1988, and the tele-course has been successful both in terms of educational effect and cost performance. Here again, the system was designed in such a way that students can have their chances of feed-back.

In the area of institutional education, several innovative ideas came into the scene especially in higher education. In the first place, in order to cope with increasing number of students and facilities, Tokyo Institute of Technology decided to set up a second campus in the suburb of Tokyo, some 50 kilometers away from its main campus. To connect two campuses, the Institute introduced optical fiber cable in 1986, and with the cable service, two classrooms can get simultaneous lectures with audio-visual interactions. The second example is Shinsyu University. It is a national university located in mountainous central part of the nation, and from its beginning, it divided its campus in four different communities which are separated by highlands. A new telecommunication device was introduced here in 1988, and with its own system, the university faculty and students are enjoying integrated and efficient interactions.

Another neglected area of distance education is the activities of education commission of each local authorities. Japan is consisted of some 7,000 autonomous administrative bodies, and each prefecture, city, town, and village has its own education commission, and under the supervision and administrative guidance of the Ministry of education, such commissions were active in the area of social education by offering occasional lectures at their civic centers, for instance. Especially, in rural area, as early as mid-1950s, Ministry of Agriculture encouraged and subsidized "cable radio" combined with close circuit telephone system called Yusen Denwa Hoso so that villagers could have access to public radio as well as programs produced by each community. This telecommunication system was amazingly effective in the sense that villagers could be informed about the price of agricultural products and other matters concerned with respective community. And this system also served as a means of social education.

The infrastructure thus provided was refined in late 1970s so that communities could have closed circuit television system. Some 15 progressive communities were ambitious enough to produce and to transmit regular programs on such topics as child care, hygiene, social security, and others to meet the needs of villagers. Some of these wired "community broadcast" now have even "address system" where particular group of viewers/listeners can have special signal from the headquarter so that they are informed on urgent and necessary matters.


5. Research and development

Despite the importance of distance education in past, present, and especially in future, very little research has been done in this particular area. The reasons are probably three fold. In the first place, as was introduced already, distance education as legally established means of education in all levels is relatively new in Japan. As a matter of fact, they were not counted as parts of formal education until very recent years. Both researchers and administrators in education, therefore, did not pay enough attention to this area. In the second place, even after the series of legislature, the majority of Japanese scholars in pedagogy were interested in conducting their research in traditional and institutional education. Sometimes, as it happened elsewhere, educators looked at media as opposed to education. For example, there has been huge number of studies on the effects of television to children and youth in past 30 years, but most of such studies regarded television as a new obstacle, even a vice, for the performance of school education. The bibliographies on this subjects are numerous, but with few exceptions, researchers tended to draw their negative conclusions about media. At the same time, researchers seemed to have their preoccupation that "real" education takes place only in physically fixed classrooms where face-to-face contacts between instructors and students are promised. Because of the indirect nature of distance education, traditional educators were, more or less, skeptical about its effectiveness.

In the third place, distance education, hitherto called "correspondence education" were, at least implicitly, thought to be "second class citizen" by general public, including most of Japanese educators and researchers. Many anecdotes, for instance, about those who achieved themselves by correspondence education were told, and such success stories were favorably accepted. However, general public usually feel that those people who succeeded by distance education as extraordinary nd exceptional. The "ordinaries" are those who finished their formal education, without failure in competitive entrance examinations, in traditional system. A person who graduated from a prestigious university at the age of 22 or 23 is not only normal but also assumed to be excellent. On the contrary, a person who completed university education by correspondence at the age of 35 is regarded as unusual and often socially handicapped. This hierarchy, so to speak, is a part of "ordinary" cult in Japanese education system, though Prime Ministers Special Education Council, which adjourned in 1988, and other government agencies and commissions strongly urged "Educational backgrounds oriented society" should be corrected.

In this connection, it may be fair to say that research and development on distance education in Japan is much poorer than those of traditional education. New tide, however, is coming into the scene especially after the inauguration of the University of the Air. National Institute of Multimedia Education which was established in 1979, particularly, has been engaged in research and development of distance education and distance learning. The projects with which the Institute is working on in 1990 ranges from experiments of interactive audio visual higher education to the production of video materials for teacher training, from field research, in collaboration with open universities in Asia and the Pacific, of schooling centers to theoretical research of evaluation in distance education. Further research activities are expected in this area. It should be emphasized here that, in 1989, Central Education Council made its interim recommendation to the Minister of Education that "life-long learning" must be the key for educational reform for the years to come.


6. Perspective

One of the most important changes which was introduced in Japanese education in past decade was, as mentioned in the paragraph above, the heavy emphasis in "life-long learning". This concept was first came to the attention of Central Education Council, and in the resolution of the Council in 1981, it encouraged "life-long education" along with school education. Prime Minister's Special Education Council, as already mentioned, followed similar policy recommendations and replaced the word "education" by "learning", and it further defined school education as a part of "life long- learning" in its broadest sense of the term. In accordance with the resolution, Ministry of Education itself was reorganized in such away that new bureau called "Bureau of Life-long Education" was established. This new bureau is responsible not only for what former Bureau of Social Education was assigned but also for combining school education with other educational facilities and opportunities. As a result, for instance the University of the Air came under joint jurisdiction of this new bureau and Bureau of Higher Education, leaving accreditation and other matters to the latter. Various forms and institutions, both public and private, engaged in social education are encouraged by the bureau to make best efforts so that credits and/or qualifications could be transferred to traditional institutions where applicable. This particular issue is being examined by Central Education Council as of 1990, and a concrete recommendation is expected to be submitted to the minister early 1991. Social education in this context, from obvious reasons, includes distance education.

A special attention should be paid to the fact that the term "education" was replaced by "learning" after a series of discussions within government and its councils and committees in 1980s. The implications for the change of terminology is that Japanese education is expected to be more "learner oriented" system. In other words, education must be defined as the means through which learners can have access to the subjects they spontaneously want to study. In order to meet with the expectations and demands of learners, traditional schools are not so flexible as non-traditional institutions. The figures of correspondence courses and their prosperity are indications of promising future of distance education in Japan, especially in view of the fact that Japan has been so successful in technological developments and innovations in telecommunication which can serve as a new means of distance education where interactive and faster education can be conducted.


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