The impetus for this conceptual article was the authors' reflections on their experiences as teachers and teacher educators in various Asian countries (China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam), combined with their support for Social-Cognitive Theory and student-centered learning. Of course, great variations exist…

By applying cultural-historical activity theory and expansive learning theory to educational research, this volume illuminates new forms of educational activities as collaborative interventions in schools and communities where learners and practitioners generate expansive learning so that they can collectively transform their activities and expand…

This paper examines the "subjectification" function of political education in democracy, considering the present situation of political education in Japan. In particular, from the point of view of political science, it focuses on the relationship between democratic theories and political education and considers whether the possibility of…

If you are reading this, as a child, you probably went to school to learn. However, as we enter adulthood, we do a great deal of learning informally after we have completed compulsory and formal schooling. Although early theories of learning fell under the quantitative paradigm, new qualitative and social theories of learning have now been…

This study investigated international partnership held by Japanese universities focusing on their student exchange reciprocity shown in tuition fees and institutional stratification. Using data in academic year 2017, we found that there were 26,747 agreements in Japan as a whole, with Asia accounting for about half, followed by Europe and North…

Globalization has become one of the most recurrent concepts in social and political sciences. More often than not, however, the concept is handled without much of a properly articulated theory capable of explaining its historical origin and expansion. For education researchers attempting to elucidate how global changes and processes affect their…

In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, new global challenges have been presented to all affected countries, underlining the importance of international communication and co-operation. This study examines a particular linguistic means, classical Chinese poetry, used successfully by China, Japan and South Korea to facilitate their intercultural…

This article revisits the newly "discovered" island that world culture theorists have repeatedly utilised to explain their theoretical stance, conceptual preferences and methodological approach. Yet, it seeks to (re)connect world culture with the real world by replacing their imagined atoll with a real one--the island-nation of Japan. In…

Neo-institutionalist theory of global "isomorphism", or so-called World Culture Theory (WCT), has been much debated in comparative education. One notable feature of the debate is that the vast majority of its participants belong to a handful of closely knit comparative education communities. Ironically enough then, a debate that…

This paper explores how bureaucracy impedes the implementation of higher education (HE) policy at Japanese universities. Administrative systems employ Weberian legal-rational bureaucratic practices that are central to the institutional identity of a university. Rather than the means to internationalisation and reform in general, these systems…

Japan is known to be a country that manicures its socio-cultural borders. In this article I will examine discourses regarding openness, closedness and cultural diversity in relation to policies and practices that draw heavily on mythologies of English language as an inroad to greater openness and diversity. To do this I will examine two English…

In the past, philosophers discussed cosmopolitanism as a normative ideal of allegiance to humanity as a whole. A debate among social theorists, however, has examined cosmopolitanism as an incipient empirical phenomenon: an orientation of openness to foreign others and cultures. This paper introduces actor-network theory to elaborate the…

This paper addresses the life and educational experiences of Ainu women, using the framework of postcolonial feminist theory. It explores the extent to which two factors--gender and ethnic minority status--affect young Ainu women as they attempt to enter mainstream society. The authors analyse life history interviews from three Ainu women aged 25.…

A major role of education is to socialise individuals into being responsible and productive citizens. It is aimed at preparing people for the workforce and for participating in the public life of the nation. Educational systems are complex bureaucracies based on particular educational and social theories and philosophies. This paper is concerned…

This article looks at current university reforms in Japan through two slightly different social science prisms: how social science methodologies and theories can help us understand those reforms better and how social science teaching in universities will be affected by the current reform processes. (Contains 3 tables and 7 notes.)