Challenging the traditional organization of Japanese universities

This essay examines how Japaneseresearch universities have changed from anorganizational perspective over the past tenyears. First, Japan has modified graduateeducation to better compete with othercountries. The traditional undergraduateschool-centered system has been changed toinclude a focus on graduate education. Sincegraduate schools are more sensitive to changesin and generation of new knowledge, this newfocus affects various areas of universities,including the status of professors. Second,universities have become loosely coupledsystems as a result of recent reforms, such asintroducing a ``large' chair system and theseparation of teaching and research. This neworganizational structure makes universitiesmore flexible and more receptive to furtherreforms. Finally, the loosely coupledstructure of Japanese universities requires thecreation and standardization of universityculture. The introduction of newvice-president positions will contribute to theformation of university identity rather thanstrengthen of governance systems.     

日本私立大学借贷融资问题研究

20世纪60年代初期,日本高等教育大众化进程中的规模扩张任务主要由私立大学承担.在学费收入及政府财政拨款有限的情况下,日本私立大学开始通过向资本市场借贷的方式来筹措部分办学经费.日本私立大学的借贷融资至今已大致经历了贷款规模膨胀期、还贷危机治理期及贷款融资稳定期等三个发展阶段.现在,借贷资金仍然是日本私立大学的重要财源之一.长期的制度建设和有效的治理,已使日本私立大学的借贷融资,无论是贷款规模还是贷款资金来源的构成均趋向稳定.     

Risk management by a neoliberal state: construction of new knowledge through lifelong learning in Japan

This article examines the current developments in Japan's lifelong learning policy and practices. I argue that promoting lifelong learning is an action that manages the risks of governance for the neoliberal state. Implementing a new lifelong learning policy involves the employment of a political technique toward integrating the currently divided and polarized Japanese population – popularly called kakusa – into the newly imagined collective, namely, atarashii kōkyō or the New Public Commons. Examining the macro policy discourse on Japan's educational policy, this article demonstrates Japan's inflections of neoliberal governmentality with the new distribution of responsibility between the state and the individuals through the construction of new knowledge supporting the New Public Commons. In fact, new knowledge is the epicenter of the national educational policy discourse aiming at generating social solidarity in local communities.     

寒山诗里的马祖与石头

目前关于寒山诗的研究,较多限于禅学语辞与诗的解读;对寒山诗的背景--禅的思想史及其细致脉络,未克作联系性的分析与考释.如果结合马祖思想在中唐时期的盛行与终成流弊的史实,透过<祖堂集>等禅宗史料与诗语的互释,详论其间隐含的观念交涉与思想线索,将可还原其中的禅思想谱系.由此可以发现:寒山诗作为一代禅宗文献,隐然映示了唐代禅宗两大主流的消长过程.原先的马祖一系,正是由于过于强调了"作用是性"的激进思想,而终于分化出其对立面的石头一系.石头对于马祖的颠覆,不仅在其他史料斑斑可考,而且也可用寒山诗来部分证明.通过这样的工作,既为禅宗史发覆祛疑,也为寒山诗发皇心曲.     

Lifelong learning and demographics: a Japanese perspective

This paper explores the social dimension of lifelong learning from the perspective of demographics, with particular focus on the issue of the birth of fewer children, which has become one of the most important current social issues in Japanese society. When considering the relationship between lifelong learning and demographics, the issues arising from an ageing population are usually the focus of policy‐makers. This perspective often overlooks crucial children’s issues, such as child development and the influence of the child’s daily environment. This paper suggests that it is necessary to analyse the issues arising from a society with fewer children independent of the concept of an aged society with fewer children in an attempt to emphasize these essential issues. The presented relationship between lifelong learning and the issues surrounding the birth of fewer children is based on two perspectives. The first perspective seeks to remove barriers such as the economic burden of educating children and the traditional stereotypical gender‐roles that have contributed to the birth of fewer children. The second perspective includes a response to the negative influences that the birth of fewer children has had on family’s experiences of child rearing and on children’s growth. Specifically, this paper develops the second perspective by focusing on three aspects: the development of children’s social skills; children’s growth as influenced by a high adult:child ratio; a decline in the quality of child rearing. Three issues are identified as necessary in order to build a Japanese society that fosters children: (1) embracing the concept of the ‘family‐friendly company’; (2)creating opportunities for mixed age groups to participate in learning programmes based on communities and schools; (3) reconsidering an intergenerational exchange programme.     

Contents Vol. 43

Volume Contents

Contents Vol. 43     

Conflict and Friendship Relations in Middle Childhood: Behavior in a Closed-Field Situation

Disagreements between school-aged children were examined as a function of friendship status. 66 same-sex dyads were selected, including equal numbers of "best friends" and nonfriends, who were then observed while playing a board game (a closed-field situation). Conflicts occurred more frequently among friends than among nonfriends and lasted longer. Friends did not talk more during their conflicts than nonfriends, but assertions were used selectively according to friendship and sex: With friends, girls used assertions accompanied by rationales more frequently than boys whereas boys used assertions without rationales more frequently than girls. These sex differences were not evident during conflicts between nonfriends. Results are discussed in relation to the social constraints intrinsic to closed-field competitive conditions as these apply to friendship relations in middle childhood.