From the perspective of a Japanese language education coordinator, this study examines learning activities which aim both at developing mutual understanding among intercultural citizens and, at the same time, meeting foreign citizen’s ‘needs’ to become proficient in Japanese. An ideal community-based Japanese language class focuses on citizens from various linguistic and cultural backgrounds to achieve a relationship of equality through dialogue and collaboration. However, it has long been argued that such an ideal is not realized in practice mainly because Japanese citizens in classes undertake the role of teachers. Considering this state as situated, I designed the class activity focusing on mutuality among the three actors: foreign citizens as learners of Japanese language, Japanese language volunteers, and ordinary local citizens, which resulted in compatibility between ‘learning support’ and ‘mutual understanding’. The key to compatibility was the concept of ‘learning support’ and the concrete methods to realize it.

This paper, based on a personal experience, aims to break down the barrier of objectivity and throw light on the politics of representation of the ‘other.’ Intercultural exchange events, as I have experienced them, commonly involve the harmless activity of introducing a foreign country (representing the ‘other’) as a part of the whole intercultural experience. This paper is a qualitative analysis of photographs presented in one of the intercultural events with the aim of introducing India to a Japanese audience. Based on Hall’s (1997) framework of representation, this paper explains the systematic process of (1) re-enforcing ‘difference,’ (2) creation of poles of binary opposition and, (3) re-enforcing stereotypes. It further argues that this kind of activity in fact strengthens hegemonic control shielded by the veil of common sense. For a multicultural Japan, it is imperative that both native and non-native speakers of Japanese become citizens (Hosokawa, 2016) who have the ability to (1) think critically, (2) be aware of marked queries and images, (3) re-think culture, and (4) focus on ‘I’ as an individual.

This study investigates a classroom language activity for a Japanese language course at a Japanese university. In this course, local community members participated as language supporters. To promote learners’ self-expression in Japanese, I designed and ensured the implementation of the classroom activity by employing a concept of appropriation, derived from Bakhtin’s language theory, capitalizing on local community members’ support by involving them in discussions. The author was actively involved in the class as a teacher. As the second step in the study, I conducted interviews with the participants. The interaction data were analyzed in terms of language supportive actions used by local community members. The result showed that language supportive interactions did not occur as frequently as expected. To investigate the participants’ perceptions of activity participation, interview data were also analyzed. It was found that there were gaps between the perceptions of the learners, community members, and teachers regarding themselves, the others, language learning, and the activity itself. These perception gaps might be responsible for the infrequency in the occurrence of language supportive interactions.

In this paper, learning is defined as the process of constructing a dialogue that causes change and new growth in the learner. Based on this definition, the paper reports on the analysis of an unseen instance of learning within an oral presentation course. The analysis focuses on a single student who, according to the teacher, was not “learning.” Assessment within the course, based on criteria set by the teacher, indicated that this learner’s oral presentation skills had not advanced. However, the results of the analysis reported here show that even a learner such as this one had learned: The student had engaged in dialogue with others, and this led to her experiencing internal change, developing new beliefs and extending her awareness. This examination reveals the dominant paradigm of the class wherein the teacher did not recognize the whole process of learning but, rather, acknowledged “learning” only on the basis of visible change in a student as shown through course activities. From the results of this analysis, the author advocates the necessity of, first, conceptualizing learning not only in terms of outcomes but also in terms of a process and, second, considering strategies that may enable teachers to observe that process in future.

What does the localization of Japanese language education in Malaysia mean? I think it is the empowerments of the Japanese language teachers in Malaysia each other, and the empowerment of the Japanese language education environment by the Japanese language teachers here. As a university teacher in Malaysia, I have been conducting critical action research in B University. In this article, I have looked into the roles of native Japanese language teachers, who are foreigners in Malaysia, to empower Japanese language education environment. First, I have clarified the contradictions between the one that local Japanese language teachers wish to have, and the one we have in the current Japanese language education environment. Then, I analyzed the social practical activities in B University using the Activity Theory to examine how I have worked to overcome the contradictions as a foreign teacher of Japanese language. As a result, it was confirmed that it is necessary to establish ‘knotwork’ among teachers communities using ‘information’ and ‘collegiality’ as tools in order to overcome the contradictions. Even foreign teachers who are only visitors, Japanese language teachers could be the ‘knot maker’ for local teachers because a foreign teacher is also one of the colleague of ‘the third community,’ that is the community beyond the boundaries of the teacher communities in Malaysia.

This paper aims to investigate teacher’s beliefs that undergird Korean language education in Japan’s high schools by using the life story interview. It is a qualitative research method by which we can investigate the views of Korean language education and international exchanges between Japan and South Korea. I conducted interviews with one Zainichi Korean teacher and three Japanese teachers who belong to the Japan Association for Korean-language Education at High Schools (JAKEHS), the network of Korean language education at Japanese high schools. Even though Korean language has different connotations for Zainichi Korean teachers and Japanese teachers, two common views were found: (1) The purpose of Korean language education is not only to enhance students’ communication skills but to prompt them to notice problems of Japanese society, and (2) It is important to increase student exchanges between two countries through Korean language education. This study concluded that Korean language education in Japanese high schools is sustained by these beliefs and the network between them and schools, and they are developing a place for learning Korean language and Japan-South Korea exchanges.

This paper is a book review of Life story interview as a framework for the studies of Japanese language education: Listening and depicting the narratives (Ed. Jumpei Miyo). In this book, each writer shows his/her views of language learning in each position, and discusses his/her views of the life stories in Japanese language education studies which are derived from own life stories research. In this paper, the author, who also researches the life stories studies, shows the impressions for the book from own point of view, prospects and expectations of further progress of the life stories studies in situation of diversification of the Japanese language education.

This paper explores whether Arinori Mori (1847-1889) really proposed a “Japanese abolitionism, English adoption” theory, with a focus on Mori’s correspondence with the American linguist William Dwight Whitney (1827-1894), which has often been cited and criticized as the origin of Mori’s argument.