The theme of the 2008 annual research project of the Intercultural Education Society in Japan was “how to build a tabunka-kyosei (multicultural coexistence) society”. Three proposed approaches were derived from the following three research fields; policy-making, curriculum design, and the daily interaction between minority children and Japanese children. However, some difficulties were encountered during this project.

The 2009 annual research theme was planned to resolve these problems to some extent. The following four main issues were presented and discussed. The first was the issue of contrasting attempts to establish a systematic approach in policy or curriculum development but neglecting to understand the very diverse voices or requests from each minority group. The second issue pertained to the gap between the so-called new-comers and the old-comers within the Japanese context. One presenter proposed the importance of continuity between these two groups of people and this view was widely shared by the participants in the symposium. The third issue of concern was how to communicate with people who are disinterested in these issues because they have scarcely encountered, in their daily lives, other people from any minority group. Some solutions were discussed for these people. The last topic was that we must learn from the various experiences and struggles experienced by other countries. As an example, the case of Canada and its unique approach, from the era of the emergence of multiculturalism to recent citizenship education, was introduced and this gave us useful insights.

These discussions were not able to solve all of the problems discussed. Nonetheless we learned that we must continue to investigate the critical aspects of the notion and the reality of tabunka-kyosei but, at the same time, we should approach these issues strategically, so that we regard as important not only the differences but also integration within this society.

This paper addresses the necessity of a multicultural education policy in order to develop a multicultural society in Japan. Several research studies concerning multicultural co-living and immigrant policies published since 2005 by the Ministry of Internal Affairs & Communications, and Nippon Keidanren focused intensively on the new-comers.

The present article argues that it is important to reconsider the established views of old-comers for developing a multicultural society in Japan. It further argues that it is necessary to pay attention to the process of “co-living” through examining the movement toward the demands for Korean-Japanese rights during the 1970s and 1980s.

This paper presents the importance of a sustainable and multicultural education policy and includes a brief examination of the multicultural education policy in South Korea.

This article discusses the issue of Japanese language education aimed at the formation of a multicultural society, observing it in terms of the type of Japanese language education known as “local Japanese language education,” in which the local community serves as the basis for learning. Since the 1980s, efforts directed at so-called “long-term resident foreigners,” including Japanese war orphans who had grown up in China, Indochinese refugees, and laborers of Japanese descent have become a major issue in the area of Japanese language education, leading to the formation of the field of “local Japanese language education.” Initially, local residents conducted this type of education on a volunteer basis in grassroots programs. Later, both governments and businesses became increasingly aware of the local social issues for which they each felt the need to take some responsibility, leading to the implementation of programs to support the daily lives and education of “foreigners as residents.” However, conventional school-based Japanese language education could not deal with the overwhelming number of issues that presented themselves, and hence the field was forced into a paradigm shift. In order to form a multicultural society, it would be necessary to challenge the inequality caused by social structures, and encourage mutual understanding among the members of the local community. For this purpose, Japanese language educators would be asked to redefine the role of the Japanese language as a common language for allowing dialogue on an equal basis, and to develop the multicultural communicative abilities of both foreigners and the Japanese, which would be essential for the construction of a society based on human relationships among the residents, and for facilitating dialogue to share and solve local issues. With this understanding, it would be wise to construct a system of Japanese language education positioned as one of the social systems that provides a lifestyle support for foreign residents.

Concern over the shrinking population in Japan has attracted greater attention to the reality of immigrants as a workforce. In order to prepare for the greater diversification of Japanese society that will be brought about by immigrants, this paper introduces the Canadian strategy of managing diversity. Canada is a country of immigrants and officially supports multiculturalism through legislation.

The first section of this paper describes how multiculturalism has been inevitable for the nation-building and social development of Canada. The second section describes the transition of the Canadian multiculturalism policy and related educational trends from the 1970s to the 2000s referencing the social background. It specifically refers to the transformation of multiculturalism policy into citizenship policy after the 1990s. In the third section, the Canadian approach to social cohesion is examined. The policy defines active participation in society as the key to promote cohesiveness in a multicultural society. The premise is that the process of working together will promote a sense of belonging and unity among people of different racial, cultural, and social backgrounds. The recognized institutional barriers that keep immigrants from fully participating in the society are also pointed out. The fourth section examines the inclusiveness of the concept of Canadian identity, the attitude toward cultural diversity, and the educational approach to promote social cohesion through examining federal and Quebec documents on citizenship education. Several practical problems concerning citizenship education at the school level are also described. As a final thought, several questions for Japan are raised, based on the Canadian experience.

The aim of the present study is to explore the structure of the social identity of German and Chinese students living in Japan and its relationship to their perception of Japan as an indicator for cross-cultural adaptation. 32 German students (22 male & 10 female) and 32 Chinese students (10 male & 22 female) studying at a university in Tokyo were asked to answer the questionnaire. The questionnaire focused on students’ social identity and its evaluation (collective self-esteem), personal self-esteem, perception of Japan, and adaptation to daily life in Japan. The subjects were also asked to write an open-ended response about their perceptions of Japan. The results suggest that the family was recognized as the most important reference group for both cultural groups. Significant cultural differences were found in terms of the object and the diversity of social identity; Chinese students showed strong feelings of belonging and appreciation towards their own nation, whereas the objects of social identity among German students were more diverse, including identification with supra-natural dimensions such as being a “European citizen” or “human being”. German students expressed significantly more positive images of Japan than Chinese students. The diversity of their social identity correlated with their perception of Japan in terms of the respect of the Japanese for the foreign students’ cultural background. As a whole, this study implies that the social identity of foreign students plays a significant role in the formation of their perceptions of the host country, Japan. The differences in the subjective meaning of “studying in Japan” for German and Chinese students need to be investigated in connection to their personal life course in each cultural context. It is expected that an effective model of identity education promoting intercultural tolerance can be constructed on the basis of the psychological function of social identity.

The current economic growth in Korea, in relation with globalization, has inspired a remarkable increase in the number of Korean leaving their country: parents are being sent overseas for the employment or the study, and also school age students study abroad. This in turn has lead to an increase in returnee students. However, the focus of the education of these returnees has been on “adjustment education” that is practically equivalent to assimilation. My research aims to articulate the stress and related factors that returnee students experience in their school life in Korea. I have conducted questionnaires of 240 returnee middle and high school students in Korea and produced a statistical analysis of the results.

I found four factors relating to this stress: dissatisfaction with teachers; problems with school work; discord with friends; and difficulty with dealing the strict rule enforcements. As to the main results, I found that the stress of “dissatisfaction with teachers” is mainly influenced by “disappointment with the student-teacher relationship,” “disappointment with the education system” and current age; the stress of “problems with school work” is also influenced bu the returnee’s “dissatisfactions with the education system.” I have also shown that the stress of “discord amongst friends” is strongly influenced by “disappointment in relationships with friends.” Finally, I have identified that “difficulty with dealing the strict rule enforcements” is also significantly influenced by current age and “disappointment with the student-teacher relationship.”

This paper examines campus environments toward accommodating the religious needs of Muslim students through a quantitative and qualitative research conducted in Japan and Australia in 2007-08.

Australia has 37 nondenominational universities. According to their official website, 31 of them provide dedicated on-campus prayer facilities for Muslims, and 2 other provide unspecified prayer facilities. Muslim prayer room is increasingly recognized as a critical resource for universities to attract international students from Islamic countries, who pay much higher fees. In Australia, religious services are commonly included in public educational institutions such as universities, and this study suggests that on-campus religious communities are seen as a resource of student support for diverse international students. The study refers to the functions of Muslim campus chaplains and outgrowth communities of prayer regarding international student support.

In Japan, facilities that are officially labeled as those for prayer are seldom found on nondenominational campuses. More than half the universities that enroll Muslim international students provide some facilities for their prayer, but it is largely the temporal use of common lecture or meeting rooms, upon reservation. Even in such cases, the religious purpose of the room use is often hidden. The difficulty in providing Muslim prayer rooms can be explained. as specified in the following sentence. The two main concerns are equality issues among diverse international students and resource shortage. The former is typically cited by national universities. Several universities also cite reasons such as concerns against religious activity in general and negative reaction from Japanese students and staff. However, the interest in accommodating the needs of Muslims is not minute considering its possible effect in creating a better understanding of diverse cultures and Islam, improving international student support, and bringing in more students and researchers from Islamic countries to their campuses.