1. After the Great East-Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, changes of axis in education have occurred in the following two aspects, 1) to focus on respect for human rights, "put a top priority on life," and 2) to recognize the reality about danger of catastrophe. 2. Reconstruction from extraordinary disasters means regional development with new values, and education for reconstruction means fostering students' ability to participate in reconstruction of a region. 3. It is noteworthy that explorations and challenges in home economics education include the following three perspectives, 1) to establish four elements in human life: life, livelihood, home and humanity, 2) to put learning into practice in the comprehensive, interdisciplinary, and problem-solving subject, and 3) to instill Renaissance in the central idea of the subject. 4. Renaissance in education fosters continues respect for human rights, and develops the backdrop in a tense situation with 'ancien regime'.

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Japanese society is currently facing a housing problem termed "Gomiyashiki" in Japanese. The problem consists of houses being filled with garbage. It is mandatoryfor all students in Japan to receive home economics education at least for six years, starting from the 5th grade. Through such compulsoryhome economics education, students acquirethe knowledge and skills for making a comfortable house to live in. However, the number of people living in disorderly homes has been increasing. Two or three of every five hundreds houses may be categorized as "Gomiyashiki". Many young people neither organize nor clean their living spaces. This study examined aspects of the octual living conditions of a study group of 554 university students, seeking to identify connections between student living conditions and family background or home economics education experience. The results indicate that, in terms of comparative frequency, students more frequently engage in room cleaning and proper separation of garbage. They are less likely to rearrange their rooms or do a thorough house cleaning. The analysis also revealed that those student living conditions examined in this study of could be predicted in varying degrees by student interest in home economics education, their home economics experience, and their family background. The students' behaviors appeared to be affected more strongly by their family background than by educational inputs. In addition, students' interest in and awareness of home economics were correlated to performance of certain basic housing behaviors. Fundamental knowledge of home economics appeared in particular to have a significant influence on male students' housing behaviors

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The purpose of this study is to provide high school students a basic sense of economy associated to life and have them create their future ideal life plan from a realistic viewpoint. To this end, the lessons were designed to capture life from a viewpoint of "the cost of living" and understand the concrete amount of living expenses. The results were as follows: (1) Before these lessons, students were vague on future prospects, and "content of life" and "cost of living" were not linked together. (2) Through these lessons, students were able to relate "content of life" and "cost of living," and knew the actual amount of money. (3) Students calculated their wage when working part-time, and they compared the necessary working hours to earn the living cost to "live with a family" and "living alone." As a result, they understood how "work ethic" corresponds to "way of living." From this study, we can conclude that making the students aware of their life and related living cost is important in designing a concrete future life vision. It is also thought that it will lead to cultivating the concept of being economically independent.

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This study analyzes the contents of the Home Economics' textbooks used in high schools. It is intended to reconfirm the framework of dwelling life in homemaking education. We matched the configuration items and their contents between the disciplines of Housing and Living Design and the field of dwelling life in Home Economics. Additionally, we compared textbook contents of Integrated Home Economics and Basic Home Economics. Our findings indicate a tendency to reduce the contents of the following areas; Function of the residence, Climate and housing, Family and home, Living life, Living culture, and Design of the dwelling.

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