Bookmobiles in the early postwar period engendered a culture of lending books to and hosting movie shows for local communities to their connections to libraries. The activity model adopted by the bookmobile “Hikari” provided by Chiba Prefectural Library, which became operational in September 1949, had a considerable impact nationally.

  To examine the principle of bookmobiles in postwar Japan, this study considered the “Bunka Bus (Culture Bus)” provided by Tokushima Prefecture Constitution Memorial Hall (henceforth referred to as Memorial Hall). The “Bunka Bus” operated differently from the nationally popular “Chiba method”. This study elucidates the context in which the concept of this bus was started, the details of its activities, and its significance.

  As a result, the ”Bunka Bus” was an activity undertaken by Memorial Hall to put the spirit of the new constitution into practice. The “Bunka Bus” was a modern device, an automobile propelling the ideas of Memorial Hall. Simultaneously, it also carried the thoughts of Masao Kamachi, the director of Memorial Hall, who believed that Memorial Hall was a progressing cultural body that could help establish a democratic society. In this context, the “Bunka Bus” was a symbol and a pillar of Memorial Hall.

  The “Bunka Bus” will be reassessed through a reconsideration of the methods of the current homogenized bookmobiles and the significance of modern bookmobiles that bear the principles of the library.

  Adult and community education (or “social education”) for community development based on resident autonomy has an urgent requirement today. It is important to build a theory of the relation between community and people’s learning. This study clarifies Usagawa Mitsuru’s (1919–1970) theory of Kominkans and ideological background. Kominkans are community learning centers of Japan. He conducted research on Kominkans’ role in adult and community education.

  First, I referred to the brief personal history of Usagawa and re-evaluated the controversy between Usagawa Mitsuru and Ogawa Toshio about voluntary Kominkans. Next, I analyzed the background of Usagawa’s aggressive support for voluntary Kominkans. In addition, I examined Usagawa’s intention of emphasizing the theory of voluntary Kominkans centered on facilities similar to Kominkans as well as the theory of social education (adult and community education) facilities centered on public Kominkans.

  Given the above-mentioned considerations, Usagawa’s theory of Kominkans is based on the thought of organizing the affairs in adult and community education that take root in people’s happiness and exploring possibilities that Kominkans are dialectically equipped with a simple philosophy and an advanced form of public facility.

  This study clarifies the impact of community colleges on the educational system by examining the role of the National Association for the Promotion of Community Universities (NAPCU) in Taiwan.

  The study found that the NAPCU is based on the “release knowledge, realize a civil society” ideal of community colleges in order to become the traditional educational system flexibly, break academic credentialism, and legally establish community colleges as higher educational institutions. However, in fact, community colleges receive a legal foundation as lifelong educational institutions. Yet, the NAPCU continues to demand the right of granting degrees and is currently demanding the normalization of the lifelong educational system. In addition, the NAPCU solves local problems in collaboration with all community colleges and contributes to heighten the public character of community colleges, considering it a factor that promotes the normalization of the lifelong educational system.

  In summary, the NAPCU plays a significant role in assuring the quality of education in community colleges as an association promoting required changes that can promote required changes in the traditional educational system.