In recent years, attention has been focused on the possibility of utilizing information and communication technology in education due to the technological development of information equipment using the Internet; it seems possible that non-face-to-face lessons will spread rapidly. However, little research has taken place on the extent to which conventional face-to-face school education can be completely replaced by such non-face-to-face lessons. This study focuses on the German sociologist Niklas Luhmann's theory of the education system, especially his discussion of the function of the class, and examines the problems and limitations of education without “classes.” “Class” here means a learning community supported by the relationships between teachers and pupils.

 In Luhmann's understanding, the function of education is to achieve “banalization of the personality” by the pupils' socialization, that is, by keeping their behavior within a certain foreseeable range. School education transforms the results of socialization determined by the pupils' origins and families into academic achievements that depend on the pupils' degree of effort, and sends the pupils out as members of other social systems (as a personal system that supports functional systems). School education is a part of social systems.

 In order to fulfill this function, the pupils are separated from other systems such as their families, enclosed in a system called the class, and introduced into an asymmetric teacher-student relationship. This process is supported by the class as a system. It is important to maintain specific and continuous interactions, to motivate learning, and to make regular records (selected) while erasing their unrecorded past. Furthermore, various ancillary systems are indispensable in order to secure the teachers responsible for such activities and to allow them to function smoothly (regardless of their ability).

Based on Luhmann's theory of the class, non-face-to-face classes cannot directly replace face-to-face school education unless the function of the conventional class is fulfilled. Of course, this does not deny the meaning and effect of non-face-to-face lessons, and it is also true that they have many roles to play. However, the traditional class system continues to play a significant role in the socialization of students. It is important to recognize these points anew when considering how face-to-face school education and non-face-to-face lessons may coexist.

 Dorothee Barth criticizes the intercultural music education methodologies established in the 1980s, which continue to influence German schools, asserting that their basis in an ethnic-holistic concept of culture has caused a We–They dichotomy. She states that intercultural music education should instead be based on the meaning-oriented concept of culture. Ideas stemming from Clifford Geertz's cultural hermeneutics underlie Barth's theory.

 This study clarifies how Barth's theory changes conventional intercultural music education and resolves the We–They dichotomy problem, examining the significance of the meaning-oriented concept of culture as a basis for intercultural music education.

 According to Barth, in the context of the meaning-oriented concept of culture, culture is the allocation of meaning shared among people; understanding another culture is interpreting this allocation of meaning. Conventional intercultural music education based on ethnic-holistic concepts of culture emphasizes understanding commonalities and differences between one's own and others' musical cultures through features such as musical elements or instruments. In intercultural music education based on the meaning-oriented concept of culture, children study various musical cultures by focusing on shared intersubjective meanings within cultures. Children can research why people prefer a given type of music or what worldview and attitude correspond to a particular musical practice, exploring how participants allocate meaning and their own context in a given musical culture. Therefore, scientific knowledge, as a foundation of conventional music education like musicology which includes musical elements of this kind, is considered to be one of the various allocations of meaning. This kind of learning offers children various musical experiences; an understanding of music's features, and the awareness that although we practice the same music, we see the world differently. Thus, the meaning-oriented concept of culture changes the focus of intercultural music education from understanding music to understanding people's perceptions.

 Based on the meaning-oriented concept of culture, Barth says that people belong to the same culture when they share the allocation of meaning, regardless of ethnicity, nationality, or region, and that the allocation of meaning is dynamic. Therefore, in intercultural music education based on the meaning-oriented concept of culture, the traditional music of a child's homeland is not considered that particular child's musical culture but is treated as one among various types of music. With this idea, Barth's theory resolves the We–They dichotomy problem. Thus, children are encouraged to form open cultural identities. Establishing musical identity should not mean accepting the radical decisions of one's own culture; instead, it should be a process of experiencing new possibilities of the self and new descriptions of the world.

 The above-discussed education is significant because it provides new learning content based on the exploration of one's own and others' allocations of music meaning, relativizing the paradigm of science-like musicology as a foundation of conventional music education by considering the paradigm a culture, namely an allocation of meaning; it also provides children with ways to find new perceptions of the self, others, and the musical world.

 The purpose of this paper is to clarify the position of children's consumption in Japanese mass consumer society in 1960s, by revisiting the child research on consumption conducted by the Children's Research Institute (Kodomo chosa kenkyujo, 1964-2012).

 Over the past few years, several historical studies have been conducted on the formation of Japanese mass consumer society. In addition, a considerable number of educational studies have focused on the role of “media” in order to analyze children's consumption during the high economic growth period in postwar Japan. Therefore, this paper examines the formation of children's consumer culture from the relationship between children and Japanese corporate society. Moreover, it provides new insights on the formation of children's consumption in the Japanese mass consumer society.

 This paper is composed of the following sections:

 Preface: An overview of historical research on consumption in postwar Japan and the characteristics of the child research of the Children's Research Institute

 1. Focus on children's “products” by revisiting the position of children's sweets

 2. Development of the “children's market” theory

 Conclusion: Overview and outlook of the paper

 In the preface, the author summarizes the historical study of consumption in postwar Japan. The author also describes how the Children's Research Institute defined children's consumption by explaining the Institute's history. It was found that they defined children's consumption as an ambiguous act outside school education.

 The first section examines children's “products”, focusing on children's sweets. At first, children's sweets were thought of as childlore, located throughout children's lives. Further, children's sweets were redefined as products, involving negotiation between children and the company.

 The second section analyses the development of the “children's market” theory from 1965 to 1966. In the “children's market” theory brought up by the Children's Research Institute, companies entering the children's market should take a public role as a supplier of “abundant children's culture”. Furthermore, a new realm of consumption emerged at the end of the 1960s that could not be encompassed by children's consumer culture, which can be considered the rise of subcultures in Japan.

 The last section summarizes the discussion and provides new insights into children's consumer culture in postwar Japan.