Early Kindergarten Education in Japan was patterned after western countries, including their culture and goals for a modern society. It is important to find out how it began and how it became popular in each specific area of Japan. This study describes Zenrin Kindergarten in Okinawa, as it was not clear when it started or who founded it. Records of the American Baptist Missionary Union and Woman's Baptist Foreign Missionary Society show that it was founded by Mrs. Gazelle R. Thomson who was a member of WBFMS. In November 1907, the kindergarten opened as Aikwa at the old capital Syuri. Financially supported by WBFMS, the kindergarten continued to operate. Mrs. Ryuko Mori from Tokyo and Miss Nabe Urasoe from Okinawa were involved in the beginning.

View full abstract

The kindergarten attached to Kagoshima Women's Normal School is the second oldest in Japan. Despite its renowned name, it has never been studied completely. One of the finest previous studies is Mr. Murayama's "The First State Kindergarten in Kagoshima" published in "Japanese History of Child Care." Unfortunately, his study concentrates on its regulations, partly abridged, as stated in "The Education Ministry Journal." This research focuses on the recently discovered full version of "Regulations of a Kindergarten attached to Kagoshima Women's Normal School." It compares them with the "Regulations of a Kindergarten attached to Tokyo Women's Normal School." This paper aims to clarify the entire picture of the kindergarten and discusses the comparative significance of these schools in the development of Japanese child-care institutions.

View full abstract

In this paper, I examine the reasons why nursery services were converted into public services during Taisho period, the first term of Showa period in modern Japan. At the time of the formation of "Koritsu Takujisyo," the beginning of the public day nursery, social services were transformed into public institutions against a background of modern Japanese Liberalism influenced by Social Liberalism. I examine the process of how kindergartens became separately systematized from nurseries using the thought on lunch programs based on nutrition.

View full abstract

This study aims to examine the view of childhood in the Basic Law for Anti-Declining Birthrate Society Measure. We analyzed the minutes of the Diet about the Basic Law for Anti-Declining Birthrate Society Measure. The result clarified the following points: (1) Originally, declining birthrate was recognized as an issue of education. However, it became an issue of social security and a problem of decreasing work force because there was a close relation between them. (2) But concerns about political correctness changed the focus of the problem back into an education issue again. As a result, the Bill for Anti-Declining Birthrate Society Measure was passed in spite of several opinions against it.

View full abstract

Considering the records of the relationship between the author and a child in a children's institution, this paper tries to clarify the transitions of the child's relationships with others, based on Husserl's theory of intersubjectivity. Since the child received little care from his parents, he appeared to find it difficult to adequately experience the transition from "symbiosis" with his mother to "individuation" during his early infancy. Therefore, by actively experiencing relationships with others, for example, venting anger on others, he attempts to create an "emotional linkage" and personal bond between himself and others that occur naturally in our consciousness. Thus, it is elucidated that, by virtue of these attempts, he is able to develop relationships with others in various and more sensitive ways.

View full abstract

This research analyzes individual cases to reveal how children form the basis of expression through sounds by interacting with the environment in their daily preschool life. Children have many experiences relating to sounds in their lives and these experiences basically involve various factors in their development. Many cases incorporate important factors to promote "development of expression through sounds." In this paper, based on the fieldwork records, children's experiences relating to sounds are displayed in a sketch of the preschool. Subsequently, similar experiences observed in a bamboo forest are analyzed to examine the meaning of children's experiences from a viewpoint of fostering expression through sounds. These observations provide an important viewpoint to think about children's development of expression in relation to environment.

View full abstract

The surrounding environment is regarded as a strong influential factor that automatically contributes to the formation of children's group play. This study surveyed the physical environment of group play in a day nursery which emphasized free play in Chiba prefecture, analyzing the effect of the environment according to each unit of play action. The result clarified a specific structure of group play and suggested necessary environmental conditions to facilitate and encourage the development of group play.

View full abstract

This research examined what kind of images are verbally and visually exchanged between infants during group play with sand. While they played with sand, their roles, plans, objectives, and circumstances were analyzed. It was clear that they exchanged and shared their images of themes, plans, roles, and associations through some verbal communication, but mostly through their movements with sand, and furthermore that they use the sand itself to communicate with each other through their movements with sand. The study suggests that children exchange and share their images, often in unspoken ways, through their movements with sand and the sand changed by their movements.

View full abstract

The purpose of this study is to clarify how we grasp the concept of "play in early childhood through examining two episodes from the author's experience. The analysis is based on some phenomenological theories, especially those of J. Henriot, M. Merleau-Ponty and F. Kummel. Findings are as follows. First, "play" exists when we name a child's behavior "play" or recognize it to be "play" Second, the above-mentioned action is not only useful but also a cause of "misunderstanding" in my process of comprehension. Third, when I grasp a child's experience, it synchronously transforms my existence. Finally, it is necessary to break away from a tendency of closed perception in order to transcend this misunderstanding and reach a new understanding.

View full abstract

This research analyzed the process of a five years old foreign child's adjustment to a Japanese day-care-center by observing him and interviewing his teacher and his mother about "participation to group activities", "social development", and "language." Using Super and Harkness's term: "the developmental niche," the process of adjustment was examined from the viewpoints of the physical and social settings, the customs of child care, and the psychology of the caretakers. It was discovered that his teacher and his mother had different expectations for him. In accordance with his adjustment, his parents had difficulties in communicating with him, and his mother worried about his readjustment. It is important to discuss the concept of adjustment not only from the teacher's view point but also from their parents', and to seek alternative ways to develop more common understanding between parent and teacher.

View full abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the connection between the expansion of the function of kindergarten and nursery school and the unification of them. For this purpose, the author analyzed current trends and the issue of the expansion of the function of kindergarten and nursery school based on the results of research into each of the institutions. The following two points became clear from the result of the investigation. One point is that the function of the kindergarten and that of nursery school have become similar. Another point revealed is that the needs of a child-nurturing family exist as a background of the expansion of the function. These findings suggest that the expansion of the function may possibly result in the unification of kindergarten and nursery school.

View full abstract

This research was to investigate how child-rearing attitudes and stress levels change after a self-training program to improve "cognition of child-rearing." A 2-week self-training exercise for 230 mothers who had preschool children and elementary school children was comprised of five ways of altering their ways of scolding or correcting their children and the five ways to reflect and improve on their inner state of being. The results revealed that after the process of self-training, the mothers improved their cognition of child-rearing practices, learned to recognize and mitigate their impulsive behaviors and significantly reduced their stress levels while dealing with their children. These results indicate that a self-training for child-rearing improves a mothers' cognitive competence and such improve influences mother-child relationship.

View full abstract

This action research involved creating a new deck to improve the utility of a playground in a kindergarten and consequently to enrich the quality of children's play. In order to reduce conflicts among children caused by the limited size of the playground, the following changes were made: a constructive environment was created which includes both public space and some areas for individual play. In particular, the new deck provided children alternative spaces to hang around and enjoy playing by linking them feely and providing fewer physical restraints in a play context. These changes significantly facilitated the children's play and enriched their imagination. To improve the quality of a kindergarten environment, we need to consider the relationship between a constructive environment and the quality of play.

View full abstract

The purpose of this paper is to measure childcare persons' efficacy in developing young children's "human relationships" as a part of the contents of childcare. It also reveals a new multidimensional scale that can be used to improve the quality of childcare and sustain that quality. At first, as a preliminary investigation, 64 senior childcare persons were questioned to determine what abilities they believed childcare persons should develop to foster "human relationships." Secondly, 378 childcare persons and 258 pre-school teachers were questioned using an evaluation questionnaire employing a 7-point scale rating of human relationship development efficacy regarding 79 items. The result of factor analysis yielded 5 factors, and 25 items were selected carefully as items for the measurement and evaluation (I named CPE-HR25). Finally, a practical model was developed based on the factors, and ways to use this new multidimensional scale are suggested.

View full abstract

The integration of kindergarten and nursery school is one of the most important concerns in early childhood care and education in Japan. Regarding this issue, there have been very few discussions about the quality of early childhood care and education or about parents' needs. The purpose of this study is to research parents' awareness of new facilities that integrate kindergarten and nursery school. Questionnaire-surveys were carried out among parents who were using kindergartens and parents who were using nursery schools. The result shows that 61% of the parents had no idea about the integration of kindergarten and nursery school. And our comparison of the results from the two groups reverled that both parents had expectation of change in each facility which they were using now. This result suggests that parents basically expect the level of quality to be maintained in the facilities that they were currently using. However, some parents thought that it should be changed to improve the quality of early childhood care and education. Further research is necessary to examine how to respond parents sensitive demands.

View full abstract