Some Thoughts on the Development of Comparative Education in Japan: Consumer or Producer?
Some Thoughts on the Development of Comparative Education in Japan: Consumer or Producer?

Summary/Abstract: This study intends to examine the position of fieldwork in comparative studies of education in Japan. For this purpose, the content of articles in the Japan Comparative Education Society’s journal over the past 40 years is analyzed. Then, the implications, significance as well as apprehension surrounding doing fieldwork are discussed. The classification based on a full reading of 625 articles indicates 128 (20.48%) are found to be based on the data and information collected by the researchers themselves with the various techniques in their fields. While studies about Western advanced countries account for a majority, those utilizing fieldwork remain limited at 27. The rest of the fieldwork-based articles concern developing countries. Interestingly, not only has the speed of increase been accelerating, but the quality of the fieldwork seems to have been improving. Investigated countries and areas have been diversifying. Perhaps the most salient phenomenon is that studies centering on advanced Western countries are coming to adopt fieldwork. These recent trends may indicate that comparative education studies in Japan are coming into their own: what was long considered a ‘peripheral’ or ‘consumer’ position in academia is now being replaced with hope for making original and active contributions to the field

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