HOMEChild Research in Japan & AsiaRecent Research on Japanese Children
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Education Policy | |
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Integrating Kindergarten and Daycare Centers (04/16/2004) | |
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The Dating Site Control Law (03/19/2004) | |
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Wards Cover Medical Expenses for Kids (03/12/2004) | |
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The On-line Medical Guide (02/20/2004) | |
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Surveys and Research | |
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Girls are Hard on Themselves (04/12/2004) | |
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Non-Smiling Babies (02/06/2004) | |
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Children and Their Grand Parents (01/16/2004) | |
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Social Issues | |
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The Internet Suicide Syndrome (02/13/2004) | |
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The Withdrawal of Treatment (01/23/2004) | |
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Culture | |
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Girls Dreaming of Becoming a Princess (02/27/2004) | |
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Jugemu Jugemu (01/30/2004) | |
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Attempts For Children with Problem | |
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The First TV Program for Children with LD, ADHD and Autism (04/23/2004) | |
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Environmental Education for Truant Child (03/26/2004) | |
| Education Policy Integrating Kindergarten and Daycare Centers (04/16/2004) In Japan there are two different educational/childcare institutions: kindergarten (youchien) for 3- to 5-year olds, many operating only for half a day, under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, or daycare centers (hoikuen) for 0- to 5-year olds, for more than 8 hours a day, under the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. With longer hours, daycare centers are now the more convenient option for working parents, and this has caused an increase in the number of children waiting to enter a daycare center and a decrease in the number of children with working parents who chose to go to kingergarten. The idea of integrating daycare centers and kingergartens into one facility has been raised as a way of solving this imbalance. Although there are more than 100 facilities that operate kindergartens and daycare centers on the same premises or in the same building in cooperation with each other, their systems and rules are basically different. These differences have made integration difficult to carry out in actuality. In this situation, the Ministry of Health and Labor and the Ministry of Education has started to discuss the possibility of a "comprehensive facility for children" as a part of the attempt to unify kindergarten and daycare centers. According to the plan, the new centers will accept children from newborns to elementary school students who have nowhere to go after school since both parents work. There are high hopes for such a facility that would offer parents and children a range of flexible services. If you would like to know about kindergarten and daycare centers in Japan more, please refer to Issues on Childhood and Parenthood in Modern Japan on our site. The Dating Site Control Law (03/19/2004) The Dating Site Control Law, implemented last September, intends to crack down on those who post messages on Internet bulletin boards seeking minors under the age of 18 as sexual partners. It also punishes children who willingly solicit through online dating services. In Japan, statistics have shown that 90 percent of child prostitution cases in the first half of last year occurred after men responded to underage girls' solicitation. On March 1st, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department sent the case of a third grader in public junior high school living in Saitama prefecture to the public prosecutor's office. She is reported to have allegedly posted a message on a dating site in order to solicit a man for an act of obscenity. According to the Department, it is the first case in which a child was charged under the Dating Site Control Law. The department in charge of sound juvenile development reported that the girl in question had sent a message including her mobile phone number to a dating site run by an agency in Yokohama. She is quoted as saying that she provided sexual acts for JPY70,000 (approximately $625) to a man who responded to her message. (Source:Mainichi Shimbun) Wards Cover Medical Expenses for Kids (03/12/2004) The health insurance system in Japan is said to be well organized. Almost all citizens are enrolled in the health insurance program and pay only 30% of all the medical expenses. Recently, many local governments have started a plan to pay for babies' or children's medical expenses to stem the falling birthrate. Especially in Tokyo 23 wards, parents do not need to pay any medical expenses for their pre-school-age children, although criteria are different in each ward. From this April, Kita Ward, the only ward facing a population decrease in Tokyo's 23 wards, will cover pre-school children to junior-high school students in order to promote more families in the ward. These programs, however, have made the parents more likely to take their children to the hospital, and this has caused some unexpected problems. Too many children go to the hospital though some of them are not in need of medical care. As a result, patients have to wait for one hour or more to receive treatment even in an emergency. The Ministry of Labor and Health is taking this seriously, and has decided to open a telephone counseling service that provides access to a local pediatrician in 24 hours by dialing #8000 from anywhere. The purpose is to address the shortage of pediatricians as well as increasing medical expenses. (source: Mainichi Shimbun, Kyodo Tsushin) The On-line Medical Guide (02/20/2004) Tokyo Metropolitan Government began the on-line "Tokyo Children Medical Guide" that offers free audio advice on three subjects: "How to Deal with Children's Diseases," "Basic Knowledge of Diseases," and "Child Rearing". On this site, visitors can ask questions about children's symptoms and so forth via a microphone connected to a PC. Answers to the questions are also conveyed by voice. This is the first Internet medical consultation service using voice-recognition in Japan. The service is aimed at supporting inexperienced parents who tend to suffer from isolation due to the declining birthrate and the increase in nuclear families. The service requires broadband, but if you do not have a broadband environment, it is possible to use the service by clicking with the mouse. (http://www.guide.metro.Tokyo.jp (only in Japanese)) |
| Surveys and Research Girls are Hard on Themselves (04/12/2004) In Japan, girls tend to avoid mathematics and have lower self-esteem than boys. A survey conducted in January by the All Japan Abacus Association that covered 300 fourth- to sixth-grade elementary school students in the Tokyo Metropolitan area clearly showed the difference in self-evaluation between girls and boys. According to the result only thirty percent of girls said they like mathematics compared with sixty percent of boys. Fifty percent of boys answered that they are good at mathematics, three times as many as girls. When asked whether they regard many of their friends as superior to themselves, 41 percent of girls said "yes" while only 26 percent of boys said "yes." Shizumi Shimizu, an associate professor of University of Tsukuba, who was involved in the survey said, "I didn't expect gender would make such a big difference in self-evaluation. Considering their actual grades are almost the same, girls seem to have a tendency to evaluate themselves more strictly than boys." (Source: Asahi Shimbun) Non-Smiling Babies (02/06/2004) Prof. Kazuko Imai of Tokyo Seitoku Junior College, engaged in early childhood education for 23 years, noted that infants smiled less when she visited nursery schools and day care centers for video taping or giving lectures. To verify this observation, she set up "an infants' smile study group" and conducted a questionnaire survey at 214 day-care centers and 30 child rearing support centers around the nation. The findings show that 6 percent of the infants at day care centers and 13 percent at child support centers do not smile. Prof. Imai presumes that young mothers' anxiety about rearing infants might account for the phenomenon. Due to the low birthrate and spread of the nuclear family, many young mothers are at home alone with their infants. In fact, a considerable number of mothers do not know how to cradle their babies or play games with them as peek-a-boo. Dr. Toru Sekiya at Hatsudai Sekiya Neuroscience Clinic, the author of "I Can't Smile Any More - Children's Stress Syndrome" has indicated the presence of non-smiling babies for more than ten years. He notes that the number has been increasing conspicuously during the last four or five years. This phenomenon can be explained by the growing stress of mothers. Rearing a child alone, unable to get help even from their husbands in nuclear families, many young mothers suffer from deep loneliness. Dr. Sekiya also points out that some non-smiling babies might be in a state of depression. Babies come to stop asserting themselves or expressing their feelings when they are under stress for a long time. In the case of non-smiling babies, stress seems to come from not getting enough attention or the difficulty that mothers have in showing their affection. The doctor gives the following advice to mothers with babies in such a condition: When you feel that you are having a hard time raising your child, take it easy and don't get irritated because you are a just beginning mother. Consider the relationship with the baby's grandmother and grandfather; ask for advice and sometimes let them take care of the child. Feel secure in your parenting by touching your baby gently and don't rely too much on child-raising manuals. (Source: Asahi Shimbun, Osaka) Children and Their Grand Parents (01/16/2004) Do you consider grandparents part of your family? According to a survey that covered fourth, fifth, sixth graders of public elementary schools in Tokyo conducted by Benesse Educational Research Center in 2002, most children regarded their parents, siblings, and grandparents living with them as family, however, the ratio dropped to 60% among children who live separately from grandparents. Twenty percent of the children were living with their grandmother and 15% with their grandfather. Do children want to live with their grandparents? The findings show that 30% hope to live with grandparents while 30% prefer to live far from them. On the other hand, the fact that twenty-five percent of children would like to live next door to their grandparents indicated that there was no prominent tendency. How do children in 1984 and 2002 differ? In the "Children and Grandparents" survey conducted in 1984, nearly 50% of the children replied that they wanted to live with their grandparents. Thirty-three percent of the children were living with their paternel grandparents and 11% with their maternal grandparents. If these figures are added to the number of children who live near their grandparents, it is clear that a considerable percentage of children either live with or near their grandparents. (Source: Monograph VOL.4-6 Children and Their Grand Parents, VOL.22-3 Family Life Today) |
| Social Issues The Internet Suicide Syndrome (02/13/2004) For the last few years a spate of suicides occurred involving young men and women who met on Internet suicide sites. Since October 2001 more than 20 people have committed suicide in a similar manner across the country while four more people tried to kill themselves. A newspaper called the phenomenon "suicide syndrome." In the case that occurred in Gunma Prefecture, a man and two women were found in a car, dead from carbon monoxide poisoning having used a portable clay cooking stove. A message was found on a suicide-related bulletin board written by the man that read: "Who wants to join me in departing from this world? I'll go wherever you say." In Japan there are many similar bulletin boards that are thought to attract a considerable number of adolescents. Three factors characterize this Internet suicide syndrome: the young people get acquainted on the Internet, they die together seemingly without a specific and serious reason, and death is by carbon monoxide poisoning with coal briquette stove. The incidents bring to mind the suicide of a popular teen celebrity who killed herself by jumping from a high building about 15 years ago, allegedly in despair over a romantic breakup. Her suicide seems to have had a strong impact on youth as more than 20 boys and girls in Japan followed her in death. Responding to this tragic phenomenon, many adults wrote to magazines and newspapers, calling on young people to stop the copycat suicides. The Internet suicide syndrome seems to be coming to an end, leaving a lot of questions behind. If it were not for this series of copycat suicides, would these young people still be alive? Are Japanese youths more susceptible to suicide or death than youths in other nations because of something rooted in Japanese culture? Is it only Japanese who want to have companions in the netherworld? (Sources: Yomiuri Shimbun, Asahi Shimbun) The Withdrawal of Treatment (01/23/2004) The decision to withhold medical treatment of newborns is uniformly accepted as an appropriate option when the newborn suffers from fatal congenital malformation such as anencephaly. Cases in which births of extremely preterm and/or critically-ill infants require a medical decision to withhold or withdraw treatment in certain clinical circumstances create ethical dilemmas for many practicing obstetricians and pediatricians. Selective non-treatment of these infants is an serious and controversial issue amid the current highly advanced medical treatment and technology available. According to a survey conducted by Dr. Masahisa Hunado of Yodogawa Christian Hospital from last September to October, 85 percent of 111 hospitals well-experienced in treating newborns in Japan acknowledge the withdrawal of treatment, including the use of an artificial respirator for breathing. The survey found that these hospitals have come to accept the idea that allowing a baby to be cared for by its family to a peaceful death is better than extending its life even slightly through rigorous treatment. Preference for palliative care which provides symptomatic relief and comfort for patients whose death is inevitable is widely accepted these days. Asked about who they believe should make the final decision in the event that the parents of a sick child express their wish that treatment be stopped, many said the medical team, including nurses, or the hospital's ethics committee, should do so. That indicates their intention to consider the matter carefully. Decisions regarding selective non-treatment are always controversial since they involve the potential risk of denying life to infants because parents regard the disability or suffering intolerable or too painful for the infant. (Source: Asahi Shimbun, Osaka) |
| Culture Girls Dreaming of Becoming a Princess (02/27/2004) Recently becoming a princess seems to be a dream for many Japanese small girls. There are more than three thousands kinds of "princess goods" ranging from stationery such as notes and erasers to toys and dresses. Most of all princesses who are seen with longing eyes came from Disney movies such as Princess Snow White, Cinderella, Ariel in "Little Mermaid", Princess Aurora in "Sleeping Beauty", Jasmine in "Aladdin" and Bell in "Beauty and the Beast." Two Cinderellas, three Snow Whites, a Bell and so forth make a line to wait to have a picture in a photo studio. You can enjoy becoming a princess and getting photographed by a professional cameraperson for about JPY8,400 (about $76). The photo studios for small children in fancy dresses are in big boom in Japan and are supported by both girls and mothers who like princess. Actually, the nucleus of the princess boom is mothers who like princesses in the first place and lead their small girls to come to like princesses. There is even a contest titled "Photo Contest of getting into princesses' characters", where thousands of girls' pictures in beautiful princess-like dress sewn by mothers are sent every two months. Using their girls, mothers might try to realize a dream of wearing a princess-like dress that wasn't easy to have during their own childhood. Some might be afraid that princess boom among Japanese girls instills a passive attitude: in many old stories a prince often wait for a prince to come on a white horse to save her from some difficulties. However the boom seems not to have a deep meaning. Girls admire princess as a symbol of someone who are loved for their pure mind, kindness and of course beauty. (Source: Asahi Shimbun) Jugemu Jugemu (01/30/2004) A chant that begins "Jugemu jugemu" has become so popular across Japan that nearly every child is familiar with it. The chant is so long that it takes about 15 seconds to say the entire thing even for someone who is speaking quickly. What started this boom was a TV program on the NHK Educational channel called Nihongo de asobo (Let's have fun with Japanese) that began in April and is aimed at young children. The goal of the program is to get children to rediscover and enjoy the rich world of Japanese. Japan has a traditional form of comic storytelling called rakugo, in which one performer sits onstage and portrays many different people. The "jugemu" chant comes from an old rakugo story. A father who wants his newly born child to be healthy and have a long life goes to the local temple and asks the head priest what he should name his boy. The priest gives the man a long list of names, and the man ends up combining them all into one long name, which is what the chant is. The chant is full of alliterations and rhymes, and Japanese traditional rhythm attracts children. The selling of the book has reached 300,000 for five years since its first release. This is amazing success in children's book. Here is Jugemu chant. Feel the rhythm that fascinated children! Jugemu jugemu, goko no surikire, kaijari suigyo no suigyomatsu, unraimatsu, furaimatsu, ku neru tokoro ni sumu tokoro, yabura koji no bura koji, paipo paipo, paipo no shuringan, shuringan no gurindai, gurindai no ponpokopi no ponpokona no, chokyumei no chosuke. (source: Kids Web Japan, Hokkaido Shimbun) |
| Attempts For Children with Problem The First TV Program for Children with LD, ADHD and Autism (04/23/2004) Satoru, a seventeen-year-old ninja, runs away from enemies. He hits his head as he attempts to go under the shrine gates, falls, and gets caught. In town, wanting to make friends, he talks to a shop clerk about baseball, but when he addresses her suddenly in a loud voice, she gets scared and drives him away. These are the scenes in the TV program "Watch, Hustle, Listen, Hustle" by NHK Education that started this spring for children with LD, ADHD and autism. It is the first of its kind in Japan. Children learn the importance of confirming body size and position in the first scene in the shrine. The second scene in town teaches that one should introduce oneself or say "hello" when talking to others, and listen to what others say. The 15-minute program consists of three parts: a drama, puzzle with moving images, and animation, which try to promote the ability to communicate, recognize letters and figures, and be a part of society. The various characters in the drama are clearly defined and suggest different disabilities. Satoru is focused, but forgetful. His young brother, Shiro, knows what he likes in great detail, but is not good at sports at all. And Satoru's young sister, Sae, is serious and responsible, but fearful of strangers. These characters withe their respective disabilities and each deal with them in a different way. A mother of a child with ADHD said, "My son likes the kanji character quiz that requires the viewer to put the characters together with disjointed pieces, and looks forward to watching." The program follows the policy of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) on Special Support Schools, which do not classify children by disability, but place them in classes with other children, providing special instruction only when necessary (See "Special Education" in CRN: http://www.childresearch.net/RESEARCH/RECENT/ED_INFO/0309_0312.HTM). According to the NHK Chief Producer, "Many children with LD, ADHD and autism have less opportunity to exercise or have trouble expressing their emotions. I hope the program will helpful to them and will serve as the catalyst to increase understanding LD and ADHD." (Source: Asahi Shimbun) Environmental Education for Truant Child (03/26/2004) There are as many as 130,000 children who refuse to go school in Japan. While expanding free schools or charter schools, the Ministry of Environment has started some new measures to help these children. Noticing how children are positively affected by nature and its energy, the Ministry of Environment has decided to promote environmental education for truant students for the first time. It has established a new program that will be operated by the Youth Self-Support Center, a non-profit organization that has helped truant and socially withdrawn children since the late 1970's. Planned activities to engage children with nature include exploring the headwaters of the Tama River, camps for making charcoal from bamboo, cultivating mushrooms, and making cheese, and some children who split wood and did other activities seemed to regain confidence through their experience in nature. In the past several years, boards of education and private organizations have started promoting environmental education programs. By making friends and feeling a sense of accomplishment in these programs, many children have recovered their enthusiasm for life and self-esteem. (Source: Mainichi Shimbun, Yomiuri Shimbun) |