Lost Japan: focusing on the problems of globalism and nationalism in moral education

Abstract This article analyses, both historically and systematically, the underlying causes of specific characteristics of globalism and nationalism in Japan focusing on an ideological moral education that lies at the heart of the problems of Japanese education. The analysis highlights two issues: (1) There is no real globalism in modern Japan. Certainly, the globalization of industry, government, and academia is now loudly proclaimed in Japan. However, in the name of globalization, English education is overemphasized. (2) There is no real nationalism in modern Japan. Japan once had a nationalism centred on the emperor system from the Meiji era. However, after World War II, the emperor system in Japan was dismantled and a democratic Japanese Constitution was enacted under the influence of the Allied Powers. Furthermore, in the Basic Act on Education, the theory of ‘the perfection of personality’ based on Kant’s philosophy was transplanted. Education in post-war Japan developed under a democratic constitution and the Basic Act on Education, which states that the purpose of education is ‘the perfection of personality’. This means that education has a strong moral flavour. Particularly at the stage of compulsory education in Japan, which is the foundation of national education, moral education is addressed through all educational activities at school. Therefore, the issues of globalism and nationalism in moral education, which this article deals with, belong directly to core problems of Japanese education.