Though overshadowed by their Japanese counterpart, Taiwan's and South Korea's comics industries produce illustrated tales that represent and speak back to their host cultures, even when employing common Japanese manga conventions. As Japanese manga is popular with North American youth, Taiwanese and South Korean comics present a potential…

In this paper, in the interests of international debate, we introduce a Japan version of the GeoCapabilities project. In Japan, the current revision of the National Curriculum indicates that Geography will again become a compulsory subject in senior high schools. However, some unfavourable situations for the new compulsory subject still remain:…

After the March 2011 great East Japan earthquake, school teachers became much more interested in education for disaster prevention. The purpose of this paper is to indicate the extent education for disaster prevention is present in the Japanese National Curriculum. Before March 2011, some elements of disaster prevention education were added to the…

This article focuses on two of the earlier works in the Makiguchi corpus, "Kyoju no togo chushin toshiteno kyodoka kenkyu" ("Research into Community Studies as the Integrating Focus of Instruction," 1912/1987; hereafter "Community Studies"), and "Chiri kyoju no hoho oyobi naiyo no kenkyu" ("Research…

Fourteen Japanese and 28 American social studies textbooks, grades 7-12, were exchanged and reviewed by project participants. The purpose of the research was to seek improvements in the treatment each country gives the other in their respective textbooks. Selective findings of the project are discussed. (RM)

Describes Project Marco Polo in which students, teachers, and staff from "National Geographic" and the U.S. Navy traveled to Japan. Reports that they studied Japanese culture, oceanography, and natural science while on the trip. Includes excerpts from field journals kept by the participants, photographs of the trip, and a map. (DK)

Describes a collaborative project between a South Carolina History and Geography teacher of grades 7-8 and an American teacher of English-as-a-Second-Language in a Japanese high school. Describes class activities as students exchanged correspondence, sent packages, and finally met each other when the American students traveled to Japan. Notes…

"The Geography Teacher" provides hands-on reference and educative material for K-12 Geography teachers. The journal also pioneers innovative ideas for contemporary teaching methods, including lesson plans. This issue contains the following: (1) Ask Dr. de Blij (Dr. Harm de Blij); (2) Refugees in America (TGT); (3) Guinness and the Irish…

Presents a method for teaching about cultural landscapes in introductory geography classes by comparing Italian Renaissance gardens with Japanese Zen gardens. Discusses the background and attributes of both garden types. Maintains that, by contrasting the two traditions, it is possible to illustrate cultural landscapes. (CFR)

Summarizes the recent changes in the highly centralized national geography curriculum in Japan. Prominent reforms include the implementation of environmental studies in the elementary schools and a broader emphasis, across the curriculum, on world geography. In teacher education, emphasis is now placed on teaching skills rather than subject…