This article provides a comparative analysis of the development of lifelong learning in England and Japan, while addressing the multi-dimensional nature of "lifelong learning". The article argues that "lifelong learning" is a concept which has unusual adaptability and legitimacy, and for these reasons has been subject to…

Issues being discussed at present among historians of adult education in Japan include the following: (1) the concept of adult education; (2) the periodical demarcation of the history of adult education; and (3) by whom adult education has been organized up to the present and should be in the future. Scholars debate the concept of adult education,…