Background: This paper analyzes a remembered shared experience of cocurricular designing and coteaching an experiential learning pilot project in a university study abroad program (SAP) that emphasized social justice. Purpose: We look back because the pilot program is a significant demonstration of what complexities can arise when feminist…

This book explores the realities of feminist EFL teachers' lives through interviews and classroom observations with eight EFL teachers at Japanese universities. The data contained in the book broaden our understanding of feminist teaching in the language classroom while also providing suggestions for practice. The book examines not only how the…

This article explores how five international colleagues from the USA, Canada, China, and Japan use self-study methodologies and online journaling to systematically examine the tensions surrounding the lived experiences of feminist academics in diverse global contexts. It draws from the theoretical foundations of critical qualitative inquiry,…

Both education for democratic citizenship and human rights education tend to emphasise political and legal learning. In both human rights education and moral education in Japan, however, there has been a tendency to give particular attention to interpersonal elements of learning such as kindness and sympathy. This article draws on feminist…

This study explores the processual identity formation of six Japanese women who gave up a job, turned to higher education, and became university EFL teachers in Japan. My research questions include: (1) How did they change their careers and become university EFL teachers? (2) Since they entered the university EFL teaching profession, how have they…

Little attention has been given to principles of Buddhist moral conduct in the West. There are ten virtuous actions of Buddhist moral conduct, called the Ten Virtuous Deeds of the Bodhisattvas. Drawing from the works of contemporary women thinkers and artists, this article considers how the beauty of human nature and spirituality can be cultivated…

Food safety and quality assurance systems have emerged as a key mechanism of food governance in recent years and are also popular among alternative agrofood movements, such as the organic and fair trade movements. Rural sociologists have identified many problems with existing systems, including corporate cooptation, the marginalization of small…

This paper addresses the life and educational experiences of Ainu women, using the framework of postcolonial feminist theory. It explores the extent to which two factors--gender and ethnic minority status--affect young Ainu women as they attempt to enter mainstream society. The authors analyse life history interviews from three Ainu women aged 25.…

This study explores gender inequality in the occupational culture of Japanese high school teachers with special focus on women teachers' resistance to gender-biased practices. It examines the effectiveness of official and informal teacher training programmes in raising awareness of gender issues. Through an ethnographic case study conducted in…

Explores the impact of the second feminist wave in Japan on the development of women's studies in community women's centers and in academia. Although the original radical spirit has been lost, women's studies are gaining ground despite institutional and cultural problems due to the proliferation of Western feminist theories, the inclusion of…

Rural Japanese women have been overlooked or misrepresented in the academic and nationalist discourses on Japanese women. Using an anti-colonial feminist framework, I advocate that centering discussions on Indigenous knowledges will help fill this gap based on the belief that Indigenous-knowledge framework is a tool to show the agency of the…

Reports on a case study of two feminist English classes in Japan. The two classes described are grass-roots examples of Japanese women combining their study of English with the study of feminism, consciousness-raising, and action in the world. (JL)

Some insights and reflections based on experiences in trying to implement some feminist pedagogical principles and practices in women's studies courses in Japan are presented. Data from roughly 1,500 students reveal the difficulties in such teaching and the potential for change in Japanese education. (SLD)

Winning the 1985 "Media and Women" Course Outline Contest awarded by the Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press, this course syllabus covers a semester-long interdisciplinary course on Japanese women and feminism as they are portrayed in the media and through the study of bibliographic references relevant to the topic. Objectives…

Discusses the backgrounds and current status of Women's Studies in Japan today. Research on which it is based was conducted while the author was visiting scholar and guest lecturer in Women's Studies at Toyo University in Tokyo in spring and summer 1984. (Author)