2018, Vol., No.78

Journal of Japanese Culture 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 0.36

pISSN : 1226-3605 / eISSN : 2733-8908
https://journal.kci.go.kr/JJC

In this paper, we compared the secondary education systems in Korea and Taiwan to grasp the educational purpose and the essence of colonial education prescribed by the governor-general of Korea and the governor-general of Taiwan while those countries were under Japanese rule. We found that despite the fact that Korea and Taiwan were under Japanese rule at the same time, there were considerable differences in terms of education. In Taiwan, which came under Japanese rule more than fifteen years earlier than Korea, the system of secondary education was settled in 1915, more than twenty years after the beginning of Japanese rule. In Korea, entrance difficulties for secondary education were intense and refinement departments were activated, whereas in Taiwan, it was found that co-education with Japanese was carried out earlier than in Korea because of measures to control studying abroad. In the case of bilingual education, in Taiwan, after the Second Taiwanese Education Ordinance, cooperative learning with Japanese people has been permitted and textbooks have been unified since 1937. Compared with Korea, which implemented autonomous language education, it was easy to expand the colonial language policy pursued by the general government. As a result, although the Korean penetration rate of the national language remained at 17.6% in 1941, it exceeded 57% in Taiwan, finally reaching 71% in 1944. From this, it can be inferred that Japanese language education in Taiwan was a major effect of the “assimilation” policy accompanying the unification of the school system.

The purpose of this study was to look into the current status of a Japanese language course at K University in Daegu and to provide suggestions for improvement. I examined the classes of the ‘-Daily Japanese Communication-’ (DCU) unit and its teaching methods, textbooks, students’ presentations, and class division per level. The results are as follows. (1) The three textbooks used in the DCU at K University showed some differences in terms of structure, goal, and vocabulary. An appropriate textbook for each class should be selected in accordance with the level of students and goals based on discussions among instructors. (2) The problem-solving-oriented practice was more effective than practice based on textbook content. The problem-solving activities were provided in Korean, but students were instructed to attempt the questions and answers in Japanese with results to be presented in front of the class. (3) For cultural items in which students showed more interest, in-depth introductions were far more effective than quick overviews. It is recommended that teachers introduce what is interesting to the students by having a preparatory research session. (4) Beginner-level students showed more interest in dividing the class by level than advanced-level ones. It is recommended that classes be divided according to students’ proficiency level based on discussions among instructors before structuring the course so as not to overwhelm beginners.

Currently in Japan, there is strong encouragement from the government for people to move to the countryside, including the depopulated areas far from the city. However, there are still are many people who want to move to the cities, especially Tokyo, where diverse people gather and live. Most new cultural developments begin in “the cities,” where city culture is intermixed with various traditional cultures, urbanization, and urban folklore. City culture is changed by people living in the city and new city culture comes from people with a range of various traditional cultural backgrounds, but until now it has been unclear how much they have brought and preserved of their own cultures. This paper studies a family (the T family) from M village in Nagano and compares what and how much changed in the way they celebrated their Bon Festival after they moved to Tokyo. It also compares the role of the family during Bon. In studies of city folklore, not much research has focused on how country people moving to the city changes their traditional cultures due to a change in living environment. For this study, I focused on one event and reported each family member’s actual situation before and after moving, including the family’s change in consciousness of their roles.