Purpose

To support Japanese language and culture studies in the West by offering a stimulating answer to the question, "Why Learn Japanese?"

Description

In the 1970's, only about 100,000 people in the world studied Japanese language and culture. By 2003 that number was over 2,000,000. Today, over 60% of learners are children and teenagers. Unfortunately, the quality of teaching materials--especially those made for young people--has not been able to keep pace with such explosive growth.

For example, one youth-oriented, educational website with over 2,000,000 hits and 70 online education awards teaches the following:

  • Most Japanese food is cooked on a small grill called a hibachi.
  • The Japanese say that the Chinese will eat anything.
  • In Japanese, the word for "wrong" and "different" are the same.

Now, pre-collegiate Japanese Studies in the West finds itself in a dangerous position for the following reasons:

  • Strict standards for foreign language instruction have been established, and many Japanese programs are substandard.
  • School budgets have become tighter, and there is a growing tendency to divert resources from foreign languages into other subjects such as mathematics and reading.

If teaching materials are not improved on a global scale, Japanese language and culture education may begin to lose its foothold in the West.

This website has been designed in conjunction with a workbook entitled Hiragana and Katakana: The ABC's of Japanese. It introduces about fifty topics in Japanese culture following the 46 characters in the hiragana alphabet. It is hoped that this structure will make the website user-friendly to a wide range of beginning-level teachers and students.

The workbook will be published in late 2007 by Keio University Press, and will be sold to schools at a non-profit price.

This website's contents are mainly being produced by students at Keio University in collaboration with their instructor, Cyrus Rolbin.

Instructor: Background Information

cyrus rolbin

Cyrus Rolbin
Ed.M., Teaching and Curriculum, Harvard University (1994)
A.M., Regional Studies: East Asia, Harvard University (2000)

  • Assistant Editor, The Forum for Advancing Basic Education and Literacy, Harvard Institute for International Development (USA/1993-1994)
  • Vice President, National Council of Japanese Language Teachers (USA/1997-2000)
  • Japanese Language Field Representative, New Visions National Priorities Retreat, National K-12 Foreign Language Resource Center and the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (USA/2000)
  • Member, National Working Group on Japanese Language Competency Goals (USA/2000)
  • Founding Executive Board Member, Alliance of Associations of Teachers of Japanese (USA/2000)
  • Manager, Japanese language textbook sales and marketing, Kodansha international, Ltd. (Japan/2002-2003)
  • Visiting Lecturer, Keio University, Faculty of Environmental Information (Japan/2004--)

Collaborating Partners

  • Jiro Kokuryo, Professor, Faculty of Policy Management, Graduate School of Media and Governance, Executive Director of KEIO Research Institute at SFC, Keio University
  • Yoshinori Isagai, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University
  • Akira Wakita, Associate Professor, Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University
  • Toru Iwatake, Professor, Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University
  • Hideki Matsuzaki, Mayor, Urayasu City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan
  • Wataru Aso, Governor, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan
  • Hidenobu Takakura, Village Chief, Toho Village, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan
  • Rodrigue Maillard, Producer and Director, NHK World, Tokyo, Japan
  • Saeko Kitai, Japanese Language Intructor, National University of Singapore
  • Naoko Nishikawa, LOTE Japanese Language Teacher, St. Leonard's College, Victoria, Australia
  • Takahiro Yokoyama, Program Coordinator, Japanese Program, Central Queensland University, Queensland, Australia
  • Jessica Haxhi, Japanese Language Teacher, Maloney Magnet Elementary School, Waterbury, Connecticut, USA
  • Hunter Gehlbach, Assistant Professor of Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, USA

Contact

abcjp.net:
mail:abcjp [at] sfc.keio.ac.jp