Higher Environmental Education in Japan: Social Mission and National Peculiarities

Abstract

The fact of the Japanese economic miracle is rarely associated with the environmental crisis. Getting out of this crisis might be considered as another Japanese miracle – the ecological one, which turned the country into an area of a harmony between man and nature. This unique phenomenon is usually associated with traditions of Shinto, but this is only one part of the national realities. Another part is connected with the beneficial effects of the eco-cultural revolution of recent decades. Development of environmental education was the most important component. This article presents the results of a study of higher environmental education in Japan, which has acquired a nationwide scale and has become an important link in the state environmental policy. This is precisely the mission of environmental education – to be the most important tool for ensuring the ecological culture of environmental professionals and the entire population of the country in a whole. The empirical basis of the study is provided by thematic publications in Japanese, English and Russian, materials from targeted surveys and interviews of Japanese universities’ teachers within the framework of the project of the Russian Geographical Society, as well as a diverse authors’ experience of communication with employees and students of Japanese universities over the past 10 years. The aim of the study is to identify the features of the development of higher environmental education in Japan and the specifics of its current stage. The most important of these features are the development of universal environmental education in the country; systematic “greening” of higher education; a synthesis of national cultural traditions and scientifically based innovations; creation of an attractive image of environmental specialties; using environmental education as a platform for the paradigm of an education for sustainable development. The revealed features convince that Japanese society is aware of the high price of environmental costs, while considering environmental education as a decisive factor in its optimization. In this regard, the original Japanese practice of higher environmental education is of undoubted interest for other countries of the world including Russia.