Literacy and Script Reform in Occupation Japan: Reading between the Lines

• Publisher:   Oxford University Press, USA
• Number Of Pages:   192
• Publication Date:   1996-08-01
• ISBN-10 / ASIN:   0195101669
• ISBN-13 / EAN:   9780195101669

This book challenges the widespread belief that overzealous Americans forced unnecessary script reforms on an unprepared, unenthusiastic, but helpless Japan during the Occupation. Unger presents neglected historical evidence showing that the reforms implemented from 1946 to 1959 were both necessary and moderate. Although the United States Education Mission of 1946 recommended that the japanese give serious consideration to the introduction of alphabetic writing, key American officials in the Civil Information and Education Section of GHQ/SCAP delayed and effectively killed action on this recommendation. Japanese advocates of romanization nevertheless managed to obtain CI&E approval for an experiment in elementary schools to test the hypothesis that schoolchildren could make faster progress if spared the necessity of studying Chinese characters as part of non- language courses such as arithmetic. Though not conclusive, the experiment's results supported the hypothesis and suggested the need for more and better testing. Yet work was brought to a halt a year ahead of schedule; the Ministry of Education was ordered to prepare a report that misrepresented the goal of the experiment and claimed it proved nothing. The whole episode dropped from official and scholarly view--until the publication of this book.

This short work has wider implications than its title suggests. While a SCAP-sponsored education experiment on language reform is the centerpiece of the book, J. Marshall Unger has broadened the scope of his piece to include short but interesting write-ups on literacy in the Tokugawa, Meiji, and pre-war periods as well as Japanese indigenous efforts to reform their script during that same time frame.

This work might appeal to you even if you have no interest in what SCAP was doing during the occupation. An interest in the romanization of East Asian scripts or literacy issues would be enough. Unger writes well and has a certain fiery opinionatedness to him that belies what most people would consider his dull subject matter. He is passionate about the topic, and takes sides, but always with evidence and arguments.

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