Japanese Research

A Study on the Generative Mechanisms of Social Movements in Okinawa During the US Occupation and Rule Period

JIANG Zhishi, HU Peng

2025, 39(4): 1-22. DOI: 10.14156/j.cnki.rbwtyj.2025.04.001

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Following the Battle of Okinawa in 1945, Okinawa endured 27 years of U.S. military occupation. During this period, local social movements exhibited distinctive characteristics of broad scale, sustained duration, and complex organizational structures. Analysis through the political process theory reveals that the primary drivers lay in the U.S. militarys dual governance model centered on military interests.This model suffered legitimacy crises across ideological, procedural, and performance dimensions. In practice, this model suppressed the space for local autonomy and deepened residents sense of relative deprivation, thereby fueling widespread and enduring social resistance. On this basis, Okinawan society gradually developed a protest network characterized by both breadth and institutional penetration through mechanisms such as embedding within the local autonomy framework, cross-class alliances, and flexible protest discourse strategies.The experience of Okinawas resistance not only provides an important example for understanding collective resistance in peripheral areas, but also provides a historical mirror for contemporary anti-base movements and local autonomy struggles.

The Formation of American Education Reform Policies Towards Japan in the Early Postwar Period

ZHANG Cheng

2025, 39(4): 23-35. DOI: 10.14156/j.cnki.rbwtyj.2025.04.002

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Around the end of WWII, in order to eradicate militarism and extreme nationalism that had distorted Japans development, the US formulated a series of reform measures targeting Japan. Through a process of “breaking the old” and “establishing the new,” these measures aimed to rebuild Japan into a democratic nation. Among them, education reform was given an important position.The formation of American educational reform policies toward Japan spanned both wartime and postwar periods. After a wartime debate between “moderate reform” and “radical reform”, the “positive reform theory” was formed after the war. The core of these policies was embodied in “Four Education Directives” and the Report of the US Education Mission to Japan. The essential goal of these policies was to eliminate the influence of militarism and extreme nationalism, and to establish a new education system grounded in freedom and democracy, supporting individual development of children and adolescents.Through the implementation of these policies, Japan’s education system underwent the transition, shifting from authoritarianism to democracy.

Japan’s Experience in Advancing Basic Research Through Science and Technology Innovation Policies

TIAN Xin

2025, 39(4): 36-51. DOI: 10.14156/j.cnki.rbwtyj.2025.04.003

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Basic research serves as a vital source of scientific and technological innovation. After WWII, Japan strategically shifted from a “trade-oriented nation” to a “science and technology-oriented nation”, placing significant emphasis on basic research. To promote and support it, the Japanese government established a complete set of science and technology innovation policies. Organizationally, the Council for Science, Technology and Innovation(CSTI)provides overall coordination. Systematically, the integration of science and technology innovation industry, academia, and government is promoted. Legally, the Science, Technology and Innovation Basic Act serves as the fundamental framework, implemented through five-year cycles of the “Science, Technology and Innovation Basic Plan”. Practically, measures include promoting the legalization of basic research subjects and improve the scientific research funding system. The Japanese government has promoted the development of basic research through long-term planning, focusing on key areas, responding to social needs, innovation driven, talent cultivation, and international cooperation, achieving the second highest number of Nobel laureates in the field of natural sciences in the world since the 21st century. Considering challenges facing basic research in China, the paper calls for strengthened top-level design, increased investment in basic research, and reforms to the science and technology system.

The Practical Mechanism and Enlightenment of Time Banks in Japan: Taking NALC as an Example

XIAO Panqing, LI Wenlin

2025, 39(4): 52-65. DOI: 10.14156/j.cnki.rbwtyj.2025.04.004

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Faced with the increasingly severe pressure of elderly care, time banks, as a mutual-aid social elderly care model, are gaining growing attention. Japan has actively explored the operation mode of time banks since the 1970s and gradually integrated them into the social elderly care system. After years of development, Japan’s time banks have become increasingly mature in terms of organizational forms and activity designs. It is particularly noteworthy that NALC(Nippon Active Life Club), as the largest time bank in Japan, has accumulated valuable experience in its development process and in addressing challenges, which holds significant reference value for the sustainable development of time banks in China. Specifically, NALC once faced multiple issues in its development, such as insufficiently close network connections among members, inadequate relevant rules and regulations, and a relatively weak foundation of mutual trust. To effectively tackle these challenges, NALC successfully realized the transformation and utilization of social capital by actively building close social networks, establishing scientific reciprocal norms, and forging a profound foundation of trust. The aforementioned strategies have significantly enhanced the resilience of its organization, further updated its maintenance system, and provided a practical and valuable reference solution for solving similar development problems. Therefore, an in-depth analysis of NALC’s operational mechanism and maintenance system is conducive to extracting effective paths for the sustainable development of time banks and laying a foundation for the innovation and improvement of social elderly care models.

Qualitative Analysis of Japan’s Digital Archive Construction Policies(2003—2025)

WANG Zirui

2025, 39(4): 66-80. DOI: 10.14156/j.cnki.rbwtyj.2025.04.005

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In recent years, Japan has placed significant emphasis on the construction of digital archives for cultural resources. Beginning in 2003, the Cabinet Office has continuously issued the “Intellectual Property Strategic Program” annually, progressively planning and establishing an integrated and shared digital cultural resource system centered on Japan Search, which offers valuable insights. This study focuses on 23 “Intellectual Property Strategic Programs” published from 2003 to 2025. Employing the qualitative analysis tool ATLAS.ti and thematic content analysis, it examines the early driving factors, value orientations, strategic mechanisms, and future development trends of digital archive construction. The research reveals that the Japanese governments involvement in digital archive development is an inevitable outcome driven by its national strategic transformation, internal demands, and international trends. Its core objectives are to stimulate economic growth through culture, build a knowledge storage and circulation system, and enhance its international image. By adopting strategies such as establishing a unified search platform with Japan Search at its core to broadly collect various digital cultural contents, promoting the industrial application and diversified utilization of digital resources, advancing metadata standardization, strengthening professional talent cultivation and multi-party collaboration, and improving legal safeguards, Japan has achieved the functional evolution of digital archives from an early emphasis on storage to a later focus on utilization and value creation. The Japanese digital archives provides various references for China in integrating and optimizing digital cultural resources in the context of the national cultural digitization strategy, including top-level design, construction of national-level platforms, resource expansion, and diversified applications.

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