Education for Sustainability in Japan ― Resilience to Disasters for Sustainable Communities

With its emphasis on individual and community responsibility, empowerment and activism, ESD has particular relevance for Japan, where NGOs and some other civil society organizations remain relatively weak and the public has traditionally trusted in the government to make the decisions that protect their health and economic well-being. To date it has taken natural or man-made disasters, including four major industrial pollution scandals, the Kobe earthquake of 1995 and the triple disaster in Tohoku, to spur individuals and localities to act to achieve more sustainable communities.

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) approaches are holistic and interdisciplinary, values-driven, participatory, multi-method, locally relevant and emphasize critical thinking and problem-solving. This book explains how ESD approaches work in the Japanese context; their effects on different stakeholders; and their ultimate potential contribution to society in Japan. It considers ESD in both formal and informal education sectors, recognizing that even when classroom learning takes place it must be place-based and predicated on a specific community context. The book explores not only "Why ESD", but why and how ESD in Japan has gained importance in the past decade and more recently in the wake of the triple disaster of March 2011. It considers how ESD can help Japan recover and adapt to disasters and take initiative in building more resilient and sustainable communities.

This volume asks the questions: What are some examples of positive contributions by ESD to sustainability in Japan? What is the role of ESD in Japan in activating people to demand and work towards change? How can schools, universities and non-governmental organisations link with communities to strengthen civic awareness and community action? Part one of this volume looks at the formal education sector in Japan, while part two examines community-based education and sustainability initiatives. Part three turns to Japan’s troubled Tohoku region three years on from the events of March 2011, to explore recovery and revitalization efforts by schools, NGOs and residents.

This is an invaluable book for postgraduate students, researchers, teachers, policy makers working on Education for Sustainability.

Jane Singer is associate professor of resource governance and participatory development at the Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies (GSGES), Kyoto University. She is a member of the nationwide association Higher Education for Sustainable Development Forum and the campus-wide working group for campus sustainability at Kyoto University.

Tracey Gannon is associate professor of environmental communication studies at the Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University. She currently leads the Tertiary Education for Sustainable Development Initiative – a project that aims to develop a comprehensive, widely replicable approach for tertiary-level sustainability education.

Osamu Abe is professor of environmental education and education for sustainable development (ESD) at the college of Sociology and the Graduate School of Intercultural Communication, Rikkyo University. He was one of proposers of the United Nations "Decade of Education for Sustainable Development" (DESD) at the "World Summit on Sustainable Development" in Johannesburg in 2002. In 2003, he founded the Japan Council on UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD-J), a networking organization dedicated to promoting education for a sustainable society, and he has been working as chair. He also established the first-ever Japanese ESD Research Center at Rikkyo University in 2007 and is director of the center. He is also president of the Japanese Society of Environmental Education (2009- ). As a pioneer in the field of environmental education, he has been working on research and practice on building of integrated environmental education system for sustainable society for more than 30 years, targeting several sectors such as government, NGOs, enterprise, and schools.

Fumiko Noguchi has been working in the field of environmental education and ESD for nearly twenty years. She has been working for the Japan Council on the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD-J) as the International Programme Coordinator since 2004.