The History of Modern Japanese Education: Constructing the National School System, 1872-1890

Acknowledgments

xiii Acknowledgments Among the many individuals who greatly assisted me in collecting and analyzing the massive amount of material necessary for this book, I want to especially acknowledge Dr. Yoshiie Sadao who teaches the history of Japanese education at the distinguished Keio University. He graciously devoted countless numbers of hours over a ten-year period with me at the National Diet Library and at his home discussing my interpretation, as a non-Japanese, of Japanese education during the early Meiji Period. He then countered with his interpretation as a recognized Japanese scholar and teacher on the subject. He was as interested in the non-Japanese perspective as I was in the Japanese perspective. He also carefully read many of the chapters extending his stamp of approval which proved highly gratifying coming from a Japanese scholar. The other individual who proved so important was my long-time senior graduate assistant at the International Christian University in Tokyo, Arai Hajime. His dedicated service began when he was appointed as my undergraduate assistant when I was elected to the Chairmanship of the Graduate Division of Education. Shortly thereafter I began to collect the material for this book. Arai san spent many hours sifting through old documents and publications searching for pertinent material and assisting me in the interpretation of the contents. Even after I retired from the university and began writing the manuscript in the United States, Arai san faithfully assisted me when I returned to the ICU campus each spring to fill in the missing links. I wish him well in his future endeavors. I am also indebted to the staff of the ICU library and especially Mrs. Nagano Yuki who was the Head Librarian during most of the period of this research. Although the ICU Library contains impressive holdings of materials and books on the 1872–1890 period under review, there were naturally materials needed that were not internally available. The staff went to extraordinary measures to obtain them through interlibrary loans and personal contacts that proved most helpful. I also want to recognize the cooperation and encouragement of my divisional colleague and campus neighbor of many years, Dr. David Rackham from Canada. He assisted with the preparation of the pictures, many old and faded from the 1800s, that I felt would add a great deal to the book. My gratitude is additionally extended to Dr. Fred Notehelfer and Dr. Thomas Havens, two distinguished American scholars on Japanese culture and society, who read various chapters near the end of the writing period and offered encouragement to complete the work. My wife June deserves recognition for her support and patience when I spent so much time on this project during the decade that it took to complete this xiv Acknowledgments manuscript, including the times when she accompanied me on library visits not only in Japan but also in Britain and the United States. And finally I am greatly appreciative for a financial grant from the United States– Japan Foundation whose president, Dr. David Packard, took a personal interest in assuring that my lengthy manuscript would be published in its entirety. THE HISTORY OF MODERN JAPANESE EDUCATION ...