This article introduces Kominkan and its practice on Japanese social education and how it facilitates Japanese adult education and lifelong learning in local communities. Historically, social education was understood as all education that promotes social development and societal progress. Kominkan, as Japanese social education institutions for…

Since its establishment in 2003, the Japan Council on the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD-J) has paid close attention to informal learning processes in community-based efforts to promote local sustainable development. ESD-J carried out two projects to collect information on and visualise community-based ESD practice: the…

Three adult education programs being conducted in Japan are described in the case studies in this packet. The first case study (by K. Moro'oka) describes an adult education center in Ohyama in which education and community services are integrated. The program first put emphasis on community building, then on the development of human resources.…

Community learning centers (CLCs) are local educational institutions outside the formal education system that are usually established and managed by local people to provide various learning opportunities designed to empower individuals and promote community development for all community members regardless of age or socioeconomic group. CLCs…