Education and football: a history of the cultural accommodation of British association football into Japanese society

ABSTRACT

Japanese educational institutions remain the country’s prominent football culture exponents since its emergence in higher education extra-curricular activities during the late nineteenth century. In Britain, whilst professional football culture evolved rapidly following the sport’s re-organisation in English public schools; Japan maintained a prolonged period of amateurism, which endured until establishing the professional J. League in 1992. After its acceptance as a physical education activity, football slowly circulated from extra-curricular activities at higher educational schools to secondary and elementary schools. From the introductory period to establishing the Japanese professional football league, football cemented its relationship with education, with university clubs dominating nationwide competitions and their prominent involvement in the Japanese national team. Also, despite the establishment of professionalism, educational institutions continue to significantly influence football culture throughout the country in terms of both the recruitment of players and the game’s ethics. In particular, the efficacy of extra-curricular activities as a medium for Japanese youths’ moral education and the cultural significance such institutions continue to retain are contributing factors.

KEYWORDS:

• Japan
• football
• education
• extra-curricular
• identity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

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12 Both in Frederick Strange’s 1883 ‘Outdoor Games’ and its 1885 Japanese adaptation ‘Seiyō Kogai Yūgihō [Western Outdoor Games]’ by Yasuhiro Shimomura the following rule is noted: ‘4. When the ball is in touch, the first player who touches it shall kick it into the course again from where it went out, and at right angles with the touch line’. This distinction detaches it from the Football Association rules, although it is not dissimilar to one of the rules employed at Harrow school. Tsuboi and Tanaka’s Kogai Yūgihō [Outdoor Games] published a few months later, contained a more accurate translation of the Association rules (see note 25). Frederick W Strange, Outdoor Games. (Tokyo: ZP Maruya, 1883), 21–5; Yasuhiro Shimomura, Seiyō Kogai Yūgihō [Western Outdoor Games]. (Tokyo: Taiseikan, 1885), 16–9.

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27 Ibid., 25–7.

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53 Japan Football Association, Nihon Sakkā no Ayumi [The Progress of Soccer in Japan]. (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1974), 107.

54 Japan Football Association, Shūkyū [Football], December 1993, 2-5.

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88 Ibid., 145–6.

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90 Ibid.

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96 Ibid., 112.

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