PACIFIC SOUTHWEST ASSOCIATION O F CHEMISTRY TEACHERS SIDELIGHTS ON CHEMICAL EDUCATION IN JAPAN G. ROSS ROBERTSON University of California, Los Angeles, California
WHEN
World War I1 came to its tragic conclusion in August, 1945, the American army of occupation soon discovered that education in Japan had suffered grievously, like other phases of life in that unfortunate land. The concrete result of this observation appeared shortly in the form of the United States Education Mission, a group of 27 educators selected as advisers to the occupying commander. The Mission consisted largely of professors of education, sociology, and economics, along with administrators of both secular and religious schools. Apparently little or no representation came from mathematics, physics, chemistry, geology, or biology, to say nothing of several other-solid collegiate subjects. One wonders whether this shortage means lack of interest of the "educationist" group in fundamental advanced subjects, lack of interest on the part of the fundamental "academics" in educational problems, or merely an unduly narrow concept of education in government circles. The Mission reported an excessive tendency to mere memorization in Japanese university study practices, and this probably has significance in chemical educa*ion, but with some reservations. Undoubtedly Japan, like our own country, could profit from the educational methods recommended in the excellent article by Gifford.' The Mission delegates felt that the imperialist dictator group in Japan, by tyrannical "thought supervision," had driven the Japanese university scholar into a position where he lost all interest in critical discussion and found it convenient to stay within the bounds of memorized lectures on approved topics, reflected back on examination papers by good student memorizers. Such was undoubtedly the fashion in political science. One of the first summary acts of the commanding officer was the abolition of the Bureau of Thought Supervision in the Japanese government. It is questionable, on the other hand, whether the imperialist restrictions in education did much damage to the Japanese university chemical scholar. Certainly Japan has been the foremost of the oriental countries in chemical research, and still continues the good work under handicaps. I n all fairness, the shortcomings in Japanese chemistry are chargeable much more significantly to economic hardship. Even in the National (formerly "Imperial") University of Tokyo the shortage of funds for chemical education has been obvious and critical. With professorial salaries a small fraction of corresponding GIFFORD, DOROTHY W., J. CHEM.EDUO. 32,490
(1955).
American figures, academic staff members are often compelled to seek multiple positions. Inability to provide individual locked laboratory outfits for all students, and inadequacy of laboratory and storeroom service, have had woeful results. All of this was striking to the present observer in view of the wellknown reputation of the Japanese in America as neat, clean, and orderly workers. An additional explanation of the battered state of the laboratories was given to us by a disinterested Tokyo resident. According to this interpretation, no Japanese student really respects any building in which he is not required, in approved tatami style, to remove his wooden shoes before entry. By contrast, we noted the (private) Aoyama universit.~nearby. This institution maintains the tatami custom in classroom buildings to considerable housekeeping advantage. In the University of Kyoto chemical laboratory, a new Pasadenamade mass spectrograph is housed not only in airconditioned quarters, but also, like the student's own home, over a special, covered tatami floor on which neither wooden nor leather shoes may tread. SECONDARY EDUCATION
Secondary chemical education in Japan is open to the same criticism aimed in past years a t our own schools, namely, that i t tends to be merely diluted university education. Such diluted matter deals with topics chemically over the heads of the pupils. Some of these topics, however, such as nylon, sulfanilamide, and penicillin are still valid as cultural items, but are classified as commercial geography or social studies rather than as chemical training. As topics of general interest they are of course legitimate in a high-school course. Much less valid was the high-school exercise mitnessed by the present writer, where the Japanese pupils were performing the binret reaction of organic chemistry. Before one casts stones of criticism abroad, however, he may well look a t useless experiments in American programs, such as the Molisch test for carbohydrates in an elementary home economics-chemistry course. Color tests, not half understood, calling for no real scientific thinking, and ending every ten minutes in the sink, may be easy to compile in manuals, but are of little value. Perhaps this comment in one sense is consistent with the recent utterances of J. C. Warner,2 past president of the American Chemical Society, who T A R N E J. R ,C., Chem. Eng. News, 34,4786 (1956). JOURNAL OF CREMICAL EDUCATION
feels strongly thal the content of some chemistry courses needs revision. IMITATION IN TECHNOLOGY
A popular notion, widespread in western lands, characterizes t,he Japanese technologist as a mere copy-cat, without originality. I t would seem to be high time to applv a large discount to this legend. Actually, the emphasis on imitation in industrial practice is largely the result of rapid technical progress in a conntry where science is new. There just is not time for deliberate scrutiny of fundamental principles. A significant gradation might have been noted, let us say in 1914, from Great Britain, outstanding in fundamental scient,ific discoveries, over to distinctly less original New England, through still less fundamental California, preoccupied with state development, to Japan, so busy growing up that she had no time to think fundamentally on a topic like Dalt,on's atom, Faraday's dynamo, or Thomson's electron. One may expect, as the decades pass, a continuing shift in emphasis of scientific thought, both in America and Japan, to fundamental problems. We are thus not sure of the complete validity of the official recommendation of the Education Mission "that research (in Japan) should be emphasized, with added equipment, facilities and fellowships-especially research of a practical character." What is practical? LANGUAGE DIFFICULTIES
Chemical Japan, to say nothing of office and nempaper domains, suffers from the awkn-ard language which the country imported from China some fourteen
centuries ago. Chinese ideographic characters (kanji) simply do not fit the complex requirements of modern science when it comes to putting things down in black and white. As a result, a Japanese chemistry textbook is a strange medley of roman, arahic, kanji, and a syllabic script known as kana. The American commander, in consultation with the Mission, considered once again the time-honored proposal to romanize the Japanese language but had to give u p the project as impractical. Unfortunately Japanese is not based on what we u-esterners call an alphabet, but instead deals with syllables and whole words. Any attempt to express the Japanese language in letters mould lead to numerous ambiguities where roman letters are inadequate t o express shades of meaning in the ideographic characters. Although there has been considerable matter published in "Rornaji" (roman characters), the system continues to meet much objection. Its promoters have still not given up all hope. As an illustration of difficulties, we asked our Japanese host to ~vrite"potassiumsulfate" in Japanese As seen in the accompanying illustration, thesulfate portion of the name, which the Japanese write first, presented the easier part of the problem. "Sulfate" comprises two concepts known to Chinese scholars from ancient days, and represented by characters for "sulfur" and "acid." But "potassium," or better yet, "kalium," is a modern idea, unknown to ancient literary pioneers. To handle this and numerous other expressions, Japan has long since established the "kana" or phonetic system, in which a few dozen relatively simple symbols have been set up in the similitude of an alphabet, but
Hiroshima Monument
Monument at the "hypocenter," or point directly below the place where t h e atomic bomb exploded over Hiroahima This is a concrete replica of a primitive Japanese home of ancient timea. The ruined building in the background ia retained sa a memento of the disaster
VOLUME 34, NO. 1, JANUARY. 1957
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with each character designating a syllable instead of a letter. Actually, kana is an abbreviation of the more complicated kanji. Frequently the Japanese adopt a whole foreign word, without translation, and write it as best they can in kana. In the present case the problem was to put the internationally accepted word "kalium" into kana characters. This introduced troubles. "Ka" was easy, but there is no "1" in Japanese. Most Japanese people cannot even pronounce the letter correctly. Accordingly, "ri" was chosen as substitute for ''li." Trouble No. 2: No sy1lable"um" in kana. Best substitute, two characters, "u" and "mu." This is not so bad, since the Japanese do not stress the terminal"un in the syllable "mu." Finally, potassium sulfate is represented by two kanji and four kana characters, with the last four pronounced approximately kah-ree-oo-moo.
SULFUR ACID
KA R I U
MU
"PotaS.ium ."lkt." in Jepanaw
The final blow comes when the puzzled Japanese student has to put potassium sulfate into a chemical equation. Answer-Give up, and write the equation in plain English! Or perhaps we should say-Write i t in roman and arabic. We were quite astonished a t the complication of a Japanese typewriter in the University of Tokyo used for the preparation of manuscripts in physical science. Instead of 84 characters, as in an American typewriter, approximately two thousand ideographic type were available to the one typist. So complex and slow has the typist's job become, with scientific material, that much of the chemical research reoorts in Javan aooear .. in English. The Chemical Society of Japan is much interested in chemical education, and in our JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION.We were most hospitably welcomed on behalf of the Society by Professor Bunicbi Tamamushi (colloid chemistry, University of Tokyo). Equal hospitality and educational interest were shown by the
staff a t the Universit,~of Hiroshima, where the chemistry department has not forgotten August 6,1945. CHEMISTRY AT HIROSHIMA
The blast which struck south central Hiroshima a t about 8: 15 A.M.on the historic date did not occur at the earth's surface, but instead several hundred feet aloft. As a result, objects a t street level were not dissipated as gases a t fantastic temperatures, as one might, presume. The visitor may still pick up bits of black rubble which escaped the clean-up bulldozer. These fragments are usually glazed, and blackened either by carbon under reducing conditions, or by magnetic oxide. They can be found near the "hypocenter" memorial shown in the adjoining picture. Although the temperatures may not have been excessive, one does not overlook the loss of life, estimated by Japanese a t 240,000, but figured a t only about 70,000 by American and neutral authorities. The chemistry building a t the University, a concrete structure about two thousand yards from the hypocenter, received a t first a terrific mechanical shock, hut was not destroyed. It was in this laboratory that Professor Bunkichi Masumoto, leading staff member, was very seriously injured. As we visited Hiroshima, he was continuing his lifework only with great physical disability. As the tragic day advanced, the holes in the hnildin~which had been windows prior to 8: 15 A.M., now began receiving numerous firebrands. By evening the building was gutted. Economic shortages and memories of war have not paralyzed scientific activities in Hiroshima, however. The organic researchers in particular have long since returned to the job, especially in the terpene field. Papers in the Journal of Science i n the Hiroshima Uniuersity, published in English, on terpenes and allied compounds, have appeared under the authorship of Matsuura, Masumoto, Fujita, and others. With freedom from military burden, it is reasonable to expect increased progress in the coming years. We found no atmosphere of gloom in Hiroshima. Relocation of streets and modernization of the city are conspicuous in the downtown area. On a nearby hill the (American) Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission's medical center offers the finest in western medical service, without cost, to survivors of the 1945 disaster
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