Literacy and Script Reform in Occupation Japan: Reading Between the Lines

Contents

1. Introduction: Dreamers or Realists?
   • Scholarly Neglect sample section
   • Language and Script
   • The Modern Japanese Writing System sample section
2. Literacy in Japan up to 1945
   • The Tokugawa Inheritance
   • The Effects of Public Schooling
3. Script Reform from Within
   • Kana Typewriters and Romaji Textbooks
   • The Toyo Kanji List and Reforms of 1946-59
4. SCAP Steps In
   • Robert King Hall
   • Abraham Meyer Halpern
5. The Romaji Education Experiment
   • Evidence from Trainor and the GHQ/SCAP Archives
   • Interlude: The Strange Case of the Romazi Sinbun
   • Evidence from Japanese Sources
6. Conclusion: The Most Literate Nation on Earth?
   • The Joyo Kanji List and the Liberal Democratic Party Backlash
   • A Functional View of Literacy

• Appendixes
  1. Halpern's Overview of the Romanization Issue
  2. Trainor's Account of the Romaji Education Experiment
  3. Calhoun's Key Memoranda on the Experiment's Results
  4. Remarks on Archival Sources
• Glossary of Japanese Terms