PROPOSAL FOR A SPECIAL ISSUE OF THE JAPANESE JOURNAL OFENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION TITLED “ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION IN
ASIA 2024” (JJEE-EEA2024)

Committee of EEA2024
Editor:Ryo Sakurai, Ritsumeikan University
Editorial Committee (JSFEE members)
Shinichi, Furihata, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
Kimiharu To, Aomori University
Sachi Ninomiya-Lim, Tokai University
Fumiko Noguchi, United Nations University
Yusuke Sakai, Kagoshima University
Kantaro Tabiraki, Matsumoto University
Ayako Takao, Ferris University
Kazuyuki Tamura, Naruto University of Education
Yuki Ishiyama, Tottori University

Guest Editorial CommitteeTzuchau Chang, National Taiwan Normal University (CSEE)
Yi-Hsuan Tim Hsu, Aletheia University (CSEE)
Chankook Kim, Korea National University of Education (KSEE)
Peta White, Deakin University (AAEE)David Allen, Texas Christian University (NAAEE)
Sabrina Ho Abdullah, Universiti Putra Malaysia

1

Context and focus: past JJEE-EEA issues
Environmental education research and practice in Asia have been developed mainly byacademic societies or related associations for environmental education in their respective
country or region. Although what environmental education should be and what challenges
it faces have been discussed within the academic conferences and journals of thesevarious societies, these discussions have been conducted in different languages andmutual exchange as well as collaborative research in the field has been limited, despite
the relative closeness of the countries within Asia.
To address these issues, in the summer of 2014, researchers from Japan, Korea, andTaiwan held workshops at the annual conference of the Japanese Society for
Environmental Education (JSFEE) in Tokyo (Takano et al. 2015). At this conference, aplan was made to publish a special English-language online issue of the Japanese Journalof Environmental Education to explore the theme “environmental education in Asia”. In
the summer of 2015, this idea was approved at the JSFEE General Assembly as a concretebusiness plan, and preparation of the special issue began in the fall of 2015. In July 2017,
the special issue was published.
For the first issue; JJEE-EEA2017, we framed the discussion around five core themes: 1)
Development, current situation, and challenges of environmental education in formaleducation; 2) Development, current situation, and challenges of environmental educationin non-formal education; 3) Research trends in environmental education, particularly
during and since the decade of education for sustainable development; 4) Insights forenvironmental education in Asia from outside of Asia; 5) Review, comparison, andsynthesis of findings to highlight issues of wider relevance. Contributors from Taiwan,
Korea, and Japan were invited to explore topics 1, 2, and 3, while also clarifying specificcontexts for their countries. For topic 4, leading researchers from outside the region wereinvited to provide their insights, ideas, and suggestions regarding the future developmentof environmental education in Asia. For topic 5, some of the editorial committee, which
included members of JSFEE, Korea Environmental Education Society, and the Chinese
Environmental Education Society (Republic of China), reviewed and compared thediscussions on topics 1–4 to highlight the similarities and differences in environmental
education among these countries and identified emerging questions and issues requiring
further exploration (Furihata and Ninomiya-Lim, 2017).
To further develop the practice and research of environmental education represented in2

JJEE-EEA2017, we intended to invite more people to join us in reflecting critically on
our environmental education practices in Asia to find ways to further develop global
environmental education collaborations (Ninomiya-Lim et al. 2017). Collaboration
between researchers from different countries is key in this regard, although the language
barrier is a huge obstacle to overcome. To address these issues, JSFEE launched aninternational environmental education collaborative research project. In April 2017, as aresult of a call for research proposals for international collaborations from domesticmembers, 10 proposals were received, and seven research topics were selected at theAsian Environmental Education Meeting held at Iwate University in September 2017.
As the results of a second call for research proposals in the fall of 2017, five more
proposals were received. The second issue; JJEE-EEA2019 was published with twelve
papers including two editorials in July, 2019.
By encouraging and increasing EE research in Asia, we could uncover new aspects of EE
that go beyond one country’s framework or perspectives, a robust understanding of EE
that could be applied across countries and their cultures and languages. Upon publishing
JJEE-EEA2019, we rephrased the goal of this special issue of JJEE-EEA as “to provide
a platform for researchers who are not only doing research in his or her country, but are
willing to engage in international interactions and contribute to mutual and global
understanding (Sakurai and Furihata 2019).” The third issue, JJEE-EEA2021 waspublished in December 2021 including five articles and one editorial. The whole
submission and publication process for EEA2021 took place during the COVID-19
pandemic. While the spread of COVID-19 had a profound impact on the lifestyles ofindividuals, communities, and businesses worldwide, it also impacted the international
collaborative research conducted by the authors of this issue (Sakurai and To 2021). We
are grateful to the authors of five papers published in this issue, who worked tirelessly
during the pandemic to complete and submit the papers.
Our endeavor continues in the next issue, JJEE-EEA 2024. While we continue to launchand recruit international environmental education collaborative research projects, thistime we will also welcome submissions of papers from, not only JSFEE but also membersof our partner associations [Korean Society for Environmental Education, Chinese
Society for Environmental Education, North American Association for Environmental
Education, and Australian Association for Environmental Education].

3

Publication and access by readers
JJEE-EEA2024 will be published in electronic format via J-STAGE, an online academic
publication system administered by the Japanese government. The special issue will beprovided free of charge to readers around the world, promoting communication andincreasing opportunities for the articles to be cited by researchers worldwide. Below is anexample of papers published in JJEE-EEA:
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/browse/jsoee/31/2/_contents/-char/en
For more information about J-STAGE, see
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/static/pages/JstageOverview/-char/en
Funding and publishing
The costs for publishing JJEE-EEA2024 will be covered by the 2024FY annual budgetof JSFEE, and the issue will be published by the Japanese Society for Environmental
Education (JSFEE).
Publication timeline
JJEE-EEA2024 will be published as a JSFEE project in 2024FY with the following
schedule:
Schedule for publishing Research articles and Review papers
2023
December 31: Deadline for submitting Research articles and Review articles
2024
February 14: Contributors receive results of the peer review
March 15: Contributors re-submit papers based on reviewers’ comments
April 15: Completion of peer review (judgment)
May 10: Contributors revise and submit the final version of the paper / Publisher creates
PDF file of the paper after making sure the paper follows the guidelines
June 1: Contributors check and confirm the first proof / Editorial committee approve thepaper
June 14: Contributors check and confirm the second (final) proof
June 20: Completion of proofs; publication*All the submitted manuscripts will be reviewed by at least two reviewers, which will
include one or two Editorial Committee.
4Schedule for publishing short papers including Research report, Commentary, Book
review, and Material papers
2024
January 31: Deadline for submitting Research report, Commentary, Book review, andMaterial papers
March 14: Contributors receive results of the peer review
April 15: Contributors re-submit papers based on reviewers’ comments
May 15: Completion of peer review (judgment)
June 7: Contributors revise and submit the final version of the paper / Publisher creates
PDF file of the paper after making sure the paper follows the guidelines
June 14: Contributors check and confirm the first proof / Editorial committee approve thepaper
June 21: Contributors check and confirm the second (final) proof
June 30: Completion of proofs; publication*All the submitted manuscripts will be reviewed by one reviewer, which will include
Editorial Committee.
Submission instructions
Articles should be no longer than 4,000 words (including references), and the deadline
for submission is December 31, 2023 for Research article and Review, and January 31,
2024 for Research report, Commentary, Book review, and Material.
Please submit an article with abstracts (no more than 300 words) and 5 key words to
int_com@jsfee.jp
Contact information of Editor and President of JSFEE
Editor:Ryo SAKURAI
Editorial board of Japanese Journal of Environmental Education
International Committee of Japanese Society for Environmental Education
Ph.D., Associate Professor
5College of Policy Science, Ritsumeikan University
Mailing address:
College of Policy Science, Ritsumeikan University
2-150, Iwakura-cho, Ibaraki-shi, Osaka, 567-8570, Japan
Email: ryo223sak@gmail.com
President of Japanese Society for Environmental Education:
SHINICHI FURIHATA
Professor of Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
Mailing address:
Institute of Agriculture
Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
3-5-8 Saiwaicho, Fuchu-shi, Tokyo, 183-8509, Japan
Telephone: +81-(42) 367-5877
Facsimile: +81-(42) 367-5877
Email: sfurihat@gmail.com

How we understand “environmental education” and “Asia” in JJEE-EEA
Regarding the definition of “Asia”, we will continue to use the definition outlined inJJEE-EEA2017 as follows:
There is no consensus on where the boundaries of Asia should be drawn. Asia can bedivided into sub-regions such as Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, East (orNorth) Asia, and West Asia (which is itself sometimes considered part of the Middle
East and separate from Asia). The region of Asia is vast and diverse in terms of its
geography, ecology, anthropology, society, and economy, among other things. Inaddition, the word “Asia” does not just refer to the region, as its people and culture(s)have moved beyond geographical borders. Our goal is to link discussions andfindings in different countries within this sub-region, and in Asia more broadly, toexplore issues of regional and global relevance. (Furihata and Ninomiya-Lim, 2017)
Regarding the definition of “environmental education”, we will also continue to use the6

definition outlined in JJEE-EEA2017 as follows:
The definition of environmental education is an ongoing topic of discussion. In Japan,
the terms Kogai Kyoiku (pollution education) and Shizenhogo Kyoiku (natureconservation education) were already in use and educative practices in this area werespreading before the term “environmental education” (translated as Kankyo Kyoiku inJapanese) became the standard, following the United Nations Conference on theHuman Environment in 1972 and the Intergovernmental Conference onEnvironmental Education in Tbilisi in 1977. More recently, terms such as “educationfor sustainable development (ESD)” or “sustainability education” have gained in
popularity. In JJEE-EEA, we consider educational practices conducted under thesealternative headings (Kogai Kyoiku, Shizenhogo Kyoiku, and ESD) to be part of theJapanese history of environmental education. This is in line with the argument madeby Ando (2015), whereby the “history of environmental education” can be understoodas “a process of ‘environmentalizing’ education”. Moreover, we understand that someenvironmental education practices are not even called “education”, especially when
they are adopted outside formal educational settings. Thus, we have requested that thecontributors of JJEE-EEA to retain a flexible understanding of environmentaleducation, without limiting its scope unless there is a specific reason for doing so.
(Furihata and Ninomiya-Lim, 2017)

References
Ando, T. 2015. The Meaning of Inquiring about Kogai Kyoiku. Kankyo Kyoiku(Japanese Journal of Environmental Education). 25(1):4-13 (in Japanese).
Furihata, S., and Ninomiya-Lim, S. 2017. Environmental Education in Asia: Question
and Challenge. Japanese Journal of Environmental Education. 26(4):1-6.
Ninomiya-Lim, S., Sakurai, R., Kim, C., Chang, T., Lee, S., Furihata, S. 2017. Sharing,Comparing, and Developing Environmental Education in Asia: For the Journey to beContinued. Japanese Journal of Environmental Education. 26(4):77-83.
Sakurai, R., Furihata, S. 2019. Advancing Environmental Education Research from Asia:
Why Asia? Japanese Journal of Environmental Education. 28(4): 85-88.
7

Sakurai, R., To, K. 2021. Conducting International Collaborative Research in Uncertain
Times: Publishing the third issue of Environmental Education in Asia.” Japanese Journalof Environmental Education 31(2): 1-3.
Takano, T., Hagiwara, G., Sato, M., Noguchi, F., Ninomiya-Lim, S., Won, J., Sakurai, R.,
Nagahama, K., Furihata. S. 2015. International Trends in Environmental Education inLight of the Affiliated Organizations of Japanese Society of Environmental Education(JSOEE), and Proposals for the Effective Implementation of the International Exchange.
Kankyo Kyoiku (Japanese Journal of Environmental Education). 24(3):114-122 (inJapanese).
Appendix8