Japan: Deaf Community

Early Phases of Deaf Community Development

In the Edo era, which is the last era of feudalism in Japan, some temple schools, Terakoya, were reported to have a few deaf children. However, the number of deaf children was small, and the first Japanese Deaf community evolved formally in the Meiji era.

There was no general public education system in Japan until 1872, even after the Meiji Restoration of imperial power. However, children with disabilities were not required to go to regular schools. Although the central government was supposed to establish a special school for children with disabilities, this did not happen for a while. The education of deaf children began in 1879, through Tashiro Furukawa’s efforts in Kyoto. Later, the local governor recognized Furukawa’s private school for the Deaf as a public school. Several private schools for the Deaf were later established, some of which changed to public schools later.

In the early days, Deaf communities in Japan emerged as alumni associations of schools for the Deaf, as in other countries. The communities have several activities such as theaters and magazines. Before World War II, in Osaka, there was a Deaf theater called Kuruma-Za, meaning “Wheels” in Japanese, which was established in 1929 with the support of Kiyoshi Takahasi, who was principal of the Osaka Municipal School for the Deaf and [Page 529]was very popular in the local Deaf community. The theater’s repertoire included l’Epee and Sicard, the story from the internationally famous founders of Deaf education. A Deaf magazine, Moku-moku, was also published by the Deaf athenaeum. Some Deaf fine artists held exhibitions of their works at art galleries. All of these activities were based on alumni associations of the schools for the Deaf.

More and more alumni associations began to be established. However, their activities were independent at first. Over time, they tried to join hands with the other alumni associations. In Tokyo, the first association of the Deaf was established as an alumni association of the Tokyo School for the Deaf and the Blind in 1891. In 1925, some of the alumni associations got together and unified as the Japanese Association of the Deaf, which was approved by the Ministry of Education. However, most of the activities in the Deaf communities had the patronage of hearing teachers at their schools. The president of the Japanese Association of the Deaf and some of the board members were hearing people. Through the activities, Deaf people learned how to manage the organizations.

World War II

In 1943, during World War II, the central government integrated all of the Deaf associations into one foundation called the Japanese Association of Education and Welfare for the Deaf. Independent Deaf communities’ activities were banned, and Deaf people had to cease their activities.

This situation made the lives of the Deaf worse than before because they could not get necessary information and they were not represented in the government. At schools, military education was introduced and many Deaf students were punished without considering their situations because they could not follow military discipline. Deaf people could not pass the physical examination for military service. Discrimination resulted because they could not serve as full-fledged soldiers during wartime. Instead, most of them worked at the war factories alongside hearing people.

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