A Study on the View of Japanese Childhood : Analysis of the Best Seller Novels and the Social Background

The aim of this paper is to examine the view of childhood in Postwar Japan. In this paper, I use the word \u22the view of childhood\u22 not in the sense of thought about childhood but of Japanese general image about childhood. The concept can be defined as adult-child relation. First, I analyze sixteen Best Seller Novels in Postwar Japan, which were published between 1946 and 1999. In this way, I use two approaches: the kind of the view of childhood and the feeling of Novels\u27 characters. The findings of this analysis show three types of the view of Japanese childhood. The first is the view of childhood as the immaturer being than adult. The second is the view of childhood as the relativization of adult-child relation. The third is the view of childhood as subject being like adult. Secondly, I analyze the social background in Postwar Japan, which were relate to three types of the view of Japanese Childhood. There is, for example, the relation between the divorce rate and childhood as the immaturer being than adult, the relation between the ralio of students who enter higher\u27 educalion and The childhood as the relativlzation of adult-child relation, the relation between the trend of child\u27s right and the view of childhood as subject being like adult, the relation between the total fertility rate and the whole view of childhood in Postwar Japan. In conclusion, (1) In Postwar Japan, the whole view of childhood change a little. (2) The change of social background in Postwar Japan creates the new types of the view of childhood. (3) These types of the view of childhood are coexistent