Discourses in the Magazine “Keisetsu Jidai”: The Popularization Process of Higher Education in Postwar Japan

At a time when it was called the “examination hell” in postwar Japan, the magazine KEISETSU JIDAI was popular among students that take the entrance examination in higher education.

It has a history of more than eighty years, but this time, how the magazine has changed?

 The purpose of this study is the analysis of magazines in the 1950s-1960s. I would like to declare that KEISETSU JIDAI has a function of career guidance through the late 1950s. The tendency changed subjects, contributors, quantities of the magazine, and their consciousness. It’s mean to liberate students from some superstitions. A practical learning and a scientific method was directed to solve problems. In particular, the issue was a difference between urban and rural areas, which have dates and skills of an entrance exam. Some difficulties confronted them, conflicts and barriers surrounding the higher education, such as gender difference and economic issue.

This study may suggest a new history about the severe competition in school entrance exam.