Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
The general theme was “Internationalizing Social Space and Local Livelihood,” and
featured speakers Narita Kozo, Takeuchi Keiichi, and Sasaki Komei. This event initi-
ated substantial consideration for including open public events such as seminars.
In December 2001, in an event separate from the society's general conference, HGSJ
held their fi rst open public seminar, using the Osaka Prefectural Labor Center in
Osaka's Chuo Ward. The theme was “Frontiers of Human Geography”. Records of
meeting announcements, printed in the
Japanese Journal of Human Geography
, show
that the HGSJ has since held annual open public seminars separately from their general
conferences, rotating venues through each of the prefectures of the Kinki District.
The series of open public events put on by the AJG and HGSJ have broadly
targeted citizens. A preliminary conclusion is that the implementation of these
events has encouraged investment in social action programs within the fi eld of
geography education.
13.2.2
Undertakings of the AJG-CGE
Since the AJG-CGE was established in 1998, it has actively implemented public
events for school teachers and citizens. The AJG-CGE's goal is to enlighten people
about the value of geography and to revitalize geography education.
One of the pillars of the AJG-CGE's social action program is the open public
lecture series, held concurrently with the association's general conferences. The
spring general conference in 2013 marked the 23rd public lecture series, which has
been held without interruption since the autumn general conference in 2001.
At the 2001 autumn conference, the public lecture theme was “A Professional Talk
about His Fieldwork—Knowing about the world through geography, No. 1: Turkey”.
These presentations were designed to be engaging for non-geographers and a general
audience. Additionally, it was the intention to include an international aspect as a way
to widely publicize the latest research fi ndings in geography education. Lectures have
been recorded for the following countries or regions, in order of presentation: Turkey,
the United States, China, New Zealand, India, and South Korea. Not all themes were
geographically focused. In the autumn conference in 2008, the theme was “Education
for Sustainable Development and Geography Education”. Since then, themes have
had a regional or non-geographic focus, but the goal of the open public lectures
remains committed to the revitalization of geography education (Shimura
2007
).
13.3
Examples of Outstanding Recent Social Action
Programs: Events for Children and Students
13.3.1
Geography Olympiad Japanese Championship
The Geography Olympiad Japanese Championship (referred to below as 'the cham-
pionship') is divided into a preliminary selection stage and a fi nal selection stage.
The preliminary competition is held every year in mid-January, and the second
