Chapter 4: Immigrant Children and Early Childhood Education in Japan: Toward Culturally Responsive and Empowering Practices

For early childhood education (ECE) practitioners across nations, supporting immigrant children’s positive development and learning while nurturing their strengths and understanding their needs is an important goal. As children of immigrant families have increased in ECE centers and schools, understanding immigrant children’s experiences and ensuring their education has become a more pressing need in Japan (Tokunaga, 2018). Like ECE practitioners in other countries, Japanese preschool teachers and daycare staff recognize the diverse cultures brought by immigrant children and the importance of respecting “differences” (Mitsubishi UFJ, 2020, 2021). However, their beliefs about how they should support immigrant children’s experiences are embedded in cultural beliefs and expectations held in the mainstream culture, such as the emphasis on group life and egalitarianism (Takada, 2019; Takahashi, 2020).