The progress of English studies in Japanese higher education is not one of a steady and continuous upward curve. This chapter seeks to understand the roller coaster ride of English Studies in Japanese higher education by looking at the history of the introduction of English into Japan and to follow its career of reluctant acceptance by the Edo government to its embrace under the Meiji Restoration, its ups and downs during the Taisho and Showa eras of political uncertainty and war, followed by the heavy influence of the American Occupation forces after World War II and its use as a political football by the movers and shakers in the Japanese higher education sector ever since.

Introduction: How English went from obscurity to mania in Japan over four short centuries

The policies of the Education Ministry have loomed large since its inception in 1872 in the way courses are instituted and run in Japanese higher education. However, these policies have often been decided as a reaction to events either within the educational establishment of Japan or from influences outside the country. In whatever way these policies emerge, national, prefectural, municipal, and private universities alike usually implement them in some form. It could be argued that little has changed in education in Japan since the Edo period in that the government of the day has the final say in issues of compulsory education and exerts a huge influence over higher education, too.

In the Edo period the only way to gain Western knowledge was to learn the language of foreigners; it was a necessary evil. At first the lingua franca was thought to be Portuguese, then Dutch, and finally English. Language study was the key, not the aim. Tokyo University, for example, began life as a foreign language institute and as it transmogrified into a national university, foreign languages took a back seat to specialist disciplines, including literature.

The development of studies in English literature belies a simplistic explanation of the motivation for learning English in Japan. The samurai warrior class made up 5–6% of the population, and they enjoyed privileges beyond the grasp of ordinary Japanese.