The volume seeks to displace the current focus on school achievement in Japan with a broader understanding of the social context of knowledge acquisition.

List of contributors; Series foreword; Preface; Introduction: situated learning in Japan: our educational analysis John Singleton; Part I. Actors, Artists and Calligraphers: Learning in the Traditional Arts: 1. Transmitting tradition by the rules: an anthropological interpretation of the iemoto system Robert J. Smith; 2. The search for mastery never ceases: Zeami's classic treatises on transmitting the traditions of the no theatre J. Thomas Rimer; 3. Education in the Kano school in nineteenth-century Japan: questions about the copybook method Brenda G. Jordan; 4. Seven characteristics of a traditional Japanese approach to learning Gary DeCoker; 5. Why was everyone laughing at me? Roles of passage for the kyogen child Jonah Salz; Part II. Potters, Weavers, Mechanics, Doctors and Violinists: Learning in Artisanal Apprenticeship: 6. Learning to be an apprentice Bill Haase; 7. Craft and art education in Mashiko pottery workshops John Singleton; 8. Craft and regulatory learning in a neighborhood garage Kathryn Ellen Madono; 9. Developing character in music teachers: a Suzuki approach Sarah Hersh and Lois Peak; 10. Becoming a master physician Susan O. Long; 11. Weaving the future from the heart of tradition: learning in leisure activities Millie Creighton; Part III. Work and Community Socialization: Diversity in Learning Arrangements: 12. Moneyed knowledge: how women become commercial shellfish divers Jacquetta F. Hill and David W. Plath; 13. The self-taught bureaucrat: Takahashi Koreikiyo and economic policy during the Great Depression Richard J. Smethurst; 14. Learning at the public bathhouse Scott Clark; 15. Growing up through matsuri: children's establishment of self and community identities in festival participation Saburo Morita; Part IV. Appropriations of Cultural Practice: 16. Learning to swing: Oh Sadaharu and the pedagogy and practice of Japanese baseball William W. Kelly; 17. Good old boy into alcoholic: Danshukai and learning a new drinking role in Japan Stephen R. Smith; 18. Did an ox wander by here recently?: Learning Americanized Zen Maureen W. McClure; 19. Learning to be learners: Americans working for a Japanese boss Jill Kleinberg; Epilogue: Calluses: when culture gets under your skin David W. Plath; Selected glossary; General bibliography; Index.