political, ideological, and philosophical perspectives with diverse goals, practices, and approaches. Although the interpretations, implementations, and perspectives vary, the core objective of citizenship education is to nurture good democratic citizens. (Schugurensky and Myers, 2003). Educational policies promoting citizenship education for democracy has been an area of increasing concern in Japan, since the level of social and political participation among young adults is still very low.

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... t, historical developments are analyzed to understand how the Japanese citizenship education concept was established. Then, Gert Biesta's concept regarding the functions of education is introduced, and how they relate to citizenship education in Japan. Subsequently, a recent case study conducted through interviews of Japanese high school students is analyzed to see how citizenship education is actually perceived by the students, followed by a discussion to investigate the reality of citizenship education through the high school students' standpoint. This article targets the inconsistencies the three 研究ノート