（1）Reforms of the Central Administrative Agencies for Education

Reforms of the agencies of the Ministry of Education during this period began with the organizational changes of April, 1919. At that time the Vocational Education Bureau was added to the existing agencies such as the Minister's Secretariat, the Higher Education Bureau, the General Education Bureau and the Religion Bureau.

Popular education had been administered along with other matters by a division of the General Education Bureau, but with the organizational reform within the Ministry of Education based upon the report of the Special Council for Education, which was carried out in June, 1919, a new division, almost exclusively charged with the supervision of popular education, libraries, museums and youth groups was established within the General Education Bureau. This change enabled the expansion and consolidation of facilities for the administration of popular education. On the occasion of the Ministry's internal reorganization of June 23, 1921, the term "popular education", which had been used up to that time, was changed to "social education." Then in December, 1924, the Social Education Division was set up within the General Education Bureau. On December 14, 1925, the Order on the Local Social Education Personnel System was promulgated, which came into force on that day, and thereafter according to this Order appointments were made for social education supervisors (shakai kyoiku shuji) and assistant social education supervisors, who were charged with the administration of social education.

However the need for the further expansion of administrative facilities for social education was recognized, and thus in July, 1929, the Social Education Bureau was created. This new Bureau was to handle matters relating to: 1) Youth and child groups, 2) Youth training centers, 3) Vocational supplementary schools, 4) Libraries, 5) Museums and related exhibitions, 6) Adult education, 7) Social education groups, 8) Authorization and recommendation of books, 9) Other considerations of social education.

The appointment of a School Hygiene Supervisor (Gakko Eisei Shuji) at the Ministry of Education dates back to May, 1896, and later, the School Hygiene Division was organized within the Minister's Secretariat in April, 1900, but both were abolished in December 1903. Thereafter a doctor was assigned to the Official Archives Division on a part-time basis in order to give advice on school hygiene. But no full-time staff member was appointed until the establishment of the School Hygiene Officer (Gakko Eiseikan) in June, 1916. The School Hygiene Division was newly set up within the Minister's Secretariat in May, 1921, and in May of the following year the School Hygiene Investigation Committee (Gakko Eisei Chosakai) was organized as one of the Minister's boards of inquiry.

In the field of physical education, under the supervision of the Minister of Education the Research Center for Physical Education was organized in October, 1924, for the purpose of research and guidance related to physical training. In May, 1928, the School Hygiene Division was renamed the Physical Education Division and charged with both school hygiene and physical education. In November of the following year, the Physical Education Council (Tatiiku Undo Shingikai), a board of inquiry concerned with physical education, was organized under the supervision of the Minister of Education. This body continued to function up to 1938 and played a significant role in the guidance and leadership of the physical education movement in Japan.

The Books Bureau, which dealt with textbooks, was established in April, 1920. Its functions included editing, publication, examination and authorization of textbooks and it was divided into two divisions. The 1920 Textbook Survey Committee (Kyokasho Chosakai) was also formed at that time as authorized in the 1920 Textbook Survey Committee Organization Order promulgated on April 28, 1920.

As a response to the disturbing tendencies in student thought, the Student Affairs Division was established within the Higher Education Bureau in October, 1928, and expanded in July of the following year to the departmental level. The Student Affairs Department was reorganized in June, 1934, into the Ideological Control Bureau to plan countermeasures directed toward schools and social education groups. The Committee for the Investigation of the Student Thought Problem came into being in June, 1931, within the Ministry of Education and in August of the following year the National Moral Culture Research Center (Kokumin Seishin Bunka Kenkyusho) was established based upon the deliberations of the above-mentioned Committee.

In addition to this activity, a provisional Education Research Department was formally established in May, 1933, within the Ministry of Education, as authorized in its organization order promulgated at that time. The Department had actually come into existence in November, 1927, and had been engaged in evaluation of the Japanese as well as foreign educational systems in preparation for future reform.