The present state of ergonomics in Japan

The purpose of this study was to investigate the state of ergonomics teaching in Japan and the research interests of those concerned with this teaching. The name "Ergonomics" became well known between 1965 and 1969. Most Japanese researchers in ergonomics came from an engineering background and most teaching and research were carried out at Departments of Industrial Management. The next largest group of researchers came from Departments of Psychology, but in their teaching or research they were not necessarily carrying out research in ergonomics in those departments even though many of them were conducting ergonomics projects before 1959. University courses in ergonomics were first launched in 1953; 1967 was a turning point, and they have rapidly become more popular since then. However, the courses of ergonomics are optional at the majority of universities, taught over a period of only one term at half of the universities and one year at the other half. Furthermore, there were very few experiments which were separate from the courses of the lectures. Most of the work of Japanese researchers is in the areas of "Man as a system component" and "Methods, techniques and equipment in ergonomics". These are also the main subjects of undergraduate and graduate theses and experiments.