Article 1.　The object of this Law is to define clearly the responsibilities of state and local public bodies regarding social education, in accordance with the principles of the Fundamental Law of Education (Law No.25 of 1947).

Article 2.　"Social education" in this Law implies such systematic activities of education (including physical education and recreation activities) primarily for out-of-school youth and adults as provided for in this Law other than such educational activities as are conducted as part of curricular work in accordance with the School Education Law (Law No.26 of 1947).

Article 3.　The state and local public bodies shall assist in maintaining a congenial environment in which it is possible for individual citizens to engage at sundry times and places in cultural and educational activities, which will assist them in daily living, by providing and operating various kinds of facilities, sponsoring meetings, and preparing information materials necessary for social education, by means of distribution and others in accordance with the prescriptions of this Law and others.

Article 4.　The state shall provide financial aid, furnish supplies, and render services within the limits of appropriated funds, to local public bodies in conformity with the prescriptions of this Law and others to perform the function stated in the preceding Article.

Article 5.　The Education Boards of a city (including special wards;hereinafter the same), town and village shall, within the limits of appropriated funds. transact the following business in social education in accordance with the local needs in their respective areas:

Article 6.　The To, Do, Fu and Prefectural Education Boards shall, within the limits of appropriated funds, transact business in social education stated in each item of the preceding Article (excepting the business stated in item 3) to meet the local needs, as well as business including the following matters:

Article 7.　The chiefs of local public bodies may request the Education Boards to act for or cooperate with them in providing the information concerning such matters in their charge as are necessary and shall be effectively given by means of audiovisual education and other educational facilities.

2　The provisions of the preceding paragraph shall correspondingly apply in case other government agencies request the Education Boards to act for or cooperate with them in providing necessary information concerning matters in their charge.

Article 8.　The Education Boards may request the chiefs of local public bodies as well as related government agencies of their respective areas to present necessary materials or cooperate in other ways, in case it is regarded necessary to do so for the transaction of business relating to social education.

Article 9.　Libraries and museums shall develop activities necessary for social education.

2　As regards necessary matters concerning them other specific laws shall be enacted.

Article 10.　"Organizations relating to social education" in this Law imply those private groups, including juridical persons, whose main object is to execute works relating to social education, and which are not under the control of public authority.

Article 11.　The Minister of Education and Education Boards shall have power, if requested by organizations relating to social education, to give them specializing and technical guidance or advices.

2　The Minister of Education and the Boards of Education shall help to secure necessary materials for social education conducted by organizations relating to social education upon their request.

Article 12.　The state and local public bodies shall by no means take undue controlling leadership over organizations relating to social education or interfere with them in their activities.

Article 13.　The state and local public bodies shall give no subsidies to organizations relating to social education.

Article 14.　The Minister of Education and Education Boards shall have power to request organizations relating to social education to submit report necessary for the furnishing of information materials of guidance and for research work.

Article 15.　To, Do, Fu or prefecture, city, town or village may have an Advisory Committee on Social Education.

2　The Board of Education shall appoint the members of the Advisory Committee of Social Education from among the person mentioned in each of the following items:

3　Appointment of the members of the Advisory Committee provided for in the preceding paragraph shall be made from among those who are mentioned in the list of candidates prepared and submitted by the Superintendent of Education.

4　In case the Board of Education does not consider the persons on the list of candidates prepared and submitted by the Superintendent to be satisfactory, it may request him to resubmit another list.

Article 16.　The Advisory Committee of Social Education of a city, town or village may be composed of the members of a CPH Advisory Committee as designated in Article 29.

Article 17.　The Advisory Committee of Social Education shall transact business concerning the following matters in order to advise the Board of Education through the Superintendent of Education regarding matters concerning social education purposes:

2　The members of the Advisory Committee of Social Education may meet in conference with the Board of Education, with a view to advising on matters relating to social education.

Article 18.　The fixed number of members of the Advisory Committee of Social Education, their terms of office, and other relevant matters shall be governed by the regulations of local governments.

2　In case To, Do, Fu or prefecture, city, town or village constitutes the local regulations concerning the preceding paragraph, the provisions of Article 61 to Article 63 inclusive of the Board of Education Law (Law No.170 of 1948) shall apply.

Article 19.　Local public bodies shall not pay salaries and remunerations to the members of the Advisory Committee of Social Education.

2　Local public bodies shall meet expenses required by Advisory Social Education Committees in the performance of their duties.

3　With regard to expenses mentioned in the preceding paragraph the provisions of Article 31, paragraph 3 of the Board of Education Law shall apply mutatis mutandis.

Article 20.　The object of Citizens'Public Hall is to perform various activities for the cause of education, science and culture by providing the people in a city, town, village or other specific areas certain types of education for daily life to improve their attainments, improve their health, ennoble their sentiment, elevate their cultural life, and in general, increase the social welfare of the community.

Article 21.　A CPH may be established by a city, town or village.

2　Besides the case mentioned above, it cannot be established unless it is done by a juridical person founded with the aim of establishing a CPH under Article 34 of the Civil Code (hereinafter called a juridical person in this chapter).

Article 22.　In order to fulfill the object stated in Article 20 a CPH may generally develop the following activities except when prohibited by this Law and other laws and regulations:

Article 23.　CPHs are prohibited from:

2　A CPH sponsored by a city, town or village is further prohibited from supporting a specific religion, denomination or order.

Article 24.　In case a city, town or village desires to establish a CPH, matters concerning the establishment and administration of the CPH shall be governed by local regulations.

2　As regards local regulations stated in the preceding paragraph the provisions of Article 18, paragraph 2 shall apply mutatis mutandis.

Article 25.　Establishment or abolition of a CPH sponsored by a city, town or village must be reported to To, Do, Fu or prefectural Boards of Education.

2　Necessary matters concerning the report provided for in the preceding paragraph shall be governed by the regulations of the To, Do, Fu or prefectural Boards of Education.

Article 26.　Establishment or abolition of a CPH sponsored by a juridical person and change in establishing members must be reported beforehand to To, Do, Fu or prefectural Boards of Education beforehand.

2　Necessary matters concerning the report provided for in the preceding paragraph shall be governed by the regulations of To, Do, Fu or prefectural Boards of Education.

Article 27.　A CPH shall have a Manager and may have necessary officers for its staff.

2　The CPH Manager shall transact business necessary for planning and carrying out various CPH activities and supervise officers on the staff.

Article 28.　The Manager and other necessary officers of the CPH sponsored by a city, town or village shall be appointed by the Board of Education of a city, town or village concerned with the recommendation of the Superintendent of Education.

2　Appointment of a CPH Manager mentioned in the provisions of the preceding paragraph shall be made by the Board of Education of a city, town or village after discussion with the CPH Advisory Council as designated by Article 29.

Article 29.　Each CPH shall have a CPH Advisory Council.

2　The function of the CPH Advisory Council is to investigate and deliberate on necessary matters concerning the planning of the activities of the CPH, to make response to the inquiries by the CPH Manager.

Article 30.　In case of a CPH established by a city, town or village, members of the CPH Advisory Council shall be chosen by the Board of Education of the city, town or village from among the persons mentioned in each of the following items:

2　Choice of such committee members as stated in item 2 of the preceding paragraph shall be made upon the recommendation of respective organization or agency by election by a majority vote or through some other procedures.

3　The chiefs of the city, town or village, or their auxiliary personnel or the members of the city, town or village assembly may be entrusted with the responsibility of the committee members as provided for in item 3 of paragraph 1.

4　Necessary matters concerning the CPH Advisory Council as stated in paragraph 1 including the fixed number of the members, their terms of office, etc. shall be dealt with by the regulations of a city, town and village.

5　As regards abovementioned regulations, the provision of paragraph 2 of Article 18 shall apply mutatis mutandis.

Article 31.　In case of a CPH established by a juridical person, officers thereof shall become members of the CPH Advisory Council.

Article 32.　The provision of Article 19 shall correspondingly apply to members of the CPH Advisory Council of a CPH established by a city, town or village.

Article 33.　A city, town or village sponsoring a CPH may set up a specific fundamental asset or build a reserve in order to maintain CPH activities.

Article 34.　A city, town or village sponsoring a CPH may set up a special account in order to maintain CPH activities.

2　As regards the proposal concerning the establishment of a special account as described in the preceding paragraph, the provision of Article 18, paragraph 2 shall apply mutatis mutandis.

Article 35.　The state shall, within the bounds of the budget, provide subsidies or other financial aids required for the maintenance of a CPH to a city, town or village sponsoring a CPH.

Article 36.　In case subsidies are provided by the state fund in accordance with the preceding Article, the apportionment of subsidies shall be made on the basis of the amount spent by cities, towns or villages sponsoring CPH in the previous fiscal year on each of the following items:

2　The standard for granting subsidies for the expenses as stated in each item of the preceding paragraph and other necessary matters for the apportionment of subsidies shall be designated by a Cabinet Order.

Article 37.　In case To, Do, Fu and prefectures provide subsidies required for the maintenance of CPH in accordance with the provision of Article 231 of the Local Autonomy Law (Law No.67 of 1947), the Minister of Education may request prefectures to submit report on the amount of subsidies, the rate of aid, its method and other necessary matters as provided for by a Cabinet Order.

Article 38.　The city, town or village that is granted the state subsidies must return them in the following cases:

Article 39.　The Minister of Education and To, Do, Fu or prefectural Board of Education may upon request offer CPH adequate guidance and advices in its management, activities and other matters.

Article 40.　When any CPH is found violating the provisions of Article 23, order to stop their activities or operation may be given by To, Do, Fu or prefectural Board of Education.

Article 41.　Those who have disobeyed the order for the stop on CPH activities or operation as provided for in the preceding Article shall be punished with an imprisonment with or without hard labor of one year or less or a fine of 30,000 yen or less.

Article 42.　Facilities and institutions similar to CPH may be established by any founder.

2　As regards the management of the facilities and institutions mentioned in the preceding paragraph and other matters, the provisions of Article 39 shall apply mutatis mutandis.

Article 43.　Utilization of facilities of national and public schools (hereinafter called "the school" in this chapter) for social education purposes, shall be determined in accordance with the prescriptions of this chapter.

Article 44.　The administering agency of schools shall make effort to encourage the utilization of such school facilities as are under its jurisdiction for social education purposes, so far as such action is not considered to interfere with school education.

2　The administering agency stated in the preceding paragraph is the Minister of Education in case of national schools;head of the local public body which is the founder in case of public universities;and the Board of Education established by the local public body which is the founder in case of public schools except universities.

Article 45.　When any one desires to utilize any school facilities for social education purposes, he must get permission from the administering agency of the school in question.

2　When the school administering agency desires to permit any school facilities to be utilized in accordance with the preceding paragraph it shall discuss the matter beforehand with the university president or school principal.

Article 46.　When the state or the local public body tries to use the school facilities for the purpose of social education, it must consult with the administering agency of the school concerned in spite of the provisions of the preceding Article.

Article 47.　In case the use of school facilities described in Article 45 is only temporary, the school administering agency may transfer the power of permitting utilization of school facilities to the university president or school principal.

2　The matter concerning the transfer of authority described in the preceding paragraph and other matters necessary for the utilization of school facilities shall be decided by the school administering agency.

Article 48.　The school administering agencies shall have power to encourage schools under their jurisdiction to hold courses for social education purposes (as school extension program) including Cultural Courses, Special Courses, Summer Courses, Community Classes, etc. in so far as the capacity of the regularly assigned school faculty and facilities permit.

2　Cultural Courses may be provided for adults to increase general accomplishments, Special Courses may be provided for adults to improve special knowledge and technique, and Summer Courses may be provided for adults to increase either general accomplishments or special knowledge and technique during the summer vacation, in all cases abovementioned by the universities and higher schools.

3　Community Classes may be provided for adults to deal with general accomplishments by elementary and secondary schools.

4　Compensation for lecturers and teachers for school extension courses as provided for by paragraph 1 and other necessary expenses shall be borne by the state and local public bodies within the limits of the budget.

Article 49.　This Chapter is intended to govern education by means of correspondence other than that which is carried on in accordance with the provisions of Article 45, Article 70 and Article 76 of the School Education Law.

Article 50.　"Correspondence Course" in this Law implies course offered under an established educational program by sending students, instruction matters, supplementary instructional materials, etc. and providing them, by correspondence, problems and solutions, corrections, questions and answers, etc. based upon such books.

2　One who offers correspondence course must have necessary instructors to develop the program.

Article 51.　The Minister of Education may give sanction of correspondence course (hereinafter referred to as "sanction" ) to any correspondence course, upon request, carried on by a school or juridical person under the provision of Article 34 of the Civil Code and contributing to social education.

2　Those who desire to get sanctioning mentioned in the preceding paragraph must apply for sanctioning by the Minister of Education in accordance with what he regulates about the matter.

3　When the Minister of Education gives the sanction to any correspondence course in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1, he shall consult the Correspondence Course Committee in advance.

Article 52.　The Minister of Education may charge those who apply for sanctioning a fee. However, it shall not apply to the correspondence courses carried on by state or public schools.

2　The amount of fee prescribed in the preceding paragraph shall be set by the Minister of Education within the limit of between \1,000 and \3,000 per course.

Article 53.　The Correspondence Course Council shall be established under the Ministry of Education.

2　The function of the Correspondence Course Council is to investigate and deliberate necessary matters concerning correspondence course, to make response to the inquiries by the Minister of Education.

3　The Correspondence Course Council may make recommendations to the Minister of Education concerning the matters referred to in the preceding paragraph.

4　Members of the Correspondence Course Council shall be chosen by the Minister of Education from among men and women of learning and experience.

5　Necessary matters concerning the structure of the Correspondence Course Council and others shall be dealt with by a Cabinet Order.

Article 54.　As for the postage needed for any sanctioned correspondence sourse, a special treatment shall be given in accordance with the provisions of the Mail Law.(Law No.165 of 1947).

Article 55.　Any one who wants to discontinue a sanctioned correspondence course or to make a change in its terms shall get the approval of the Minister of Education in accordance with the regulations laid down by the latter.

2　The provisions of Article 51, paragraph 3 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the approval mentioned in the preceding paragraph.

Article 56.　The Minister of Education shall have power to require from any one who has received sanction a necessary report, and order necessary action.

Article 57.　In case any one sanctioned has violated this Law or directive issued under this Law, or dispositions based on these, the Minister of Education may cancel the sanction.

2　The provisions of Article 51, paragraph 3 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the cancelling of the sanction mentioned in the preceding paragraph.