Sun's Awry in the Japanese Cosmos

They may live in the land of the rising sun, but that doesn't mean they know anything about it.

According to a survey by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 42% of Japanese children believe that the Sun rotates around the Earth and 30% of children aged 11-14 do not not know that it sets in the west.

"Both parents and children have fewer opportunities to experience nature, such as watching the sun go down," Hidehiko Agata, an associate professor at the observatory, said in the newspaper Asahi Shimbun. "Nowadays they have access to all kinds of information, but fewer opportunities to learn about life's everyday phenomena."

Earlier this year university researchers found that half Japan's primary and secondary school students had never seen a sunrise or sunset.

The poor grasp of scientific fundamentals has been blamed on the increasing number of hours spent watching TV and playing video games. The children themselves are more likely to blame their heavy workload and attendance at evening cramming schools.

Professor Agata, who wants the national curriculum revised, says some pupils do not know that the Sun, Moon and Earth are spherical.

In a separate survey, 720 children were asked to name "a celestial object that revolves around the earth like a satellite". Only 39% said the Moon. But 47% knew that the Moon seems to change shap because of changes in its position relative to the Earth and the Sun.