Scholarly inquiry in the field of physical education (PE) can be said to be quite prolific in Japan considering the number of scientific periodicals that are published in the country. Almost every university with a PE department has its own publication. and the same can be said of regional and national PE societies. However, there has been little, if any, assessment of research trends focusing on paradigmatic orientation. The objectives of this paper are (1)to outline the guiding paradigms for conductin research in PE, (2)to conduct a content analysis of Japanese PE research, and (3)to determine the ideological trends for approaching and researching PE in Japan. The research was categorized into the three most frequently utilized paradigms in present-day PE: the positivist paradigm, the interpretive paradigm and the critical paradigm. We found that 97.56% of the research adheres to positivistic rules and 2.44% observes interpretive or critical perspectives. Although we attempted to assess Japanese PE research trends, it is also necessary to evaluate the adequacies and limitations of each paradigm. In addition, we must consider other perspectives for conducting research in order to better define the field as a whole. If research in PE is presently employing only one method of analysis at the expense of other valid methodologies, then there could be serious shortcomings that might profoundly affect the field of PE and society as a whole.