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Litigation and courts have been important arbiters of labour policy reforms aimed at redressing Japan's growing social inequality. This article considers seven lawsuits brought by non-regular workers, who sought to use Article 20 of the 2012 Labour Contracts Act to gain equal pay for equal work. All seven cases reached Japan's Supreme Court amid Abe Shinzō's 2018 labour reforms. The Court's interpretations reaffirmed employer discretion in categorising employees as a reasonable principle, albeit one which limits the law's power to redress wage inequality. However, the Court also found the non-provision of various minor benefits to be unreasonable. These outcomes evince a pattern in which litigation marginally transforms reformed labour policy into institutional support for greater equality of compensation and benefits between workers of different statuses. More than advancing equal pay for equal work, the outcomes of these cases support recent government-industry campaigns to boost productivity by encouraging increased use of job-based treatment and diversifying Japan's employment system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The differences in cultural capital, habitus, consumption, symbolic capital, and residence appear to point to different class positions and position takings in social space. However, Gangnam residents are not at ease since the source of their status is not well regarded by society; they fall short in embodying symbolic capital and yet they still enjoy privileges, which makes the nonresidents ever more resentful. In Gangnam, there are the petit bourgeoisie whose wealth is based on property ownership and real estate investment, and the professional workers and corporate executives with educational credentials and global cultural capital. [Extracted from the article]

T follicular helper (Tfh) cells and T peripheral helper (Tph) cells produce interleukin (IL)-21 and are thought to contribute to follicular and extra-follicular B-cell activation, respectively, in autoimmune diseases. It is known that programmed cell death-1 (PD-1)-positive CXCR5+ Tfh-like cells are differentiated from human naive CD4+ T cells by IL-12 plus transforming growth factor (TGF)-β. However, it remains unclear what cytokines are required for Tph differentiation. In this study, we found that interferon (IFN)-α and IFN-β reduce the frequency of Tfh-like cells under the IL-12 plus TGF-β condition, whereas they promote generation of PD-1+CXCR5−CD4+ T cells and secretion of IL-21, IFN-γ and CXCL13. Intracellular cytokine staining and T-cell–B-cell co-culture studies indicated that IFN-α promotes generation of IL-21+IFN-γ +CXCR5−CD4+ T cells thereby enhancing B-cell helper function. By IFN-α treatment, the mRNA levels of IL21 , IFNG , CXCL13 , CD244 , SLAMF7 , GZMB and PRDM1 were significantly up-regulated but BCL6 mRNA expression was down-regulated, suggesting a Tph-related gene expression pattern. On the other hand, IL-2-neutralization increased mRNA levels of IL21 , CXCL13 and CXCR5 , retained BCL6 , but showed no clear effect on IFNG or PRDM1. RNA sequencing analyses revealed that PD-1hiCXCR5−CD4+ T cells prepared from in vitro culture show a Tph-related gene expression pattern similar with that of PD-1hiCXCR5− Tph cells obtained from the blood of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. From our findings, it is highly probable that type I IFNs play a key role in differentiation of Tph cells and trigger Tph cell expansion in autoimmune diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article on social movement unionism in Japan examines the particular ways in which labor unions form coalitions when undertaking disputes that concern the dismissal of blue-collar temporary agency workers. The triangular employment arrangement nullified the right of labor unions that represent the temporary agency workers to bargain with the user corporations. Against this predicament, labor unions formed alliances by flexibly negotiating the divisions that exist among labor. Labor unions in Japan are largely grouped under national labor federations and by their ties to political parties. Labor unions formed coalitions within the federation boundaries but also found creative ways to bridge across federation membership in an effort to rebuild its associational power. Civil society groups served as a glue that drew in unions across national federation memberships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Muslim migrants in Japan suffer from the lack of access to burial grounds when 99.9% of the nation is cremated. Muslims are usually met with opposition from the local community where cemetery construction is planned. Using ethnographic data, the study shows how Muslim associations inadvertently fail to respect the codes of Japanese rurality when seeking a cemetery in a community to which they do not have membership, leading to a conflict. This paper closes with policy prescriptions for the central government in ensuring the cultural rights of immigrant minorities in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes the method of the flat flame formation and the result of diamond film deposition. Reason that diamonds are a desirable material even in industrial applications; Factors that made the combustion flame method simple and easy; Dependence of the stability limits of the flat flame on the carbon/oxygen element ratio.

This article analyzes the particular circumstances of temporary dispatched workers ( haken rōdōsha) and a feature of their job insecurity as one facet of the growing inequality in contemporary Japanese society, focusing on the relative ease with which these workers are dismissed both legally and in practice. By contrasting with other more familiar forms of insecure labor in Japan, the paper examines the triangular relationship involving the three parties that characterize dispatched labor: the user, the employer, and the employee. The Worker Dispatching Act, which was enacted and then deregulated, enabled Japanese corporations to use dispatched workers while securing the capacity to remove them from their workplaces as a business transaction and not within the bounds of an employer-employee relationship. Using the theoretical framework of risk, the paper analyzes the emergence and spread of the triangular labor relationship as risk being shifted from the corporate level to the individual dispatched workers. It examines the consequences of the shift of risk by introducing cases of dismissal from fieldwork conducted during the global recession over the winter of 2009. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medical waste poses health hazards, increases the environmental load and is costly to dispose of. To solve the above problems, we applied the hazard analysis and critical control point system (HACCP) to the management of wastes generated from endoscopy. First, the wastes in three hospitals were quantified. The number and weight of waste per case differed significantly among the three hospitals. Second, HACCP was applied to the endoscopy unit of Hospital X for a year. Wastes were segregated into five types and weighed. We found that 25.8% of 'infectious waste' was in fact 'non-infectious waste' and 'non-infectious plastic waste'. The numbers of needles and needle caps did not correspond in two occasions (needle-loss rate: 0.42%). Bacterial counts of the waste container were determined to investigate infection hazard. The counts were 0 cfu/cm2 in all examinations except one occasion. The waste control manifests were reviewed, and all entries were consistent with the waste sent for disposal. In Hospital X where implementation of HACCP was attempted, reduction of environmental load and cutting of disposal cost are anticipated by changing the categories of waste segregation. The results suggest that hospital wastes should be managed more safely by HACCP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines how the Battle of Okinawa has been differently remembered in the various post-war historical periods and why peace and anti-militarism continues to be a defining feature of contemporary Okinawan politics in Japan. The impact of the postwar U.S. military administrative control over Okinawa, the resulting economic, political, and culturally oppressive conditions, and the continuing postwar concentration of the military bases on the memory of the Battle is examined. The drastic change of the postwar history of Okinawa from 1945 to 1972 and the change content of the memory of the Battle are discussed.

Prime Minister Abe Shinzō has made Work Style Reform (hatarakikata kaikaku) part of his core policy agenda, promising above all to remedy the Japanese way of work's two greatest problems: dangerously long work hours and grossly unequal wage gaps between regular and non-regular workers. However, critics charge that the proposals will likely aggravate these problems, given that labor policymaking is dominated by conservative business and political leaders bent on deregulation. This paper examines the current Work Style Reform proposals, explaining howthe work hour reduction and equal pay for equal work proposals are being promoted to the public, and why they ultimately fail as reforms from the worker point of view. Despite these serious problems, the government's effective marketing has helped to defuse potential resistance and the reform plans may become law in 2018. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the role of cysteinyl leukotrienes (CysLTs) in the gastric ulcerogenic response to ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) in mice. Experiments were performed in male C57BL/6J mice after 18-h fasting. Under urethane anesthesia, the celiac artery was clamped for 30 min, and then reperfusion was achieved by removing the clamp. The stomach was examined for lesions 60 min thereafter. The severity of I/R-induced gastric damage was reduced by prior administration of pranlukast [CysLT receptor type 1 (CysLT(1)R) antagonist] as well as 1-[[5'-(3''-methoxy-4''-ethoxycarbonyl-oxyphenyl)-2',4'-pentadienoyl]aminoethyl]-4-diphenylmethoxypiperidine [TMK688; 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX) inhibitor]. On the contrary, these lesions were markedly worsened by pretreatment with indomethacin, and this response was abrogated by the coadministration of TMK688 or pranlukast. The gene expression of CysLT(1)R but not 5-LOX was up-regulated in the stomach after I/R, but both expressions were increased under I/R in the presence of indomethacin. I/R slightly increased the mucosal CysLT content of the stomach, yet this increase was markedly enhanced when the animals were pretreated with indomethacin. The increased CysLT biosynthetic response to indomethacin during I/R was attenuated by TMK688. Indomethacin alone caused a slight increase of CysLT(1)R expression and markedly up-regulated 5-LOX expression in the stomach. We concluded that I/R up-regulated the expression of CysLT(1)R in the stomach; CysLTs play a role in the pathogenesis of I/R-induced gastric damage through the activation of CysLT(1)R; and the aggravation by indomethacin of these lesions may be brought about by the increase of CysLT production and the up-regulation of 5-LOX expression, in addition to the decreased prostaglandin production.

To decrease the incidence of pneumoconiosis, we examined dust protective mask performance and its relation to pulmonary function as well as the effects of worker education on the proper wearing of masks. One hundred and seventy-eight workers from 15 factories subject to dust exposure participated in this study. All participants were interviewed to obtain relevant personal information and underwent both a mask leakage and a pulmonary function test. The mask leakage was expressed as a percentage, with under 10% leakage indicating that the dust protective mask worked efficiently. In addition, 23 workers from 2 factories were educated on how to wear masks properly. The average mask leakage was 24.3%, and 58% of workers wore ineffective masks. Though pulmonary function was almost normal, the percent vital capacity (%VC) tended to be lower depending on the mask leakage. Mask education, which was very easy and took only a short time, dramatically decreased average mask leakage from 32.1% to 10.5% (p0.001). Educating workers to wear masks properly might prevent the worsening of pulmonary function in response to dust exposure. Appropriate mask fitness by education could be useful in preventing the development of pneumoconiosis.

Tris-bipyridine ruthenium-complexes carrying a disialo complex-type oligosaccharide were prepared via a one-pot transglycosylation using endo-glycosidase (Endo M); they bind to type-A influenza viruses with excellent affinity (IC50 = 8.4 microM), and their luminescence intensity is strongly depressed by virus-binding.