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Political apologies have been argued to contribute to reconciliation among groups and nations but their efficacy has also been questioned. This paper examines the acceptance of political apologies, their content and the protagonists in the victim nation, the perpetrator nation and their subgroups. Guided by studies on the structure of apologies, it distinguishes 10 features of apologies, seven of which concern their content and three of their protagonists. Following the analysis of apology statements by Japan to South Korea, the paper further breaks these features (factors) down into 32 elements (levels). The acceptance of around 70,000 possible apology combinations is examined in a randomized conjoint experiment, which was embedded in online quota‐based surveys in Japan (n = 2700) and South Korea (n = 3000). The analysis reveals that the content of apologies matters, protagonists matter more than content and some subgroups matter more than protagonists. The subgroup analysis showed that some within‐country differences are larger than cross‐country differences, which challenges the SIT. Apology statements that would be acceptable in both nations are summarised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1965, Japan has issued numerous apologies to Korea, which however failed to resonate with the Korean public. To investigate this puzzle, this paper analyses the structure of these apologies and empirically examines their reception in Korea. Blatz et al.'s (Political Psychology, 2009, 30, 219) classification of components of political apologies was applied to conduct a qualitative analysis of 63 official apology statements by Japan to Korea and identify the most frequently used components (Study 1). Korean participants (N = 210) were randomly presented with an experimental vignette consisting of a major apology component to examine their psychological responses, and they also ranked the importance of each major apology component (Study 2). Results showed that while Koreans viewed admission of wrongdoing as an essential and the most demanded component of apology, it was paradoxically the least frequent component offered by Japan in reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discipline of marriage and family therapy (MFT) has been established around the world. Inspired by theories and models developed in Western countries, professionals in East Asian countries over the last two decades have been dedicated to introducing the concepts of MFT to local mental health professionals. This paper presents an overview of the cultural background of East Asian cultures, a summary of MFT development in East Asia, and a discussion of key challenges to advancing MFT in East Asia. We provide recommendations to overcome these obstacles, including bridging the gap between MFTs in the West and East Asia, developing country‐specific MFT development plans, establishing accreditation and licensing regulation, increasing the public awareness of MFT, increasing collaboration among training institutes and the number of qualified MFT trainers and training locations, and developing culturally attuned MFT training and practices. Practitioner points: Direct application of Western approaches to the East Asian context can be detrimental if therapists do not carefully examine the cultural differences and adapt accordinglyA critical step in developing MFT in East Asia is to develop country/region‐specific plans including the recognition of the history, values, and distinctive features of Asian families [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key trend in the development of the global economy is the informalisation of employment. A number of studies have emerged that capture the growth and characteristics of non-standard employment in Japan and South Korea as two major world economies that are experiencing relative decline in growth. However, limited is understood in the role of institutional actors in shaping the labour markets and how these two neighbouring countries may, despite similarities, differ in terms of forms of non-standard employment and the institutional and cultural reasons that underpin the differences. This review study fills part of the gap by providing a systematic analysis of changes in the labour market in Japan and South Korea, the role of institutional actors in shaping the informal labour market, patterns of non-standard employment and its impacts on individual workers as well as the development of the labour market. The paper concludes that informalisation has led to the decline of job quality on a relatively large scale in these two countries and that a greater level of state intervention is necessary to maintain workforce well-being and economic sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]