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When toilet paper disappeared from store shelves across Japan in November 1973, the housewives who searched their neighborhood markets and stood in long lines for the scarce packs were described as unwitting perpetrators of a "toilet paper panic." The word "panic" evoked well-established notions of a social frenzy, irrational and overwrought. This article overturns a conception of panic laden with condescension and adopts, instead, a more empathetic approach to examining why a run on toilet paper and other daily necessities occurred in late 1973, and why it resonated so deeply across Japan as a "panic." In the broader context of the early 1970s, the toilet paper scare and its characterization as a "panic" can be understood as responses to sweeping and multifaceted economic challenges that destabilized daily life and threatened to upend middle-class lifestyles. After more than fifteen years of high economic growth, that sense of middle-class comfort and security was shaken by shortages and inflation as well as mounting evidence of government ineptitude and corporate profiteering. Buffeted by insecurity and uncertainty, Japanese "middle-classness" as both an experience and an ideal had never seemed as vulnerable as it did in the early 1970s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of mass screening of newborns for congenital hypothyroidism of central origin (CH-C) by measurement of free thyroxine (FT4) and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH). Design: Questionnaire-based survey of CH-C patients born between 1999 and 2008 in Kanagawa prefecture, Japan. Methods: TSH and FT4 levels in dried blood spots on filter paper were measured using ELISA kits, and CH-C was diagnosed at FT4 levels below a cutoff of 0.7 ng/dl (9.0 pmol/l). Survey results were collated with the database created by the screening organizer Results: Twenty-four CH-C patients (18 males) were identified, 14 of whom had multiple pituitary hormone deficiencies (group M), eight had isolated CH-C (group I), and two had undetermined pituitary involvement (group U). In groups M, I, and U, the number of patients with FT4 levels below the cutoff value at screening was five (36%), seven (88%), and one (50%) respectively; other patients had been diagnosed clinically. Thus, 13 patients were true positives, while nine were false negatives, yielding screening sensitivity of 59.1% and positive predictive value of 11.5%. The calculated sensitivity was 81.8% at a higher cutoff value of 0.9 ng/dl (11.6 pmol/l). The overall incidence of CH-C was estimated at 1 in 30 833 live births, while that of CH of thyroidal origin (CH-T) is 1 in 3472 live births in Kanagawa prefecture (CH-T/CH-C, 8.9). Conclusions: Newborn screening with combined FT4 and TSH measurements can identify a significant number of CH-C patients before manifestation of clinical symptoms, but a more appropriate FT4 cutoff value should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study looks at the state of collaboration in scientific research between universities and industries in Japan by measuring the level of coauthorship of academic publications. The analysis is based on data retrieved from the databases of the National Citation Report for Japan, which was produced by Thomson Scientific (ISI) and included papers published from 1981 to 2003, and the Citation Database for Japanese Papers, which was produced by the National Institute of Informatics, Japan, and included papers published from 1995 to 2004. It is revealed that there is a large 'perception gap' between industries and universities concerning their collaborations. The situation, trends and characteristics of industry-university collaborations are investigated and discussed from international and national perspectives. The disciplinary and regional differences in such collaborations are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information about the monetary changes that influenced Japan's economic conditions from 1871 to 1897. It discusses the adoption of gold standard in 1871, influence of Satsuma Rebellion in 1877 on paper currency, and changes in the value of silver against gold, in Japan. The base of the modern monetary system traces its foundation in the government ordinance issued in 1869. The ordinance was aimed at establishing a mint in Osaka to coin yen. It is told that the restoration in 1868 led to low quality currency paper in the country.

This paper explores disability disadvantage in Japanese society by analyzing the structure of people's perceptions. Following in part the occupational prestige ranking, a random-sampled postal survey conducted in 2018 in the Southern Kanto District of Japan measured the extent to which respondents thought 33 different bodily conditions were an impediment to aspects of social life (e.g. work, school, and marriage) on a six-point scale. There were 248 valid cases (24.8%) out of the sample of 1,000 persons. Based on the mean scores for each bodily condition, physical and sensory conditions ranked high, psychiatric conditions ranked in the intermediate range, and disfigurements ranked low, as confirmed by multidimensional scaling using Euclidean distance. Alternatively, based on correlations of response patterns as similarity, some clusters of disability types emerged: physical/mental incapacity, mental/physical disorders, and disfigurement. These results indicate the residual social disadvantage for some disability types according to perception in Japan, while suggesting diversity among disabilities both quantitatively and qualitatively. The latter point also implies different corporal meanings attached to different aspects of body function and structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses several papers from the Topic Study group 9 (TSG9) that are published within the issue including one by Khoon Yoong Woon about the courses being offered to teachers in Brunei to link mathematics to science and another by Hironori Osawa on the connection between mathematics and physical education in a secondary school in Japan.

The action-oriented approach (AoA) is a powerful basis to inform teaching, learning, and assessment in the classroom that identifies learners as social agents and focuses on language learning through language use. This paper answers the call for developments that help teachers teach and learners learn in an AoA-informed way. We argue that cognitive discourse functions (CDFs) align with AoA, helping to develop learner thinking by focusing on the learners' use of language. We complement our conceptual discussion referring to the process of developing a self- and peer-assessment tool informed by AoA and CDFs and the initial application of this tool in an advanced academic writing course in a Japanese university with B1 and B2 level students. We discuss how this tool can guide learners' understanding of their writing process and fosters learners' responsibility for deciding how they mobilize their linguistic resources to express particular language functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I would like to congratulate the Journal of Biochemistry (JB) on its 100th anniversary. I served as the Editor-in-Chief for four years starting in 2010 and succeeded Dr Naoyuki Taniguchi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extensive research investigates how immigration shapes natives' anti-immigrant sentiment. However, several areas require further scrutiny. This paper explores how processes of immigration affect anti-immigrant sentiment in a new immigration destination country—Japan—drawing on longitudinal data to examine these processes over time and explicitly testing the mechanisms of perceived threat and intergroup contact posited to underpin this relationship. Through this analysis, the paper aims to: examine how generalizable the immigrant share/immigration attitudes theoretical framework is to non-Western societies; refine our understanding of the mechanisms underpinning this relationship; and more robustly test its causal assumptions. To pursue these aims, the study draws on two sets of nationally representative Japanese data, designed to generate complementary insights, including: four waves of longitudinal panel data (2008–2014) and a unique cross-sectional dataset containing measures of perceived threat and contact. Applying multilevel and fixed-effects panel data approaches, the findings demonstrate that as immigration increases in Japanese prefectures and municipalities, residents become increasingly averse toward immigration (although there is some evidence of non-linearity at the municipality level, with sentiment improving again in high immigrant share environments). This overall relationship appears largely driven by two competing processes. In higher immigrant share environments, perceived threat is higher, increasing anti-immigrant sentiment. However, concurrently, intergroup contact also increases in these environments, reducing anti-immigrant sentiment. Therefore, despite the overall negative relationship (driven primarily by perceived threat), rising contact exerts a countervailing positive effect as immigration increases. Taken together, this research demonstrates that theories of attitudinal-change with higher immigration, developed within Western-contexts, also appear salient for newer destination, non-Western societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

KAGRA, the kilometer-scale underground gravitational-wave detector, is located at Kamioka, Japan. In April 2020, an astrophysics observation was performed at the KAGRA detector in combination with the GEO 600 detector; this observation operation is called O3GK. The optical configuration in O3GK is based on a power-recycled Fabry–Pérot–Michelson interferometer; all the mirrors were set at room temperature. The duty factor of the operation was approximately 53%, and the displacement sensitivity was approximately 1 × 10−18  |${\rm m}/\sqrt{\rm {Hz}}$| at 250 Hz. The binary-neutron-star (BNS) inspiral range was about 0.6 Mpc. The contributions of various noise sources to the sensitivity of O3GK were investigated to understand how the observation range could be improved; this study is called a "noise budget". According to our noise budget, the measured sensitivity could be approximated by adding up the effect of each noise. The sensitivity was dominated by noise from the sensors used for local controls of the vibration isolation systems, acoustic noise, shot noise, and laser frequency noise. Further, other noise sources that did not limit the sensitivity were investigated. This paper provides a detailed account of the KAGRA detector in O3GK, including interferometer configuration, status, and noise budget. In addition, strategies for future sensitivity improvements, such as hardware upgrades, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new in-vivo counting system that functions as both a whole-body counter (WBC) and a lung counter (LC) was developed at the QST to enhance its dose assessment capability. This paper presents an overview of this system and the results of its performance tests. For use of the system as a WBC, three high purity germanium (HPGe) detectors installed in a 20-cm-thick iron shielding chamber are linearly arrayed over a subject lying on the bed, whereas two of the three HPGe detectors are placed over the subject's chest from side to side when using the system as an LC. The new in-vivo system was calibrated using three de-facto phantoms owned by the QST: an adult-male BOttle Manikin ABsorption (BOMAB) phantom, a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) phantom and a Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) phantom. Monte Carlo simulations were also performed to determine an optimum location for the three detector array in the WBC mode and revealed that the peak efficiency for the BOMAB phantom (662 keV) was little varied as long as the middle detector was placed above the thorax and abdomen parts of the phantom. The calculated peak efficiencies agreed well with the observed peak efficiencies for photons with energies over 100 keV. For lung counting, a tentative Minimum Detectable Activity of 241Am was evaluated as 9.5 Bq for a counting time of 30 minutes, and a Japanese male subject with an average chest wall thinness (2.27 cm). The developed system is now ready for use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we explore the use of seismicity data on a single-station basis in site response characterization. We train a supervised deep-learning model, SeismAmp, to recognize and separate seismic site response with reference to seismological bedrock (VS  = 3.45 km s−1) in a broad frequency range (0.2–20 Hz) directly from single-station earthquake recordings (features) in Japan. Ground-truth data are homogeneously created using a classical multistation approach—generalized spectral inversion at a total number of 1725 sites. We demonstrate that site response can be reliably separated from single-station seismograms in an end-to-end approach. When SeismAmp is tested at new sites in both Japan (in-domain) and Europe (cross-domain), it achieves the lowest standard deviation among all tested single-station techniques. We also find that horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio (HVSR) is not the optimal use of single-station recordings. The individual components of each record carry salient information on site response, especially at high frequencies. However, part of the information is lost in HVSR. SeismAmp could lead to improved site-specific earthquake hazard prediction in cases where recordings are available or can be collected at target sites. It is also a convenient tool to remove repeatable site effects from ground motions, which may benefit other applications, for example, improving the retrieval of seismic source parameters. Finally, SeismAmp is trained on data from Japan, future studies could explore transfer learning for practical applications in other regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes different forms of ownership across countries and how these forms influence the way companies are governed. In most stock markets in the world, listed companies frequently have a controlling shareholder, usually a family. However, Japan, the UK, and to a lesser extent the US, are exceptions. In these three countries, ownership is frequently highly fragmented, where share stakes are held by different institutional owners, including asset managers, both active and passive, and by shareholder activists. The paper focuses in particular on the governance structure of different institutional shareholders, how they engage with target firms, and their effectiveness. The paper concludes with recommendations for regulators to enhance different forms of ownership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the making of university and industry research collaboration from the perspective of matching theory. Our analysis, based on an original survey in Japan, aims at identifying the mechanism of matching. The major findings are as follows. There is significant evidence for positive assortative matching at the project level: a researcher with better seeds or better needs gives a higher value to the partner's research capability and the goodness-of-fit between the project and the partner's capability in selecting its partner. The projects with the partners selected for research capability and goodness-of-fit are associated with high university and industry research collaboration performance. Furthermore, own contact is most used for positive assortative matching. These results indicate the importance of deep field knowledge and tacit knowledge of the researcher in the search process. These findings suggest that technology transfer policy would need to pay significant attention to the contribution of the decentralized matching process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peak ground acceleration (PGA) is a key parameter used in earthquake early warning systems to measure the ground motion strength and initiate emergency protocols at major projects. The traditional P -wave peak displacement-dependent PGA prediction model (Pd-PGA model) tends to underestimate the PGA for large earthquakes because it cannot make full use of the fault continuity rupture information hidden in the time-varying process of ground motion. In this paper, a continuous PGA prediction long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network model is proposed. The model takes eight sequential features of stations that are proxies of the energy and other physical parameters as input and provides the recorded PGA at the station as the target output. A total of 5961 records from 119 earthquakes recorded by the Japanese Strong-Motion Earthquake Network (K-NET) in Japan are used to train the neural network and 3433 records from 73 earthquakes are used as the test set to verify the model's generalization ability. The results show that within the same data set, the residuals of the predicted PGA for the proposed model are smaller than those of the Pd-PGA model and that the problem of PGA underestimation is resolved. The prediction accuracy also improves with increasing sequence length, which indicates that the LSTM neural network learns the rules hidden in the time series. To further verify the model's generalization ability, the model performance is analyzed for an M 7.3 earthquake that was not included in the training or test data sets. The results show that the residuals of the predicted PGA for the event are consistent with those for the test data set, indicating that the model has good generalization ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recovery of ground displacements from strong motion accelerographs alone is still performed in an empirical way. This paper starts with a theoretical description of strong motion instruments. Then, based on observations from the non-tilt 2-D shake table tests, this paper proposes a baseline correction procedure with a cumulative correction pattern. The procedure is validated by recorded displacements of the shake tables. The paper also extends the baseline correction procedure to deal with 3-D strong motions by introducing a tilt correction pattern. The results from the proposed baseline correction procedure are compared with those from an existing empirical baseline correction procedure as well as nearby GPS measurements. The accuracy of the proposed procedure is studied considering 41 accelerographs and the corresponding GPS stations that recorded the 2011 M w 9.0 Tohoku earthquake in Japan. We find that the corrected displacements from recorded accelerations alone are not always consistent with the GPS measurements. In this specific Tohoku event of which the primary direction of motion was eastward, the ground displacements derived from strong motion stations using the proposed baseline correction procedure achieve the best agreement in the east–west direction. Meanwhile, the proposed procedure is computationally efficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theories of corporate governance, as formulated by US researchers, typically rely on mechanisms of control such as monitoring by an independent board of directors and incentive alignment contracts to protect shareholder interests (e.g. Fama and Jensen, 1983a), dismissal of poorly performing CEOs (e.g. Fama, 1980) and discipline from financial markets including the threat of takeovers for underperforming firms (e.g. Jensen and Ruback, 1983). Firms are responsive to market forces and achieve efficiency through the mechanisms of corporate governance (e.g. Williamson, 1988). But how generally able is this theory in explaining the functioning of markets in nonUS settings such as Japan? This paper examines the applicability of current theories of corporate governance to Japan and highlights a number of important differences which may undermine the usefulness of US theories. Based on field research in Japan, this paper suggests that existing theory needs to be expanded to include uniquely Japanese mechanisms of informal networks of former government officials ('old boys') and the use of administrative guidance (gyōsei-shidō) as important control mechanisms that are ignored by US theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the reasons for the suboptimal fiscal–monetary policy mix in the euro area in the aftermath of the global financial crisis and ways in which the status quo can be improved. A comparison of fiscal and monetary policy and of economic outcomes in the euro area, the United States and Japan suggests that both fiscal and monetary policies in the euro area have been overly tight. Fiscal policy has been hampered by the institutional framework which constrains individual states and lacks instruments to secure an appropriate aggregate stance. Monetary policy has been hampered by the distributional effects of balance sheet policies which needed to be adopted at the zero lower bound and by discretionary decisions taken before the crisis such as the reliance on credit rating agencies for determining collateral eligibility for monetary operations. The compromising of the 'safe asset' status of euro area sovereign debt during the crisis complicated fiscal and monetary policies. Changes in the discretionary decisions governing the implementation of monetary policy in the euro area can potentially reduce the distributional effects of policy and improve the fiscal–policy mix and longer-term prospects for the euro area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the political underrepresentation of people with disabilities in the Japanese Diet and the conditions that allow their participation in the body. The paper addresses the following three research questions: (a) how are people with disabilities represented in contemporary Japan and the EU member states, and what are the differences between them?; (b) why have people with disabilities been underrepresented in Japan? and (c) how do candidates with disabilities but lacking typical political careers become members of the Diet? This paper further discusses the electoral system, political parties' attitudes toward people with disabilities, social and community participation of people with disabilities, and political culture as factors that affect minority groups' participation in the Japanese Diet. Key findings: (a) a comparison with EU member states shows that the underrepresentation of people with disabilities in parliamentary bodies is a common issue; (b) people with disabilities are less involved in traditional political communities and society in general, which hampers their participation in the parliament and (c) in the immediate postwar period disabled Diet members were mainly wounded people with typical political careers, but from the 1990s onwards disabled people without typical political careers became Diet members. Moreover, the proportional electoral system and political parties' stronger commitment to include candidates with disabilities facilitated the increase in disabled membership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japan has the world's most aged population. To examine this aging population from a theoretical perspective of social stratification, we focused on household structure, income structure, and economic well-being, including both disposable income and savings. Two main topics are discussed in this paper: first, the relationship between the aging population and income inequality, focusing on changes in household structure and income structure; and second, the level of economic well-being in old age (when the relationship to the labor market becomes blurred) considering individuals' previous work life. I analyzed two survey datasets: the Comprehensive Survey of People's Living Conditions, conducted by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare since the mid-1980s, and the 2015 National Survey of Social Stratification and Social Mobility. These analyses confirmed that the change in household structure (more elderly heads of household) explains the growth of income inequality since the mid-1980s. While income inequality among households with working-age heads increased, its impact was limited to an overall increase in income inequality due to declining household size. On the other hand, income inequality among households with older heads was largely explained by market income, and this scenario has not changed for the past 30 years. The level of economic well-being among older adults was determined by age, marital status, educational credentials, and work situation at age 50 for both genders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his government have implemented bold defence, diplomatic and economic policies against the challenges to the status quo order posed by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and increased Chinese assertiveness. What do these policies unveil about Japan's strategy and response to the transformed strategic environment? This article argues that the Kishida government has upgraded Japan to a front-line guardian of the status quo order. To achieve its front-line role, the Kishida government has consolidated Japan's deterrence policy, namely focusing on two main pillars—military and rules. To ensure Japan's frontline role is sustainable, this policy paper makes three recommendations: Japan must develop strategic clarity and clear operational plans on how to respond to a regional contingency, such as the Taiwan Strait; Japan must resolve domestic problems that prevent the increase in defence spending to 2 per cent in the period to 2027. Japan's role as a front-line state to protect the status quo order is very much dependent on the availability of resources that would be provided by this increase in defence spending; Japan should re-energize its efforts towards east Asia through a sustained diplomatic, economic and security means. This is important in securing support for Japan's preferred vision of regional and global order from not only like-minded partners and friends in east Asia, but also China. Japan's approach should underscore how the extant status quo order benefits all states, including China, especially in terms of spreading economic prosperity, development and connectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We observed a stellar occultation by (3200) Phaethon, which occurred in western Japan on 2021 October 3 (UTC). This observation was requested by the DESTINY+ mission team, which plans to conduct a flyby of asteroid Phaethon in 2028. Overall, this research effort contributes towards a large-scale observation campaign with a total of 72 observers observing from western Japan to southern Korea. 36 stations were established, and stellar occultation by the asteroid Phaethon was detected in 18 of them. This is the first time that this many multiple chord observations have been made for such a small asteroid (it has a diameter of 5–6 km). Observational reductions show that the apparent cross-section of Phaethon at the time of the occultation could be approximated using an ellipse with a major diameter of 6.12 ± 0.07 km and a minor diameter of 4.14 ± 0.07 km, and a position angle of 117.°4 ± 1.°5. As can be seen from the small error bars of the fitted ellipse, we have succeeded in estimating the shape and size of the asteroid with an extremely high degree of accuracy. Our observation results, together with other observations, will be used to create a 3D model of Phaethon and to improve its orbit. The instruments that we used for this observation are commonly used by many amateur astronomers in Japan for occultation observations and are not difficult to obtain. This paper describes the method and results of our observations using a CMOS camera and a GPS module, so that many people can participate in occultation observations in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What shapes preferences for income redistribution? Studies find that social identification plays an important role. In this paper, I argue that in-group favoritism generated through income proximity and out-group discrimination stemming from a nation/foreigner cleavage affect redistribution preference. Using data from a survey experiment with 4,002 Japanese citizens, I examined whether priming the poor as recipients of public assistance (or Seikatsu Hogo) generates more (less) support for income redistribution among the poor (the wealthier) and whether priming foreigners as public assistance recipients decreases support for redistribution. Analyses reveal that respondents with annual household income of 5–10 million yen negatively respond to the treatment priming the poor as public assistance recipients. Results also indicate that priming foreigners as public assistance recipients decreases support for redistribution. These findings corroborate previous research that finds evidence from North America and Europe. Analyzing a sample from Japan offers the external validity because the recent rise in income disparity in Japan involves unique characteristics including pauperization of low-income groups without enriching the wealthy. A rapid increase in the inflow of immigrants to Japan necessitates the need to study how Japanese people shape their redistribution preference in response to a growing number of foreign residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tōjisha research is a methodology intended to help psychiatric patients through dialogue. It was introduced in the context of community care in Bethel House (Hokkaido, Japan) in the early 2000s and later spread to other parts of Japan as well as abroad because of its originality and apparent therapeutic success. It offers patients a framework to investigate their own problems, symptoms, and delusions and to build a discourse around them. In this paper, I present a short account of tōjisha research and I put it in the context of current debates over the benefits and drawbacks of narrative medicine. I argue that there is an original conception of the self and of empowerment of patients in tōjisha research compared to other models of narrative medicine. Finally, I mobilize these original aspects to address some rebuttals of narrative medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cabinet scandals and minister resignations happen frequently in Japan. In recent years, political opponents and the mass media have approached such cases as occasions for pursuit of the prime minister’s ‘appointive responsibility’. Based on comprehensive source material since 1989 but focusing particularly on 2006–2012, this paper introduces appointive responsibility as an object of critical analysis. Emphasizing that the notion has distinct ideological implications, I pinpoint the rhetorical techniques and strategic rationale underlying appointive responsibility and show that the phenomenon operates in two logically opposed forms. The first form follows a causality principle and presents the prime minister as inappropriately ignorant. The second one operates according to a representative logic and revolves around inappropriate knowledge. Outlining and problematizing both forms, the paper analytically unravels key aspects of a new paradigm of executive leadership and responsibility in Japanese political discourse. The paper contributes to a better qualitative understanding of responsibility constructs in recent Japanese politics and delivers a focused critical examination of appointive responsibility as a key rhetorical vehicle for tapping into frustrated public expectations of political leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the potential of learner-initiated exploratory practice (EP), which encourages learners to set their own investigative agenda based on their curiosity-driven puzzles. A case study was conducted in a remedial course for undergraduate students at a university in Japan. Data included student puzzles, posters, and reflective questionnaires. Student investigations of their puzzles remind teachers and researchers of the affordances of learning from learners. The results suggested that, despite their previously disoriented attitudes towards learning English, this form of fully inclusive practitioner research, EP, provides learners with an opportunity to realize their curiosity and reinvigorate their motivation towards language learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the implementation of a language learning project in a Japanese EFL classroom in which the trigger, or motivational energy for involvement, came from interacting with English-speaking international students. The project provided a context to investigate the trajectory of one group's (three learners) sustained engagement across three tasks that formed the subgoals of the project. Data sources include learner diaries, engagement questionnaires, and transcripts of task conversations, which together were used to describe the level of engagement for each learner at key times throughout the project. The findings indicate that engagement is sustained by certain flow-like conditions during tasks (i.e. control, interest, challenge-skill balance), group cohesion among project members, and a growing focus on the long-term goal of the project. The results highlight project design features that teachers should consider when implementing projects with the purpose of engaging students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The digital economy continues to evolve in Japan and around the world. Big data and personal information have significant economic value and require appropriate legal protection for both information providers and users. Digital platforms, as online intermediaries, occupy a particularly important position in relation to the handling of such information. While digital platforms can greatly benefit society by accumulating and structuring large amounts of data from diverse markets, they can also be prone to the lock-in effect, resulting in monopolies or oligopolies due to network effects. Therefore, digital platforms can have a detrimental effect on individuals and society if they do not operate appropriately. Potential issues include a lack of transparency and fairness of transactions, distribution of infringing content, and the mishandling of data and personal information. Policymakers across the globe recognize these issues, and various regulatory measures have been proposed and implemented. In this paper, we outline how Japan regulates issues related to digital platforms and the digital economy, and highlight some nuances of the Japanese law by comparing it with corresponding European systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on the results of a survey we conducted on the Japanese public's attitudes toward astronomy. This survey was conducted via an online questionnaire, with 2000 responses received. Based on these data, we present what kind of interest the general public in Japan has in astronomy. We also conducted a questionnaire survey of those involved in communicating astronomy to the public, in order to examine how they differ from the general public. The results suggest that while there are clear differences between these groups in terms of their engagement in astronomy, there is also continuity between them when looking at their attributes in more detail. The data presented in this paper could help us to promote the communication of astronomy to the public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite rapid demographic decline, until recently, low-skilled migrant workers have been welcomed only through 'side-doors' such as technical interns (TITP). Yet pressure for change comes from two sides: the moral critique of the 'side-door' scheme, and the growing economic pressures of a dwindling labor force. In 2018 Japan put in place a short-term bona-fide labor scheme (Specified Skilled Worker; hereafter, SSW) in fields previously largely inaccessible to foreign labor. In combination with the TITP schemes, these workers are allowed to stay longer. But what do these changes mean, how do the farmer-employers see them, and will the SSW lead to a sustainable farm labor supply going forward? We explore stakeholders' views of the current schemes and their opinions on how low-skilled labor migration should proceed in agriculture. Businesses are desperate for labor, but not at any cost. Under SSW, employers are being asked to change the ways they envision and treat migrant labor. The tensions between their expectations and the realities on the ground reflect the contradictions that Japan's migration policies inherit, based in the bureaucratic fiction that only 'skilled' labor is necessary. Data for this paper come from qualitative interviews conducted from 2018 to 2022 in Kyoto, Aichi, and Tokyo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultural diversity has gained increased validation as a source of greater performance in the context of globalization. This paper examines whether there is an optimum number of foreign coworkers in order to maximize the perceived benefits and minimize the perceived threats of cultural diversity at work. Using a questionnaire survey of 572 Japanese, we found that for perceived benefits of cultural diversity at work, there is no difference between having zero or a token foreign coworker, while more foreign coworkers are associated with moderately higher perceived benefits. For perceived threats, there is a U-shaped relationship whereby interacting with zero or more than three foreign coworkers is linked to higher perceived threats compared to that of only a few foreign coworkers. Our findings reveal that in the Japanese context, interacting with about three foreign coworkers can maximize the perceived benefits while minimizing the perceived threats of cultural diversity in the workplace. Considering diversity in absolute rather than relative terms is an important contribution and implication for business and policy, as Japan and Japanese firms are increasingly dependent on globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does the Japanese public consider shared ancestry the most essential condition for inclusion of an individual as a member of their country's citizenry? This paper empirically assesses how the public in the ethnic nation views citizenship acquisition criteria. The originally conducted survey based on a conjoint format in Japan (2015) displays interesting results. Overall, Japanese people most heavily rely on the nationalities of parents in judging who qualifies as 'Japanese', confirming the contentions of previous works that highlight Japanese people's belief in a mono-ethnic Japan. More detailed statistical analyses further reveal that Japanese people consider ethnic heritage through the father as the most essential criterion while the mother's nationality and country of upbringing are also relevant. These results seem to reflect Japan's long-lasting beliefs in cultural homogeneity as well as patriarchal values, which are reinforced by a patrilineal tradition of citizenship. This research advances the discussion on how to classify citizenship features by disaggregating ethnic lineage into paternal and maternal lines. Furthermore, it suggests a reevaluation of Japan's institutional and social attachment to patrilineal ethnic heritage in order to ease multiple layers of discrimination posed against (particularly female) migrants and to realize a sound multiethnic society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses events in financial markets since the 2008 financial crisis in both the developed and the developing worlds, giving especial attention to the processes of 'financialisation'. Its main conclusion is that we are paying the price (a huge one) for two related phenomena. The first relates to the failure of economic theory since the 1970s, especially (although not only) of the mainstream type, to really take on board those developments in the world of international finance that 'did not fit in their models' (such as the 1970s stagflation; Volker's subsequent radical monetarist recession; the 'savings and loan' debacle following Reagan's financial liberalisation and deregulation―policies reinforced in the 1990s; the inability of both monetarists, and traditional Keynesian policies to revert Japan's 'lost decade'; and the 'endogenous' nature of the 2008 financial crisis). Basically, economic theory has failed to reinvent itself when needed as it did after the 1930s crash. The second, in turn, relates to the fact that rocketing the net worth of a few individuals was a rather odd way to reactivate fragile economies after the 2008 crisis and the 2020 pandemic. But when rentier agents were allowed to become 'too-large-to-be-challenged', it was likely that these newly (and artificially) created 'whales' would capture policy-making and take it in this direction―leaving the politicians and central bankers to tell stories explaining why the very rich should become the biggest welfare recipients of all time. As one group of Native Americans used to say, 'Those who are better at storytelling will dominate the world'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various articles within the issue on topics including government debt of Japan, effect of bank capital regulations on bank lending and firm borrowing in Great Britain and the TARGET2 eurozone electronic payments system.

This paper studies the intranational business cycle—that is the set of regional (prefectural) business cycles—in Japan. One reason for choosing to examine the Japanese case is that long time series of relatively detailed data are available. A Hodrick-Prescott filter is applied to identify cycles in annual data from 1955 to 1995 and bilateral cross-correlations of prefectural GDPs are calculated for all pairs of prefectures, in our results we find fairly high cross-correlations. The paper then turns to an econometric explanation of the cross-correlation coefficients in the augmented gravity model framework. Two prefectures with similar GDPs and a shorter distance between them lead to business cycle synchronization whilst those with larger regional gaps in factor endowments (capital, labour, and human capital) result in more idiosyncratic business cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates, by using a highly abstract evolutionary game model, the mechanism of evolution of different organizational conventions, as well as roles of free trade, integration, experiments, emulation and entrepreneurial foresight for exploring gains from organizational diversity. It focuses on an aspect of organization as a voluntary association of economic agents trying to overcome the bounds of their rationality, scope of action and competence, rather than as an 'instrument' for entrepreneurial maximizing behavior, and identifies two generic forms of organization as an information system. The paper concludes by discussing the relevance of the evolutionary game model for understanding actual organizational evolutionary processes in North America and Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores Chinese efforts to join the ranks of the East Asian developing economies of South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. It describes Chinese efforts to emulate the Japanese model of industrial management rather than American management schemes, and it notes the compatibilities between certain legacies of Maoist socialism in China's state enterprises and the Japanese model. In particular, the paper traces the development of the Chinese employment system in the state sector. Compatibilities include indications that the Chinese workers could become company men, that they prefer paternalistic managers, that their work responds to appreciation, and that they do not regard management and worker interests as necessarily conflictual. Granted the evolution of greater autonomy for Chinese state enterprises, the paper concludes that an organization-oriented system can develop within Chinese state enterprises and that a shift to a market economy need not be accompanied by a marketoriented employment system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citizen deliberations cannot be entirely isolated from their wider social, political and cultural context. The fact that particular deliberative mechanisms are based on sound theories does not mean that they will necessarily produce sound results in specific instances. Similarly, the fact that such mechanisms have been found to work well in practice in one social environment does not mean they will necessarily work equally well in another. Using a recent deliberation initiative in Japan, this paper addresses this important issue. It explores how the process of the Japanese consensus conference on genetically modified crops in 2000 was influenced by Japan's sociopolitical environment and how its outcomes challenged the established understanding of the policymaking process. The paper argues that the transfer of a particular policy process from one culture to another can result in a conflict of values between the process and its new social environment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do the policy preferences expressed through political participation represent the citizens as a whole? Previous studies argue that there is no ideological bias in voting participation in Japan. However, previous studies have only analyzed Japan up to 2010, and it is unclear whether ideological bias was consistently absent in voting participation in the 2010s. In the 2010s, ideological issues, such as the maintenance of nuclear power plants or the acceptance of collective self-defense, emerged in Japan, and the two major political parties, the Liberal Democratic Party and Democratic Party of Japan, became increasingly polarized. Considering these changes, the influence of ideology on political participation may be growing. Therefore, this paper examines the relationship between people's ideological positions and political participation using voter surveys conducted between 2001 and 2017. I find that since 2012, the more ideologically extreme Japanese voters are, the more they participate in voting. Furthermore, the same is true for other forms of participation. In general, the voices of ideologically moderate Japanese are becoming less represented by political parties and politicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For Japan—a country that has always been described with virtually no major natural resources such as oil, gas, and coal—the Middle Eastern region has a special place in its economic and foreign policy. In 2017, 39% of Japan's energy came from oil, and 87% of Japan's imported oil came from the Middle East, predominantly Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The above facts are enough to discern the critical significance of the Middle Eastern region for Japan. For Japan to have an unhindered supply of oil and other natural resources, it is pertinent that this region remains peaceful. In this scenario, the Middle East-related articles in Japan's newspapers can help understand Japan's perspective towards the Middle East. This paper would first apply the topic modelling approach non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) on Middle East-related articles from three newspapers of Japan. After discovering crucial topics, we would utilize traditional supervised machine learning algorithms to determine the overall and topic-specific sentiments from the collected headlines. Our topic modelling results discovered that the Japanese media widely reported issues like Islamic State, the refugee crisis, the Syrian civil war, Qasem Soleimani killing, and Iran nuclear deal. Further, the news related to Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Trump garnered high negative sentiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I discuss ways that Applied Linguistics literature on topics in academic and professional writing can be used in a multidisciplinary graduatelevel EAP class. I focus on three main uses: providing students with information about issues in academic and professional writing; helping them make comparisons of form and style with academic articles in their own fields; and serving as resources for common and formulaic expressions that can be incorporated into their own writing. The paper includes a discussion of the strengths and limitations of this approach in a foreign language setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Structural realists might reasonably predict that foreign policy elites in countries like Japan and Australia would view China's economic and military rise as a potential threat and seek to balance against it. However, the actual policy behaviour of Japanese and Australian policy elites has been quite complex—pushing forward at times, hesitating at others and generally uncertain if an explicit counter-coalition against China through bilateral security cooperation is the right policy path. Why is this? This paper explains the puzzle by focusing on the perceptions of policy-makers regarding the risk of provoking China; entrapment with the other; and entrapment with the United States. The paper demonstrates how policy-makers' concerns regarding entrapment or abandonment related to their mutual US ally—as well as concerns about potentially provoking China—have had an instrumental effect on the degree to which Japan and Australia have strengthened their security commitments to each other. While the rise of China—and the relative decline of US power—has shaped the overall direction of Japan–Australia security ties, such structural imperatives are of course also complicated by how domestic actors think about the tactical aspects of understanding and surviving these structural features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the historical origin and diffusion of management practices. Despite their centrality in modern world, the concepts of 'management' developed fairly recently. Only with the Industrial Revolution, due to the increased firm size, owners needed a management structure to coordinate activities across different plants. Management soon became the subject of numerous studies in economics, sociology, and psychology to maximize firm productivity. The first large-scale programme of management practices diffusion was developed in the US during the Second World War: offering such training to US firms involved in war production boosted their performance for at least 10 years. After the Second World War, the US exported its management principles to Europe, where they have large and persistent effects on small firm productivity, and to Japan, where they interacted with the local economic conditions and originated the 'kaizen Japanese management', which aims at 'continuous improvement' in firm performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article takes a look at the American attitudes toward Japan and China in 1937-38. The Chinese Cultural Society of New York published in October 1937 a reprint of 39 editorials from American papers on the Far Eastern crisis. The editor, M. Hsitien Lin wrote in the foreword "Of some 5,000 editorials which have been examined, there is none that justifies Japanese aggression or condemns Chinese resistance. In the American press Japan is almost universally treated as the aggressor and China as the victim in the undeclared war. As to American policy, the press generally favors neither extreme isolationism nor political entanglements or alliances, but a golden mean, whereby world peace, it is hoped, may be maintained." The present study is designed to test the validity of this impression as well as to test the utility of a method of attitude measurement by press sampling. It is impossible here to enter into a discussion of the relationship between beliefs as to facts and emotional attitudes such as are measured by the indices used, except to suggest that attitudes, which are at first accompanied by emotions, may in time become beliefs regarding "facts" which are taken for granted.

What determines people's preferences regarding trade policy? Existing studies have assumed that people consider trade policy merely trade politics; accordingly, these studies have focused on economic factors, such as benefits to individual or national welfare; ideational factors, such as xenophobia; or domestic political factors. This paper reveals that the international political factor of national security influences ordinary people's preferences for trade policy. While several studies have addressed the effect of the national security factor, they did not persuasively reveal the causal mechanism of the relationship between the national security factor and people's trade preferences. The present study conducted a factorial survey experiment to investigate the causal effect and the causal mechanism of the security factor on people's preferences regarding free trade agreements (FTAs). The results of the experiment conducted in Japan reveal that ordinary people consider the national security factor along the so-called realism path in forming their opinions regarding FTAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes an efficient approach to high-resolution time-reversal source imaging simulation. Dense seismograph network records are backpropagated from stations to the hypocentre through a 3-D subsurface structure model to estimate the initial source wavefield at the earthquake initiation time. By assimilating high-density observational data into the time-reversal wave propagation, a clearer source image can be determined, even for deep and distant earthquakes, than is achievable with conventional source imaging. The effectiveness of data-assimilation-based source imaging by a time-reversal wave propagation simulation with a 3-D heterogeneous structural model was demonstrated using recordings from a nationwide strong-motion seismograph network during the 2007 Off Niigata, Japan, M w 6.6 earthquake, and the 2007 Off Ibaraki, Japan, M w 6.8 earthquake. Such data-assimilated-based simulations are also effective for early forecasting of strong ground motions caused by large earthquakes through fast time-advancing simulations based on the current assimilated wavefield. We will discuss the feasibility of a disaster prevention system for the early forecasting of strong motion disasters due to large earthquakes, based on repeatedly estimating source parameters and forecasting strong motions in future time based on the current assimilated wavefields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbohydrates are the major source of dietary energy, but their role in health and disease remains controversial. Recent epidemiological evidence suggests that the increased consumption of carbohydrates is associated with obesity and increased risk of mortality and dietary trials show that carbohydrate restriction leads to weight loss and improved glycaemic status in obese and diabetic subjects. In contrast, the diets of populations with long and healthy lifespans (e.g. traditional Okinawans from Japan) are high in carbohydrate and low in protein, and several clinical and preclinical studies have linked low-carbohydrate–high-protein diets with increased mortality risk. In this paper we attempt to reconcile these contradictory findings by moving beyond traditional single-nutrient analyses to consider the interactions between nutrients on health outcomes. We do so using the Geometric Framework (GF), a nutritional modelling platform that explicitly considers the main and interactive effects of multiple nutrients on phenotypic characteristics. Analysis of human data by GF shows that weight loss and improved cardio-metabolic outcomes under carbohydrate restriction derive at least in part from reduced caloric intake due to the concomitantly increased proportion of protein in the diet. This is because, as in many animals, a specific appetite for protein is a major driver of food intake in humans. Conversely, dilution of protein in the diet leverages excess food intake through compensatory feeding for protein ('protein leverage'). When protein is diluted in the diet by readily digestible carbohydrates and fats, as is the case in modern ultra-processed foods, protein leverage results in excess calorie intake, leading to rising levels of obesity and metabolic disease. However, when protein is diluted in the diet by increased quantities of less readily digestible forms of carbohydrate and fibre, energy balance is maintained and health benefits accrue, especially during middle age and early late-life. We argue that other controversies in carbohydrate research can be resolved using the GF methodology in dietary studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews developments regarding the use of plasma-free amino acid (PFAA) profiles as biomarkers for detecting and predicting disease risk. This work was initiated and first published in 2006 and was subsequently developed by Ajinomoto Co. Inc. After commercialization in 2011, PFAA-based tests were adopted in over 1500 clinics and hospitals in Japan, and numerous clinician-led studies have been performed to validate these tests. Evidence is accumulating that PFAA profiles can be used for diabetes prediction and evaluation of frailty; in particular, decreased plasma essential amino acids could contribute to the pathophysiology of severe frailty. Integration of PFAA evaluation as a biomarker and effective essential amino acid supplementation, which improves physical and mental functions in the elderly, could facilitate the development of precision nutrition, including personalized solutions. This present review provides the background for the technology as well as more recent clinical findings, and offers future possibilities regarding the implementation of precision nutrition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the causal effect of the voluntary contributions of labour to local services, in the form of voluntary provision of daily care to the elderly, on elderly mortality. To identify the causal effect, I exploit the earthquake that occurred in mid-western Japan in 1995 as a natural experiment inducing exogenous variation in the level of contributions. Based on a comparison of mortality between the municipalities that recorded little or no loss of life due to the earthquake but experienced a sharp increase in the level of contributions, and the nearby municipalities that were not hit by the earthquake, I find that the voluntary provision of daily care to the elderly significantly reduced elderly mortality. A series of robustness checks and falsification exercises are conducted to confirm that the results are not driven by the direct effects of the earthquake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]