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Objective To investigate the associations of disease duration and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody (ACPA) status with the effectiveness of abatacept in biologic-naïve patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) Methods We performed post-hoc analyses of the ORIGAMI study of biologic-naïve RA patients aged ≥20 years with moderate disease activity who were prescribed abatacept. Changes in Simplified Disease Activity Index (SDAI) and Japanese Health Assessment Questionnaire (J-HAQ) at 4, 24, and 52 weeks of treatment were analysed in patients divided according to ACPA serostatus (positive/negative), disease duration ( Results SDAI scores decreased from baseline in all groups. SDAI scores trended to decrease more in the ACPA-positive group and disease duration Conclusion These results suggest that starting abatacept within 1 year of diagnosis was associated with greater effectiveness of abatacept in biologic-naïve patients with RA and moderate disease activity.

This study examines how population aging affects household energy consumption, first presenting a theoretical framework to assess three effects of population aging on household energy consumption: the pure aging effect, the cohort effect, and the family structure effect. An empirical model is constructed to investigate these three effects based on Japanese households’ micro-level energy consumption data from 1989 to 2014. Elderly people tend to secure physical comfort at home in summer and winter, resulting in increased energy consumption, known as the pure aging effect. Our analysis of this effect indicates that household energy consumption increased by about 12% from 1995 to 2015. The diverse energy use patterns of different generations associated with lifestyle preferences are referred to as the cohort effect. A less intensive energy consumption pattern is identified for cohorts of younger generations, confirming our hypothesis. Although economies of scale in household energy consumption are present, the size of Japanese households has decreased in the last several decades, which is called the family structure effect. The family structure effect is also confirmed. Household energy consumption increased by about 16.6% from 1990 to 2015. These results strongly suggest a substantial impact of population aging on household energy consumption in the case of Japan.

If the pattern of appliance use varies between households, then we expect that appliance replacement cycle also varies between households. Although many studies identified early adopters of new energy-efficient products, few studies have examined households that have been using old energy-inefficient products and how their characteristics are associated with product replacement. In this study, we initially modify a survival function and develop an economic model to evaluate the impact of household characteristics on appliance replacement. We subsequently apply the model in microlevel data analysis from the Survey on Carbon Dioxide Emission from Households obtained from the Ministry of the Environment of Japan. We use information about age distribution of refrigerators (REFs) and examine how family size, household income, and age of household’s head affect the replacement cycle of REFs. Our empirical results reveal that (1) large-sized, (2) high-income, and (3) young households replace REFs more rapidly. These findings suggest that policies that encourage small-sized, elderly, and low-income households to replace old appliances are needed.

Consumers have responded negatively to agricultural products originating from the Fukushima prefecture after the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant incident. These consumers’ behavioural changes have caused substantial economic losses for the producers located in contaminated regions through reductions in market prices, consumption quantities and market shares. Remarkably, these losses are observed also for uncontaminated products, posing an opportunity for research in reputation damage. However, existing literature is very rare on empirical modeling of such losses. We utilise the Dixit–Stiglitz demand framework to derive a simple but efficient empirical model that uses market data to quantify reputation damage. This model estimates changes in the perceived quality of a product originating in contaminated regions in relation to those products originating from other competing regions. The model also measures subsequent loss in market share for those products grown in contaminated regions. In our application to Fukushima, results suggest that consumers’ valuation of peaches from Fukushima decreased dramatically (between 22.5% and 23.6%) in the year the nuclear accident occurred, but rapidly recovered in the following years. The results also show that the degree of impact varies across wholesale markets. Fukushima farmers lost about 13.1–18.9% of sales due to reputation damage. Estimates from our proposed models deliver meaningful information in the context of policy interventions such as transfer programmes financed by gainers to compensate reputation losses.

Previous studies have reported that households tend to not choose an energy-efficient appliance even if appropriate energy-saving information is provided. To identify the determinants of energy efficiency investment, we conducted a household survey in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Specifically, we collect product model information for the refrigerator that a household owns and calculate the yearly loss incurred from choosing a less efficient model. We then identify socioeconomic characteristics of households that are associated with these yearly losses. We find that wealthy households with many family members tend to purchase inefficient models. We also find that a house-renter with a high income is more likely to purchase an energy-inefficient model. A program targeted at such households could be effective for increasing energy savings in the residential sector.

To reduce the environmental burden, many countries are providing consumers with rebates for the purchase of eco-friendly products. Although such rebate programs increase the market share of eco-friendly products and can mitigate environmental problems, they may distort the replacement cycle of durable products. The Japanese government implemented two series of eco-car rebate programs between 2009 and 2012. In this paper, we analyze the mileage of used vehicles and assess whether the rebate programs distorted the vehicle replacement cycle. Our duration analysis reveals that people sold the vehicle with low mileage in the first eco-car period but kept the vehicle with high mileage before the second eco-car period came into play.

Objectives To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of abatacept over 52 weeks in biologic-naïve rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with moderate disease activity in the prospective, 5-year, observational study (ORIGAMI study) in Japan. Methods Abatacept (125 mg) was administered subcutaneously once a week. Clinical outcomes included Simplified Disease Activity Index (SDAI) remission at Week 52 (primary endpoint), Japanese Health Assessment Questionnaire (J-HAQ), EuroQol 5-Dimension Questionnaire (EQ-5D), treatment retention, and safety. The results were compared with those of conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (csDMARD) controls from the ongoing Institute of Rheumatology, Rheumatoid Arthritis (IORRA) registry. Results Overall, 325 patients were enrolled, with a mean age of 66.9 ± 12.7 years. The proportion of patients achieving SDAI remission (≤3.3) at Week 52 was 18.9% (95% CI: 14.3–23.6) and low disease activity (≤11) was 53.3% (95% CI: 47.4–59.1). A significant improvement was observed in J-HAQ and EQ-5D over 52 weeks in both the abatacept and csDMARD groups. The probability of abatacept treatment retention at Week 52 was 69.9% (95% CI: 64.7–75.5). Adverse events and serious adverse events were reported in 50.0% and 12.1% of patients, respectively. Conclusions Abatacept significantly improved disease activity, physical disability, and quality of life for up to 52 weeks in RA patients in a real-world setting.

For the mechanical structures, noise and vibration is generated during operation, which may give damage to the machine itself and inferior effects to the environments. Therefore, it is strongly demanded to reduce the vibration of mechanical structures. Accuracy of the transfer path analysis (TPA) where the vibration contribution is expressed by the product of the frequency response function (FRF) and the excitation force depends on that of input identification. Therefore, the accuracy of the input identification needs to be improved. In this chapter, accuracy of the identified force estimated by matrix inversion method and that by apparent mass method are compared not only in the frequency domain but also in the time domain the effect of window functions on input identification is also verified.. The apparent mass method has been presented by one of the authors. And also, the input force identification for the rigid structure mounted on the elastic support is presented.

According to the analysis of inspection data accumulated, a tendency was found that damage was concentrated at the viaduct ends. The primary cause of the damage was leakage of water from expansion joints. In general, viaducts are repaired on a full-span basis. However, it is not efficient to perform a repair on the entire viaduct every time its end parts need to be repaired. Therefore, a strategic repair program focusing on the viaduct ends was planned and implemented. The viaduct end repair mainly consists of the repair of water leakage which is the main damage and the repair of corrosion which is the secondary damage. The study results showed that a high repair effect could be obtained by performing water sealing in combination with repainting. This paper will report the results of the damage analysis on the viaducts with the inspection data as well as the effect of the viaduct end repair.

Although Japan’s current carbon tax rate is much lower than the rates applied in European countries, the Japanese government may increase the tax rate in the near future, in order to strengthen measures to combat global warming. Since a country’s carbon-pricing policy does not distort its economy, it is considered to be an efficient policy measure. However, the burden of carbon pricing varies across regions and across households. Since low-income households generally allocate a larger proportion of their disposable income to energy costs than high-income households, the burden of carbon taxes on low-income households tends to be higher than for high-income households. In addition, households in cold regions spend more money for space heating, and those in rural areas spend more money for gasoline. Unless the government objectively analyzes the impact of carbon pricing and proposes convincing countermeasures to deal with these unequal impacts, the government is unlikely to obtain public support for a carbon tax increase. In this study, we analyze microlevel data from the Japanese National Survey of Family Income and Expenditure (NSFE) collected from 1989 to 2014, and examine how past energy price changes affected the welfare of different types of households. We then propose countermeasures to address the problems arising from the regressive nature of taxing energy use.

Compared to the industry sector, the progress of energy conservation of the household sector is very slow. It is because the household sector is more diverse than the industrial sector, and regulatory enforcement is much more difficult. The government can stop firms’ operation if their environmental burden is too heavy but cannot stop household’s activities. Therefore, the government needs to find energy conservation policies that are supported by the public. Like other countries, the Japanese government has introduced various energy conservation measures to reduce the energy usage from households for the past several decades. It has introduced energy efficiency standards for energy-consuming durables and provided subsidies to promote energy-efficient products in recent years. At the same time, it has raised the price of energy in order to provide households with an appropriate incentive to conserve. In addition, it has promoted renewable energy usage in the household sector. Facing climate change, the Japanese government has not introduced energy conservation measures systematically but rather on an ad hoc basis. In this chapter, we review energy conservation measures implemented in the household sector in Japan. We then make policy recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of energy conservation measures in the household sector.

Many countries have introduced various policies to improve the energy efficiency of home appliances. Japan introduced the Top Runner Program in 1998 to set efficiency standards for major home appliances. Although the energy efficiency of home appliances significantly improved after the implementation of the program, household electricity consumption has also increased. Using micro-level data from the National Survey of Family Income and Expenditure, we conduct conditional demand analysis to show how energy savings have been lost after the Top Runner Program. We find that households began spending more electricity on space cooling and food preservation after the implementation of the program. Although electricity consumption per air conditioner (AC) has decreased, the number of ACs per household has increased. Conversely, electricity consumption per refrigerator (REF) has increased because households have started buying bigger REFs. The energy savings obtained by the Top Runner Program was lost by the size and stock increases of home appliances. If a household increases the size and stock of home appliances, then it will not be possible to reduce the household electricity consumption by simply improving the energy efficiency of appliances.

The Japanese government has introduced a subsidy program called the “Eco-car program” between 2009 and 2012. In this study, we apply a nested logit model to micro-level data on vehicle selection from the National Survey of Family Income and Expenditure in order to identify the types of households that switched from conventional gasoline vehicles to hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) using this subsidy program. Our analyses demonstrate that more higher-income households that used compact gasoline vehicles (CGVs) prior to the Eco-car program made a drastic switch to HEVs using the subsidy than those that used regular gasoline vehicles (RGVs). Furthermore, the results suggest that households' decision-making processes on vehicle selection have changed as consumers began choosing their vehicles more flexibly after the subsidy program. These findings suggest that subsidy programs did not only contribute to the promotion of energy-saving products, but also to the generalization of consumers’ product selection.

Recycling is time consuming and the time available for housework may determine the intensity of recycling activities. In this study, we conducted a survey of 546 Japanese households and asked them their daily practice of five varieties of recycling activities: (1) choice of refill products, (2) use of own shopping bags, (3) sorting of recycled papers from burnable waste, (4) use of own drinking bottles when going out, and (5) use of recycle boxes prepared at the grocery store. We also asked households to record their behavior for two successive days. By combining recycling activity data and diary data, we estimate a multivariate probit model to empirically examine whether time available for housework determines the intensity of five varieties of recycling activities. The empirical result demonstrates that an individual that can allocate sufficient time for housework tends to purchase refill products. He or she also tends to bring their own shopping bags for grocery shopping. We also find that the size of house and the number of family members determine the likelihood of recycling. A housewife living with many family members in a large house is more likely to engage in time-consuming recycling activities.

The promotion of energy-efficient appliances is necessary to reduce the energetic and environmental burden of the household sector. However, many studies have reported that a typical consumer underestimates the benefits of energy-saving investment on the purchase of household electric appliances. To analyze this energy-efficiency-gap problem, many scholars have estimated implicit discount rates that consumers use for energy-consuming durables. Although both hedonic and choice models have been used in previous studies, a comparison between the two models has not yet been made. This study uses point-of-sale data about Japanese residential air conditioners and estimates implicit discount rates with both hedonic and choice models. Both models demonstrate that a typical consumer underinvests in energy efficiency. Although choice models generally estimate a lower implicit discount rate than hedonic models, the latter models estimate the values of other product characteristics more consistently than choice models.

Municipal solid waste (MSW) management is a system involving multiple sub-systems that typically require demanding inputs, materials and resources to properly process generated waste throughput. For this reason, MSW management is generally one of the most expensive services provided by municipalities. In this paper, we analyze the Japanese MSW management system and estimate the cost elasticity with respect to the waste volumes at three treatment stages: collection, processing, and disposal. Although we observe economies of scale at all three stages, the collection cost is less elastic than the disposal cost. We also examine whether source separation at home affects the cost of MSW management. The empirical results show that the separate collection of the recyclable fraction leads to reduced processing costs at intermediate treatment facilities, but does not change the overall waste management cost. Our analysis also reveals that the cost of waste management systems decreases when the service is provided by private companies through a public tender. The cost decreases even more when the service is performed under the coordination of adjacent municipalities.

Research on the energy-efficiency gap in developing countries remains very scant. In this study, we apply the hedonic price model to investigate how Vietnamese consumers value the energy efficiency of air conditioners (ACs). We assume that the energy efficiency of ACs in the Vietnamese market improves to that of ACs in the Japanese market. Then, we calculate the payback period by dividing the capital cost to improve the energy efficiency by the annual electricity cost saving. We show that the initial investment cost can be recovered in a short time. In addition, we calculate the implicit discount rate to show how Vietnamese consumers value energy efficiency investment. We find that the implicit discount rate in Vietnam's AC market is much higher than the rates found in studies on developed countries. Hence, consumers in developing countries place much lower value on energy efficiency investment than consumers in developing countries, even though purchasing energy-efficient appliances offers opportunities to save substantial amounts.

Despite the rapid market penetration of hybrid vehicles (HVs), their usage and contributions to environmental protection have not been examined by vehicle traveling data. In this paper, we analyzed Japan’s used car market data to understand how HVs are used on the street. We find GV drivers with high travel demand switched from GVs to HVs during the transition period. Despite HV owners driving much longer distances than conventional gasoline vehicle (GV) owners, they emit less carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions, owing to better fuel economy. We also find that HV owners spend roughly the same amount of money annually as GV owners. However, the per-kilometer travel cost of HVs is much lower than that of GVs even if the depreciation cost of the vehicle and vehicle related taxes are included in the analysis.

Although both appliance ownership and usage patterns determine residential electricity consumption, it is less known how households actually use their appliances. In this study, we conduct conditional demand analyses to break down total household electricity consumption into a set of demand functions for electricity usage, across 12 appliance categories. We then examine how the socioeconomic characteristics of the households explain their appliance usage. Analysis of micro-level data from the Nation Survey of Family and Expenditure in Japan reveals that the family and income structure of households affect appliance usage. Specifically, we find that the presence of teenagers increases both air conditioner and dishwasher use, labor income and nonlabor income affect microwave usage in different ways, air conditioner usage decreases as the wife's income increases, and microwave usage decreases as the husband's income increases. Furthermore, we find that households use more electricity with new personal computers than old ones; this implies that the replacement of old personal computers increases electricity consumption.

Although hundreds of thousands of organic products are traded on a daily basis, it is less known how imported organic products are evaluated by consumers in an importing country. The paper analyzes Japanese wine point of sale (POS) data to examine whether consumers differentiate between local and imported organic products. The results of our hedonic analyses show that the premium for imported organic red (white) wines is about 42.996 % (8.872 %) while that for domestic red (white) organic wines is about 6.440 % (1.214 %), implying that Japanese consumers pay higher premiums for imported organic agricultural products than for those produced in Japan.

Differences in the adoption of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) across households have not been fully investigated. Using the microlevel data of Japanese households, we identify the determinants of LED adoption. We take two approaches in the empirical analysis. In the first approach, we define the adoption stage of each household based on whether LEDs are installed in different types of rooms. We then analyze the relationship between the adoption stage and household characteristics based on the ordered logit model. In the second approach, we apply the item response theory method to assess the household’s ability to adopt LEDs. We then analyze the relationship between household adaptability and characteristics based on the two-sided truncation model. We find that the impacts of household characteristics on LED adoption are similar between the two approaches: low-income households do not use LEDs; household heads aged 65 to 74 are active in LED installation, although those older than 75 are less active; people living in old or rented houses do not use LEDs. Finally, we find a large variation in LED installation across prefectures.

Previous studies revealed that preferences for environmental policies differ among individuals, and the practice of pro-environmental activities varies considerably. If such heterogeneities exist, one natural question arises. How are preferences for environmental policies characterized? To answer this question, we analyze micro-level data from the 2002 Japanese General Social Survey (JGSS). JGSS is a nationwide survey and includes both sociodemographic information and respondents opinions on a variety of issues. In the 2002 survey, respondents were asked about their practices with respect to six types of waste management activities. We apply a Graded Response Model (GRM) to gauge the level of difficulty in engaging in these activities. Subsequently, we examine whether ideological orientation or trust in society determine the waste management ability of respondents, based on a two-sided truncation model. The empirical results demonstrate that neither ideological orientation nor trust in society influence the waste management ability of respondents. In contrast, we find that the demand for better environmental conditions influences waste management ability, and respondents who consider the government's environmental protection to be insufficient spend time on waste management activities. We also found that people who spend time on volunteer activities are also likely to spend time on waste management efforts.

For the last several decades, governments have implemented various energy conservation measures aimed at reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector. Among these measures, the spread of next-generation vehicles as an immediate policy goal has been particularly emphasized in recent years. By implementing subsidy programs for a limited period of time, governments try to influence the behavior of households that have not previously considered purchasing the products that have desirable properties. However, no literature has yet identified the households that switched from conventional gasoline vehicles to HVs. In this study, we compare the vehicle choice between three sampling periods (before/during/after the Eco-Car rebate program) and examine whether the rebate program changed the customer base of HVs.For the empirical analysis, we use micro-level data from the Japanese National Survey of Family Income and Expenditure (NSFE), which was collected in 2009 and 2014. NSFE collects data on households? socioeconomic characteristics, such as income/expenditure, savings/liabilities, and ownership of durable goods, as well as information related to houses, such as dwelling characteristics and site area. In addition, NSFE also collects vehicle-related information such as the number of vehicles owned, the year of purchase of each vehicle, and the type of vehicle.The empirical results by multinomial logit analysis demonstrate that the likelihood of HV selection increased substantially during the program period and remained at a high level after the program ended. We also find that households with large net wealth purchased HVs during the Eco-Car program period. Finally, we find that households having a higher income used to purchase HVs earlier. However, income has come to play a less important role in the choice between a HV and SGV after the end of the Eco-Car program.