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This paper reviews and tests the hypotheses of the just fielded international research project COMPON (Comparing Climate Change Policy Networks) concerning factors affecting national variation in effectiveness of climate change countermeasures. The COMPON project presently includes 20 country cases under the current international post-Kyoto regime formation process. The degree of national concern -- knowledge of and risk assessment about global climate change among authorities, political actors and publics - will be the key proximate factor in the formation of effective national policy (H1). National concern will interact with the relative strength of pro and con advocacy alliances -- composed of policy actors (organizations and key persons): social movements, NGOs, business and labor organizations, scientific communities, media, political parties and government agencies from both national and international levels (H2). Standardized policy network and discourse analysis methods will provide data on national networks of climate change knowledge, ideology, reciprocity, political support, negotiation, normative templates, and power deference. These relational fields indicate the origins of alliance strength, national concern and policy outcomes. Specific national-unit hypotheses include: presence of stakeholder participation; legitimacy of the scientific community; national science culture; degree of prosperity, resources and vulnerability; interests in world trade system; political institutions and party system; autonomy of civil society; civil liberties; governmental capacity; carbon-intensity of socio-economic organization. This paper uses global environmental policy network data from Japan (1997) to pretest the COMPON hypotheses. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines organizational characteristics and presents a specific case of Japanese community unionism (region-based community unions and regional labor councils), and contrasts the Japanese case of community unionism with the conceptual framework of community unions based on cases in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and the UK. The paper shows that, although there are some common features, one of the important differences of community unionism between Japan and other industrialized countries is the weakness of coalition-building between unions and community-based organizations in Japan compared to other countries. The paper argues that the forms of community unionism are mediated by political and institutional contexts of labor movements, and that the partisan nature of the Japanese labor movement and the relative under-development of civil society explain the difference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes how the anti-fingerprinting movement that began in Japan in the 1980s could achieve both internal and external mobilizations, focusing on the construction of collective identity as the "residents of Japan." The movement challenged the fingerprinting requirement that was imposed on foreign residents. The main potential beneficiaries were Koreans, who lived in Japan as the former colonial subjects of the Japanese empire. The failure of their earlier attempts seems to have been due to their nationalistic and colonial framework of the issue, which made them unable to receive societal support. As these Koreans, who were considered foreigner by birth due to the Japanese Nationality Law, became more community-based, their sense of belonging shifted from the Korean "state" to the Japanese "community." Their claim as the "residents of Japan," despites their Korean nationality, was supported by the Japanese, other foreigners, and the local governments, resulting in the realignment of social movement actors and the construction of a new protagonist. It suggests that since non-beneficiaries also relate themselves to the issue in their own context, they are not quite "external" to the issue. The distinction of movement participants based on direct benefits they receive will obscure the nature of protagonist as a diverse mixture of beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries acting as a collective under a master frame. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper integrates literatures on social movements and globalization to present a theory on global dimensions of contemporary social movements and examines a case to understand how much global factors impact local social movements. We use the case of social movements by Korean residents in Japan to investigate how international instruments, networks and ideas on ethnic minority rights have combined with local political mobilization to produce political changes in the form of new legislation and court decisions. We study four different fields of rights, social/economic, civil, political and cultural rights, to explore whether some rights are easier to obtain than others, how the strength of international norms on certain types of rights might affect the political outcomes, and how local political climate and tradition circumscribe policy changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The power and the influence of the NGO sector or the civil sector in Japan have been very limited in spite of its relatively long history among Asian countries. Japan’s NPO law was enforced only from December 1998 mainly triggered by the Kobe earthquake. Why it was so late? Why social scientists, activists in social movement sector and general citizens have been so less interested in the legal status of NGOs in general and environmental NGOs, and promoting citizens activities for so many years in spite of the serious incidents of environmental pollutions? Recently in South Korea and Taiwan, NGOs are dramatically able to influence government policy creation, especially in environmental protection or social welfare, much more than in Japan. we can also observe much progress and more institutionalized and collaborative activities in the area of NGOs or environmental NGOs in contrast with "a lost decade" often used to describe the dead ends and stagnated reforms in Japanese politics and economics in 1990s. Why this change has occurred? In this paper I try to answer these questions by starting to describe the historical outline and political background of environmental movements in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how the global expansion of human rights ideas and instruments has increased activism by vulnerable groups, focusing on three ethnic minority groups in Japan. Drawing on research on ethnic politics, the world society approach, and social movement studies, I develop a theoretical framework to study the differences and commonalities of the impact of global human rights on minority groups with different historical and political backgrounds. I also examine a feedback mechanism through which local social movements not only take advantage of global human rights but also contribute to consolidating and elevating the standards of global human rights. The empirical analysis demonstrates that global human rights transformed (1) the politically dormant Ainu into an active political force that has achieved many successes, (2) politically active but fractious and largely unsuccessful Korean residents into a more united social movement that has gained many more rights, and (3) a politically active and successful Burakumin movement into an international human rights organization. These changes took place since Japan entered the era of global human rights in 1979. As their movements progressed, all three groups continued their involvement in global human rights activities and contributed new issues to the global human rights agenda, thus raising the global standards. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to examine the patient movements since 1945 in Japan using the Health Social Movements (HSMs) as a framework. After 1945 (Post World War Second), there have been many civil social movements related to illness and medicine, such as leprosy patients, victims of pollution diseases and drug poisoning, people with disabilities, victims of malpractice and cancer patients. Those movements have been argued in many different research areas, such as stigma studies, environmental pollution studies, civil movement theory, medical sociology, disability studies and bioethics. However, it makes us difficult to understand total outline of patient movement. Therefore, we review the major movements from 1945 using HSMs to understand them integrally. As a consequence, we clarify how the actors and the aims of the movements have changed, and how the relationship between actors and supporters (especially professionals) has shifted. It can be considered an important process to identify recent patient's movements, such as advocacy and participation in policy-making. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on data gathered from 16 months of participant observation research and in-depth interviews with gender activists in Japan, this paper challenges the dominant structural framework within social movement scholarship, offering an alternative perspective on social movement structures and strategic action. Social movement scholarship has used state-centered approaches to argue that social movement structures and strategies develop in accordance with state structures. This perspective predicts that social movements will develop a strong national orientation in centralized states and a more localized orientation in more decentralized states. The gender justice movement in Japan does not follow this predicted pattern; it features a localized grassroots movement directed towards both national and local politics in a centralized state. The movement has avoided creating a national organization, opting instead for a loosely-connected coalition of local women's organizations. My analysis explains this empirical puzzle by examining the meanings Japanese gender activists ascribe to their activist networks. My data reveal that these activists define "effectiveness" in terms of enacting alternative ways of doing politics, empowering women, and giving voice to the underrepresented. Their shared alternative view of effectiveness guides both their organizing and mobilizing strategies and is reflected in the locally-embedded networks they choose to build. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses the case of Protestants in modern Japan to explore why and how a contentious "event" emerged and some Protestants engaged in contentious model-making even as the state became increasingly authoritarian. It contributes to efforts to identify a broader range of causal factors influencing the relationship between state repression and mobilization. By modifying Sewell's theory of "historical events," I conceptualize the so-called "Uchimura Incident" and related "occurrences" that followed as an emergent "event," and investigate mechanisms through which: 1) a personal action was transformed into a Protestant contentious "event," and 2) ultimately transformed into a symbolic model that inspired some Protestants to resist the authoritatrian state. In contrast to the focus in the literature on the instrumental motives of movement actors, I emphasize the unintended consequences of action by movement opponents, namely, nationalists and the state. I argue that the construction of the "event" and the model was possible because of authoritarian state policies since, I reveal, the main actors involved in the initial event construction process were nationalist adversaries rather than contentious Prostestant actors. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Japan, numerical accounts of religious membership range from more than one and a half times the total population to less than ten percent. The results of qualitative research tend to support the latter statistic; however, until recently it has been nearly impossible to know what percentage of Japanese individuals claims to be Shintô, Buddhist, Christian, or a member of a "new religion". Moreover, we know very little about what might predict such affiliations. This paper employs large, national probability samples from the 2000-2003 Japanese General Social Surveys to help explain these divergent quantitative and qualitative results. Additionally, I examine socio-demographic predictors of religious membership in Japan and rely on ethnographic studies to support and explain these new findings. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though a macro-organizational perspective has become increasingly commonplace in social movement analyses, few studies examine the full-spectrum of organizations in any single social movement industry. Utilizing a unique source of data on Japanese environmental movement organizations, we first compare characteristics of groups focused primarily on environmental issues with those for whom environmental issues are part of a larger multi-issue focus. Next, we profile across distinct geographically based organizational domains that together compose the Japanese environmental social movement industry, performing a series of analyses to examine how local, prefectural and national groups compare on a variety of organizational attributes, including: size, membership type, tactics and activities, and issues. Finally, we assess the impact of recent legislation designed to increase formal registration among non-profits on Japan. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for understanding both Japanese environmentalism and the structure of social movement industries generally. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the role of loosely-coupled state actor-social movement coalitions in creating positive policy outcomes. It specifies the organizational locations within the state most conducive to state actor-social movement ties. Using the case of Japanese anti-pollution politics between 1956 and 1976, we demonstrate that favorable policy outcomes were the result of multiple coalitions between anti-pollution movements and state agencies, opposition political parties, local governments, and the courts [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Situated in the emergence of hate speech and antiracism counter protest in Japan, this article poses two questions: Why do activists enact exclusions while attempting to fight against social inequality? How do interpretations of gender shape activists' understandings of antiracism? The author uses data collected over two years of ethnographic fieldwork to analyze gendered power relations within contemporary antiracism in a case study outside of the United States. This article explores three findings: activists conceptualize the risk of being targets of hate speech and abuse as both gendered and racialized; antiracist activists interpret antiracism as a practice of redirecting vulnerabilities--a practice that is, itself, gendered; and antiracist activist communities struggle with ambivalence around masculinity and other "gender problems." The author argues that gender functions as a key lens through which antiracism is conceptualized but that, devoid of an intersectional analysis, movements can encounter exacerbated difficulties in resolving internal problems, such as sexual harassment. This article focuses on the theme of vulnerability, which the author argues is enmeshed with the vocabulary of gender. Through analyzing vulnerability, this article offers an ethnographic account to explain why the reproduction of inequalities persist, even within social justice movements that aim to promote equality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a case study about Health Social Movement in Japan. All Japanese are supposed to have public health insurance (the Social Insurance Medical Fee, SIMF) and receive insurance-covered health-care. Before, the days of insurance covered rehabilitation therapy was decided by physicians depending on the needs of the patients. Instead, Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare released the notification that the maximum days of the insurance covered rehab was 180 days from April 1st in 2006. People objected to the SIMF revision and gathered the subscription for petition to eliminate the SIMF revision. This movement finally led the Japanese Government to revise the SIMF again in 2007. This phenomenon can be said unique incident for Japanese Society from two points. The first, patients showed their opinion about one of the national policies. The second point is that patients' movement changed the national medical policy. In this study, the factors for patients' movement to achieve the result are analyzed, referring to the studies about Health Social Movements. In addition, the possibility to connect the health related social movement with "Medical Governance" to realize the partnership among general public, medical professionals and government having a same goal will be examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many doctors consider Chronic Fatigue Syndrome to be caused by mental issues, a clinical diagnosis that patients have struggled against. Patients have argued that the causal factor of CFS is physical malfunction, possibly viral infection. But after the recent publication of scientific articles which show new biological findings regarding Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), the situation has been changing for CFS patients. The recent biological findings provide patients some supportive evidence. CFS patients are fighting against existing medical knowledge, existing medical services, and the existing social system by using this new scientific knowledge. Can this phenomenon be considered medicalization, specifically biomedicalization, or, rather, a Health Social Movement? This study addresses this question by exploring the activities of CFS patient support groups, activists, and professionals based on field work and research both in the US and Japan. Through examining the differences and similarities of the activities of CFS support groups, I will analyze the socio-cultural characteristics of both countries and their relevant contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]