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This case study focuses on addressing the question, "How do non-state actors address the predicament of the irregular migrants' precarious status?" The study reveals that an unwanted irregular migrant will certainly seek recognition, not necessarily from mainstream society but from peers, networks, and most of the time from compatriots - establishing links, and building contacts - and thus negotiated their status with the host society. This research also generated an alternative hypothesis which states, "As migration control becomes much stricter, more irregular migrants are seeking assistance from non-state actors and the migration industry." This paper finds that the collaborative effort of migrant and non-migrant organizations between Filipino-run and Japaneserun NGOs at the local level (including church and non-church based groups) play an immensely indispensable role in sending a message across national boundaries that transnational migration agency (actors forming as collectivities) inadvertently reshapes a new world order for the global migration process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In our work and everyday life there is not a day that passes where we do not hear about someone being confused about something, but they carry on. This prompted us to explore the subject and we soon realized that that the notion of confusion merited dedicated effort towards clarification and practical usage. We have initiated several qualitative conversations in the workplace to help our clients exploit confusion as an opportunity. In this paper, we review our understanding of the current conversation about confusion and present a set of tools that we have sketched as supporting ideas to help manage this condition. We describe (1) the findings of convenient sampling based short qualitative interviews with 20 Academics and business people in France and Japan on “what is confusion to you”?; (2) An early list of + ten typical confusions we observe in the business world; (3) A management cycle to help address confusion that we name the TAPE Cycle where we tag confusion, act upon it, build on our initiative to address it and expand on our practice to fully digest it so we can face new confusion situations; (4) An exploratory reason for confusion checklist; (5) A confusion – clarity index; and (6) A confusion matrix assessment tool. At this stage, our combined business and academic backgrounds lead us to believe that these actions carry valuable insights, but we seek to inform the reader that solid research needs to be engaged as this process falls into the category of early theory building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the recent growing environmental awareness, companies have attempted to satisfy people's demand for the environmentally friendly management. In this context, this paper focuses on the wastefulness at convenience stores derived from "the convenience", namely, the nature that convenience stores possess. This paper attempts to introduce the case study conducted at a convenience store in Kyoto, Japan, in 2008, based on the methodology of group dynamics. As a result of the thorough participant observation, it was found that the franchisee's dilemma created by the franchiser wields bad influence on the behavior of the employees and the customers. Following the results, this paper suggests the need for the drastic change of the norm created by the customers, the franchisee and the franchiser. In conclusion, for the betterment of the environmentally friendly management at a convenience store, the solution of the dilemma is a key. The fundamental change of the norm that leads people to the environmentally friendly behavior is needed for the environmentally friendly management at a convenience store. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper deals with the harem genre of Japanese animation as a representative example of Japan's socio-cultural reality in terms of dating and marriage patters in the early 21st century. Animation and manga (comics) are an important part of the public sphere in Japan and one of the most widespread forms of popular culture. Three animated series are discussed in this paper namely: Zero no Tsukaima (Zero's Familiar), Ameinaideyo!! (Ah my Buddha!!), and Asu no Yoichi (High School Samurai). The main characters are a Japanese Knight, a Buddhist Monk, and a Samurai. The paper concludes that the harem genre in animation and comics represents a turning point in Japanese culture in terms of popular attitudes regarding romantic love and also embodies some of the inherent contradictions involved in the transition from arranged marriages to the Western ideal of chivalric romantic love. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, the territorial dispute over the Diaoyu, or Senkaku, Islands in the East China Sea has flamed up between China and Japan. This conflict deserves further attention because of its potential of being the spark to unleash a Sino-Japanese firefight. However, this was not the first time the two Northeast Asian great power rivals have at least verbally fought over who is the rightful owner to the resource-rich archipelago and surrounding waters. The controversy can be traced from post-World War II, over the 1970s and 1990s, to today. The entire process of this largely verbal fistfight can be best understood through the Copenhagen School's securitization and de-securitization concepts. Japan, being in the role of the administrator, naturally more often desecuritized the issue in the past than did China, while China mostly strategically securitized the dispute. For the current round of escalation over the dispute, interestingly, Japan acted as initial securitizing actor. This paper aims to contextualize the instances in which the territorial dispute over the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands has been either securitized or desecuritized by either party. The analysis adds nuances to securitization theory, especially concerning the role of societal uprisings in securitizing a dispute such as the one at hand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary Chinese migration to Japan and Russia started almost simultaneously in the 1980s. Despite obvious differences between the two nations, the set of factors that preconditioned the start of migration was very similar. Over the past three decades, the Chinese community in Japan evolved greatly, integrating into the local society, while Chinese migrants in Russia continue to occupy the same niche. This paper explores the role of migration and domestic policies adopted by the two nations in the process of contemporary Chinese community's formation. Japan has clear economic and political goals and it constantly adjusts its policy toward different categories of migrants. Russia, however, demonstrates a contradictory approach to the issue of migration that has created barriers to incorporating the Chinese community and has generally had a negative effect on Chinese community as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Myanmar or 'Burma' is a country which has a long history of colonialism by foreign powers. Before Myanmar achieved its independence in 1948, it was ruled by two prominent foreign powers that are Britain and Japan. Both countries had created the political scene of Myanmar. After achieving independence from Britain in 1948, Myanmar became an independent country that practiced the democracy ideology under the ruled of General Aung Sann. However, its democracy system faced problems when a coup d'état happened in 1962. Since that year, the efforts to regain the democracy system in Myanmar faced a lot of obstacles. Thus, this paper will explain the process of democracy development since 1948 until the present days of Myanmar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This short paper concentrates on three powerful ideas introduced by three important theorists, namely, Merton's interpretation of anomie in America, Fromm's critical aesthetics regarding man's consciousness in relation to nature, and finally Du Bois' concept of the "racial wage" (Lemert, 2004, pp. 218-240). Those theories are then applied to the Japanese phenomenon of the "compensated date" and the Thai "sex industry". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]