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The English East India Company's (EIC) enterprise in Japan (1613–1623) is widely recognized as a failure. Scholars of the English-speaking world have emphasized the lack of vendible commodities, the EIC traders' mismanagement, and Japanese hostility towards Christianity. Nevertheless, these narratives often overlook the political and strategic interests of Japan, in the era of political uncertainty after the long warring-states period. This paper re-examines the EIC traders' records against recent studies on Japanese politics. The careful observations of political movements surrounding the Siege of Osaka (1614–1615) reveal how the EIC traders were involved in the dynamics of Japanese history. Within the framework of mercantile connections supported by "mutual benefits," the present study demonstrates how the EIC gradually faced difficulties as the Japanese interests shifted, thus arguing that not only European overseas activity but also the active endeavor of the Asian counterparts significantly influenced global interactions of the early seventeenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a systematic account of simultaneous recruitment of new graduates (SRoNG), the predominant hiring practice of big companies in Japan. The authors characterise SRoNG as macro-level coordination in the process of new graduate recruitment between companies and universities, along with homogeneous hiring conditions offered by individual firms, consisting of same initial salaries, initial internal vocational training, and absence of job specification. The paper further provides a historical account of SRoNG's emergence, tracing it back to early-modern government structures, education expansion, wage control efforts, and the system's expansion and establishment as a predominant institution. Finally the paper focuses on SRoNG's more recent empirical evolution. The main business association, Keidanren, proposed to abandon the practice in the wake of intensified competition with foreign multinationals in the recruitment of new graduates. While there are noteworthy ongoing changes, the authors suggest that SRoNG is unlikely to suffer more than a partial and minor abandonment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the potentially scandalous truce between the front-line Ming and Japanese commanders in the last days of the sixteenth-century Korea War. Mao Guoke, a Ming officer, was "dressed up" as the younger brother of his senior commander Mao Guoqi and sent to Japan as a hostage. He returned after almost two years (1598–1600) expecting to be received as a hero but was dismissed as more of a "self-made hero." This was because the Ming court preferred the "correct" version of the war: that it was ended not by negotiation but by the military victory of the Ming and Chosŏn Korea. Mao Guoke's odyssey is an illuminating case of the interflow and mixture of information, true and false, amid the fog of war. The case also highlights the unique pattern of war and diplomacy in premodern times wherein front-line agents enjoyed and exercised autonomy to an extent that is unthinkable to modern minds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the era of globalization, the international community has witnessed a rapid increase in the number of low-skilled workers migrating from developing countries to industrial countries. However, there remain competing approaches to the governance of lowskilled labor migration; that is, the economic theory and the rights-based approach. By utilizing the labor migration between Vietnam and Japan under the Technical Intern Training Program (TITP), this article reveals the limitations of these two approaches in governing the migration of low-skilled workers. Moreover, through examining the Memorandum of Cooperation on the Technical Intern Training Program signed by the Vietnamese and Japanese governments in 2017 and its contribution to the TITP, this article suggests that to regulate labor migration properly, it is essential to uphold the rights-based approach and consider labor migration as a transnational issue that should be addressed at the international level; that is, through the bilateral or multilateral instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study sought to identify the major barriers to the implementation of the Agreement on Enhancing International Arctic Scientific Cooperation (2017) and to uncover ways of facilitating the Agreement that may enhance Russia–Japan scientific cooperation in the High North. The Russia–Japan case exemplifies the difficulties as well as the potentials of the Agreement in enhancing Arctic scientific cooperation between Arctic states and non-Arctic states. Ultimately, the study identified several possible ways to facilitate the Agreement's implementation. This paper first examines these means within the Agreement's legal framework; more specifically, it explores how to operationalize the effective review process established under Art.12, utilize the 2000 Japan-Russia bilateral Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement to implement Art.17 on 'Cooperation with non-Parties', identify Arctic research projects and infrastructure available under the Agreement, and designate appropriate authorities as contact points under Annex 2 of the Agreement. The paper then examines the potential of linking the Agreement's implementation with other forums and institutions. In particular, it recognizes the Arctic Council as a platform for enhancing Arctic scientific cooperation and considers how cooperation within various Arctic professional organizations and associations may be revived and how to create synergy between the Agreement and Arctic Science Ministerial processes. This paper's discussion is largely based on information and political contexts before February 24, 2022, but the concluding section provides a few policy suggestions specific to the implementation of the Agreement in light of the post-Ukraine situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Rural China is the property of Brill Academic Publishers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Cultural encounters, entanglements, and comparisons were the driving force behind the formation of a global history of religion. Such encounters require the formation of comparative concepts; for Europeans, the most important of these was 'religion'. With European expansion, and especially its forays into Asia starting in the late fifteenth century, 'religion' gradually became a general term to describe a distinct subset of human culture, with encounters between European missionaries and the Japanese people playing a decisive role in this regard. Arguably, the ultimately failed attempts of the Christian mission led to the emergence of analogous comparative concepts on the Japanese side, too. As a side effect, the encounter with Christianity brought about an individualisation and confessionalisation of Buddhism. From here, it was only a small step to the 'religionisation' of Buddhism in the nineteenth century – and, thus, to its integration into a global religious system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Crustaceana is the property of Brill Academic Publishers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper is about the representation of the Japanese police in three factual television series. In all three series, the audience accompanies police officers during their work and thus gets a close look at the daily work of the Japanese police. However, even if the series try to convey a feeling of authenticity, staging strategies which aim at the entertainment and education of the audience can be clearly identified. I therefore place them in the intermediate area between the genres of reality TV and documentaries. The research method adopted in this study is Werner Faulstich's qualitative movie analysis, based on his book Grundkurs Filmanalyse (2013), in combination with a descriptive quantitative approach. In the analysis I ask what kinds of messages about the Japanese police are created in the three series under examination. The major findings can be summarised as follows: the comprehensive image created about the Japanese police is positive. The police force is legitimised above all by its professionalism and success in providing assistance to people in need by arresting criminals and proving their guilt, but also by its monopoly position as the sole competent crisis solver.1 This kind of representation does not come as a surprise as such; the paper, however, will show how this overall positive image is created by specific filmic techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Orbitacolax bispinus Izawa, 2021 is redescribed based on specimens of both sexes of the adult, copepodid V female, and copepodid IV sex undetermined, which were all recovered together with those of O. leptoscari (Yamaguti, 1953) from under the scales of Pseudolabrus sieboldi Mabuchi & Nakabo, 1997 (Pisces, Perciformes, Labridae) in Japan. Descriptions of the male and copepodid V female are the first time for the species. Résumé: Orbitacolax bispinus Izawa, 2021 est redécrit à partir de spécimens des deux sexes de l'adulte, de copépodite V femelle et de copépodite IV au sexe indéterminé, tous collectés ensemble avec des spécimens de O. leptoscari (Yamaguti, 1953) sous les écailles de Pseudolabrus sieboldi Mabuchi & Nakabo, 1997 (Pisces, Perciformes, Labridae) au Japon. Les descriptions du mâle et du copépodite V femelle sont données pour la première fois pour l'espèce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Crustaceana is the property of Brill Academic Publishers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Zhang Ruoxu's poem "Chunjiang huayue ye," reached Japan and Korea in the anthology Tangshi xuan compiled by the Ming dynasty scholar Li Panlong. In the mid-Edo period, under the influence of the "Kobunjigaku" (Ancient Rhetoric School) represented by Ogyū Sorai, the Tangshi xuan anthology enjoyed a phase of great popularity and became the widest-read Tang poetry work at the time. Because "Chunjiang huayue ye" was included in Tangshi xuan , it was also widely read. Many versions of Tangshi xuan containing abundant commentaries on "Chunjiang huayue ye" were published in Japan; most of these focus on art appreciation and comment on the poem in considerable depth. China, Japan, and Korea also produced many response poems and imitations of "Chunjiang huayue ye." Of these, the Chinese imitations were closest to the original work, the Japanese ones had greater ideological depth and echoed the commentaries on the poem, and the Korean ones were all rhymed response poems that were integrated into Korean culture over time. As a literary classic, "Chunjiang huayue ye" transcended its original era and at the same time broke the barriers of space, becoming world literature appreciated by people in other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Crustaceana is the property of Brill Academic Publishers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Crustaceana is the property of Brill Academic Publishers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper addresses the relationship between Zen and tantric or esoteric Buddhism in premodern Japan from the point of view of the Buddhas and Buddha bodies considered to be preaching these two traditions. After surveying theories on the dharmakāya teaching already present in Chinese Buddhism, it considers the development of this doctrinal notion in the Japanese tantric traditions. The paper demonstrates that this tantric discourse on the Buddha as preacher provided thinkers such as Enni 圓爾 (1202–1280) and Chikotsu Daie 癡兀大慧 (1229–1312) with a framework to integrate Zen into a tantric world. Eventually, and under the influence of embryological motifs circulating widely in medieval Buddhism, Zen practitioners came to establish their own theories on the human as Buddha body. The paper concludes that medieval Zen and medieval tantric Buddhism should be considered sister movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As Japan is considered a non-regional actor in Arctic governance, this paper begins with analysing how Japan navigates the web of Arctic governance and how it manages to create a coherent Arctic narrative and engages with the Arctic both inside and outside the region. The present research argues that the construction of an Arctic identity is a praxis performed through time that needs to be constantly reaffirmed. To illustrate this point, the paper then uses a lateral rather than linear approach to assess the influence of the Arctic on Japan at present. This paper assesses Japan's engagement on the main stage where Arctic governance is performed (i.e. The Arctic Council) since the release of Japan's Arctic Policy and under the Arctic Challenge for Sustainability project, Japan's flagship program for Arctic research. Looking to the future, countries such as Japan who are willing to be involved in all parts of Arctic governance will have to make a choice about what kind of Arctic relationships they want to create and in which of these relationships Japan could invest more. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visual images are widely used in science textbooks to facilitate the understanding of abstract concept of light. This study aims to compare and analyze elementary school textbooks from Korea, the United States, and Japan, focusing on how visual images are utilized to effectively convey light-related content. The findings reveal that all three countries' textbooks predominantly employ photographs as visual representations, primarily serving the purpose of providing data. Through a social semiotic perspective analysis, it was observed that science textbooks commonly utilize realistic images with metaphorical functions, presented at eye level angles, with intermediate distances, and frontal angles. Furthermore, the visual images employed various colors and background expressions to create a sense of familiarity for students. These findings suggest that the composition of visual images in science textbooks was designed to facilitate an easy understanding of light-related concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Japanese genkan provides a space where one can take off and put on one's shoes; yet this practical function is also accompanied by a social/symbolic one. As a transitional area, it embodies the Japanese concept of uchi/soto (inside/outside). In this article, the Japanese genkan was analysed to identify (1) what types of interaction take place in a genkan ; and (2) what cultural concepts can be used to identify and classify those types of interaction. The current article suggests that (1) a visitor is identified as either an uchi (inside) or soto (outside) person, and (2) any tension or conflict in this person's uchi/soto identity grants the visitor an ambiguous status, which unless it is resolved ensures that the interaction between visitor and householder is conducted within a genkan. The paper analyses sixteen possible situations in a genkan and takes examples of each from Shōwa-era films by the Japanese director Yasujirō Ozu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the collapse of the bubble economy at the beginning of the 1990s, Japan has been in secular stagnation. Despite the stagnant economic conditions, the rate of profit has been rising, not falling. The coexistence of the rise in profitability and prolonged economic stagnation is a manifestation of the fundamental contradiction of present-day Japanese capitalism. Marx's law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall (LTRPF) provides a consistent explanation regarding the paradoxical situation in Japan characterised not by a falling but a rising rate of profit. Meanwhile, this paper discusses the Monopoly Capitalism school, which has studied capitalist behaviour concerning productive investment and changes in the form of capitalist competition at the monopoly stage of capitalism. While the school's negation of the LTRPF is unacceptable, their notions may provide useful explanations as to why the rate of profit has risen under secular stagnation in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper clarifies why the characters sei 聖 and zoku 俗 were adopted as the Japanese translations for the terms "sacred" and "profane," respectively, as well as the circumstances in which these characters took on a diversity of meanings that go beyond those terms in contemporary society at large. While the character zoku has acquired various meanings over its long history, its fundamental nuance is the "general," in contrast to the particular; accordingly, it only acquires a concrete meaning when contrasted with something else. This ambiguity led to its adoption as the translation of "profane," as well as the continued expansion of the sei-zoku set's meaning, resulting in a paired set that can refer to "something mysterious and something not mysterious." When discussing the above, I also engage with international scholarship on how the cultural background of non-Western societies influenced the meanings and interpretations of imported modern Western concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the role of Hara Tanzan 原坦山 (1819–1892) in the transformation of Buddhism into an "experiential religion" during the Meiji period. Scholars such as Sharf have argued that this transformation is due to Western influence on figures such as DT Suzuki. Japanese language scholarship has instead shown that in the early 1900s, the notion of Buddhism as experiential religion was already widespread, considering Tanzan as a predecessor of this discourse. I argue that Tanzan was among the first to discover the importance of "experience" in the confrontation with science, yet interpreted it as an empirical standard for both religious and scientific knowledge. However, Tanzan did not yet establish the separation of science and religion characteristic of the modern understanding of both terms. I conclude that Tanzan was one starting point in a dialectic that is integral to the indigenous genealogy of "religious experience" in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses adaptations and alternatives that religious institutions in Japan have formulated to help communities develop the capacity to cope with the crisis and perceived risk generated by Covid-19. Qualitative data and observations of online information were collected between February and June 2020. Guided by a crisis approach, the study explores inward and outward responses that some Japanese religious institutions and their members have enacted. The investigation uses Douglas' (1994) interpretative model of risk and explores those "thought-styles" that religious institutions have engendered that are conducive to cohesion and stability. Findings show that established and new religions alike swiftly responded to Covid-19-induced safety measures by embracing digital technology to continue their core function as cohesion-providers for their social and spiritual communities. The analysis shows that adjustments toward disembodied religious practices might hold potential to continue beyond current Covid-19-related social restrictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Orbitacolax kukiensis sp. nov. is described based on specimens of the female recovered from a solution of formalin in which eight species of coastal actinopterygian fishes had been fixed and preserved all together. These fishes had earlier been captured by means of a fixed net at Kuki, Mie Prefecture, Japan. Résumé: Orbitacolax kukiensis sp. nov. est décrite à partir de spécimens de la femelle récupérée d'une solution de formol dans laquelle huit espèces de poissons actinoptérygiens côtiers avaient été fixés et conservées ensemble. Ces poissons avaient été capturés auparavant au moyen d'un filet fixe à Kuki, Préfecture de Mie, Japon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relations between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Japan since the 1970s have revolved around oil diplomacy. As the UAE diversifies its economy and embraces sustainability, this paper explores how the bilateral relationship has undergone a sustainability turn. It does so by assessing the logic of sustainability and the mutual interests for both parties. It is argued that the sustainability turn reflects what the UAE needs in terms of renewable technologies and skills, coupled with what Japan can provide in return for favorable oil concessions and new markets. Cases of the Japanese government mobilizing various resources and actors to address the UAE's sustainability needs are examined to gauge how sustainability has been embedded into the bilateral relationship. The sustainability turn provides not just a fresh analytical lens but also it generates insights into policy and a new assemblage of practices and stakeholders that have emerged as part of this increasingly multilayered relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a new species of sponge-inhabiting barnacle, Neoacasta liui sp. nov., collected in Fukuoka, Kyushu, Japan. In the present study we used both the morphological examination and DNA barcode (cytochrome c oxidase I gene) to distinguish this new species from acastine species including its congeners from Neoacasta Kolbasov, 1993. Neoacasta liui sp. nov. is similar to Neoacasta glans (Lamarck, 1818) in shell morphology, but the divergence in COI gene between them reached inter-specific differences. N. liui sp. nov. is characterized by externally latticed, narrow scutum, beak-shaped tergum with wider spur, and lack of six inwardly prominent teeth on margin of basis. N. glans having an Indo-West Pacific distribution may represent a complex of cryptic species. Résumé: Cet article décrit une nouvelle espèce de balane Neoacasta liui sp. nov., habitant une éponge, récoltée à Fukuoka, Kyushu, Japon. Dans cette étude nous avons utilisé à la fois l'examen morphologique et le code-barre ADN (gène cytochrome c oxydase I) pour distinguer cette nouvelle espèce des espèces acastines incluant ses congénères de Neoacasta Kolbasov, 1993. Neoacasta liui sp. nov. est semblable à Neoacasta glans (Lamarck, 1818) dans la morphologie de sa carapace, mais la divergence dans les gènes COI entre elles parvient à des différences interspécifiques. N. liui sp. nov. est caractérisée par un scutum étroit et grillagé, un tergum en forme de bec avec un aiguillon plus large et l'absence de six dents proéminentes vers l'intérieur sur le bord de la base. N. glans ayant une distribution Indo-Ouest-Pacifique pourrait représenter un complexe d'espèces cryptiques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies (i) the effects of external directors and managerial ownership, and (ii) the effects of shareholder monitoring, on risk-taking at banks. The former is part of the internal control mechanisms, the latter of external control. It also examines the difference between control mechanisms in the UK and in Japan. It shows that shareholder supremacy is likely to weaken corporate governance at banks. In particular, it finds that: (i) the substituted effects between internal and external controls differ between countries, or that the substituted effects of governance mechanisms may not exist; (ii) an internal corporate governance approach to shareholder supremacy increases risk-taking at banks; and (iii) foreign shareholders are likely to increase risk-taking at banks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The pine wood nematode (PWN), Bursaphelenchus xylophilus , is the causative agent of pine wilt disease and is transmitted primarily by cerambycid adults of the genus Monochamus. It is believed to have been introduced into Japan from North America in the 1900s and confirmed to have invaded western Europe in 1999. The nematode has been devastating pine forests in invaded areas because the native pine species are susceptible. This study examined the number of PWN carried by individual M. carolinensis adults (initial PWN load) immediately after emerging from dead Pinus sylvestris and P. strobus trees in Illinois, USA. The data were compared with the initial PWN load on M. alternatus adults emerging from dead P. thunbergii trees in Japan ca 80 years after the PWN invasion. When the zero-inflated negative binomial model was fitted to the initial PWN loads it provided three results. First, the PWN exhibited clumped distributions among vectors in the PWN- M. carolinensis - P. sylvestris or P. strobus system in Illinois and the PWN- M. alternatus - P. thunbergii system in Japan. Second, there was no difference in the frequency distribution of the initial PWN load between the three disease systems. Third, the initial PWN load increased as the overwintering PWN density in wood or the adult body mass increased, whereas it decreased as the emergence date of vectors increased. Consequently, the frequency distribution of initial PWN load exhibited no evolutionary change in Japan and the initial PWN load was considered to be determined by environmental factors and conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two of the largest subfamilies of Crambidae, Pyraustinae and Spilomelinae, have 341 species recorded in Japan, but their natural relationships are poorly understood. We reconstructed a molecular phylogeny based on one mitochondrial (COI) and three nuclear genes (CAD, EF1-α, RpS5) for 129 species in 69 genera of Spilomelinae and 62 species in 27 genera of Pyraustinae from Japan. The concatenated data was analyzed by maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference methods. Our results recovered most tribes recognized in a previous study, but Pyraustini is paraphyletic as it includes Portentomorphini, and the paraphyletic Nomophilini comprise Trichaeini. The species-rich Spilomelinae genera Patania, Nacoleia, Glyphodes , and Syllepte are polyphyletic and need thorough revision. In Pyraustinae, a "Monocotyledon-clade" and Anania sensu lato were recognized for the first time. Based on phylogenetic results and morphological investigations, we propose six taxonomic changes, including the transfer of Acropentias from Spilomelinae to Lathrotelinae and Mabra from Spilomelinae to Pyraustinae. Fourteen unplaced genera of Spilomelinae and two of Pyraustinae are newly assigned to tribes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies the Paris exposition Japonismes 2018 , organized by the Japanese government to introduce the European public to the profundity of Japanese culture. It examines the organizational deliberations leading up to the exposition; the curation of individual exhibits held within its ambit; and the cultural politics of 'Japan expositions' that began with Japonismes and continue to this day. It argues that the organizers and exhibits in Japonismes make political use of the trope of a timeless, mystical, and animistic Japanese sense of beauty that supposedly unites prehistoric pottery and contemporary comics and animation. This Japanese aesthetic vision claims to provide an alternative to Western norms, thereby promising to resolve contemporary problems, such as anthropocentrism, by influencing Western aesthetics as it had in the late nineteenth century. Japonismes exemplifies how Japanese soft power diplomacy can employ Western tropes about Japan, such as Japonisme, for its economic and nation-branding efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Japanese fauna of the plant bug tribe Mirini, now represented by 212 species in 62 genera, is updated. Twenty-three species in six genera including a new genus are proposed herein: Apolygus China (14 spp.), Charagochilus Fieber (2 spp.) Exolygocoris gen. n. (1 sp.), Mermitelocerus Reuter (1 sp.), Neolygus Knight (3 spp.), Polymerus Hahn (1 sp.) and Proboscidocoris Reuter (1 sp.), are described as new to science. Apolygopsis miniacea (Yasunaga & Yasunaga) comb. n. and Argenis takahashii (Yasunaga) comb. n. are transferred from Apolygus and Tinginotum , respectively. Mermitelocerus prasinus Reuter stat. n. and Orientomiris nigripes Yasunaga stat. n., originally described as a subspecies of M. annulipes and O. yaeyamanus , respectively, are upgraded to the species level, based on reevaluation of morphological characters. Apolygus syringae (Kerzhner), which has been regarded as a junior synonym of A. hilaris (Horváth), is reinstated as valid and rediagnosed. A checklist and a key are provided for all known Japanese genera. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Crustaceana is the property of Brill Academic Publishers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Every year various disasters such as earthquakes, typhoons, and floods hit Japan. In the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, approximately 16,000 people lost their lives due to the tsunami and the consequent collapse of buildings. Voluntary groups and religious institutions came to affected areas from every part of Japan to help the recovery of those struck by disasters. Drawing on the idea of "path" that is so prominent in Asia, including in Japan, Tenrikyo and Islam teach their adherents the importance of voluntary activities such as hinokishin in Tenrikyo and ṣadaqah in Islam, as the sure path to salvation. Various motivations are found in the activities and reverential attitudes to God by the adherents in both religious traditions. In this paper, by paying attention to the relationship between religious doctrines and voluntary activities in Tenrikyo and Islam, I try to compare the characteristics of both from the viewpoint of "salvation," according to the practice of comparative theology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how the Jesuits in Japan's "Christian Century (1549– c.1650)" used Western mechanical clocks in missionary activities and how this new technology was received and transformed in the country. Sources show that it was a common practice for the missionaries to present clocks as unusual gifts to gain access to the ruling class. This policy eventually led to the production of mechanical clocks by local craftsmen by around 1600. Although Christianity was strictly prohibited after 1614, the technology survived and found its way into the secular world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary rural Japan is characterized by depopulation, reflected by the large number of aging residents, abandoned houses and shops (akiya 空家) and an increased number of "hamlets at the margin" (Ono 2005), i.e. hamlets with more than 50 % of residents over 65 years old. As a result, many ritual festivities including matsuri 祭 (festivals) of various kinds face challenges in securing practitioners. This study explores the impact of demographic change on selected ritual practices in Niigata Prefecture, drawing on extensive ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2007–2009 and 2018. With a focus on the changes that traditional Buddhist dances and Shintō shamanic performing arts known as kagura have undergone as a result of demographic decline and lifestyle shifts, this paper examines the measures residents are taking to ensure the continuity of ritual practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper explores the social lives of European timepieces as a particular set of objects in late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century Japan, when the archipelago first encountered the "Southern Barbarians" from Portugal and Spain. Rather than viewing them solely as instruments of time measurement or as decorative objects, I discuss clocks as actors that moved within networks of exchange primarily between Europe and Japan, but also, significantly, within East Asia and Japan itself. Along their trajectory, these devices assumed shifting and at times contradictory meanings for various actors; this is particularly true in view of the fundamental clash between European and Japanese systems of time-reckoning, which essentially rendered early European-style mechanical clocks 'timeless' in Japan, with its equinoctial system of variable hours. For Jesuit missionaries and foreign emissaries who brought these early devices to Japan, they were timekeepers, objects of ecclesiastical use, paragons of European ingenuity, and above all diplomatic tools that granted access and established connections with the Japanese ruling elite. For the Japanese, by contrast, these global objects assumed meaning within their highly developed local gift-culture as desirable novelty items, particularly within the socially volatile environment of the unification of the country under Tokugawa control. My contention is that these microhistories of exchange help us understand why mechanical clocks did not have the same 'revolutionary' effect on time-reckoning in Japan as they did in Europe; the social lives of these objects strikingly illustrate the power imbalances in diplomatic negotiations that made Japan impervious to coercion by the European powers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The body reflects the various timescales of human existence, such as physical processes and cosmological patterns. This paper seeks to demonstrate conceptualizations of the female body in medieval Japan, using source texts specifically concerned with menstruation. Its investigative use of medical, religious and literary sources serves to address a variety of the dimensions of human existence. Medical writings such as the 14th century Man'anpō and the Toni'shō , both compiled by the monk physician Kajiwara Shōzen, deal with the female cycle as a physical phenomenon in correlation with natural cyclical patterns. The female cycle is not only connected to questions of reproduction and sexuality, but also to larger scale cosmological time frames, such as the cycle of the moon or the tides. Instructions given for the treatment of irregularities, along with preventive measures, take into consideration the large-scale time frame in resonance with the micro-level of the body. Medical knowledge is complemented by religious texts, such as the Blood Bowl Sutra (Ketsubonkyō), that contextualize the perception of the female body within a religious dimension. The Buddhist worldview that permeates medical and literary texts of this era is also reflected in ideas about the female body. The varying physical, cosmological and religious chronomorphologies of the body reflect a multiplicity of time frames in medieval Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to show, primarily through analysis of seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century jōruri 浄瑠璃 plays, the radical changes in the vision of salvation shared among ordinary people, focusing especially on Jōruri monogatari 浄瑠璃物語, Sonezaki shinjū 曽根崎心中 and Kinpira jōruri 金平浄瑠璃, and highlights how such changes are related to contemporary social processes of secularization. José Casanova famously claimed that the classical concept of secularization as the decline of religious belief is not adequate for the task of understanding general historical processes. Nevertheless, an equivalent to this process of religious decline is an important phenomenon in early modern Japan. In this secularization process, Japanese people of the early modern period sought more secular visions of salvation. Strong, persistent attention to kokoro 心 (mind or spirit), regarded as the means of realizing secular values such as wealth or happiness, was an expression of these concerns. Analyzing jōruri plays reveals how the increasing power of the centralized state, defeating religious powers one by one, became the key to changing people's visions of salvation and thus, of secularization processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Tijdschrift voor Entomologie journal's latest volume includes a monograph on plant bugs of Japan, which is expected to become the standard work on this topic in the region. The journal also features three papers on beetles, including updates to the revision of crawling water beetles and ant-like flower beetles, as well as the description of a new species of riffle beetle from the Philippines. An opinion paper in the journal explores the history and importance of taxonomy in biological science, emphasizing the need for more taxonomists and the potential for new knowledge synthesis in the field. The essay suggests that economic value and lack of urgency are obstacles to progress in taxonomy. [Extracted from the article]

Naricolax holinorum sp. nov. is described based on specimens of both sexes recovered from the nasal cavity of Acanthopagrus schlegelii (Bleeker, 1854) (Pisces, Sparidae) in Japan. This species was erroneously redescribed first as N. atypicus Ho, Do & Kasahara, 1983 by Ho & Lin (2005) based on specimens of the female collected from the nasal cavity of A. schlegelii in Taiwan. Résumé: Naricolax holinorum sp. nov. est décrit à partir de spécimens des deux sexes collectés dans la cavité nasale de Acanthopagrus schlegelii (Bleeker, 1854) (Actinopterygii, Sparidae) au Japon. Cette espèce avait été redécrite de façon erronée comme N. atypicus Ho, Do & Kasahara, 1983 par Ho & Lin (2005) à partir de spécimens femelles provenant de la cavité nasale de A. schlegelii de Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nocturnal penile tumescence (NPT) has been reported for males of only a few mammalian species, including humans, albeit this scarcity might be an artefact of the difficulty of documenting it. We investigated NPT in 12 adult male chimpanzees living in an all-male group at Kumamoto Sanctuary, Japan. Recorded non-invasively with infrared video cameras across 72 nights (6 per individual), we observed NPT in two thirds of the individuals (8/12), with N = 46 events in total. More than three quarters occurred during a transition from sleep to wakefulness, suggesting NPT may be associated with rapid eye movement sleep, similar to humans. Masturbation occurred in conjunction with NPT, including the likely consumption of ejaculate, in 4–6 individuals. While detailing nocturnal erections in chimpanzees may help us to better understand this robust physiological phenomenon in humans, further comparative research is necessary to reconstruct its phylogenetic history. At present, our findings support hypothetical functional explanations such as the facilitation of nocturnal emissions in order to increase ejaculate quality or an increase in tissue oxygenation to prevent erectile dysfunction. 夜間陰茎勃起はヒトの男性において広く一般に生じる現象であるが、ヒト以外の動物での報告 は少ない。これは、夜間の観察が難しいことによるものと考えられる。本研究では、京都大学熊 本サンクチュアリにおいて12個体の男性チンパンジーの夜間の様子を赤外線カメラによって 撮影し、各個体につき6夜間分の行動の記録と分析をおこなった。その結果、12個体のうち8 個体で、のべ23夜間において46事例の夜間陰茎勃起が観察された。この46事例のうち11事例 ではマスターベーションを伴って観察された。また、全事例のうち約80％が睡眠から覚醒する過 程において生じており、ヒトと同様にチンパンジーでもレム睡眠の期間中もしくはその後に生じる 現象であることが示唆される。夜間陰茎勃起のあとにマスターベーションをおこなったのは4－6 個体だった。マスターベーションのあとに手を口に運ぶ動作が確認されており、精液を食べた と推測される。チンパンジーの夜間勃起現象の詳細な記述により、ヒトにおける本現象につい ての理解が深まると期待できるが、系統的基盤を明らかにするためには今後さらなる比較研 究が必要である。我々の観察は、夜間勃起現象の機能として、射精を促し古い精子を排出し て新しい精子に入れ替える効果や、組織への酸素供給の効果があるとする仮説を支持するも のである。 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Crustaceana is the property of Brill Academic Publishers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Crustaceana is the property of Brill Academic Publishers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This introduction clarifies the importance of the subject: comparative sociology of examinations, on the basis that stimulating insights on examinations have been offered by prominent sociologists, and that this subject will encourage self-reflection of sociology. It also explains how this special issue arises from a joint session in ISA World Congress of Sociology Yokohama 2014, and introduces briefly the series of five papers selected from thirteen papers and their implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jürgen Habermas, who popularized the concept of the "post-secular," advocates that all citizens should be free to decide whether they want to use religious language in the public sphere. However, he adds the proviso that citizens who do so must accept that religious utterances ought to be translated into generally accessible language. Habermas presents this concept of "translation"--or the institutional translation proviso--as a way of bringing religious citizens into the public sphere. In his opinion, the public sphere and/or public institutions should not be open to any movement that tries to legitimize the nation on religious grounds. This paper shows that we can find logic and rhetoric that correspond to Habermas's proviso in courtroom arguments over religion in Japan after World War ii. By surveying these disputes, this paper examines whether or not the intended aims of the institutional translation proviso are achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Animal cafés, a type of business where customers pay by the hour to spend time relaxing with nonhuman animals and other animal lovers, became popular in Japan during the late 2000s as part of the iyashi , or healing, boom. Young Japanese customers in need of positive affective experiences to address feelings, economic and social precarity turn to businesses like these to meet their emotional needs, engaging socially with animals in a commodified space. This article explores the kinds of intimate bonds that are created between the human customer and animal "staff" in these contexts, where customers engage with animals on their own terms, enjoying their companionship without any long-term responsibility for their care, and the effect this has on the lives of the café animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Triple Helix is the property of Brill Academic Publishers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The document titled "Annual index volume 166, 2023" is a journal article published in the Tijdschrift voor Entomologie. It includes various research papers on entomology, specifically focusing on the taxonomy and revision of different insect species. The articles cover topics such as the description of new mirine species from Japan, the revision of Haliplidae and Tomoderinae species, reflections on the usefulness of taxonomy as a science, and the discovery of a new species of Leptelmis from the Philippines. The document also provides a list of reviewers and the dates of publication for Volume 166. [Extracted from the article]

Summary: A new species of free-living marine nematode, Diplolaimella ariakensis n. sp., is described from a muddy tidal flat of the Ariake Sea, southern Japan. Diplolaimella ariakensis n. sp. differs from its congeners by the following: presence of ocelli, absence of denticles in the buccal cavity, a long tail (11-14 cloacal body diam., c = 3.2-4.0 in male, 17-21 anal body diam., c = 2.9-3.4 in female), spicules as long as 1.4-1.8 cloacal body diam., gubernaculum 0.4-0.5 cloacal body diam. long with a dorsocaudal apophysis 0.5-0.7 cloacal body diam. long, presence of a precloacal supplement, absence of postcloacal papillae, presence of seven pairs of body pores in male, and the anterior position of the vulva (V = 43-46). A dichotomous key to Diplolaimella species is provided. Almost full-length 18S rRNA and partial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene sequences were determined for D. ariakensis n. sp. A maximum likelihood tree of 18S sequences supported a close relationship between D. ariakensis n. sp. and D. dievengatensis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the ultimately unfruitful attempts by U.S. Christian fundamentalists at establishing a presence within Japanese Protestantism. Almost unknown even to scholars in the field, this missionary effort was launched in 1949. It yielded several indigenous institutions, including the Tokyo Christian Theological Seminary, the Japan Bible Times , and the Christian Presbyterian Church of Japan. This uniquely American import of a fundamentalist defense of the "faith once received" is here put in regional, anti-communist and intercultural contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]