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Copyright of Asian Economies is the property of Institute of Developing Economies, JETRO 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 Japanese Sociological Review / Shakaigaku Hyoron is the property of Japan Sociological Society 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 Japanese Sociological Review / Shakaigaku Hyoron is the property of Japan Sociological Society 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 Asian Economies is the property of Institute of Developing Economies, JETRO 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 Japanese Sociological Review / Shakaigaku Hyoron is the property of Japan Sociological Society 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 Japanese Sociological Review / Shakaigaku Hyoron is the property of Japan Sociological Society 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 Journal of Japan Academy of Midwifery is the property of Japan Academy of Midwifery 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 Sociological Theory & Methods / Riron to Hoho is the property of Japanese Association for Mathematical Sociology 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 Japanese Sociological Review / Shakaigaku Hyoron is the property of Japan Sociological Society 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 Japanese Sociological Review / Shakaigaku Hyoron is the property of Japan Sociological Society 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 reveals the historical background to the word and concepts of 'shido' and considers the social meanings that the word and concepts of 'shido' have expressed in the context of the wartime period, especially by extracting and analyzing the discourses dealing with the word and concepts of 'shido' in educational discourses from the Meiji period to the period immediately after the war. The idea exists that school education in our country had distinct pre-war and post- war periods due to educational reforms in the occupation period, and we have often seen assumptions based such periodization in this field of studies. However, in the overemphasis on the self-evident view that there was a 'break' between pre-war education and post-war education, we have overlooked events in the educational history of our country. This paper has therefore picked up the word and concepts of 'shido' among the educational phenomena of Japan. The paper's objective is to demonstrate the historical background (origin and spread) of 'shido' and to analyze the social meanings (status and function) that the word and concepts of 'shido' have been given by Japan society, especially in the wartime context. I believe this paper has obtained the following conclusions (1) and hypothesis (2): (1) The word 'shido' goes back to the Meiji period, and the 'shido' paradigm, as a recognition framework understood by the word and concepts of 'shido,' was established in the wartime period. (2) The 'shido' paradigm has conditioned education and society in Japan, since, as norms themselves, attitude requests included in 'shido' elicit response practice to 'shido,' i.e. as an 'increase in educational response' to an 'increase in educational attitude.' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Japanese Sociological Review / Shakaigaku Hyoron is the property of Japan Sociological Society 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 Japanese Sociological Review / Shakaigaku Hyoron is the property of Japan Sociological Society 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 Japanese Sociological Review / Shakaigaku Hyoron is the property of Japan Sociological Society 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 Japanese Sociological Review / Shakaigaku Hyoron is the property of Japan Sociological Society 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 Japanese Sociological Review / Shakaigaku Hyoron is the property of Japan Sociological Society 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 Japanese Sociological Review / Shakaigaku Hyoron is the property of Japan Sociological Society 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 examines Japanese high school students' adjustment to school using data from the "Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)" conducted by the OECD in 2003. The indicator of student adjustment is composed of their attitudes toward education and behaviors in daily life - the sense of belonging to school and the frequency of late arrival at school. The effects of individual level and school population characteristics on student adjustment are estimated by applying a hierarchical linear model. In particular, this paper focused on the effect of the diversity of student socio-cultural background and relative student academic position within a high school on their adjustment. The main results are follows. First, student background certainly does affect the extent of adjustment to school, though it differs depending on which indicators and independent variables are used. Generally, students who have a higher socio-economic and cultural background adjust to school better than those who have a lower socio-cultural background. Second, it is confirmed that student attitudes and behaviors differ greatly between schools - many more students from schools with lower academic ranking are likely to be late for school and have a negative sense of belonging to the school. This result is consistent with "the students' status frustration hypothesis," which postulates that student frustration regarding anticipated educational and status attainment leads to anti-school attitudes and behaviors. Third, students' relative position of academic achievement and educational expectation within their high school has an effect on the extent of their adjustment to school. Students with relatively higher educational expectation within their high school have a good feeling about their school, and their educational expectations and academic achievement correlate negatively with the number of times the students arrive late for school. Fourth, dissatisfaction derived from their relative academic position is stronger in schools with a higher academic ranking. This suggests that students from schools with an upper academic ranking perceive pressure to achieve and attain higher educational attainments. On the other hand, what frustrates students from a high school with a lower academic ranking is not relative academic achievement within their high school, but the position of their high school in the academic ranking. Fifth, we found that students' socio-cultural composition has an effect on student adjustment in school - the sociocultural diversity of a school has a negative effect on the sense of belonging and a positive effect on the number of times students arrive late. This result implies that a school's socio-cultural composition is important for interaction between students and the formation of informal student groups, which directly affects student adjustment to school. These results indicate that both individual student and school population variables have effects on students' daily behavior and attitudes toward school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to address the NGO support for migrant Filipinas in Japan as an alternative "intimate sphere" and analyze its activities by focusing on the relationship and difference between the NGO and the families of migrant Filipinas. Recently, many scholars have been interested in a new kind of relationship as the basis of the people' lives--an "intimate sphere" alternative to the modern family. While considering the possibility that the new relationship could replace the family, they seem not to focus on the relationship and difference between the "intimate sphere" and the family. In this paper, I will argue that the NGO gives the Filipinas the freedom from the family in which they have suffered domestic violence by protecting them. The NGO also tries to help them identify themselves positively as "Filipina" and share the responsibility of childcare among them. Moreover, it tries to help migrant Filipinas reflect the expectations, desires, and norms which they have for a family. Through these practices, the NGO seeks not to negate the value of the family but to encourage migrant Filipinas and their children to live their lives in single-parent families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the Meiji period, Japanese capitalism facilitated spatial restructuring by exploiting a regional gap to expand its accumulation. Through this process, the regional structure of Japanese society shifted from the dual structure of the developing-country type, with a division of labor between the urban and rural sectors, to the integrated "center-periphery" structure of the advanced-country type reflecting a division of labor by regions and industrial sectors based on the unitary homogeneous system of production. As companies develop an internal international division of labor with globalization, the "center-periphery" structure has been reinforced further, and the industrial structure and the labor market of "peripheral" regions have been restructured under the influence of corporate location strategies. Given these, this paper divides prefectures in Japan into six regional clusters based on indicators of "the prefectural income per capita and the benefit-burden ratio regarding fiscal investment". Furthermore, each cluster is characterized on the basis of social statistical data to reveal the characteristic features of the "center-periphery" structure of Japanese society (in other words, the regional gap). On the basis of the above analysis, municipalities in five prefectures in the Chugoku area are classified into seven clusters in accordance with occupational data by industries to characterize the regional structure of each of those prefectures. Furthermore, the paper focuses on Shimane and Hiroshima prefectures, which are classified as a "peripheral agricultural area" and a "semiperipheral industrial area", respectively, in a regional gap cluster analysis, to characterize the regional policies of both prefectures. At the same time, taking Izumo and Hamada of Shimane prefecture as well as Kure and Higashihiroshima of Hiroshima prefecture as examples, it is revealed how local cities are forced to implement regional restructuring due to the trend of corporate location strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship of urbanization to social ties has been a major focus of urban sociology. In particular the "community lost perspective," which emphasizes the destructive effects of urbanization on social ties, has long been mainstream. In contrast, the "community saved perspective" has evolved between the 1950s and the 1970s: further, there has been a new current called the "community transformed perspective" in this argument over the last few decades. However, the argument is still controversial in Japan. The purpose of this paper is to reexamine these three perspectives focusing on primary ties. This paper uses the total number of social ties, the number of kin and nonkin ties, the proportion of nonkin ties, the network density, and frequency of contact as indicators of primary ties and explores the effects of urbanization on them through the analysis of Japanese General Social Survey 2003. By multilevel analysis, I found that urbanization encourages exclusively nonkin ties and the segmentation of social ties, while little empirical support was found for the destructive effects of urbanization on primary ties. The results indicate that the "community transformed perspective" is suitable in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper. I examine the process by which the people living with HIV/AIDS (PWHs) got involved in collective activities. In particular, I will focus on hemophiliac PWHs who joined in "case supporting organizations." In Japan, about 1,400 hemophiliacs contracted HIV due to a tainted blood product (chemical poisoning). When they filed suits against the Japanese government and pharmaceutical companies from 1989 to 1996. the stereotypes toward HIV/AIDS were blatantly exaggerated and quite prevalent. How did hemophiliac PWHs get involved in these cases and support organizations? How did they avoid=bashing" and discrimination? Hemophiliac PWHs behaved like "conscience adherents" without coming out about their HIV infection. They secured their safe participation within such support groups as this enabled them to avoid an environment of seated prejudice. The programs in the support groups sometimes urged the other participants to be aware of PWHs who are invisible in their ordinary life. This awareness makes it more difficult to resolve the problem of elimination/exclusion of PWHs. This trial generates an opportunity of cooperation among people with/without HIV. It can be said that all members are concerned with HIV/AIDS as conscience adherents. Thus, this trial enables hemophiliac PWHs to participate in case support programs and communicate with others, with ease. This paper asserts that the notion of "conscience adherents" applies not only to pre-infectors but also to PWHs. These findings can contribute to the sociology of social movements and collective action, and also to our understanding of living a life with HIV/AIDS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the reading practices of the first radicals of the Tokyo Imperial University (1919-1929, Tokyo Teidai Shingin-Kai). By particularly focusing on the idea "From Science to Imagination" that they assimilated through their activities, this paper will explore how these students came to adopt this idea, which is different from the past viewpoints. In doing so. this paper reconsiders the students' social movement between the world wars. Shinjin-Kai was one of the biggest student groups at that time. Many of their practices and social activities influenced the then regime, and their reading practices formed the basis for their actions. For Shinjin-Kai, the reading practices did not merely imply reading but also included the characteristic act of transcending back and forth between the text and the real world. First, the students gained the knowledge by reading the text, and then understood the actual circumstances by communicating with the employees. Following this, they interpreted the then present situation by trying to match the knowledge of the text and the actual situation. Later, they intended to improve the situation by returning to the text again. Through such activities, they aimed to create a reading community not based on any social attribute, but on the similarity of interest. They interpreted the present situation scientifically using the text, and then developed this interpretation by imagining their new community through the text. In this process, they experienced a reversal of the role of a sender and a receiver, and then, realized that they have to respond to the present state that they try to change through their activities. The reading practices of Shinjin-Kai involved being aware of one's internal passiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term "star system" frequently connotes vulgarity and a sense of the non-artistic. Although kabuki is generally considered as a form of highbrow culture in contemporary Japan, it involves the star system. This paper examines how the highbrow image of kabuki is maintained in spite of negative associations of the "star system." Many studies have examined the classification of highbrow/lowbrow culture from the viewpoints of the cultures that have been considered lowbrow or popular. Thus, another function of this paper is to reexamine this classification from the perspective of highbrow culture. The star system of kabuki had been criticized as a non-artistic element since the Meiji era. This tendency almost disappeared in the 1980s. At the same time, the image of kabuki as a highbrow culture gradually became established. This highbrow image of kabuki is mainly constructed by the people who usually do not come in contact with kabuki. They perceive kabuki as an absolute highbrow culture with a long-established traditional image, and they do not investigate the dramatic properties of kabuki. It means that they do not examine why kabuki is considered highbrow: therefore, the highbrow image of kabuki, which people firmly believe, is actually constructed on imaginary and uncertain grounds shaped by laypersons. In this condition, the "star system" that kabuki involves is not labeled as lowbrow, even though the star system itself is still generally considered vulgar. Because people affirm the dignity of kabuki as a highbrow culture, without examining the grounds for the highbrow image, they believe that kabuki is a highbrow culture regardless of its dramatic properties. The lowbrow and vulgar image of the "star system" becomes obscured by the highbrow image of kabuki, which is not adequately justified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the first half of this paper, we trace the relation of sociology, psychology, and psychoanalysis in the history of sociology. In the first section, the position of psychology among the works of sociologists of early times is elucidated. In the second section, we show that the psychological uneasiness that arose due to the collapse of mediated relation introduced the viewpoints of psychology and psychoanalysis into sociology. In the third section, various trends of psychologized societies in the post-war United States are explained from the viewpoint of the self-reference of self-construction. In addition, in the fourth section, we discuss the self, as described by Giddens and Beck, and the difference between their viewpoints and those of theories on psychologized society. In the second half of this paper, we first analyze psychologizations as the knowledge and technique through which we rebuilt the society (the social) when individualization began. We show that it began in 1968 and that the ideology in 1968 has become "the spirit of new capitalism" (Boltanski and Chiapello). Second, we describe how, due to the lack of tradition, psychologization initially spread in the United States as a resource for building a new society. Third, we point out that in Japan. psychologization has occurred only in marginal domains such as religion and sub-culture because a welfare state has not been constructed satisfactorily in Japan and individual independence has not been fully supported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sociology has been peripheral to the field of medicine in Japan. This paper is largely based on the author's experience of teaching sociology in a medical school in Japan. The paper analyzes why the two disciplines are irreconcilable and discusses how sociology can be involved in medicine and medical education. The discussion in this paper will be threefold. First, the paper will point out the incongruence between the medical sciences in medical school that are extremely biomedicine oriented and sociology that largely deals with the social construction of disease. How and to what extent the conflict between the two disciplines can be resolved will be discussed in the paper. Second, the paper will focus on how medical school education is institutionalized as well as controlled by the government, which might leave little room for sociology. Given this, the paper will consider how sociologists can become more involved in the education of medical doctors. Third, the paper will examine how and to what extent sociologists are able to deal with the sovereignty of medical doctors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the distinguishing characteristics of education and inequality at the secondary-school level in Japan using international comparative analysis from institutional perspective. The main data used in this paper is derived from the Programme for International Student Assessment (NSA) 2003, which has focused on the academic performance of 15-year-old students conducted by OECD. Based on the typology of the educational system, we conducted HLM analysis to see how the educational institution intermediates the effect of family socio-economic status (SES) on academic performance. From the result of the analysis, we found that the effecting pattern of SES on the academic performance has differed widely among the educational typologies, but was similar within the typology. This shows that the typology used in this paper is appropriate to examine the relevance between SES and the academic performance from the institutional perspective. We can conclude that the institutional characteristics of the competitive examination model, which includes Japan, are the following: low ratio of vocational school students, low vocational specificity, low regional school diversity, and almost no student repeat the same grade. However, the degree of stratification between the schools is very high. Moreover, we have shown that Japan is a country having the distinct characteristic wherein almost all the relevance between SES and the academic performance is being converted into inter-school disparity by the high school entrance exam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the author examines how teacher preparation programs have changed since 1990 in relation to the reform of higher education in Japan. In the previous literature, studies on teacher preparation programs have been conducted separately from those on higher education, despite the fact that K-12 teachers are trained at the post-secondary level in Japan. As a result, the impact of recent reforms of higher education on teacher preparation programs has been overlooked. First, the author identifies the impacts of recent higher education reforms on teacher preparation programs. The marketization of higher education led to a deterioration in relations between teacher preparation colleges and local boards of education. As a result, the contents of the programs came to be increasingly influenced by non-academic ideology and the administrative policies of each local government, rather than by scholarly research and critical inquiries. Second, the author examines the impacts of recent reforms targeting teacher preparation itself, Through an analysis of reports on reform of the Ministry of Education, the author finds that the policy of reform changed around 2000. The Law on Teachers' Licensure was revised toward a standardization of the teacher preparation curriculum, which had once been deregulated in the 1990s. Therefore, the author argues that both higher education reform and teacher preparation reform deprived many colleges and universities of their autonomy in the area of teacher education programs. As unintended results, the teacher education colleges have been transformed from "educational institutions" which support students with appropriate career guidance, into "institutions of teacher supply" which shape people into teachers in order to guarantee the survival of their own organizations. The author also cites the necessity of interdisciplinary research to create a bridge between higher education and teacher preparation. For example, this article stresses the need to reconsider the definition of the two key phrases that have been used as the main principles in preceding researches on teacher education since World War II: "Teacher preparation in college" and "openness of teacher preparation." On the basis of recent research on higher education, as shown in this paper, there does not appear to be a consensus today on the two phrases. For example, the fact that the commonsense definition of "what is college?" has already been lost compels us to re-examine what kind of content is required for maintaining the quality of teacher preparation programs at the college level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores school effects in Japan, using a Multilevel Model Analysis. "School Effects" consider how schools can affect children's learning outputs. This is one of the important subjects in the sociology of education. Since the Coleman Reports of the 1960s, there has been much research investigating school effects all over the world. This is termed "School Effectiveness Research" (SER). Recently, SER researchers are planning comparative studies within countries, and this research has considerable attraction. Unfortunately, very few researchers in Japan knew about SER until 2000. Pioneers in SER in Japan are Nabeshima and Shimizu. They investigated school effects using the concept of "Effective Schools" conceived by Edmonds, one of the most famous early SER researchers. Japanese SER researchers argue that "Effective Schools" are characterized by "teacher cooperation," "leadership," and "good classroom climates." Finally, they conclude, "If all schools had these characteristics, social disadvantage would be less than at present." However, the concept of "Effective Schools" in Japan is problematic, and thus we need to reanalyze carefully the conclusions of pioneer SER research in Japan. In this paper, I firstly point out the lack of the concept of "Effective Schools" and propose a Multilevel Model Analysis (Hierarchical Linear Modeling) to analyze school effects. Secondly, I investigate school effects in Japan using the Multilevel Model Analysis, and analyze academic achievement tests at 5th grade conducted in Z City in the district of Kansai. The sample size is 3,366 children from 43 schools and explanatory variables are achievement score at 4th grade, children's gender, and children's cultural social class. The findings are as follows. Firstly, almost all the variance in academic achievements at 5th grade exists within schools. There is small variance between schools. Variance between schools is less than 5 percent. Secondly, the most important explanatory variable affecting achievement at 5th grade is achievement at 4th grade. The most explanatory variables following this are children's gender and cultural social class. Thirdly, although the variance between schools is very small, there is a score gap of 5 to 6 points between "the most effective school" and "the most ineffective school." Thus, there are very small score gaps between schools, but this does not mean that schools have no effect on the alleviation of social disadvantage caused by gender or social class. We draw the following conclusions from this analysis. First, junior high schools in Japan have very similar learning environments, and so there are only small score gaps between schools. Secondly, the prior achievement score has a very strong effect on achievement score at the 5th grade level. Investigating school outcomes without taking prior achievement scores into account is therefore very problematic. In Japan, few argue the importance of prior achievement tests, but this is a critical point for the analysis of achievement scores. Thirdly, it is important that researchers of SER in Japan understand that there is only small variance between Japanese schools and argue seriously about "what schools can and cannot do." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the recent vigorous debate concerning the necessity for further increases in educational expenditure, the basic questions "Is Japan's spending on education really low?" and "Does money matter?" have never been examined analytically in Japan. The main purpose of this paper is to carry out a quantitative analysis of the effect and efficiency of educational expenditure in Japan and other developed countries. The paper consists of two parts. Firstly, using OECD expenditure data, I examine the conventional indices concerning educational expenditure and compare Japan and other developed countries using an alternative index. Secondly, I evaluate the effect of expenditures on secondary education and the inefficiencies of OECD countries by employing a stochastic frontier model. The following are the main results of the analyses. As to the comparison, there are some problems with the conventional macro indices such as educational expenditure per student, the educational expenditure- GDP ratio and the educational public expenditure-general public expenditure ratio. I employ the alternative index of Ram (1995) using the residuals of simple linear regression and compare the level of educational expenditures in OECD countries. In terms of primary and secondary education, the level of educational expenditure in Japan is close to the average of developed countries, and is therefore not much inferior to that of other developed countries, contrary to the recent claims concerning public education. The productivity of educational expenditure is evaluated in the light of two points: mean level and equity. The output indices of mean level and equity are estimated by the fixed-coefficient regression of the PISA data. The main analyses are conducted using a Bayesian semi-parametric stochastic frontier model which assumes no particular functional form concerning the effect of expenditures and the particular distribution concerning the inefficiencies. In terms of the mean level, an increase in educational expenditures has some positive effect. However, the production function is concave, and therefore there is a tendency for the effect of additional units of expenditure to diminish. The effect of educational expenditure on equity is neither monotonous nor strong. The estimated inefficiencies of each country tell us that there is a considerable gap between best practices and educational practices in many countries, and that the Japanese educational system is relatively efficient in mean level output and inefficient in equity output. These results imply that increasing educational expenditure requires further careful examination and discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines and presents the characteristics of the "emotional labor" of teachers by analyzing interviews with ten elementary teachers. Moreover, it discusses the notion that the emotional labor of teachers is a teacher strategy. The concept of emotional labor, introduced by Hochschild (1983), contends that the emotion of workers becomes commoditized when these acts are sold for a salary and thereby estranged from the individual. Although Hochschild emphasizes the negative aspects of emotional labor, I contend here that the emotional labor of teachers may have strategic aspects even if it is compulsory. The differences between Hochschild's argument and that put forward by this author arise from two points. The first depends on the autonomy of work. The second depends on the aspect of emotional labor as a means by which teachers carry out their core classroom purposes. In this paper, I present a concrete analysis of the latter point. In Hochschild's argument, the commercialization of feelings and their instrumentality are dealt with as identical things, but the two aspects should be distinguished. I insist that the emotional labor of teachers has an instrumental aspect rather than one of commercialization. That is to say, for emotional labor in teaching it is important to consider how teachers manage pupils' emotions. Japanese teachers hope that pupils will grow up not only academically but also emotionally. In addition, a teacher's instruction is based on working on pupils' feelings. Thus teachers need to manage both pupil's feelings and their own in order to build relationships in which the parties are linked together by emotional bonds in order to enable teachers to control classrooms. Because of this, teachers are required to carry out emotion management of their work, and in this sense they constrain their emotional labor. However they carry out emotional labor strategically by changing the meaning of heteronomous emotion rules into valuable instruments for their pedagogical purposes. This strategic aspect of the emotional labor of teachers is a skill acquired in the process of socialization as teachers. Thus negative aspects do not reside in the characteristics of the emotional labor of teachers, but are caused by aspects (compulsory/strategic) which are emphasized when a teacher carries out emotional labor. However, as Hochschild shows, emotional labor becomes negative and draining when poor working conditions make it impossible for teachers to perform their work well. Accordingly, it is necessary to conduct further studies concerning the emotional labor of teachers in relation to the circumstances surrounding the teacher. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to apply text theory to the reading of documents and to show an example Of how the theory is applied. In the field of cultural studies, there has been an accumulation of attempts to read texts. Among texts, a document is a special text, since it is written to be read from the beginning and therefore requires a particular way of reading. One method of analysis is to locate a document in different discourses in which some words gain meanings and others lose them. This paper examines a judicial ruling as an example of a document and attempts to show how to read it. The judicial ruling taken here is a decision on a lawsuit seeking compensation for a suicide caused by bullying in Iwaki City (1990). The victim was a third-year male junior high school student. It attracted considerable attention because it was the first case in Japan in which a court accepted professional negligence by school teachers as the cause for the suicide of a student. Three different meanings in three different discourses, that is, judicial, sociological, and educational radiate from this decision. First, in the judicial discourse, it is seen as quite senseless since it accepts the negligence of school teachers who could not foresee the suicide of the victim. This senseless decision, however, may be understandable in a sociological discourse. For, as Durkheim states in The Suicide, people tend to commit suicide for reasons of trifling matters when they cannot feel any bond with their society. If people accept the thought that ijime bullying breaks the feelings of a bond with society, and if they recognize the maliciousness of this, school officials can be seen as responsible for preventing the worst possible outcome, even if the particular direct causes of a suicide are not necessarily identified. This is the logic of the ruling. At the same time, the ruling placed 40 percent of the negligence on the victim himself. This 40 percent acknowledges his will and reason, in other, words, his personality until immediately before death. This indicates that other people can work with a victim as long as he is alive. There is no education without a personality. This is none other than to read the ruling as an educational discourse. As I have shown in the example above, reading a document in different discourses gives us opportunities to consider the many possible issues it potentially entails. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to answer the following question: "What type of people are likely to perceive the risk of crime victimization, and why?" Empirical research on the fear of crime in the West, which began in the 1960s, indicates that women, old people, and lower socio-economic groups have a tendency to perceive the risk of crime. Researchers have attributed the tendency in these groups to their physical and social vulnerability. In order to find out whether we can apply the results of the research conducted in the West to Japanese society, we compare the determinants of the perceived risk of crime in Japan with those of the perceived risk of crime in the United States. This comparison is conducted by analyzing the data of General Social Surveys (GSS) and Japanese General Social Surveys (JGSS) held in 2000. The findings reveal that in the United States, women, old people, and low-income groups are more likely to perceive the risk of crime; this perception can be attributed to their physical and social vulnerability. On the other hand, in Japan, it was found that young women, men having young children, and white-collar or highly educated women are more likely to perceive the risk of crime. However, their risk perception cannot be explained by physical and social vulnerability. This paper illustrates the unique factors underlying the perceived risk of crime in Japan: fear of sexual crime, vulnerability of the significant other, differences in the wording of GSS and JGSS, opportunities of walking alone at night, and the role of the media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the practice of cooperative cooking in two regions in Tochigi Prefecture during the first half of Japan's high growth period, and reexamines the significance of "cooperation" in domestic labor by rural women. At that time, cooperative cooking spread all over the country in the context of a movement for the improvement of living conditions. This paper focuses on the independent participation of rural women in cooperative cooking—women, who were considered the target of this "improvement". In the 1950s, women working in large-scale farms in Uziie persuaded the town office to implement the practice of cooperative cooking in order to reduce their domestic labor during the farming season. This was a progressive undertaking that realized the communal centralization of cooking. Nevertheless, cooperative cooking faded out as farmers began to use agricultural machines. As the manual labor demanded of women decreased, they began returning to their housework. The women of Kitsuregawa, an area with a higher subsistence farming population, also began cooperative cooking. During the farming season, they engaged in cooperative cooking in order to reduce domestic labor; however, on holidays they did so because they enjoyed the process. Thus, the practice of cooperative cooking was perpetuated. Because the women continued to cooperate when performing domestic labor, they were able to temporarily escape their severe daily working conditions and connect with each other beyond their "home". Hence, cooperative cooking provided them with an opportunity to work together. As a result, they succeeded to some extent in building labor conditions and social relations that were not necessarily based on the domestic labor of segmented family units, but rather on those that cut across these units. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the various aspects of communal life practices of patients in a national sanatorium for Hansen's disease in Japan. I consider an example of small groups that lived in a national sanatorium called Touhoku Shinsei-en in the 1960-70s in order to describe the characteristics of communal life practices of the patients under heavy segregation policies. The Japanese government's policy toward the patients of Hansen's disease was very cruel in the past. Almost all these patients were obliged to be segregated in national sanatoriums. However, the patients kept struggling for creating better living conditions. In order to make this sanatorium a better place, they took recourse in various activities, often adopting informal, sometimes even non-admitted methods. Besides clarifying the processes of the creation and development of such communal life practices, this paper also examines the effects and meanings of these practices for the participants. The case study in this paper sheds light on the fact that these patients kept experimenting with new communal life practices repeatedly not only for financial interests but also for the enrichment of their own lives. In concrete terms, their practices have the following connotations: (1) one refers to the securing of various autonomous living zones in the sanatorium by distributing "employment" roles among themselves; (2) another one refers to the creation of slight hope saying that their lives were worth living and to the sharing of these hopes with other patients; (3) the third one pertains to the extension of their living area by establishing contact between patients and non-patients. By understanding the significance of these practices through which the patients of Hansen's disease attempt to enrich their lives, we aim to explore some new aspects of their extremely difficult daily lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper highlights the circumstances leading to the forming of a residents' movement in order to combat an environmental risk. It achieves this objective by conducting a case study of a protest against the construction of a wide-area waste management facility in the southern part of "Shiga" Prefecture in the former town of "Shiga". This paper is based on the framework of McAdam et al. (political opportunities, mobilizing structure, and framing processes) and the point of view that Broadbent had regarded a social institutional and collective cultural context in local community as a factor of characterizing a Japanese movement. It investigates the circumstances leading to the emergence of a residents'movement in order to combat an environmental risk by comparing the case of "Shiga" to the case study of "Maki" Town, which is a successful case of a residents'movement combating an environmental hazard. In the case of "Shiga" Town, a majority of the opposition emphasized the election of opposition members of the town and prefectural assemblies, instead of discussing about the environmental risk posed by the waste management facility with the residents of the area. Consequently, the movement resulted in residents participating in the policy-making process by electing a prefectural legislative representative for their single-seat constituency and a mayor. However, it became apparent that the conflict surrounding the planned waste management facility was not driven by the concern regarding environmental risk but by the existing political confrontation between the conservatives and reformists. Ultimately, the construction of waste management facility went forward. In order to organize a residents'movement for combating an environmental risk, it is important for such a movement to be harmonized with the priorities of the local community during the participation in policy making that is driven by the three factors mentioned by McAdam et al. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper demonstrates how the self-oriented method of job decision making by university graduates became common in prewar Japan. In the Meiji and Taisho eras, informal connections and school exam scores of prospective employees were considered very important by employers. Most studies have overlooked the implication of this phenomenon because they were conducted from the value perspectives of the present society. This paper explains the phenomenon from the standpoint of interpretative sociology and points out that the new self-oriented phenomenon followed it. The discussion is developed as follows. First, from the sociological perspective, the author defines the freedom to choose an occupation in modern Japan as the opportunity to make a career choice. This notion did not exist in the situation surrounding employment in merchant enterprises in the Edo era. Second, the author points out that while employing candidates, companies in the Meiji and Taisho eras depended on informal connections and scores in school examinations; this was considered normal practice. Finally, this paper illustrates the process by which such a trust came to be regarded as abnormal and job interviews focusing on a candidate's personality started being considered normal. This process implies that the distinction between self and others (or between an individual and institutions) was related to the moral distinction between normal and abnormal. The emergence of job interviews suggests the legitimacy of self-oriented method of job decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, different aspects pertaining to the negative consciousness that the Japanese residents living in the industrial city which has a large population of foreign residents harbor toward foreign residents, and their contribution factors are clarified through a local resident investigation conducted twice in 1999 and 2005. Firstly, I analyzed the contribution factor of "exclusive consciousness." Subsequently, it became clear that the "relative size of foreign population" in an area had an impact on the "exclusive consciousness" harbored toward the foreign residents in the area in the investigation in 1999. On the other hand, in the investigation in 2005, the effect of the "relative size of foreign population" was lost and the variables of individual attributes and personal characteristics exhibited considerable effect on the exclusive consciousness of the Japanese residents. These findings support the "group threat theory." Secondly, I analyzed the contribution factor of the "consciousness of deteriorating life environment" as perceived by Japanese residents. No variable barring "education" revealed significant effects. This result suggested that the "consciousness of deteriorating life environment" is shared widely among Japanese residents. This paper revealed the following two findings. One is that the group threat theory is supported in the industrial city which has a large population of foreign residents in Japan, and the other is that there is a clear difference between the contribution factors of the "consciousness of deteriorating life environment" and "exclusive consciousness." This implies that different mechanisms are working between "perception" of the "deteriorating life environment" and "manifestation" of the "exclusive consciousness." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As we look into the future of Japan from the viewpoint of education policy, one critical issue is the changing composition of the country's population. The advent of an aging society combined with a low birthrate has had a prolonged and serious impact on Japan's entire education system. This paper, based on a full reflection on the history of the reorganization of school districts carried out throughout Japan in the postwar period, aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between education policy and the population issue. The main body of this paper consists of the following five parts. The first introduces the background of the study. The second depicts changes in the school-age population and projections into the future. The three phases of the reorganization of school districts, namely the municipal reorganization (cho-son gappei) phase, the phase of extreme population decline (kasoka) and the low birthrate phase, are described, and detailed analyses are conducted regarding these three phases. The fourth part, using Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo as an example, analyzes conflicts concerning the reorganization of school districts in central urban areas. The fifth part is an analysis of the "school selection system" and school districts. Based on the analyses, the following conclusions are drawn. The school institution, as one of the most popular and high-quality forms of social capital, has since the Meiji era become a symbol connecting individual residents living in local communities. However, many school districts have been destroyed during the process of reorganization and the only criteria for closing a particular school is the lack of financial efficiency. The education policy and population issue are closely interrelated, and the decision to close schools has caused great damage to local communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With globalization, the number of people migrating internationally has increased considerably. This phenomenon is also evident in Japan. For example, in the past five to six years the number of newcomer migrants to areas such as Aichi prefecture has surpassed the number of foreign residents living in areas such as Osaka that have long traditions of attracting migrants. These changes in migration patterns have created new challenges for Japan's education system. This paper considers these challenges by addressing the following questions: Has the Japanese Ministry of Education developed an adequate education policy to accommodate children of different ethnic backgrounds? While it appears evident that the Fundamental Law of Education must be revised, does the Japanese government comprehend the changes that have occurred in local environments, the household, and schools to the extent needed to enact useful change? In this paper, the author addresses these issues by considering various educational challenges that global migration has brought to Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Japan, the period from the early 1990s to the early 2000s is known as the lost decade. It is said that the economic recession, aging of society, declining birth rate, downsizing of enterprises and new gender role attitudes changed the patterns of one's life. During that period, women born in the early 1970s, who belong to the second generation of the postwar Baby Boomers, completed their education and entered into the labor market. Using work history data from SSM surveys, this paper clarifies how Japanese women's life course has changed from the cohort born in 1970-74. Although the M-shaped pattern of women's labor force participation still characterizes women's life course, the work life patterns of women in their twenties and early thirties has changed from the 1970-74 birth cohort. Fulltime employment is declining and the number of part-time and other irregular employees is growing. Mobility between workplaces has become increasingly frequent. Few women follow the pattern of transition from clerical workers to homemakers. The link between university education and work careers for women has strengthened. Using a graphic presentation, this paper demonstrates the differentiation of women's life courses in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phenomenal expansion of enrollment in graduate programs has brought about various disastrous consequences in the quality of postgraduate education in Japan. The "American" system of graduate education—in particular, its relatively high rate of enrollment—has often been quoted as the basis for the public policy on the expansion of graduate enrollment in Japan. On the other hand, the programs and curriculums characteristic of U.S. institutions have been hailed as the ideal model to be emulated. A close examination of the so-called American model of graduate education, however, reveals that the arguments for the American model have been accompanied by serious misunderstandings. This paper first delineates the causes and consequences of the expansion of graduate education in Japan. It then shows some of the research findings of a comparative study on graduate education in the U.S. and Japan. This paper concludes with the argument that blind mimicry of the American model would lead to detrimental consequences for students, teachers, and the academic discipline itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze the behavior of commuters in trains in Tokyo before World War II and reveal the different forms of publicity in urban traffic by referring to resources such as the laws, customs and novels that existed at the time. From 1900 to 1920, the train was an arena of crowd riots that were rebelling against the rise in the train fare; consequently, various norms pertaining to train travel were constituted. The purpose of these norms was to restrain the behavior of commuters by controlling their five senses and enabling them to use their eyes relatively, for example, they were able to read books and bills in a train, which is something that many commuters do. In this paper, this situation in a train has been referred to as the "order of eyes." Although this order of eyes was stringent, the commuters devised a way to playfully steal glances at each other. Such behavior established a subtle and unrecognized, albeit definite, boundary between the publicity (or correctitude) that must be maintained in urban traffic and the deviation (or vulgarity) that inevitably stems from the excessive proximity of commuters in a train. In this manner, the Metropolitan Railway ensured that the commuters not only passively accepted the rigid regulations but also positively dealt with the excessive proximity in trains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines trends in regional gaps in higher educational opportunities after the High Growth Period and the effects of structural factors. In the 1970s, educational policies were put in place with the aim to promote equal opportunity. Currently, regional gaps in higher educational opportunity are increasing. The purpose of this paper is to provide basic findings and knowledge on present conditions to contribute to the debate on educational opportunities. As an index of educational opportunity, we use capacity and college and university entrance rates. The findings are as follows: (1) in the 1975-1990 period, under the educational policy that aimed to spread education, gaps decreased in both indices of educational opportunity; (2) however, this decrease was the result of shrinking gaps in the three large metropolises of Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka, and educational opportunities were not necessarily expanding in the regions with the least educational opportunities; (3) after 1990, regional gaps began to increase again, due to rises in the three metropolises; (4) today, there are noticeable gaps not only among males but also among females by region; (5) the effects of socioeconomic conditions and school conditions on educational opportunities are increasing year by year. Today's regional inequalities are nearly equal to those in the 1970s when the educational policies were adopted, there is a possibility that equality of opportunities for education may become a political issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to clarify what are crucial issues for contemporary sociology of education, referring to papers contributed from abroad to this Journal and reviewing recent contributions from Japanese researchers of sociology of education. The author found out following topics which are most frequently discussed by researchers in and out of Japan. "education in postmodern society". "marketization of education", "polarization in equalized society", "self responsibility in postmodern society". "education as tool for risk management". Iwaki Hideo discusses a new type of meritocracy is appearing," global meritocracy". He argues that along with emerging web economy, symbol analysts are becoming a new main stream workers, they are making career beyond boundary of nation state in contrast with traditional meritocracy which tries to make success within a country. HONDA Yuki draws up a chart of human abilities required in modern and post modern society. According this chart, human capabilities required in post modern society are composed with characteristics like diversity, originality. aggressiveness, creativity, positive mind, network-friendliness. As for the topic of marketization of education, the author pointed out from on-going discussion on pro and con of free choice at compulsory school by parents and students. Among Japanese sociologists of education, there are two groups, proponents and opponents concerning this issue. Opponents are afraid of distractive effect to community solidarity., because compulsory school is deeply embedded in neighborhood community, and has close tie with community. Against that, there are opinions which expect that school choice system encourages innovation at school base. In the part, "Education as tool for risk management", which discusses mainly the education after 18 years old, a new concept of education is emerging. People consider themselves as an object of investment, and they make up self made career plan of learning and earning In unstable society of post modem time, people consider education as a tool of risk management of their own life time career. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]