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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.)

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.)

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 examine how the representation of industrial modernization changed after the appearance of the concept of "industrial heritage," and to clarify its meaning for local communities. At present, local communities are at a crucial juncture facing de-population and financial deficit issues due to giobalization and neo-liberalism. Particularly periled are former coal-mining areas that failed to attract enterprises and to develop tourism. Industrial heritage is expected to be a local resource for new development in such areas. In order to clarify how local people represent industrial heritage in such a harsh situation, this paper analyzes the logic and practice of local people when interpreting the concept of industrial heritage and representing it based on their own experience and memories. The concept of industrial heritage involves promoting the participation of local people in the representation process of industrial modernization. However, in the meantime, this representation inevitably leads to people evaluating industrial modernization including those issues that are politically sensitive. This situation results in local activities utilizing industrial heritage for the revitalization of the local community, which is in a very insecure position. Through representation analyses, participant observations, and interviews with related persons, this paper compares the representation of museum exhibitions and the representation of tour guides in former coal-mining areas. In doing so, it examines how the representation of industrial modernization is changing. Moreover, this paper also suggests that the so-called "strategic" nationalism along with various potential meanings arising from the material presence of factories and apartments can help overcome the abovemenfioned insecure local meaning of industrial modernization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to consider the analytical framework and basic premises while exploring the situation of multiple second modernities under glocalization. and deals with Japan as a case study. In doing so. the paper sets up as its subject the different patterns of relationships between the individual, intermediate groups, and the state in each locality and pursues the transformation of these patterns in contemporary society. As an implication, it concomitantly explores the relationship between globalization and sociological theory. The structural tensions inherent in modern society between traditional and contractual elements are periodically expressed in the institutional patterns of the relationships between the individual, intermediate groups, and the state in each area. As part of its basic analytical frame, this paper considers the similarities and differences between the theory of glocalization and that of multiple modernities in order to articulate the two approaches; further, this paper tries to form a typology of the "West," "U.S.A." and "Japan" in terms of their relational patterns with respect to the three factors mentioned above. In the age of multiple second modernities, relational patterns are expressed as configurations of individuality (and not the individual), intermediate networks (not intermediate groups) and transforming states (and not just states). To observe the distinctness of each locality in all its plurality, we need to consider not only the institutional structure of the three factors but also the more fundamental logic behind all collective/individual formations in each society in question. In considering these issues, our paper focuses on the case of Japan, in order to analyze contemporary Japan as one of states that exhibits multiple second modernities under the glocalization process. Our findings are based on our observations of Japan's historical and cultural distinctness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores social stratification and social inequality in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan by comprehensively analyzing the effects of occupation on one's class status. In this paper, the author examines the effects that a person's occupational conditions, such as occupation (interpreted narrowly), employment status, type of employment contract (standard or non-standard), and company size, have on his/her individual income and class consciousness, and how these effects vary within East Asian societies on the basis of each society's unique labor market structure and local institutions. The analysis of the 2005 Social Stratification and Social Mobility (SSM) survey data led to the following findings. On the whole, the effects of occupational conditions on income and class consciousness are similar within all these societies. However, the relative impacts of these conditions differ considerably. While occupation (narrowly interpreted) has predominant effects in Taiwan, the effects of company size and type of employment contract are also considerable in Japan, and partly so in Korea. It is also notable that in the case of Japanese males, company size and type of employment contract have significant effects on class consciousness, even after the effects of individual income are controlled. These effects can be attributed to some factors that are unique to the Japanese management system, such as career-long employment and the wage seniority system that are usually offered to the standard male employees of large companies. From these findings, we can conclude that we should focus on local institutional factors as well as global factors for a better understanding of present-day social stratification and social inequality in East Asian societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines two topics related to intergenerational class mobility: long-term trends in class mobility in post-war Japan and cross-national comparison. First, the trends in relative class mobility, which is the indicator of societal openness, show an overall stability in post-war Japan. There was no evidence to support the notion of increased rigidity and mobility barriers in recent Japan. This notion was probably derived from the changes in class structure and absolute mobility. Both the share of the upper white-collar class and the proportion of upward mobility were reduced: at the same time, both the share of the unskilled manual class and the proportion of downward mobility were increased. These changes probably affected people's perception of increased rigidity in class structure. Second, this paper examined Japan's position in relation to other industrial societies in the 1970s and 1990s. With regard to relative mobility rate. Japan was located in the middle position implying that it is neither more fluid nor less fluid than other industrial societies. With regard to absolute mobility rate, Japan showed a trend of a rapid increase in total mobility rate following the process of industrialization, just like other late-industrializing societies. The paper examined the relative location of all the nations in our analysis by taking into account the trends of both absolute mobility rate and relative mobility rate during the process of industrialization. [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]

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]

Since the mid-1990s, Japanese society has experienced a sharp increase in the number of street homeless people. Most them are relatively old. At present, more than fifty percent of the street homeless are over fifty years old. However, in addition to the older people, we are beginning to see younger street homeless people. In this paper, I define younger as below thirty-five years. The younger people still comprise a small proportion of the street homeless people; that is, they are fewer than ten percent of the entire street homeless population. However, they should not be neglected merely because they have until now constituted a negligible-sized group. Younger street homeless people are a completely new phenomenon for the Japanese. They might be the heralds of the changing structure of Japanese society. This paper uses the life histories of younger street homeless people to describe and analyze two distinctive processes in their experiences; these processes are the "process of becoming" and the "process of remaining." Usually, in their endeavor to explain both processes, scholars advance claims that are strongly economic. The scholars may be correct as long as their focus is on older people. However, the issue is slightly different in the case of younger people. Younger people often tell us that their job losses have been spontaneous. While such answers should certainly not be examined superficially, it is also important that the experiences and pathways of younger people be analyzed by including variables other than economic ones; these variables are the state of the social world and that of the inner world. Lastly, this paper reconsiders the experiences of younger street homeless people from a structural perspective. The combination of the theory of individualization and the theory of the urban underclass enables it to do so. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze the influence of the sociology of gender on everyday life in the framework of Schutz's social action theory. The act of theorizing is defined in practical terms in my paper. Every social member theorizes on a daily basis in order to adapt to social life. Gender constitutes a theory that is developed based on each social member's theory formation. Therefore, gender structures people's perceptions and has led to communication difficulties between men and women. The sociology of gender has contributed to regaining the mutual trust between men and women by clarifying the reasons for the difficulties they face in communication. Gender bashing in contemporary Japanese society destroys any attempt to establish such mutual understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the collective mentality and the formation of the nation state in the early Meiji Era in Japan. The empirical focus of this paper is Ishikikaii, an ordinance concerned with the breach of etiquette, which brought about the modernization of the concept of the body in Japan. By prohibiting casual nudity, which characterized the public mores of the time, Ishikikaii aimed to make Japanese public behavior conform to the Western standards of propriety. To enforce Ishikikaii, the police were directed to interdict those who walked nude on the streets. However, public nudity was rather natural for the Japanese who lived in that era. Women took off their blouses to nurse their babies, workers labored wearing only fundoshi (loincloths), and people returned home from public baths in various states of undress. Therefore, it can be easily imagined that the new law must have caused a great deal of confusion. To determine the reactions of the people in Osaka toward the enforcement of Ishikikaii, I collected and analyzed newspaper articles that were published at the time of its promulgation. Based on this data, the following are my interpretations of the social consciousness of the people in the early Meiji Era: (1) there were many humorous articles written on public arrests and (2) these articles consisted of humorous phrases, which applied to both people and statesmen. It is able to read, humor is the way of "passing" for those who were confused with regard to modernization and westernization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japan's population is aging at an alarming rate, which is having a tremendous impact on the current employment system. This paper defines the post-retirement life stage as the second career-development period, ranging from the middle-aged years to the senior years. During this latter half of their lives, people are actively committed to developing their careers. This paper analyzes the varied views of the senior-age group in regard to their lifestyles and career development. The analysis has identified three conclusions. Firstly, in spite of the economic slowdown in the 1990s, those in the middle-to senior-age group regard their post-retirement lifestyles favorably, thus advancing a new post-retirement culture. Secondly, their post-retirement careers are varied, ranging from participation in volunteer activities to the establishment of new businesses. Thirdly. those who intend to become involved in volunteer activities or to establish new businesses after retirement, instead of continuing to work for the company they are currently working for. start to search out new contacts with people outside the company "ahead of their retirement date. In other words, some of those in the group stop being company-first employees before they retire. Based on these findings, this paper examines the varied post-retirement career development and active aging of the middle-to senior-age group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to reconsider the relationship between the emperor system and "women" through an analysis of women's views of the imperial family in modern Japan. This paper especially considers women's mentalities demonstrated in their great interests and yearnings for the imperial family as "stars," which appeared widely since the 1900s and the 1910s. Through researching these mentalities, this paper elucidates two points. Firstly, we try to argue that these mentalities changed the characteristics of the modem Japanese emperor system radically. Secondly, we seek to present the relationship between the emergence of the "popular emperor system" in modem Japan and Japanese modernization from the perspective of gender studies. [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.)

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 aims to clarify the steps that a migrant women's group has taken to alleviate the social problems and tensions in a local community "where globalization has brought about the new locality of hybridity" (Machimura 2006). The Sakae-Higashi area of Naka-Ward, Nagoya City is a local community categorized as a "newcomer dominant, inner-city in a big city type" multicultural area (Watado 2006a). This area has seen a massive inflow of young Filipino women since the mid-1980s. A number of Filipino entertainers who worked in "Philippine Pubs" in the area started to marry Japanese men from the 1990s onwards. They organized themselves and started the "Filipino Migrants Center (FMC), Nagoya" in the area in 2000. The FMC has functioned as the most effective "window" through which the local Japanese society could observe the immigrant community. Compared with other immigrant communities, they are thought to be the ones with the most good will because of their readiness to cooperate with the local people. They have therefore played an important role in multicultural community development. This has been influenced by the fact that the vulnerability of migrant women has necessitated support from the local government, which further promoted their settlement. At the same time, Japan's multicultural local policy and administration needed a group of migrants who could work together with the local government. One particular problem was that migrant men were sometimes undocumented and therefore invisible, but through the women-led FMC, the local people were able to start talking with them too. To summarize, in the Sakae-Higashi area, an inter-ethnic relationship was first established between the local people/administration and migrant women. This relationship was nurtured by a local multiethnic project functioning as a "window" to the ethnic community. When the local people needed to talk with migrant men, they utilized this "window" and attempted to alleviate the social problems and tensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines a new possibility and usefulness of the concept of authenticity through analyzing the transitioning characteristics of music festivals in Japan. Among discussion of authenticity in tourism studies, classical music festivals haw, not been mentioned so far. At music festivals, music that was created in the past in European countries is reproduced. The concept of authenticity is effective when considering the significance of classical music festivals in Japan, which were originally irrelevant and inauthentic with regard to European traditional music. Now, many local volunteers and amateur musicians participate in Japanese festivals, and many unique events are planned. Japanese music festivals continue by "assimilating" foreign music into their own cultural bases. In that sense, the music of Japanese festivals does not become a borrowed culture. At the same time, most Japanese music festivals have been asking for high quality performances by leading musicians. In fact, this means authentic performances. In conclusion, the request for a "universal" value of performance quality is a new aspect in the concept of authenticity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to examine factors affecting the happiness of Japanese people based on the JGSS cumulative data 2000-2010 carried out eight times between 2000 and 2010. JGSS is a repeated cross-sectional survey conducted once a year or every other year. Analyzing the pooled data of JGSS makes it possible to examine cohort effects and period effects. In addition, we can achieve more generalized findings by examining the effect of variables at the individual level while controlling for the effect of cohorts and periods. We employed a hierarchical Age-Period-Cohort Analysis because individuals are nested within two social contexts: period (time points of surveys) and cohort (birth cohorts with 5-year interval). The period and the cohort were set at the group level and age and other independent variables predicting happiness were set at the individual level. The results of our analysis revealed that (1) the age effect followed a U-shaped curve, (2) happiness declined in 2003, (3) happiness was low in the 1935-1939 birth cohort and the 1980-or-after birth cohorts, (4) original social stratum and social opportunities in the early period of life affected happiness over the life course, (5) subjective relative household income had a stronger relationship with happiness than equivalent household income, and (6) working status and marital status have a different effect on happiness between men and women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to clarify how educational and occupational expectations of students are conditioned by school track under Japanese school-to-work linkage. We compare Japan to the US and Germany, which have specific characteristics of school-to-work linkage of their own according to the literature. Our analysis is based on Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data collected by OECD. Using indicators from the literature, we can define the institutional characteristics of each country as follows: all the indicators are high in Germany, and low in the US, but in the case of Japan, the indicators for stratification and standardization are high, while vocational specificity is low. From the patterns of these indicators, we construct hypothesis about the effect of school track on students' educational and occupational expectations in each country. From our analysis, we can see that tracking in Germany strongly affects the educational and occupational expectations, while tracking in the US did not strongly affect either expectation. In Japan, school track strongly constrained educational expectations, but not occupational expectations. These results can be consistently interpreted as a consequence of different school-to-work linkages in these countries explained by using three indicators above. Therefore, we can conclude that we succeeded in clarifying distinguishing characteristics of the school track effect on student expectations in Japan compared to the US and Germany in relation to the institutional differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the important points in the discussions on minority groups pertains to the category words associated with that particular group. However. the significance of category words for the members of a minority group itself has been overlooked. The aim of this paper is to consider this point by analyzing one category word that is used by gay/bisexual men in contemporary Japan. In the context of gay/bisexual men's group, this point is associated with how they can address themselves and construct "we" without hurting someone by the category words they use. The word kocchi (here/this side) is frequently used by gay/bisexual men in Japan and can be considered to be an answer to the above question. This word implies peer consciousness among them, and by using it. gay/bisexual men construct themselves as a peer group without foreclosing anyone. This function derives from the tautological characteristic of the word kocchi. Of course, in some cases, this word leads to dysfunctional consequences. However, kocchi, a vague and tautological expression, plays a very important role in constructing gay/bisexual men as "we". This analysis can throw fresh light on the discussions about category words, because this case shows that the significance of a category word can be its "unsubstantial" feature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Certified Social Workers and Certified Care Workers Act was enacted in 1987 in Japan. After the enactments, sociology has been included in the national examination for the acquisition of a social worker's license. This paper examines narratives in sociology and education in sociology in social work education and related academic studies. This study will address the scope of sociology within the realm of social work. First, I will explain the present state of social work education in Japan. Second, it will focus on the manner in which sociology influences social work education, related academic studies, and a social worker's practice. Third, I will consider the manner in which sociology contributes to social work education, related academic studies, and a social worker's practice. Although sociological theories are presently selected arbitrarily in social work education, sociology has had an incredible impact on social work. For example, institutions were deinstitutionalized, paternalism was rejected, and self-determination and "users' narratives" acquired respect. It is believed that transformations of this nature have made a social worker's methods postmodern. However, there is a sanctuary that postmodern social work cannot cover. I argue that this profession presently has two different methods of intervention. The first method of intervention is postmodern care, while the other is evidence-based social work that supports powerful intervention. The present situation of social workers should be considered in order to initiate sociological discussions in the realm of social work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]