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The article presents an analysis of the "Proceedings of the Fourth Tokyo Conference of Argumentation," a collection of papers presented at the convention held in Japan on August 2012. Among the papers discussed at the conference focus on topics like the Fukushima nuclear meltdown, the role of nuclear power argumentation in the society and the characteristics and functions of the argumentation. Bridging the gap between the practical and theoretical analyses of the argumentation is noted.

Purpose : To study the status of contribution by non-English speaking countries to international rehabilitation literature taking Japan as an example, and to suggest recommendations to overcome the language barrier. Method : Descriptive study using a systematic MEDLINE search with outcome measures of annual numbers and proportions of articles by Japanese physiatrists published in peer-reviewed English rehabilitation journals, and of categories and types of studies. A database containing 292 relevant articles were used for analysis. Results : The publications have steadily increased annually both in absolute number and in proportion. The number was the largest for Arch Phys Med Rehabil (16.8%), followed by Am J Phys Med Rehabil (12.3%), Prosthet Orthot Int (8.6%), Disabil Rehabil (5.1 %) and so on. The percentage by category was the highest for stroke (26.0%), followed by spinal cord injury (11.6%), neurophysiology (11.6%) and amputation (6.2%), 67.8% of the articles were related to evaluation, 6.5% to outcome studies and 25.7% to therapy. The majority were descriptive studies (45.5%), followed by case control studies (13.0%), before-and-after trials (12.3%), case reports (7.2%) and others. Conclusion : The contribution from Japan to international rehabilitation literature is increasing. Measures were suggested to facilitate more scientific contribution by non-English speaking researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reviews the book "Canada's 1960s: The Ironies of Identity in a Rebellious Era," by Bryan D. Palmer.

The article reviews the book "Koreans in Japan: Critical Voices from the Margin," edited by Sonia Ryang.

Reviews the book 'Women, Media and Consumption in Japan,' edited by Lise Skov and Brian Moeran.

Reviews the book 'Social Structures and Economic Dynamics in Japan Up to 1980,' edited by Gianni Podella.

Here, Koikari disrupts depoliticized ties between the marginalized people of the Tohoku region and indigenous Hawaiians, critiquing the erasures of Japanese and Western imperialism in the romanticized tropes of "paradise" and "healing." Moreover, Koikari highlights the proliferation of language that reinforces connections between manhood and the military through the resurrection of an ostensible martial "inheritance", namely, I bushido i . Moreover, Koikari underscores the ways in which exhortations to take responsibility for recovery and risk containment are couched in national(ist) terms that uncritically hark back to the troubling language and mindsets of imperial and wartime Japan while repackaging Japan's military as primarily a humanitarian entity. [Extracted from the article]

Reviews the book "The Japanese City: A Sociological Analysis," by Takeo Yazaki.

Reviews the book "Family and Social Policy in Japan: Anthropological Approaches," edited by Roger Goodman.

Giant phospholipid vesicles are actively used as model cell systems since their size and lamellarity are comparable to those of a real cell membrane. The most popular method for generating the giant phospholipid vesicles is the natural swelling method. Although this method has been successfully applied, the mechanism behind the formation of giant vesicles has not been fully understood. In the present paper, our results on the physico-chemical formation mechanism of giant vesicles under the natural swelling method are reviewed. We focused on two essential points in the formation process: the morphologies of the phospholipid dry film and the mechanism of its development, and the hydration process of the phospholipid film to form giant vesicles. From the results, the processes of the natural swelling of lipid films are shown for lipids in both the liquid-crystalline and gel phases. The results indicate that the terrace-like morphology of lipid dry films and the undulation motion of the lipid membrane during hydration are essential for the formation of giant vesicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

, by In this scrupulously detailed study Litten undertakes to expand the scope of our appreciation of the genesis of Japanese animation prior to the more commonly accepted point of departure in the year 1917. Litten, correctly in my view, takes an integrative approach to animation in Japan, acknowledging that the eventually dominant animation techniques in commercial animation production emerged from amongst an array of technologies, including chromolithography and paper-animation techniques. [Extracted from the article]

This paper compares Kant's positions on space, time, the relational character of noumena, and the relational character of the self, with the somewhat similar accounts of those things in two philosophers of the Kyoto school: Keiji Nishitani and Nishida Kitaro. I will argue that the philosophers of the Kyoto school had a more coherent and better integrated account of those ideas, that was open to Kant. I think that the comparison both clarifies Kant's position on these topics, and elucidates the topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reviews three reports on Japan and the global environment: `White Paper on the Environment in Japan 1988: Japan's Contribution Toward the Conservation of the Global Environment'; `Japan's Activities to Cope with Global Environmental Problems: Japan's Contribution Toward a Better Global Environment'; `Interim Report on Global Warming.' INSET: 1989 White Paper on the Environment, by J. A..

Reviews the book 'The Politics of Industrial Recruitment: Japanese Automobile Investment and Economic Development in the American States,' edited by Ernest J. Yanarella and William C. Green.

This article reviews a compilation of research on the traveling circuit priests called "oshi" who were associated exclusively to the Mount Fuji area of Japan. Based on materials from the Kawaguchi region, the papers discuss religion and society around Mt. Fuji in the medieval and Edo periods. The reviewer notes that explaining each paper’s stance on regional history would have helped readers.

Reviews the book "Reformen in Japan (Reforms in Japan)," edited by Friederike Bosse and Patrick Koellner.

Reviews three books focusing on management practice of large Japanese companies. "The Art of Japanese Management," by Richard Tanner Pascale and Anthony G. Athos; "Theory Z," by William G. Ouchi; "The Japanese Company," by Rodney Clark.

This article presents information on the book "Generations in Touch: Linking the Old and Young in a Tokyo Neighborhood," by Leng Leng Thang. This volume presents an ethnography of Kotoen, a facility in Tokyo, Japan, that attempts to reengage generations by integrating an old-age home, a day center for elders, and a day-care center for children. Kotoen's adult residents are considered to be "grandparents" to its children. Thang volunteered and conducted interviews among the facility's different groups between 1995 and 1996. She finds that although Kotoen's programming does not pro- mote close relationships between individual children and elders, the interaction with children seems to combat loneliness and boredom among the elders while providing positive views of old age and institutional old-age facilities among the children and the public.

Reviews the book `Immigration Policy and Foreign Workers in Japan,' by Hiromi Mori.

Reviews a Japanese television program called `Susunu Denpa Shonen.'

The article reviews the book "Network Power: Japan and Asia," edited by Peter J. Katzenstein and Takashi Shiraishi.

A review of the book "Ink," part of The Paper Gods series, by Amanda Sun, is presented.

The article reviews the book "Ink," book 1 of the Paper Gods Series, by Amanda Sun.

The article reviews the book "Fault-Zone Properties and Earthquake Rupture Dynamics," edited by Eiichi Fukuyama.

She concludes that for successful bilingualism such strategies as one person/one language approach and home language/community language systems may not be as important as it has been suggested in earlier research. "Codeswitching by Japan's unrecognised bilinguals: Japanese university students' use of their native language as a learning strategy" by Sandra Fotos explores how Japanese learners of English use code-switching as a learning strategy. R. Michael Bostwick evaluates the effect of the first immersion programme in Japan in "Bilingual education of children in Japan: year four of a partial immersion programme". [Extracted from the article]

This article provides a review of Goto and Yoshida's book, based on papers presented at a 2008 symposium on social life and conditions in Japan's mountain villages from the 18th century through the 20th century. Divided into three thematic parts -- on "things," "people," and "place" -- the book contains ten articles by different authors on specific Japanese villages that focus on one of the themes, such as peasant production of charcoal a Japanese feudal domain, and the development of the Tokyo-based lime industry in coordination with village enterprises during the Meiji era. The reviewer notes that the numerous subjects introduced in this work can provide future scholars with many new approaches and topics.

The article reviews the book "Law in Japan," edited by Daniel H. Foote, with contributions from Eric A. Feldman, John O. Harley and Kahei Rokumoto.

Reviews several books on Japanese studies. "Embracing the Firebird: Yosano Akiko and the Birth of the Female Voice in Modern Japanese Poetry," by Janine Beichman; "Language Change in East Asia," by T. E. McAuley; "Can the Japanese Change Their Education System?" edited by Richard Goodman and David Phillips; "Unhappy Soldier: Hino Ashihei and Japanese World War II Literature," by David M. Rosenfeld.

For example, if asked, many people in Japan would say the Shinto altar in the police department is not-religion, as no ritual is performed and no worship is made. Regarding the distinction between religion and not-religion in the conclusion of the book, the author claims that "to free religion, one must make sharp distinctions between religion and not-religion" (250). Problematically, however, since this distinction runs parallel to the framework of good/bad religions, a Shinto altar in a police department can be categorized as "not-religion" by being viewed as tradition or custom and thus gain public support. [Extracted from the article]

The article reviews the book "The Worlds of Japanese Popular Culture: Gender, Shifting Boundaries and Global Cultures," edited by D. P. Martinez.

A review is presented of the book "Beyond Golden Clouds: Japanese Screens from the Art Institute of Chicago & the Saint Louis Art Museum," edited by Janice Katz.

The article reviews the exhibition on the works by Mori Ogai in October 2007 at the Museum of Literature in Kitakyushu, Japan.