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Japan's construction of fortifications throughout its history has been a subject of scholarly interest. Japan has been building fortifications for generations, from Muzuki and stone fortifications at home to Japanese fortifications on the Korean peninsula. While it is commonly believed that the need for castle building in Japan emerged after the Battle of Baekgang, this paper suggests that Japan's sense of external tensions predates this event. Specifically, this paper examines the construction of defensive fortifications at Itojo and Onojo during the Tang Dynasty and its implications for Japan's relations with East Asia. Through an analysis of historical records and archeological evidence, this paper argues that the construction of Onojo may have begun as early as around AD 650, challenging the prevailing view in academic circles, which holds that Onojo was built after the defeat of Baekgang. By examining the development of Japan's relations with East Asia during this period, this paper sheds light on the geopolitical significance of Japan's construction of defensive fortifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Arab Journal of Political Science is the property of Centre for Arab Unity Studies 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.)

For over 40 years, Kansei-based research and development have been conducted in Japan and other East Asian countries and these decades of research have influenced Kansei interpretation. New methods and applications, including virtual reality and artificial intelligence, have emerged since the millennium, as the Kansei concept has spread throughout Europe and the rest of the world. This paper reviews past literature and industrial experience, offering a comprehensive understanding of Kansei, the underlying philosophy, and the methodology of Kansei Engineering from the approach of psychology and physiology, both qualitatively and quantitatively. The breadth of Kansei is described by examples, emerging from both industry and academia. Additionally, thematic mapping of the state-of-the-art as well as an outlook are derived from feedback obtained from structured interview of thirty-five of the most distinguished researchers in Kansei. The mapping provides insights into current trends and future directions. Kansei is unique because it includes the consideration of emotion in the design of products and services. The paper aims at becoming a reference for researchers, practitioners, and stakeholders across borders and cultures, looking for holistic perspectives on Kansei, Kansei Engineering, and implementation methods. The novelty of the paper resides in the unification of authors amongst pioneers from different parts of the world, spanning across diversified academic backgrounds, knowledge areas and industries [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most Asian countries are regarded as Confucian countries although each has its own historical and cultural background. Little is known about how people in different Asian countries perceive their family boundaries. This study is an attempt to compare the perception of the family in China, Japan, and Korea. We examined the family perception and found substantial differences among the three. Chinese people showed the widest and paternally extended perception of family. Data from people in Korea nearly matched data from China, but family perception developed bilaterally. People in Japan, however, perceived only blood‐tied, intimate relations as family members. In addition, the perception of the family was not substantially different between the genders in Japan and China, but in South Korea, men perceived family boundaries more widely than women, implying that women have a greater family burden than men in Korea. Considering the heterogeneity in family perceptions in these countries, this paper tries to explain how social institutions interact with individuals and impact the perception of family. Finally, this paper concludes that it is inappropriate to tie the three East Asian countries as 'Confucian civilizations' in terms of family perception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Research Papers of the Wroclaw University of Economics / Prace Naukowe Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego we Wroclawiu is the property of Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny we Wroclawiu 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 Humania del Sur: Revista de Estudios Latinoamericanos, Africanos y Asiáticos is the property of Humania del Sur. Estudios Latinoamericanos Africanos y Asiaticos 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.)

Societal Impact Statement Summary The discovery of a new genus within the family Thismiaceae, known as fairy lanterns, marks a significant scientific milestone in Japan, a country renowned for its botanical research. The unearthing of a new genus, especially in a well‐documented flora like Japan, is both rare and monumental. Unlike other fairy lanterns that bloom under leaf litter and can be easily overlooked, the new genus and species, Relictithismia kimotsukiensis, often does not even emerge above the surface of the soil when flowering. This captivating characteristic not only enriches our knowledge of botanical diversity but also emphasizes the importance of preserving natural habitats that harbor such rare species.The family Thismiaceae, known as “fairy lanterns”, is distinguished by its urn‐ or bell‐shaped, glasswork‐like flowers with basally fused tepals and its dependence on specific fungi for carbon. A new genus and species, Relictithismia kimotsukiensis, has been discovered in southern Japan. This species is notable for its unique anther‐stigma contact, hitherto unreported in the other Thismiaceae. Unlike typical fairy lanterns that bloom just above the leaf litter, Relictithismia often flowers beneath it. The underground habit is potentially associated with self‐pollination. The discovery of Relictithismia enhances our understanding of evolutionary pathways within the Thismiaceae, as it possesses characteristics previously thought to be unique to Thismia (the annulus with drooping stamens) as well as traits found in other genera (free stamens without expanded connectives). This paper reviews the morphology, ecology, and evolutionary history of Relictithismia, offering insights into the peculiarities of these enigmatic plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studii de Ştiintă şi Cultură is the property of Studii de Stiinta si Cultura 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.)

Based on the author's fieldwork in China and Japan, literature research and the study of specimen materials and video data on weddings of ROK, Japan and China, which are collected by the Japan National Museum of Ethnology (or Minpaku), this paper attempts to explore the cultural symbolic significance that humans bestow on food, and to further reveal the cultural diversity in East Asia and the common structure of human mind by comparing the flow of food and the ways and scopes in which the wedding foods are consumed in East Asia. In East Asia wedding customs, expectations through food for the bride's fertility and her belonging to her husband's patrilineal family are very common. However, the food and eating behaviors that express expectations for the groom are rare, only slightly visible in the dry bonito at the time of engagement in Japan and the 12 bowls of rice that the groom will eat on the day of the Yao wedding in China. Dried bonito signifies virility and victory of men, reflecting the features of Japanese maritime culture and the influence of samurai culture in history. East Asian wedding rituals are diverse in form, but the commonality among them can also be seen, that is, human beings find cultural meanings in different natural environments that correspond to human society, and then internalize the natural attributes through homophonic pun, imitation and other ways. Food is used in weddings to express people's best wishes for the happiness of the newlyweds' families, to have descendants and longevity of their marriage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the shift in career strategies among Japanese women due to the globalization of Japan's economy since the 1980s. It highlights how economic changes led to a gender‐based division of labor, propelling women to seek opportunities abroad. The research draws on interviews with 81 women who moved to financial centers in East Asia, mainly in Hong Kong and Shanghai, examining their experiences in the workforce, the impact of human resource agencies in their migration, and the challenges and opportunities they encountered. The study reveals a complex landscape where Japanese women navigate gendered expectations and discrimination both in Japan and abroad in pursuit of career advancement. The conclusion emphasizes three points. First, women found opportunities abroad to do what they wanted, even if it was not what they initially expected before leaving Japan. Second, although supportive and subordinate to male managers, their work was indispensable to the management of Japanese companies abroad. Their contribution has long been underestimated but needs to be considered. Third, the experience abroad gave them direct interaction with various clients and colleagues and a view of rapid societal change in Hong Kong and China, contributing to choosing their diverse career trajectories and life plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the Asia Pacifi c War (1937-1945), the Japanese Imperial Army forced women in Japanese East Asian colonies to work as so-called “comfort women” (sex workers). The justice movement for these women is an international intersectional alliance of feminists from Japanese ex-colonies in East Asia, the former colonial power Japan, and other societies, such as Australia, Germany, and the USA. This long-term feminist justice movement has campaigned for an apology and compensation from the Japanese government, as well as for recognition of “comfort women‘s” suff ering and of sexual violence in war in cultural memory. Through researching this justice movement from a processual intersectionality perspective, this paper shows that it gained power and legitimacy from refl ecting and working on its internal intersectional inequalities. This included refl ecting on the class hierarchies between many former “comfort women”, who had power of defi nition, and intellectual feminist activists, as well as on the postcolonial divide between former Japanese colonies and the former colonial power Japan, leading it to develop horizontal cooperation and practices. Following an overview, the paper outlines the movements in South Korea, Japan, and Germany, and highlights the different postcolonial constellation between East Asia and Germany, the main actors, and their aims. While the Japanese government rejected the justice movement‘s demands and the right wing mobilised against it, has been able to infl uence cultural memory to widely recognize sexual violence in war and the dignity of the “comfort women”. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the largest freely available EcoPlate dataset for Japan, comprising data collected from a network of 33 natural forest sites (77 plots) in regions of East Asia ranging from cool temperate to subtropical. EcoPlate is a 96‐well microplate that contains three repeated sets of 31 response wells with different sole carbon substrates. The utilization of each carbon substrate by the microbial community is quantified by the color density of the well during incubation. EcoPlate can provide a multifunctional index of a soil microbial community. Soil properties (water content, carbon [C] and nitrogen [N] contents, the C/N ratio, and pH) that are essential for interpreting the EcoPlate results were also measured. The network is part of the Forest and Grassland Survey of the Monitoring Sites 1000 Project established by the Ministry of the Environment. Using a standardized protocol, soil was sampled between September and December 2020. A preliminary principal component analysis was performed on the temporal integration of color density using 31 substrates. For the temporal integration, we calculated the cumulative amount of color development by integrating the color density development curve. PC1 contributed 55.6% and is thought to represent the magnitude of the overall absorbance of all substrates. The model of environmental factors including elevation and the model of soil properties, including water content and pH, were selected as the best‐fit models for variation in PC1. EcoPlate data enable the meta‐analysis of comparative studies among forest types and testing community ecology and ecosystem function hypotheses at broad spatial scales. The complete data set for this abstract published in the Data Paper section of the journal is available in electronic format in MetaCat in JaLTER at http://db.cger.nies.go.jp/JaLTER/metacat/metacat/ERDP‐2022‐01.1/jalter‐en. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Active surveillance is considered a viable option for papillary thyroid microcarcinoma. Since the last decade of the 20th century, this method has spread from Japan to other countries, but has not yet been fully accepted and validated by the major Western Scientific Societies. In 2016, a systematic review on the results of active surveillance was published, based on two articles that showed encouraging results. Other reviews published subsequently, were mainly based on articles from the Far East. The aim of this review is to assess the most recent results published from 2017 to 2020 on this subject. Materials and Methods: A systematic literature search was performed on MEDLINE via PUBMED, Web of Science, and Scopus according to PRISMA criteria. The MESH terms "papillary thyroid microcarcinoma" and "active surveillance" were adopted. Tumor progression, secondary localizations, and quality of life were the main benchmarks. Results: Nine studies met the inclusion criteria. The increase in volume ranged from 2.7% and 23.2%; the occurrence of lymph node metastases from 1.3% to 29%; QoL was improved in both articles that addressed this topic. The level of evidence is considered low due to the retrospective and uncontrolled nature of most of the studies included in the review. Conclusion: The evidence from the literature currently available on AS falls into two strands: a robust data set from the Japanese experience, and an initial experience from Western countries, whose data are still limited but which show a lack of substantial alerts against this practice. Further data is useful to validate the spread of Active Surveillance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a critical review of the results of the Asuka Historical Museum's excavation of the Asukadera wooden pagoda site in Japan since 2015, and its implications for Buddhist cultural exchange in East Asia. The second section examines the Asuka Historical Museum's categorization and scientific analysis of the beads, pearls, horse gear, earrings, gold and silver artifacts, mica, and śarīra containers. We assert that most objects excavated from the Asukadera wooden pagoda site are relics from the Asuka era (538–710), when the pagoda was first established in 593, and only a limited number of artifacts, such as the śarīra [relics] container, were added after the wooden pagoda was burned down in 1196. The third section compares the archeological remains from the Asukadera wooden pagoda site and the reliquary objects from the Paekche Wanghŭng-sa site (577) and Mirŭk-sa site (639), which have been conventionally considered to be its models. What the relics from these three historical sites have in common is that they include clothing accessories nobles wore as they participated in the Buddhist rituals of enshrining the śarīra in a wooden pagoda. However, some differences in the metallic craft items, such as crowns and belts, were still found between Paekche and Japan, which was due to the difference in costume styles in the respective countries at the time. Also, horse gear and lamellar armor unearthed from Asukadera sites was not found in Paekche temple sites, but is similar to earlier Japanese kofun (megalithic tumuli) grave goods, which provides evidence that as Buddhism was transferred to Japan from Paekche, it was not accepted in completely the same form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background (BG) aerosol particles (APs) acting as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and/or ice nucleating particles (INPs) influence short-range precipitation forecasts and climate change projections by modulating cloud and precipitation microphysical structures and influence the effects of cloud seeding on precipitation enhancement. However, data on the CCN and INP capabilities of BG APs are limited in terms of geographical locations and time. To investigate the characteristics of BG APs, we conducted ground-based measurements of BG AP and CCN in Kochi City, Japan, in June 2010. Comparisons with previously published data on AP and CCN concentrations in East Asia showed that the mean concentrations of APs and CCN at the observation site were considerably affected by air pollution. Our findings also suggest that during the observation period, even air masses from the Pacific Ocean were considerably affected by air pollution in East Asia, including Japan. Moreover, aircraft-measured AP and CCN concentrations in the boundary layer were comparable to those measured concurrently at the surface observation site, although the horizontal positions of the ground- and aircraft-based measurements were not identical; the size distributions of the APs were similar. These results suggest that ground-based measurements represent APs and CCN in the boundary layer, where the air is ingested by clouds. Numerical simulations with a detailed bin microphysics parcel model showed that cloud droplet number concentrations, based on meteorological conditions and aerosol characteristics expected near the observation site environments, would range from 500 droplets cm-3 to 1,500 droplets cm-3. These concentrations were consistent with aircraft measurements. These values are higher than the threshold concentration of ~ 500 droplets cm-3 in clouds suitable for hygroscopic seeding, as suggested by previous studies. Therefore, this area is considered to be suitable for rain enhancement by hygroscopic seeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of AMS radiocarbon dates, accumulated since the 1990's, reveal that ceramic technology first developed among non-agricultural, hunter-gatherer societies in the late Pleistocene of East Asia. Specifically, on the Japanese Archipelago the radiocarbon chronology indicates a diverse trajectory of pottery adoption. The earliest adoption of pottery here was by mobile hunter-gatherers, regardless of region and climatic event. On the other hand, pottery culture suddenly started to flourish later along the warmer Pacific coastline region of southwestern Japan just after the onset of climatic warming of the Late Glacial, and spread throughout the archipelago by the onset of the Holocene. Climatic amelioration, therefore, did not induce the 'beginning' of pottery use, but prompted the 'development' of sedentary lifestyles accompanying intensified use of pottery. This complicated situation clearly means that motivation and context of pottery adoption do not follow a simple explanation. However, recent studies of chemical and isotope analyses of charred residues on pottery indicate similar use of early pottery throughout the archipelago in the late Pleistocene and the early Holocene. This paper critically re-evaluates these issues through examining synchronic and diachronic archaeological contexts. Existing data indicate that there is great inter-regional variability in technology, subsistence, paleoenvironment, and adaptation associated with pottery, therefore the motivation for the adoption of pottery is distinct within various geographical, environmental, and temporal contexts in the archipelago. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A historical atmospheric reanalysis from 1850 to 2015 was performed using an atmospheric general circulation model assimilating surface pressure observations archived in international databases, with perturbed observational sea surface temperatures as a lower boundary condition. Posterior spread during data assimilation provides quantitative information on the uncertainty in the historical reanalysis. The reanalysis reproduces the evolution of the three-dimensional atmosphere close to those of the operational centers. Newly archived surface pressure observations greatly reduced the uncertainties in the present reanalysis over East Asia in the early 20th century. A scheme for assimilating tropical cyclone tracks and intensities was developed. The scheme was superior to the present several reanalyses in reproducing the intensity close to the observations and the positions. The reanalysis provides possible images of atmospheric circulations before reanalyses with full-scale observations become available, and opportunities for investigating extreme events that occurred before World War II. Incorporating dynamical downscaling with a regional model that includes detailed topography and sophisticated physics is an application of historical reanalysis to reveal the details of past extreme events. Some examples of past heavy rainfall events in Japan are shown using a downscaling experiment, together with dense rainfall observations over the Japanese islands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the impacts of carbon pricing policies on firms' greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We include two carbon pricing policies: carbon tax and emission trading scheme (ETS) at national and sub-national (province) levels, measured as policy existence (binary variable) and carbon price (continuous variable). Firms' GHG emissions are measured as total emissions and emission intensity. Using unique recent firm-level data from 2010 to 2021 from three East Asia countries (Japan, the Republic of Korea (ROK), and the People's Republic of China (PRC)), we obtain the following key findings. First, the national carbon pricing policy significantly reduced firms' GHG emissions and GHG emission intensity in Japan and the ROK. The greater the carbon price, the greater the impact. Second, the subnational carbon pricing policies implemented in two provinces of Japan (Saitama and Tokyo) decreased firms' GHG emissions. Third, heavy industry sectors such as energy, utilities, and industrials experienced a substantial decrease in GHG emission intensity due to the carbon pricing policy. Finally, our main results are robust to different model specifications and various measures of firms' GHG emissions. Although literature studying the ex-post impact of carbon pricing on emissions at country and sector-level is abundant, this paper contributes to the existing literature providing empirical evidence of the impact of carbon pricing policies on firms' emissions using firm-level data, which is highly limited especially in Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In much of Western legal historical scholarship, legal fictions are understood to be devices for maintaining the integrity of text-based legal codes in the face of social change. However, while legal fictions as such were not a topic of scholarly inquiry in East Asia prior to the introduction of the concept from the West, East Asia is nevertheless rich in examples of another kind of legal fiction: jurisprudential legal fictions, or legal fictions effected by judges and rooted in culture (often including religion). The mythical, moral xiezhi beast in ancient China, and judge-centered moral reasoning in pre-modern Japan, point to legal fictions beyond the traditional categories of such in much of Western scholarship, as well as to legal fictions within the West now largely forgotten after the advent of Enlightenment thinking on textual law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to examine the prevalence and factors influencing domestic abuse victimization among high-income women in Japan, including physical, psychological, economic, and sexual abuse. The background factors and reality of domestic abuse faced by high-income women have not been sufficiently addressed, although some academic studies contend that economically disadvantaged women are more susceptible to domestic abuse. This study collected data from 359 high-income women in Japan using an online questionnaire survey. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the contributing factors. Approximately one-fifth of high-income women had suffered physical, economic, and sexual domestic abuse, and approximately two-fifths had experienced psychological violence. Adverse childhood experiences, the degree of approval of traditional gender norms, quarrels over opposing views on traditional gender norms, and partners' education levels considerably influenced the prevalence of domestic abuse among high-income female victims. In contrast with the literature, the earnings gap between female victims and their partners did not yield meaningful results. This study examines the experiences of four types of domestic abuse among high-income women in East Asia and highlights the factors that contribute to it, as exemplified by Japan, which is a research direction that has not received sufficient attention. It also offers valuable insight into domestic abuse support policies that target low-income women in contemporary society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pathophysiology of myasthenia gravis (MG) has been largely elucidated over the past half century, and treatment methods have advanced. However, the number of cases of childhood-onset MG is smaller than that of adult MG, and the treatment of childhood-onset MG has continued to be based on research in the adult field. Research on pathophysiology and treatment methods that account for the unique growth and development of children is now desired. According to an epidemiological survey conducted by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan, the number of patients with MG by age of onset in Japan is high in early childhood. In recent years, MG has been reported from many countries around the world, but the pattern of the number of patients by age of onset differs between East Asia and Western Europe, confirming that the Japanese pattern is common in East Asia. Furthermore, there are racial differences in autoimmune MG and congenital myasthenic syndromes according to immunogenetic background, and their pathophysiology and relationships are gradually becoming clear. In addition, treatment options are also recognized in different regions of the world. In this review article, I will present recent findings focusing on the differences in pathophysiology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although most members of the freshwater leech family Glossiphoniidae have mid-body somites divided into three annuli, the genus Torix Blanchard, 1893 is distinguished by two-annuli somites. Torix has high species richness in Far East Asia, and three nominal species have been recognised in the Japanese Archipelago and adjacent regions that can be distinguished by a combination of both internal and external morphological characteristics. However, recent studies have shown that these diagnostic features are ontogenetically variable and this has resulted in taxonomic confusion among Torix species endemic to the Japanese Archipelago. In this study, we revisit the taxonomic accounts of T. orientalis (Oka, 1925) and T. tagoi (Oka, 1925), in addition to that of the recently redescribed T. tukubana (Oka, 1935) to clarify the diagnostic characteristics for each of the three species. Our morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses demonstrated that the three Torix species in Japan are indistinguishable. We therefore conclude that these species should be synonymised and treated as a single species. The specific names orientalis and tagoi were simultaneously established under the genus Oligobdella Moore, 1918, therefore we acted as First Reviser and gave precedence to the name O. tagoi, thus the valid name for the Far East Asian Torix species is T. tagoi unless T. orientalis and T. tagoi are treated as distinct species. There are several type localities for T. tagoi and the name-bearing types have been lost, therefore we designate a neotype for this species to obviate zoological and nomenclatural issues. ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:E2DBF999-3B51-456F-AB04-A7D138E0AF2D [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trace metals in aerosol particles impact Earth's radiative budget, human health, and ocean biogeochemistry. Semi-continuous measurements of the elemental composition of fine-mode (PM 2.5) aerosols were conducted using an automated X-ray fluorescence analyzer on a remote island of Japan during the spring of 2018. Temporal variations in mass concentrations of geochemically important elements for this period, such as Pb, Cu, Si, Fe, and Mn, and their relationships with the emission tracers, carbon monoxide (CO) and black carbon (BC), were reported. The Integrated Massively Parallel Atmospheric Chemical Transport (IMPACT) model was used to evaluate the source apportionment of these components and was evaluated in terms of emissions and wet removal processes. Pb and Cu originated mainly from anthropogenic sources (98 % and 93 % on average, respectively) over the East Asian continent. Positive correlations of Pb and Cu with BC and CO and the similarity of their concentration-weighted trajectories indicated that the emission sources of these metals share the region where the large CO (and BC) emission sources are located and that CO can be regarded as a tracer of continental anthropogenic emissions. The air masses with minimized impacts of the wet removal during transport were extracted to elucidate the "top-down" emission ratio of Pb and Cu to CO, which were, for the first time, evaluated as 152.7 and 63.1 µg g -1 , respectively, during the spring of 2018 in the East Asian outflow. The analysis of the tagged tracer simulations by the IMPACT model confirmed that BC and Si could be used as tracers for anthropogenic and dust emissions, respectively, during the observation period. The source apportionment of Fe and Mn in PM 2.5 aerosols was conducted using Si and BC tracers, which revealed that the anthropogenic contribution was 17 % and 44 % on average, respectively. Based on the air mass origins of Fe and Mn, their anthropogenic fraction varied from 2 % to 29 % and 9 % to 68 %, respectively, during the high-PM 2.5 -concentration periods. However, despite the non-dominant anthropogenic contributions of Fe, they could adversely affect human health and ocean biogeochemistry, owing to their higher water solubility. The modeled BC, Pb, Cu, and Fe were evaluated by separately diagnosing their emission and transport. Ratios of modeled to observed concentrations for these components were analyzed in terms of the accumulated precipitation along the transport from the East Asian continent. The current model simulations were found to overestimate the emissions (based on the Community Emissions Data System, CEDS v2021-02-05) of BC by 44 % and underestimate Cu by 45 %, anthropogenic Fe by 28 % in East Asia, and the wet deposition rates for BC and Pb. Overall, Cu in East Asia exhibited a different nature from BC and Pb in terms of emission sources and wet removal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over a century ago, low-dose-rate (LDR) brachytherapy was introduced to treat prostate cancer (PCa). Since then, it has been widely applied worldwide, including in East Asia. LDR brachytherapy has been performed in 88 institutes in Japan. Beneficial clinical outcomes of LDR brachytherapy for intermediate-to-high-risk PCa have been demonstrated in large clinical trials. These clinical outcomes were achieved through advances in methods, such as urological precise needle puncture and seed placement, and the quantitative decision making regarding radiological parameters by radiation oncologists. The combined use of LDR brachytherapy with other therapeutic modalities, such as external beam radiation and androgen deprivation therapy, for the clinical risk classification of PCa has led to better anticancer treatment efficacy. In this study, we summarized basic LDR brachytherapy findings that should remain unchanged and be passed down in urology departments. We also discussed the applications of LDR brachytherapy for PCa in various clinical settings, including focal and salvage therapies. In addition, we highlighted technologies associated with brachytherapy that are under development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the use of sports mega-events by nations in East Asia to leverage 'soft power'. The focus is on Japan and its 'soft power' strategies, building on existing work by adding a novel tripartite analysis to understand Japan's domestic, regional and international rationale for hosting sports mega-events. The empirical data for this study is drawn from government documents and bespoke in-depth interviews (N = 10) with experts involved in sport. This, alongside engagement with the extant literature in the field, allows a more nuanced understanding of Japan's rationale behind hosting the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, the 2019 Rugby World Cup and the city's second hosting of an Olympics, the 2020(1) summer Games. Key findings include the use of sports mega-events to 'open up' Japan's society and bolster domestic politics, to maintain their regional status competing with China and South Korea and to improve the nation's global status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

The predictability and variability of extratropical climate are largely associated with tropical forcing through various teleconnections. The East Asia–Pacific/Pacific-Japan (EAP/PJ) teleconnection is one of the most important factors affecting the summer climate in East Asia. In this work, we confirm the weakening relationship between the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the following summer PJ teleconnection after the late 1990s and diagnose the possible causes. The results show that compared with that of in 1981–1998, ENSO is less conducive to the formation of anomalous anticyclones in the following summer in the Northwest Pacific (NWP) and the northward propagating Rossby wave train from latitudes of NWP in 2000–2017, resulting in a weaker summer PJ teleconnection. Meanwhile, variation of ENSO feature since 2000 with a suppressed variability leads to a weakened response in the tropical Indian Ocean in the spring and summer. The reduced sea surface temperature response in the tropical Indian Ocean suppresses the excitation of eastward-propagating Kelvin waves and declines the capacitor effect of the Indian Ocean, which is unfavorable for generating anomalies in the NWP and motivating strong PJ teleconnection in meridional direction. Thus, the weakening relationship of ENSO-PJ after late 1990s is the result of the weakened ENSO's impact on the formation of anticyclones in the following summer in NWP and the declined Indian Ocean capacitor effect on motivating meridionals wave train over East Asia and NWP region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forests provide diverse ecosystem services to people. Consequently, initiatives have been undertaken to restore deforested areas. In East Asian countries, particularly those within the Asian Monsoon region, deforestation has contributed to natural disasters such as sediment run-off, landslides, and flooding, which are exacerbated by torrential rainfall. Restoring forest cover is a critical aspect of national land conservation. To achieve this goal, state-led afforestation initiatives have been launched. Successful afforestation efforts have also been considered an indicator of economic development. However, Japan, which implemented afforestation projects successfully in the 1950s and 1970s, has experienced the under-utilization of its forests due to significant changes in economic and societal conditions since afforestation took place. During the 2010s, the Japanese government promoted the industrialization of forestry, encouraging final felling and reforestation. However, there have been issues with immature forest operation methods and low forestry productivity. Furthermore, in the context of intensifying climate change, heavy rainfall-induced disasters have become more intense, with an increased threat to human safety. Research efforts from the natural and social science fields in Japan have helped identify issues that need to be addressed concerning forests where plantation trees are now utilizable. There is a need to identify improved methods of forestry practice that reduce the risk of climate change-related disasters and establish related forest policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The atmospheric deposition of iron (Fe) promotes primary production in the surface ocean, which results in the enhanced uptake of carbon dioxide into surface seawater. Given that microorganisms in seawater utilize dissolved Fe (d-Fe) as a nutrient, the bioavailability of Fe in aerosol particles depends on its solubility. However, the factors controlling fractional Fe solubility (Fe sol %) in aerosol particles have not been fully understood. This study performed annual observations of the total and dissolved metal concentrations in size-fractionated (seven fractions) aerosol particles at Higashi-Hiroshima, Japan. The feasibility of the molar concentration ratio of d-Fe relative to dissolved Al ([d-Fe] / [d-Al]) as an indicator of sources of d-Fe in aerosol particles was investigated because this ratio is likely dependent on the emission sources of Fe (e.g., mineral dust, fly ash, and anthropogenic Fe oxides) and their dissolution processes (proton- and ligand-promoted dissolutions). Approximately 70 % of the total Fe in total suspended particulates (TSPs) was present in coarse aerosol particles, whereas about 70 % of d-Fe in TSPs was mainly found in fine aerosol particles. The average Fe sol % in fine aerosol particles (11.4 ± 7.0 %) was higher than that of coarse aerosol particles (2.19 ± 2.27 %). In addition, the average ratio of [d-Fe] / [d-Al] in coarse aerosol particles (0.408 ± 0.168) was lower than that in fine aerosol particles (1.15 ± 0.80). The range of [d-Fe] / [d-Al] ratios in the coarse aerosol particles (0.121–0.927) was similar to that obtained by proton-promoted dissolution of mineral dust (0.1–1.0), which indicates that the d-Fe in coarse aerosol particles was derived from mineral dust. The [d-Fe] / [d-Al] ratios of fine aerosol particles ranged from 0.386 to 4.67, and [d-Fe] / [d-Al] ratios greater than 1.50 cannot be explained by proton- and ligand-promoted dissolutions (1.00 < [d-Fe] / [d-Al] < 1.50). The [d-Fe] / [d-Al] ratio correlated with the enrichment factor of Fe in fine aerosol particles (r : 0.505), which indicates that anthropogenic Fe with a high [d-Fe] / [d-Al] ratio was the source of d-Fe in fine aerosol particles. The high [d-Fe] / [d-Al] ratio was attributed to anthropogenic Fe oxides emitted from high-temperature combustions. Finally, the fraction of anthropogenic Fe oxides to d-Fe in TSPs was calculated based on the [d-Fe] / [d-Al] ratio of aerosols and their emission source samples. As a result, the fraction of anthropogenic Fe oxides to d-Fe in TSPs varied from 1.48 % to 80.7 %. A high fraction was observed in summer when air masses originated from industrial regions in Japan. By contrast, approximately 10 % of d-Fe in the TSPs collected in spring and during Asian dust events was derived from anthropogenic Fe oxides when air masses were frequently transported from East Asia to the Pacific Ocean. Thus, mineral dust was the dominant source of d-Fe in Asian outflow to the Pacific Ocean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of model resolution on the simulation of tropical cyclone (TC) landfall frequency in East Asia [including the South China Sea (SCS), Taiwan and coastal areas of East China (TWCN) and Japan (JP)] was investigated by comparing Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project (AMIP) type simulations on the basis of 50-km High Resolution Atmospheric Models (HiRAMs) and 25-km HiRAM. The number of TC landfalls in the TWCN region was realistically simulated by the 50-km HiRAM ensemble model. However, fewer (more) TCs were steered westward (northward) toward the SCS (JP) because of an overestimation of the monsoon trough in the western North Pacific (WNP). The overestimation created a low-level cyclonic circulation anomaly in the WNP, which substantially modified steering flow. Consequently, more (less) TC made landfall in JP (SCS). The overestimation of the monsoon trough in model was primarily resulted from compounding factors, including the AMIP type simulation, upscale feedback of TCs to mean flow and the monsoon flow–topography interaction in the Indochina Peninsula Mountains and Philippine. First, the SST was negatively correlated with precipitation in the WNP during the typhoon season for the observation. Conversely, the SST–precipitation relationship was positive in the AMIP run. Second, the upscale feedback of TCs to mean flow (monsoon trough) was overestimated, which in term contributed to the overestimation of monsoon trough. Third, the model underestimated the mountain lifting effect in the Indochina Peninsula and Philippine. Overall, the aforementioned biases were substantially improved by increasing model's horizontal resolution from 50-km to 25-km HiRAM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mineral dust affects health, climate, and ecosystems in various ways. East Asia is one of the major sources of mineral dust worldwide. This study examines the year-to-year variability of dust deposition over Japan in April from the perspective of large-scale atmospheric circulations using atmospheric and aerosol reanalysis datasets for the period from 2011 to 2017. The increased dust deposition in Japan is explained by the intensified dust transport from the Mongolian Plateau by the anomalous westerly winds associated with a deepened trough over the East Asian continent toward the northwest of the Japanese islands in the middle to lower troposphere. The enhanced dust emission over the Gobi Desert and the intensified extratropical cyclone activity are consistent with the largerthan-normal dust amount in East Asia. Comparing the dust depositions over western and northern Japan, it is suggested that the slightly different anomalous trough positions may determine whether or not a large amount of dust is carried. A further analysis using the long-term (1967 - 2022) observation data of dust in Japan supports the importance of the intensified trough over the East Asian continent. Dust flux decomposed into cyclonic and anticyclonic components showed that both vortices contribute to the eastward dust transport in East Asia. These results suggest that Japanese dust events and their variability are affected by the stationary circulation anomaly as well as the baroclinic instability waves including transient cyclones and anticyclones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

East Asian winter weather has altered dramatically in response to progressing climate change. However, analysis of time‐averaged atmospheric fields might obscure climate change signals that could relate to specific types of events. This study aimed to detect climate change signals for various background atmospheric fields by applying classification to daily surface pressure patterns. We found a pronounced trend of increase in surface air temperature over Japan since the 1980s, stronger than the seasonal mean trend, when dominating cold air advection from the Sea of Okhotsk. This cold air was warmed and humidified by the retreat of sea ice in the Sea of Okhotsk. In contrast, the warming trend was mitigated when warm air advection was dominant. These results highlight the importance of daily background atmospheric conditions in amplifying and localizing the impact of regional climate change. Plain Language Summary: Winter weather in East Asia varies greatly depending on the daily surface pressure pattern. Hence, the impact of climate change could appear in different forms according to specific weather conditions. This study aimed to detect long‐term changes in atmospheric fields under various weather conditions. Focusing on the daily surface pressure patterns, analysis of East Asian winters showed substantial historical increase in surface air temperature when northerly cold air outbreaks brought colder air toward Japan, and the warming rate was stronger than the trend of the winter average. The retreat of sea ice in the Sea of Okhotsk, located upwind of Japan, caused this local warming and humidification. In contrast, the warming trend was weaker for days when the pressure pattern brought warmer air toward Japan. This finding indicates that winter days with cold air flowing around Japan have been warming more strongly than warm winter days. Our analysis enables assessment of the impact of global warming on specific weather conditions of interest. Key Points: Historical changes in winter climate in Japan were decomposed based on pressure pattern classificationNortherly winter monsoon has been substantially warmed and humidified around Japan due to sea ice retreat in the upwind seaPressure patterns that cause stronger regional response to climate change were identified [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present new absolute archaeointensity data from six archaeological sites situated in the Okayama Prefecture, Japan. The materials studied are well-dated fragments from pottery, ceramic coffins and haniwa artefacts. Their ages range from 160 AD to 675 AD, covering the Late Yayoi and Kofun periods. Rock magnetic experiments suggest the presence of magnetite and/or Ti-magnetite as the main carrier of the remanence, with a possible minor contribution of higher coercivity minerals. After thermal demagnetization experiments, the most magnetically stable samples were selected for archaeointensity analysis performed following the double-heating method proposed by Thellier and modified by Coe. Partial thermoremanent magnetization (pTRM) checks and pTRM tail-checks were performed for monitoring possible chemical alterations during heating. All measurements were corrected for both anisotropy and cooling-rate effects. Successful archaeointensity determinations, following rigorous selection criteria, were obtained for samples from all the investigated archaeological sites. Compared with literature data from Japan, the new high-quality data show significantly lower intensity values. They also reveal possible fast secular variation changes during the Late Yayoi period and very weak geomagnetic intensity field around 630 AD. Such values offer evidence of a possible recurrence of weak intensity field in East Asia, suggesting an ancient recurrence of the West Pacific Anomaly. The new data might change the archaeomagnetic field models interpretations in the area, even though more data are still necessary to better understand the secular variation in Japan and the temporal evolution of the geomagnetic field's behaviour in East Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The East Asian summer climate displays a marked change after the late 1990s. This is principally due to a weakening of the Pacific–Japan (PJ) teleconnection pattern that was a dominant driver of precipitation variability over East Asia. Nevertheless, western Japan has frequently experienced heavy rainfall events over the past several years. Atmospheric reanalysis and observational datasets are used to investigate summer precipitation variability over East Asia in a view of interdecadal changes from 1979 to 2020. East Asian summer precipitation has increased the most in Japan, especially over and around the Southwest Islands in southern Japan, where cumulus convection has been more dominant for the characteristic of precipitation variability including mei-yu–baiu rainfall than frontal structure since the mid-2000s. Atmospheric analysis in vertical structures and convective instability indicates that moist instability is neutralized by cumulus convection over the southern East China Sea and off the Pacific coast of Japan, where recent warming in sea surface temperature (SST) along the Kuroshio exceeds the SST threshold for convection. This decadal shift in precipitation variability has a close relationship with the second precipitation mode over East Asia, which has taken the place of the PJ pattern as a leading driver of precipitation variability over western Japan in the past decade. The enhanced cumulus convection is enabled to act as a forcing mechanism for the Rossby wave train from East Asia toward North America along the westerly jet or for the eastward extension of the Silk Road pattern, which possibly favors a heatwave in the Pacific Northwest areas of North America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Pacific‐Japan (PJ) pattern is the dominant teleconnection over East Asia, closely related to the summer precipitation on various time scales. However, studies on the connection between the interdecadal variations of the PJ pattern and sea surface temperature (SST) forcing are still limited. This study indicates that the relationship between the PJ pattern and ENSO presents a pronounced interdecadal change around 1997/1998. The PJ pattern shows a baroclinic structure over the northwest Pacific and a barotropic structure near Japan during 1979–1997, while its baroclinic structure in the tropics weakens remarkably during 1998–2021, with a southward shift of its midlatitude barotropic structure. As a result, the connection between the PJ pattern and summer precipitation over East Asia exhibits an interdecadal transition in the late 1990s. In the slow La Niña decaying summer of 1979–1997, the cold SST anomalies in the tropical Indian Ocean (TIO) excite an eastward‐propagating Kelvin wave that enhances convection over the northwest Pacific, resulting in the formation of the PJ pattern. In contrast, the cold SST anomalies in the Maritime Continent rather than the TIO yield a zonally confined Kelvin wave in the rapid La Niña decaying summer of 1998–2021. The elongated Kelvin wave penetrating the central Pacific weakens convective anomalies over the northwest Pacific, thereby weakening the baroclinic structure of the PJ pattern in the tropics. Meanwhile, the warm SST anomalies in the Kuroshio Extension (KE) induce a northward shift of the East Asian subtropical westerly jet, with the anomalous anticyclonic circulation over the KE significantly affecting summer precipitation along the Meiyu belt. Therefore, the midlatitude barotropic structure of the PJ pattern shifts southward after the late 1990s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To establish a short rotation coppice (SRC) system in the temperate region of East Asia, planting was conducted for cuttings from seven species, including Salix eriocarpa, S. gilgiana, S. gracilistyla, S. integra, S. sachalinensis, S. serissaefolia, and S. subfragilis, with wide distribution in eastern Japan. During cultivation, cheap compost derived from swine manure and containing high concentrations of various nutrients was added. Three treatment groups, including control, low manure (5 Mg ha−1), and high manure (10 Mg ha−1) treatments, were established, and seven willows were grown for two complete growing seasons to obtain the clone density of 10,000 cuttings ha−1. The manure treatments accelerated the growth of all the willow species after two growing seasons. The averages of annual biomass production of seven willows grown under the control, low manure, and high manure treatments were 0.2 Mg ha−1yr−1, 5.3 Mg ha−1yr−1, and 8.5 Mg ha−1yr−1, respectively. By comparing with the biomasses of seven willows, the largest annual biomass production rates of 14.1 and 13.7 Mg ha−1yr−1 were observed in the high manure treatments of S. sachalinensis and S. subfragilis, respectively. For two species under the high manure treatment, S. sachalinensis had the thickest shoots, and S. subfragilis had the tallest shoots. These growth characteristics of S. sachalinensis and S. subfragilis originate from their high biomass production. Overall, these results suggest that S. sachalinensis and S. subfragilis are potentially feasible candidates for the SRC system in temperate regions of East Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fukutoku‐Oka‐no‐Ba is a submarine volcano located at 24°17.1′ N/141°28.9′ E in the Izu–Bonin arc, and is one of the most active volcanoes in Japan. This volcano produced an explosive eruption in August 2021 that generated a large amount of volcaniclastic material, some of which drifted westward to Japan and the coastal area of East Asia as a pumice raft. The pumice clasts that drifted for >1000 km were mostly homogeneous and identical to those produced by past historical eruptions. The clasts have trachytic compositions (SiO2 = 61–63 mass% and Na2O + K2O = 8.6–10.0 mass%) and contain augite, plagioclase, olivine (Mg# ~65), and magnetite, along with a small number of mafic enclaves containing diopside and high‐Mg olivine (Mg# ~ 92). We undertook a research cruise to investigate the proximal volcaniclastic materials by dredging. The proximal materials include pumice, weakly vesiculated lapilli, and volcanic blocks, which have trachytic composition (SiO2 contents up to 64.5 mass%). The main minerals in the proximal material are similar to those in the drift pumice, although remnants of mafic magma do not occur in the SiO2‐rich samples. The petrographic and geochemical characteristics of the proximal and drift ejecta from Fukutoku‐Oka‐no‐Ba suggest the magma reservoir was stratified into two parts. The major part experienced magma mixing with a limited volume of mafic magma, whereas the other part was more differentiated. The differentiated high‐SiO2 magma accumulated in the upper part of the magma reservoir and avoided the mixing with and feed of volatile from the mafic magma, then were pushed out from the volcanic vent without extensive bubbling to sunk in the proximal area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lucidophyllous (evergreen broad-leaved) forests are the dominant forests in human-dominated subtropical/warm-temperate regions in East Asia. Biometric-based estimates of net primary production (NPP) were conducted in a secondary lucidophyllous forest on Mt. Kinka (35°26′ N, 136°47′ E) near the northern limit of their distribution in central Japan for three years, including the masting event. The forest stand mainly consists of Castanopsis cuspidata (Thunb.) Schottky and Cleyera japonica Thunb. in the canopy and subtree layers, respectively. In 2018, the total NPP of the masting year was 14.53 ± 2.03 ton ha−1 yr−1, including woody NPP (above: 2.63 ± 0.35 ton ha−1 yr−1; below: 0.57 ± 0.08 ton ha−1 yr−1), foliage NPP (4.07 ± 0.23 ton ha−1 yr−1), reproductive NPP (4.81 ± 0.77 ton ha−1 yr−1), and fine root production (Pfr) (2.46 ± 1.84 ton ha−1 yr−1). Pfr and belowground production comprised 16.9% and 20.9%, respectively, of the total NPP. The nut production of C. cuspidata in 2018 (4.31 ± 0.75 ton ha−1 yr−1) was significantly higher than that in 2017 (0.77 ± 0.13 ton ha−1 yr−1) and 2019 (0.23 ± 0.06 ton ha−1 yr−1). No significant change was observed for the three years of foliage NPP and total NPP without Pfr. However, the woody NPP in 2018 (3.20 ± 0.43) was lower than in 2017 (5.37 ± 0.33 ton ha−1 yr−1) and 2019 (4.71 ± 0.38 ton ha−1 yr−1). This suggests that nut production in the masting years compensated by decreasing woody production in the Castanopsis forest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In East Asia, a strong winter monsoon and high baroclinicity cause enhanced cyclone activity, which has been the subject of intensive study. Despite the high frequency of genesis of mesoscale cyclones in this area, most of the studies on the decadal timescale have focused only on synoptic‐scale cyclones. To clarify the interannual variation of the passage of winter cyclones including synoptic‐scale and mesoscale cyclones over and around Japan, a tracking algorithm was applied to 62 winter seasons (December–March) from 1958/1959 to 2019/2020. During the study period, the passage of cyclones around northern Japan showed a decreasing trend. Most cyclones that pass around northern Japan are generated over the northern part of the Sea of Japan, which is an area where cyclogenesis has decreased during the study period. Weather pattern classification based on synoptic scale atmospheric conditions revealed that passage of upper‐level troughs and occurrence of lower‐level cold air outbreaks are the preferential conditions for cyclogenesis in this region. In addition, the intensity of the cold air outbreak in this region was weakened during the study period. These results suggest that changes in atmospheric conditions due to climate change have reduced mesocyclone genesis over the northern Sea of Japan, resulting in the reduction in the number of cyclones passing over and around northern Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A three-dimensional long-range atmospheric transport model for 222Rn and its progenies was applied to simulate 210Pb deposition in Japan and its adjacent waters. Monthly precipitation and 210Pb deposition simulated by the model for winter months were favorably compared with observational data although they were exceptionally underestimated in Aomori. The large monthly deposition along the Japan Sea coast lines during winter was successfully simulated by the model to be nearly 200 Bq m−2, which was contrasted by about 10-fold smaller deposition in other regions. It was also pointed out that the heavy deposition areas formed a narrow band structure along the coastline with width of several tens of kilometers and 210Pb deposition amount positively correlated with the height of mountains located leeward of the heavy deposition areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With about 480 known species, Pilidiophora (phylum Nemertea) has been regarded as consisting of Hubrechtiiformes (~20 spp.) and Heteronemertea (~460 spp.). Most (~87%) of the latter belong to Lineidae (> 400 spp.), while the systematics of non-lineid heteronemerteans remains largely untouched. To explore the phylogeny of non-hubrechtiiformid, non-lineid pilidiophorans, we performed multilocus molecular phylogenetic analyses with five genes (18S, 28S, H3 , 16S and COI) from 41 newly sequenced specimens. Pilidiophora comprised Hubrechtellidae, Lineidae, Valenciniidae, the new family Eopilidiidae and a not formally named family-level heteronemertean taxon. Eopilidion misakiense gen. et sp. nov. is described from a specimen from Japan, but whether it belongs to Heteronemertea remains unclear. Apart from this new species, the following 11 new species of valenciniids are established, based on molecular sequences and external morphology (localities in parentheses): Baseodiscus giribeti sp. nov. (Panama), B. kakuii sp. nov. (Japan), B. komatsui sp. nov. (Japan), B. narusei sp. nov. (Japan), B. ohtsukai sp. nov. (Japan), B. paracelensis sp. nov. (Vietnam), B. profundus sp. nov. (Russian Far East), B. urgorrii sp. nov. (Spain), B. zebra sp. nov. (Japan), Oxypolella hiebertae sp. nov. (Vietnam) and Valencinura jambio sp. nov. (Japan). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What are the determinants of Japan's regional policies? This article argues that Japan's regional policy is the result of the government's strategic choice made through processes of domestic and international bargaining. Based on liberal intergovernmentalism, this article focuses on the level of domestic preferences for East Asia and the threat of China. In the first stage, the preference of the Prime Minister and political winning-coalition groups matter. In the second stage, the level of the threat of China is a pivotal variable. In combining these two variables, the article proposes the following four types of ideal regional policies for Japan: (1) pro-East Asia policy; (2) expanded-Asia policy; (3) interactive policy; and (4) reactive policy. To substantiate this idea, the article traces Japan's regional policy trajectory from the Yoshida Cabinet to the Hatoyama Cabinet. An in-depth case study shows that Japanese cabinets vary in their regional policies in the way this article expected from each ideal type based on liberal intergovernmentalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After Japan surrendered in 1945, more than 6 million Japanese were stranded in various parts of what had been the imperial domain. From 1945 to 1956, thousands of Japanese found themselves in the USSR and mainland China, unable or unwilling to return. Drawing on Soviet, Chinese, Japanese, and Western archives, this article compares Soviet and Communist Chinese policies toward the stranded Japanese. The distinct pathways adopted by the Soviet and Chinese Communist parties during the Chinese Civil War led to significant differences in their approaches to the day-to-day lives of the Japanese, the methods and messages of propaganda they adopted, and their means of handling the repatriation issue. Soviet and Chinese policies toward the Japanese during this uncertain and unsettled decade were shaped less by Cold War ideological and geopolitical alignments than by the legacies of East Asia's recent wars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the East Asian summer (June–July–August) monsoon (EASM) atmospheric moisture transport variability under global warming are examined using ERA‐Interim reanalysis data from 1979 to 2019. The total EASM atmospheric moisture transport is decomposed into the thermodynamic (δTH) and dynamic (δMCD) components, which are related to specific humidity and wind velocity, respectively. Based on empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis, both the second and the fourth modes of δTH are linked to δMCD, indicating that δMCD can impact the moisture distribution and consequently influence δTH indirectly. Both the first (δTH_EOF1) and the third (δTH_EOF3) modes of δTH show considerable interdecadal changes. It is noted that their principal components exhibit significant increasing trends in recent decades. The response of EASM moisture transport to global warming is probably reflected in these two modes. δTH_EOF1 is associated with negative phases of the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO)/Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). This causes the western North Pacific subtropical high (WNPSH) to extend westward and the strengthening of Pacific trade winds. As a result, positive precipitable water anomalies dominate East Asia and δTH_EOF1 is characterized by anomalous southwesterly moisture transport along the East China Sea to southern Japan. δTH_EOF3 corresponds to anomalous moisture transport over the Indochina Peninsula and Japan. The precipitable water associated with δTH_EOF3 in general represents a meridional dipole. Anomalous southward wind induced by the eastward extension of the WNPSH is the main reason for positive (negative) precipitable water anomalies in southern (northern) East Asian. The anomalous circulation associated with the anomalous east–west sea surface temperature gradient over the Indian Ocean affects atmospheric moisture in southern East Asian and can dramatically impact δTH_EOF3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The invasive, Halyomorpha halys (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), is a severe economic insect pest native to East Asia. A strong effort has been made to identify natural egg parasitoids of H. halys in invaded regions, but parasitism rates reported from these studies have been inconsequentially low. To determine the species composition, phenology, and efficiency of egg parasitoids in the native region of H. halys, we deployed fresh and frozen sentinel H. halys egg masses from March through December in Kyoto, Japan. Our findings provide valuable insights on the abundance and parasitism rates of native H. halys parasitoids in Japan. A total of seven parasitoid species emerged from the sentinel egg masses, but Trissolcus japonicus had the highest parasitism rate of all parasitoids recovered (84% on fresh egg masses) and maintained the largest portion of the total parasitoid species composition (60% on fresh egg masses). The early season parasitoid community in Kyoto, Japan, is dominated by T. japonicus, with the first parasitism activity occurring in March. Throughout the course of the field study, T. japonicus also sustained a significantly higher parasitism rate on fresh H. halys eggs than frozen. The results from this research help expand the understanding of parasitoids in the native region of H. halys and hold importance for the future development of biological control programs against this invasive pest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Typhoons decrease sea surface temperature (SST) along their wakes through upwelling of subsurface water, vertical mixing in the upper ocean, and heat release from the sea surface, and these cold wakes can influence subsequent typhoons. In this study, we investigated interactions between the upper ocean and typhoons in the North Pacific subtropical gyre with focuses on Kuroshio's response and feedback using atmosphere–ocean coupled model simulations. In late August and early September 2018, typhoons SOULIK, CIMARON, and JEBI passed through the northwestern subtropical gyre. During the passages of SOULIK and CIMARON, SST decreased along their paths due to vertical mixing except in the Kuroshio region. We quantitatively revealed that the Kuroshio stayed warm because the deep mixed layer along its path and small vertical temperature gradient around the mixed layer base, which are unfavorable conditions for cooling by vertical mixing, limited the cooling effects. After SOULIK and CIMARON had passed, SST recovered through horizontal Kuroshio heat transport and radiative heating. The possibility that the SST field after SOULIK and CIMARON passages influences JEBI was also discussed. Although impacts on JEBI intensity were not identified, it is implied that the turbulent heat flux (THF; sum of the sensible and latent heat fluxes) around JEBI was modulated by the SST field: heat release from the ocean was reduced in the region with decreased SST and enhanced over the sustained high SST of the Kuroshio. Furthermore, the large THF over the Kuroshio may have caused an increase of JEBI‐associated precipitation around Japan. Plain Language Summary: Tropical cyclones that develop in the western North Pacific are called typhoons. Typhoons migrate westward or northwestward from the tropical North Pacific in accordance with the large‐scale atmospheric circulation and often bring heavy rainfall or windstorms to islands and coastal regions of Southeast and East Asia. Because typhoons derive energy from the ocean, to improve typhoon forecasts and to reduce the damage that they can cause, it is important to understand ocean–typhoon interactions. We studied three typhoons that occurred in the North Pacific subtropical region in 2018 and examined the associated ocean–typhoon interactions. Generally, typhoons decrease sea surface temperature along their wakes, and occasionally the cold wakes of preceding typhoons weaken subsequent typhoons. However, we found that the warm Kuroshio current, which flows northeastward along the south coast of Japan, remained warm even after the typhoons had passed. Moreover, the sustained warmth of the Kuroshio might release large amounts of heat and moisture to the subsequent typhoon. Thus, heat and moisture supplied from the Kuroshio can cause intensification of typhoons and increased precipitation. Our results suggest that studies of ocean–typhoon interactions in the Kuroshio region can advance the science of typhoon forecasting and disaster prevention in Southeast and East Asia. Key Points: In 2018, three typhoons, SOULIK, CIMARON, and JEBI, passed the western North Pacific successively decreasing sea surface temperature (SST)The Kuroshio stayed warm during the passages of SOULIK and CIMARON due to weak stratification with high resistance to surface coolingImpact of the sustained high SSTs over the Kuroshio on JEBI through surface heat fluxes was suggested from our coupled model simulations [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The red spotted grouper Epinephelus akaara is important for commercial and recreational fishing in the coastal waters of East Asia. In Japan, approximately 850,000 juveniles are released annually for stock enhancement, and the catch in several release areas has increased. Life‐history traits are important for fisheries management and stocking programmers. The age, growth, and mortality of fish collected from the central Seto Inland Sea from June 2012 to November 2014 were examined using 1022 sectioned sagittal otoliths, and the yield‐per‐recruit (YPR) was calculated. The opaque zones in the otoliths were confirmed to be annuli, formed mainly between June and July. The oldest fish was 16 years old. The percentage of those between two and five years was approximately 80%, whereas that of more than ten years was only 0.6%. The five parameters von Bertalanffy growth equation was calculated as: TLt = 390 {1 − 0.23[(t − 3.78)2 + 1]−1}{1 − exp [−0.34 (t + 0.28)]}, where TLt is the total length (mm) at t (year). The total, natural, and fishing mortality rates were calculated to be 0.80, 0.24–0.31 and 0.49–0.56 year−1, respectively. The YPR analysis indicated that the current fishing mortality rate (Fcurrent) was higher than F0.1 and Fmax, and that increasing the age at first capture is more effective than decreasing F for increasing the YPR. These results provide important information for fisheries management and the stocking of E. akaara. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japan's Meiji oligarchs put a premium on technologies that projected "civilization" and "modernity" and operated under the assumption that industrial technologies could be operationalized reasonably promptly. Their faith flew in the face of production experience. The case of metallurgical coke manufacturing offers an example of what happened when imported technological systems dead-ended on the fctory floor. Examining the production records of a Meiji-era chemical start-up, this article brings to focus the scope and scale of the creative labor needed to make imported technologies work on the ground. In so doing, it showcases innovative forces that formed the fabric of Japan's early industrialization as a corrective to the much-criticized but resilient notion that the country's industrial takeoff was enabled largely by technology transfer and local appropriation. By highlighting the creativity involved in designing coal inputs, this article opens new perspectives on the history of coals in East Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Late Triassic saw a flourish of plant–arthropod interactions. By the Late Triassic, insects had developed all distinct strategies of herbivory, notably including some of the earliest occurrences of leaf-mining. Herein we describe exceptionally well-preserved leaf-mine trace fossils on a Cladophlebis Brongniart fern pinnule from the Momonoki Formation, Mine Group, Japan (Middle Carnian), representing the oldest unequivocal leaf-mines from East Asia. The mines all display a distinctive frass trail—a continuous meandering line, which later becomes a broad band containing spheroidal particles—demonstrating larval development. Although the shapes of the frass trails are generally comparable to those of Lepidoptera or Coleoptera, they cannot be unequivocally assigned to a specific extant leaf-mining taxon. Furthermore, elemental analyses by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) reveals that the frass trail comprises phosphate coprolites. The quantitative variations in P, S, and Si between coprolites and leaf veins may reflect physiological processes (e.g., consumption, absorption, and excretion) mediated by plant chemicals. Our findings reinforce the idea that leaf-mining had become a pervasive feeding strategy of herbivorous insects by the Late Triassic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]