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The article presents a study that aims to compare the key academic journals in Japan and Great Britain. The articles found in the "Studies on Social Work of Japan" journal in 1997 were compared to the articles in the "British Journal of Social Work." These articles were categorized based on the work of Toyomichi Sato. To analyze those articles, Sato has used 61 items which were arranged and sorted into five groups including study methods, social work process studies, explanation study, social work skills and treatment study, and social work practice model and approach study. Some of the findings revealed that the largest number of articles which comprised of 38.6% in the Japanese journal, was on the explanation study group, while only 8.7% fell on social work skills and treatment study.

This paper presents a quantitative methodology and two empirical case studies in Japan on modeling household solid waste (HSW) generation based on individual consumption expenditure (ICE) and local waste policy effects by using the coupled estimation model systems. Results indicate that ICE on food, miscellaneous commodities and services, as well as education, cultural, and recreation services are mainly associated with the changes of HSW generation and its components in Okayama and Otsu from 1980 to 2014. The effects of waste policy measures were also identified. HSW generation in Okayama will increase from 11.60 million tons (mt) in 1980 to 25.02 mt in 2025, and the corresponding figures are 6.82 mt (in 1980) and 14.00 mt (in 2025) in Otsu. To better manage local HSW, several possible and appropriate implications such as promoting a green lifestyle, extending producer responsibility, intensifying recycling and source separation, generalizing composting, and establishing flexible measures and sustainable policies should be adopted. Results of this study would facilitate consumer management of low waste generation and support an effective HSW policy design in the two case cities. Success could lead to emulation by other Japanese cities seeking to build and maintain a sustainable, eco-friendly society. Moreover, the methodologies of establishing coupled estimation model systems could be extended to China and other global cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Middle managers are facing major workplace pressures in an era of widespread corporate and public sector restructuring in Japan, USA and UK. This paper, based on interviews with senior/HR managers and middle managers in 30 large organizations, suggests that middle managers today face heavy workloads and limited promotion prospects. More significantly, the central task of middle management is changing from managing subordinates in hierarchies towards managing projects in flattened organizations. These changes are in accordance with a new organizational ideology that continues to influence change in public and private organizations in co-ordinated or free market economies. While this ideology has spread rapidly, it has not managed to achieve hegemony. Organizations can be difficult to change and bureaucratic elements will persist despite the changes. The Japanese co-ordinated model and the US and UK free market model are both subject to similar pressures, but the actual organizational changes work themselves out in different ways because of differing institutional arrangements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In late 1903 Britain bought Chilean battleships, whereas Japan bought Argentine cruisers in the face of Russian counter-bidding. Previous scholarship has considered this arms trade as a case in which Britain showed its sympathy, or rather gave assistance, to Japan. However, this paper, based on multi-archival research in both Japan and Britain, argues that there was no sign of any such sympathy. The resale and transfer of the Argentine cruisers also shed light on the strategic views of the British government and the actual state of Anglo-Japanese relations just before the Russo-Japanese War. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently there has been a proliferation of neologisms to describe the Japanese model of management and its diffusion to other countries - for example, Toyotaism, and Japanization. Some have argued that such terms can be used to describe the direction in which, at least, British industry or work organization has been heading. This paper reviews some of this 'Japanization' literature and shows that there is a good deal of confusion and lack of precision in the terms being used. Rather than necessarily abandoning all such terms, the author makes a case for retaining both Toyotaism and Japanization but also for clearly differentiating between them. His starting point is that Toyotaism should be limited to the just-in-time management method (JIT) and that this is a model even in Japan. This should be separated, conceptually, from the context in which it has thus far been successfully embodied, namely Japanese employment and supplier relations. The term Japanization can then be used to refer to the evolution and diffusion of Japanese-style employment and inter-firm relations. The author then (a) draws out some of the implications of these conceptions, including the point that the diffusion of fiT in Japan itself has been under- researched and misunderstood, and (b) assesses through the case of the car industry, the extent to which Toyotaism and Japanization apply to recent developments in British industry. Whilst developing JIT has become important to managements, there is little evidence of any serious attempts, with the exception of the Japanese Nissan (U.K.), to change systems of supervision, training, assessment and payment along the lines which the author suggests are central to the Japanese systems. He concludes that it seems premature to talk of a Japanization of work systems and that there is a need to acknowledge the limited nature of the concepts of both Toyotaism and Japanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whereas social theorists, qualitative investigators and survey-based analysts suggest advanced economies are increasingly characterized by managerial job insecurity, database and questionnaire researchers propose relatively stable tenure rates for managers. This article aims to make sense of this ambiguity. First, following interviews with managers in Japan, the UK and the USA, the authors offer support for the 'global convergence' thesis, through data reflecting greater job insecurity generated by comparable and recurrent corporate restructuring. Second, considering research suggesting relative stability in managerial tenure rates, the authors argue that their findings – signifying increased insecurity – can be explained in terms of the 'perceptual politics' of US-style shareholder capitalism impinging, hegemonically, upon occupational sensibilities. Third, in conclusion, they suggest that everyday managerial experience can be understood in light of corporations purposively instilling a perceptual 'insecurity message' in managers, essentially as part of a tangible control strategy directed at the inexorable ratcheting-up of management productivity demands globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Royal Navy’s 1939 ‘Fighting Instructions’ provide a unique and underutilized window onto British naval doctrine in the World War II era. A comparison with US and Japanese pre-war tactical/operational thinking clarifies and illuminates the ideas and issues faced by naval officers in the interwar period. Additionally, this line of inquiry foregrounds the question of how we assess naval tactical schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of International Social Work is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. 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.)

In this study, the reason and cause of regional economic disparities in terms of per capita value-added are investigated by comparing the UK and Japanese regions. Special attention is paid to agglomeration effects on the differences of regional productivities. The Gini coefficients of per capita values-added exhibit relatively higher levels for the UK regions than for Japanese regions over the period 1995—2003. The cause of this difference is found to be in labour productivities rather than employment rates or labour per population. Furthermore, a decomposition of labour productivity into main industries clarifies agglomeration effects on manufacturing and service-related industry between both countries. Based on these findings, the production functions are estimated by main industries and differences in agglomeration effects on industries between the two countries are examined. Taking a dynamic view of the changing disparities across regions, an increase in regional disparities is associated with the cumulative growth theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal of Maritime History is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. 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.)