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The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical estimates of total factor productivity (TFP) growth rates in the electric power industry for the United States, Japan, and Korea. In this paper, the conventional Divisia index number approach and two cost function approaches are used to assess TFP growth rates during the 1972-1996 period. The TFP growth rates in the United States, where regulatory reform has been progressing gradually since 1978, did not show much difference from those in Japan, and were considerably lower than those achieved by Korea, where little reform has taken place. Decomposition analysis based on the total cost function shows that the major sources of TFP growth were the scale effect in Japan, the capacity utilization effect and the scale effect in Korea, and technical change in the United States. Since the mid-80s, the increases in TFP growth were due to improvements in the capacity utilization effect in all three countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Countries have been shown to be competitive in specific industries. This paper contends that this industrial specialization can be understood in terms of an affinity between national 'models of capitalism' and the characteristics of industrial task environments. Put differently, industry-specific competitiveness is conceived to arise out of a fit between patterns of national business systems and patterns of industrial task environments. Specifically, the paper will propose a relationship between the communitarian or individualistic nature of national business systems and the organization-specificity of knowledge in an industry. More communitarian business systems are thought to enjoy a competitive advantage in industries with a high organization-specificity of knowledge, i.e. in industries that rely more on the long-term accumulation of organization-specific knowledge within tightly-knit corporate communities. More individualistic business systems, on the other hand, are thought to enjoy a competitive advantage in industries with a low organization-specificity of knowledge, i.e. in industries that thrive more on the speedy dissemination or reallocation of company-unspecific knowledge through a constant reconfiguration of social relationships. The paper will offer some illustrations of these proposed relationships in terms of the competitive profiles of the United States, Japan, Germany and Britain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces new models for comparing several social mobility tables that provide various one-degree-of-freedom tests for two mobility tables on substantively meaningful structural components. These components include differences between mobility tables in (1) the strength of off-diagonal associations, (2) the strength of diagonal effects, and (3) the extent of structural mobility. Most of the models in this paper use association models and the Sobel-Hout-Duncan model but are specifically formulated to analyze three-way tables that have either nations or periods as the third dimension. American, British, and Japanese mobility tables are compared. Together, they show that equality of occupational opportunity is larger for the United States than for Great Britain, that Japan's mobility structure is closer to quasi-independence than that of the two other nations, and that Japan's mobility structure became more like that of the United States in 1975 rather than in 1955. These analyses also demonstrate that comparative mobility research based on indexing mobility has strong limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the 1970s the new urban poverty (NUP) ballooned in Japan and the US, and it evoked policy responses that produced new, rescaled regulatory spaces to contain the poor on the fringe of social rights and the capital circuit. The paper illuminates this process through the comparison of Japanese and US trajectories, both of which, evolving through economic crises, have established unique pathways. The author first constructs a theoretical framework based on Marxian, Polanyian, and Lefebvrean traditions. Then, he compares national-scale poverty regulation in Japan and the US from the 1950s through the 2000s. Lastly, the author examines how the countries' regulation of a major aspect of the NUP--homelessness--intensified multiscalar reseating processes. The paper concludes that regulation of the NUP represents a significant instance of uneven spatial development of capitalism mediated by the state that requires synthetic research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The medial patellofemoral ligament (MPFL) has been investigated widely in the past 30 years, resulting in many research achievements in this field. Purpose: To perform a comprehensive bibliometric analysis to evaluate the 100 top-cited articles on the MPFL. Study design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: We searched the Scopus database in December 2022 using the terms "medial patellofemoral ligament" OR "MPFL." The search was confined to English-language articles, including technical notes, systematic reviews on clinical outcomes and/or complications, clinical studies, studies regarding complications, and basic science articles (either cadaveric or biomechanical); we excluded letters, case reports, personal opinions, guidelines, editorials, and narrative or other types of reviews. Analysis of the 100 top-cited articles was performed according to total number of citations, average citations per year (ACY), study type, country of origin, journal of publication, affiliated institution, and most published authors. Results: The total number of citations was 16,358 (range of citations per article, 72-692). The majority of articles were published as clinical studies (54%), with cadaveric studies being the second most common (21%). Most studies originated in the United States (32%), with Japan (15%) and Germany (13%) following. The American Journal of Sports Medicine published the majority of the 100 top-cited articles (37/100; 6304 citations) as well as the 10 top-cited articles according to ACY (7/10; mean, 285.14 citations). The most prolific authors were Nomura (8 articles); Burks (6 articles); and Inoue, Sillanpää, and Dreyhaupt (5 articles each). Conclusion: By analyzing the characteristics of the 100 top-cited articles, this study demonstrated that the MPFL is a growing and popular area of research, with the focus varying through timeline trends. Questions regarding MPFL anatomy, isometry, and biomechanics might have been answered adequately, but research regarding optimal fixation technique under various circumstances is still ongoing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information related to sociology as of April 1, 1950. The Committee of the American Sociological Society on Contributed Papers for the 1950 annual meeting consists of Robert E. L. Fans, chairman; and A. B. Hollingshead and T. C. McCormick. Papers submitted for consideration should be sent not later than June 1, 1950. Recently elected officers of the Pacific Sociological Society for 1950 are: President, Leonard Bloom; Vice-president, Southern Division, Ernest Greenwood; Vice-president, Central Division, Carlo Lastrucci; Vice-president, Northern Division, Joseph Bachelder; and Members of the Advisory Council, Robert O'Brien and Paul Wallin. Gwynne Nettler continues as secretary-treasurer. The Society's annual meeting will be held in Seattle, Washington, during April 21-22, 1950. The Twenty- second annual meeting of the Japan Sociological Society was held in Tokyo, Japan, during October 15-16, 1949. The meeting was attended by more than 250 members. Fifty-two reports were given on various aspects of social theory and social research, and three public lectures on the topic, "The Population Problem in Japan."

The 19th century roots of social work in social justice movements within immigrant communities continue to thrive in contemporary social work. Yet relatively little attention has focused on the challenges faced by Asian immigrants, currently the second largest immigrant group in the U.S. Indeed, Asians in the U.S. have long been stereotyped as a "model minority," perpetuating the myth that Asian children do not need special attention when acculturating to U.S. schools. Yet parents report obstacles to their children's acculturation, including racism. As part of a larger ethnography, this study examines how Japanese immigrant and temporary resident parents understand their children's acculturation to the U.S. We conducted in-depth, individual interviews with 14 Japanese immigrant and temporary resident parents of school-aged children. They discussed acculturation challenges centered on differences in the Japanese and U.S. cultural self, and how they modified their socialization practices to support their children's acculturation. Rather than employing Japanese child rearing practices that implicitly guide children by shaping their environment, parents shifted to explicit efforts to ensure their children's development of Japanese cultural selves in the U.S. Such practices, however, may result in children losing a sense of independence and autonomy important to both U.S. and Japanese cultural selves. These experiences of Japanese parents challenge the stereotype of Asians as a model minority. We discuss social work implications for culturally appropriate support for acculturation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our publication of "An Unexpected Mortality Increase in the United States Follows Arrival of the Radioactive Plume from Fukushima: Is There a Correlation?" in the International Journal of Health Services 42(1) reported an unusually elevated number of excess deaths in 122 U.S. cities during the 14 weeks following the mid-March 2011 arrival of airborne radioactive fallout from Japan. The publication has received considerable attention from scientists, media, and the public, since it is the first peer-reviewed publication to examine population-based data before and after the meltdowns at Fukushima. Most of the responses have been objective or supportive, with a minority offering criticisms of the methods and results. In this paper, we respond to several of the critiques, offering supportive evidence from our research and supportive research in the medical literature. We hope our comments are constructive and we view our research as a correlation, and potential evidence of a causal link, between radioactive exposures from Fukushima and increased health risk, underscoring the need for additional and prompt reports on the topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Raymond Aron began his studies of postwar politics by taking into consideration the impact of the atomic bombing of Japan by the United States. As was true of many strategic thinkers after 1945, he was concerned that the new technology would alter the significance of warfare and thus of politics — because, as a student of Clausewitz, Aron was of the view that war and politics were intimately connected. This paper explores the evolution of Aron’s thinking from 1945 until the 1980s and the development and changes in nuclear strategy. Alone in France, and almost alone in Europe, Aron kept abreast of changes in American nuclear strategy and made some insightful, if commonsensical, analyses of the then secret strategic thinking of the Soviets as well as of the European NATO allies of the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article focuses on the interaction between protest movements and the Japanese government. A broad range of protest events are observed. The author discusses the collection of digital photographs that were used from protests at the Defense Ministry. The subject of the photographs were of various people carrying out the petition ritual. One protest was the about the participation of the Japanese Self-defense Force in the Iraq War. Other protests were in opposition to the Self-defense Force activities and the U.S.-Japan Joint Security Treaty.

This paper examines how multiple roles affect the mental health of the elderly in Japan and the United States, two countries with vastly different cultures. Hypotheses were drawn based on the cultural differences in role experiences, and these hypotheses are tested by analyzing nationally representative samples of the elderly in these countries. The results show that Americans are more likely to be involved in roles related to family, work, and community, while the Japanese are more likely to be involved in only those roles related to family and work. Multiple roles are also found to be less beneficialfor the mental health of Japanese elderly compared to American counterparts. National differences in the effects of individual roles and role configurations on mental health are also documented. Overall, the results show the importance of broad cultural contexts for understanding the relationship between roles and mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the paper "Roads to Democracy," by Lawrence Friedman. Friedman discusses three routes by which societies can move toward democracy. These he gives as top down as present in Britain, bottom up as present in the United States, and imposed from outside as in Japan. That set of possibilities provides a valuable framework for analyzing changes in the direction of democratic governance and rule of law. India seems to fit Friedman's outside category, but with reservations. Indigenous legal institutions are said to have proved quite unsatisfactory for regulating commerce and ensuring order. During the U.S. occupation, Japan shifted toward democratic institutions of governance. The legal process, however, remained relatively inactive during and following the occupation. Some have attributed the disuse of the courts to the Japanese cultural base that specified proper behavior so completely that the courts were seldom invoked. The Russian move toward democracy and the rule of law cannot be attributed to external imposition. If there was a groundswell from the public in favor of democratic rule of law, it should be traceable by scholars. The author concludes by stating that the underlying mechanism on which this form of governance depends is less certain.

Increasing numbers of older workers continue to work after being eligible to claim a state pension, yet little is known about the quality of these jobs. We examine how psychosocial and physical job quality as well as job satisfaction vary over the late career in three contrasting national settings: Sweden, Japan and the United States. Analyses using random effects modelling drew on data from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (n = 13,936-15,520), Japanese Study of Ageing and Retirement (n = 3704) and the Health and Retirement Study (n = 6239 and 8002). Age was modelled with spline functions in which two knots were placed at ages indicating eligibility for pensions claiming or mandatory retirement. In each country, post-pensionable-age jobs were generally less stressful, freer and more satisfying than jobs held by younger workers, results that held irrespective of gender or education level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japanese and American teachers' attempts to socialize children and their students' judgments of norms were examined across four domains of classroom life: academic performance, academic procedures, social procedures, and morality. The descriptive framework contrasted a morality of duty with a morality of aspiration. Duty refers to minimal standards that must be met or punishments will ensue; in teachers' communication ills characterized by after-the-fact negative responses to misbehavior or poor performance. Aspiration refers to encouragement of top performance and is characterized hr teachers' emphasis on positive feedback, stress on persistence toward goals. and attributions to effort. Communication was coded for its reactivity, feedback quality, use of explanations and sanctions, and types of attributions in 10 Japanese and 9 American fifth grade classrooms. Children's assessments of norms' importance, their assignments of credit and blame to others, and their feelings about personal adherence so and violation of norms were also obtained. Compared to American teachers, Japanese teachers stressed academic procedures that promote good work habits, and their communication about explanations. attributions, and sanctions more closely resembled a morality of aspiration. Compared to American children, Japanese children stressed the importance of academic procedures they also appeared more willing to apply standards of duty to their own behavior, feeling bad about violations of norms to a greater extent than they felt good about adherences. This paper concludes by discussing implications of these findings for the quality of citizenship and scholarship in Japanese and American schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information on the link between market performance and corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities provides an indication of the extent of acceptance by investors of these types of activities. The nature of this relationship is of critical importance for management trying to reconcile the demands of the company’s shareholders with those of a much wider group of stakeholders and for investors pursuing a socially responsible investing strategy. Using an international database we investigate the extent to which expenditures on CSR activities are valued across market in six countries/regions. We find that CSR activities are highly valued by the investors in the European markets, where our findings clearly indicate that such activities lead to higher market valuations. In the US, Japan and Australia expenditures on CSR activities have a neutral impact on company valuation, which is still a good outcome for management who wish to incorporate into their decision process the objectives of a wide spectrum of stakeholders and for investors wishing to tilt their investments towards the more socially responsible companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we explore the interrelationship between technological progress and the formation of industry-specific skills by analysing the evolution of the video-game industry in three countries: Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom. We argue that the cross-sectoral transfer of skills occurs differently depending on national contexts, such as the social legitimacy and strength of preexisting industries, the socioeconomic status of entrepreneurs or pioneer firms in an emerging industry, and the sociocultural cohesiveness between the preexisting and emerging industries. Each country draws on a different set of creative resources, which results in a unique trajectory. Whereas Japan's video-game industry emerged out of corporate sponsorships in arcades, toys, and consumer electronics industries and drew skills from the comic book and animated-film sectors, the video-game industry in the United States evolved from arcades and personal computers. In the United Kingdom the video-game industry developed bottom-up, through a process of skills formation in the youth culture of `bedroom coders' that nurtured self-taught programmers in their teens throughout the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined cross-cultural similarities and differences in antecedents and appraisals of triumph. Participants in the U.S., Serbia, Russia, and Japan provided open-ended descriptions of previous antecedent events that elicited experiences of triumph, and completed a standard appraisal questionnaire about those events. Events that elicited pride were also included for comparison. The open-ended responses were coded using a framework that delineated theoretical characteristics of triumph based on previous research. Findings indicated cross-cultural similarities in the antecedents and appraisals of triumph-eliciting events. Cultural variations were also found, especially between Japan and the other cultural groups and with regard to self-evaluations, which suggested the role of culture in triggering and appraising emotion-eliciting events. These findings extended empirical evidence about these important components of triumph, further contributing to its possibility as a discrete emotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study which analyzed the news coverage of the automobile trade dispute between the United States and Japan in terms of the potential agenda-setting function. How the newspapers the `New York Times,' and the `Detroit News' reported the issue; Methodology; Results and conclusion.

The article examines the increase in Japanese military spending and the reasons for this shift in policy. The 1980 Defense White Paper has communicated to the Japanese government that their Self Defense Forces are inadequate to meet current needs. Despite this, the author posits that Japan, while increasing its defense budget, will still depend on a strong relationship with the U.S. as a strategic deterrent. This means that Japan will continue to follow the 1978 Guidelines for Japan-U.S. Defense Cooperation.

This paper draws upon data from an investigation of U.S. and Japanese employment and pay systems. Most studies of high-performance workplace organizations have been concerned with `internal fit', focusing on organizational practices within the firm. In this contribution, the emphasis is upon the `external fit' between high-performance organizations and their wider environments. The conclusion is that the effectiveness of an organizational system critically depends upon the macro-economic and institutional contexts within which it is located. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The functional relationship among the armaments of states has been the principal focus of most arms race research. The other factors which might affect armaments and which are captured tn the parameters of the functional relationship, are assumed to remain constant. I argue that the assumption that parameter values remain constant imposes significant limitations upon our understanding of arms races. In this paper, I begin a systematic investigation of changes in parameter values by deducing two propositions about the occasions for changes in the value of the parameter of the organizational process model, and by demonstrating that the naval expenditures of Britain. Japan, and the United States during the period between the World Wars are consistent with both propositions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to understand a subtle form of relational common sense among Japanese conversational partners. To do so we examine possible explanations of a conversation between two Japanese that at first glance appears atypical. We argue that the most satisfying explanation is grounded in an understanding of the Japanese concept of kenson. Using ethnographic techniques the "common sense" of kenson is detailed in regards to its forms and meanings. Implications of this concept for conversation are discussed as well as comparisons made between kenson, the American notion of modesty and Japanese indirect refusals. Finally, kenson is discussed as an informal ritual grounded in social norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a contract model of employment relations that integrates insights from economic and sociological perspectives on labor market transactions. The utility of the contract model is illustrated empirically using a large data set on organizations and their employees in U.S. and Japanese manufacturing industries. The results are consistent with many transaction cost and agency theory predictions, though they also indicate the need to supplement these economic theories with sociological explanations based on political, cultural, and other institutional differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research shows that some adolescents experience positive psychological changes resulting from highly stressful life events. Because "positive change" is a value-laden concept, there may be cross-cultural differences in this conception of growth. The purpose of this study was to qualitatively and quantitatively assess different perceptions of personal growth across cultures. Adolescents from Japan (n = 288, Mage = 16.16) and the United States (n = 155, Mage = 16.21) completed demographic information and wrote three words describing their perception of personal growth. Results showed 443 different words generated, which were condensed into 12 categories. The types of words generated differed between nationalities, with Japanese adolescents generating more words related to social connection, and adolescents in the United States generating words related to change. Gender differences were found in physical change and age differences in the knowledge categories. Results demonstrate cross-cultural differences as well as similarities in the conceptualization of personal growth. Future research may examine how adolescents change the meaning of personal growth after experiencing personal growth resulting from a stressful life event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study examined Posttraumatic Growth (PTG) experienced by bereaved pet owners in the United States, French-Canada, Japan, and Hong Kong following the death of their pet. Using qualitative methodology, we analyzed responses of participants who answered "yes" to a question about experiencing PTG and explored to what extent the cross-cultural responses mapped onto the five factors of the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI). For the U.S. sample, 58% of responses mapped onto the PTGI. For French-Canada, 72% of responses mapped onto the PTGI. For Japan, 50% of responses mapped onto the PTGI and for Hong Kong, 39% of responses mapped onto the PTGI. We also explored emergent categories related to PTG for individuals who have lost a pet and discerned the unique aspects for PTG across cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To empirically test the hypothesis that the 10 roles on the Revised Role Checklist are represented in the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health participation areas. Design: Cross-sectional survey. Subjects: Investigators from Japan, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States recruited a total of 295 adults from the general population. There were 103 (34.9%) male and 191 (64.7%) female participants with one participant not indicating gender. The age distribution of participants was from <25 (n = 68) to 75+ with a mode of 25–34 years. Main measure: The Revised Role Checklist Part 1 was used to assess perceived incumbency in 10 roles. In addition, subjects were asked to provide role examples. Results: Of the 7087 examples provided by participants, 6578 (92.8%) fit the original hypothesis that the roles in the Revised Role Checklist were covered in participation areas. Fit was determined when the role example was either named in the associated International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health participation area or when the criteria of: “does this example conceivably fit in the respective area as ‘a person’s involvement in life situations’ fit relative to each role.” Slight modification of the scope of three roles of the original hypothesis resulted in a 97.6% match. Conclusion: The roles in the Revised Role Checklist are well represented in the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health categories of participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we revisit the history of accounting for goodwill in the United Kingdom, the United States, France, and Japan following the conclusions and predictions of Ding, Richard and Stolowy (2008). We aim at verifying whether the four phases of development of the accounting for goodwill between 1880 and 2005 are actually determined by the global change from a stakeholder model of corporate governance to a shareholder model. An extended time frame of analysis (until 2016) is considered in this study, which includes Japan among the country-specific accounting systems investigated. Our findings do not support Ding et al.'s predictions for Japan and demonstrate a disagreement between those countries which consider goodwill as a depleting asset and those which consider goodwill as a permanent asset. This observation might explain better the current debate concerning international harmonization on goodwill. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This comparative analysis, using early 1980's data from management Interviews, employee questionnaire surveys, and personnel office employment records in 41 manufacturing plants in Japan and 45 in the United States, explores how employee commitment to the firm is shaped by organizational structure, employment practice, and other attributes of factories. The authors investigate both behavioral and attitudinal dimensions of commitment, measured respectively by quit records and survey responses The results for both dimensions generally support the model of "welfare corporatism" as a commitment-maximizing organizational form in Japanese and American industrial capitalism Qualifying that conclusion, however, are several noteworthy differences between the countries unionization, formal work rules, and on-the-job training, for example, appear to have negative effects on the commitment of U.S. workers that are absent in Japan [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tests the claims of cultural theory using the formation of climate change policies in Sweden, the United States, and Japan as case studies. The theory posits that any social group consists of three main cultural types: the egalitarian, the market-oriented, and thehierarchical. Though all groups contain elements of each type, one cultural type usually prevails, giving the group its unique decision-making character. This paper applies cultural theory at the national level, testing to what extent the theory is able to project how countries will respond in addressing the issue of global warming. The results suggest that cultural theory may be useful to those involved in developing international agreements, enabling them to formulate regimeswhich are compatible with various cultural styles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study examined the educational gradient of health and mortality between two long-lived populations: Japan and the United States. Method: This analysis is based on the Nihon University Japanese Longitudinal Study of Aging and the Health and Retirement Study to compare educational gradients in multiple aspects of population health—life expectancy with/without disability, functional limitations, or chronic diseases, using prevalence-based Sullivan life tables. Results: Our results show that education coefficients from physical health and mortality models are similar for both Japan and American populations, and older Japanese have better mortality and health profiles. Discussion: Japan’s compulsory national health service system since April 1961 and living arrangements with adult children may play an important role for its superior health profile compared with that of the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the author comments on the review of the book "Educational Policies in Crisis: Japanese and American Perspectives," by William K. Cummings. It is critically important to note that this understanding of Japanese behavior is being done through Western lenses and meanings. This edited collection of papers gently pushes the reader to think critically about the notion of borrowing historically. As the book so aptly states, the stability of the Japanese curriculum is directly connected to the relative homogeneity of Japanese society. Unlike the multiethnic and multicultural society of the United States, Japan has a very high degree of uniformity, the dynamics of which people know very little about. In contrast, Japan's schools never allow ability grouping. What the teachers do is form mixed-ability groups to coach the slower members. Supposedly to avoid bias, Japanese teachers think of themselves as addressing the average student, and empirical data suggest that they spend the least amount of time with the top students in their classes.

What drives differences across countries in levels of civic engagement? Both the United States and Japan have been described as having high levels of civic engagement, but a variety of measures show that the type of involvement that is most common varies. Americans join and contribute to national political groups, but membership in PTAs and volunteer firefighting units is low and declining. Japanese participate at a much lower level in national advocacy organizations, but they join local neighborhood associations at very high rates, participate extensively in PTAs, and volunteer to clean up neighborhood parks. This article seeks to unravel why Japanese have such high rates of local civic engagement by examining how parents and volunteers have mobilized to maintain high rates of walking to and from school during a period in which walk-to-school rates have plummeted in the United States. The higher rate of Japanese local engagement in this area, I argue, is motivated by housing markets that limit residential mobility to much lower levels than in the United States. High cost of residential “exit” in Japan drives citizens to exercise “voice” to maintain the safety and walkability of their neighborhoods. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the cultural differences in the usage of apologies and thanks in favor asking messages between the U.S. and Japan. It explores three studies, wherein participants in the first study created an email message for a favor asking situation while participants in the second and third studies accomplished a questionnaire on a prototype of an email message. Furthermore, the results showed that apologies in messages are used more in Japan while thanks are used more in the U.S.

Agrowing stream of environmental legislation enforces collection and recycling of used electrical and electronics products. Based on our experiences with producers coping with e-waste legislation, we find that there is a strong need for research on the implications of such legislation from an operations perspective. In particular, as a discipline at the interface of systems design and economic modeling, operations focused research can be extremely useful in identifying appropriate e-waste take-back implementations for different business environments and how producers should react to them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The multiple nuclear meltdowns at the Fukushima plants beginning on March 11, 2011, are releasing large amounts of airborne radioactivity that has spread throughout Japan and to other nations; thus, studies of contamination and health hazards are merited. In the United States, Fukushima fallout arrived just six days after the earthquake, tsunami, and meltdowns. Some samples of radioactivity in precipitation, air, water, and milk, taken by the U.S. government, showed levels hundreds of times above normal; however, the small number of samples prohibits any credible analysis of temporal trends and spatial comparisons. U.S. health officials report weekly deaths by age in 122 cities, about 25 to 35 percent of the national total. Deaths rose 4.46 percent from 2010 to 2011 in the 14 weeks after the arrival of Japanese fallout, compared with a 2.34 percent increase in the prior 14 weeks. The number of infant deaths after Fukushima rose 1.80 percent, compared with a previous 8.37 percent decrease. Projecting these figures for the entire United States yields 13,983 total deaths and 822 infant deaths in excess of the expected. These preliminary data need to be followed up, especially in the light of similar preliminary U.S. mortality findings for the four months after Chernobyl fallout arrived in 1986, which approximated final figures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this theoretically informed study I explore the broader cultural changes that created the conditions for the credit crisis of 2008. Drawing on psychoanalysis and its application to organizational and social dynamics, I develop a theoretical framework around the notion of a manic culture, comprised of four aspects: denial; omnipotence; triumphalism; and over-activity. I then apply this to the credit crisis and argue that the events of 2008 were preceded by an incubation period lasting for over two decades during which a culture of mania developed. Then, focusing especially on the Japanese and South East Asia/LTCM crises, I argue that a series of major ruptures in capitalism during this incubation period served not as warnings, but as opportunities for a manic response, thereby dramatically increasing the risks involved. I also argue that this mania was triggered and strengthened by triumphant feelings in the West over the collapse of communism. I suggest therefore that this manic culture played a significant role in creating the conditions for the problems that led to the credit crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers in both Japan and in the United States have documented that bullying is a common and potentially damaging form of violence among children. The authors' review highlights distinct cross-cultural patterns of personal, family, peer, and school characteristics that predict gender differences in bullying and victimization. Cross-cultural patterns confirm that bullying has detrimental and long-lasting effects on both the bullies and their victims. School-based prevention/intervention programs have had mixed success, mainly because some of the risk factors associated with bullying and victimization are beyond the scope of these programs. Bullying and victimization are sometimes associated with psychological disorders and a history of family violence. In these cases, therapeutic intervention is required. Family therapists and other mental health professionals need to be aware of cultural variations in bullying and work collaboratively with schools and families to develop effective treatment plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To understand the conditions that give rise to parenting self-efficacy in Japan and the United States, the authors have investigated its relation to the perceptions of support available to mothers of children in the final year of preschool (N = 235; n = 121 in United States, n = 114 in Japan). Hierarchical regression analysis indicates that in both countries, women who experience higher parenting self-efficacy report more positive childhood memories of parental support and greater satisfaction with husband's and friends' support. Mothers in the United States are significantly more self-efficacious than are mothers in Japan, even after controlling for the effects of the support predictors. A follow-up mediational analysis reveals that Japanese women's lower levels of parenting self-efficacy are partially attributable to their low satisfaction with husband's support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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How the relationship between status and divorce shifts over historical time among industrialized countries remains largely unknown. A socioeconomic growth hypothesis posits that a more recent marriage cohort (relative to a previous cohort) in an industrialized country exhibits (1) larger divorce-suppressive effects of husbands' and wives' higher level of education and (2) a shift from a pattern in which only husbands' education substantially influences the couples' likelihood of divorce to a pattern in which both spouses' education influences that likelihood. The author tests the need to modify this hypothesis to reflect the intervening influences of cultural-institutional arrangements using the United States and Japan. The author applies event history regressions to the U.S. Panel Study of Income Dynamics and the Japanese General Social Survey. Results from both countries suggest the needs for modifications and imply that divorce is increasingly tied to socioeconomic inequality in both industrialized countries, but in contrasting ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The psychometric properties of scores from the Achievement Goal Questionnaire were examined in samples of Japanese (N =326) and Canadian (N =307) postsecondary students. Previous research found evidence of a four-factor structure of achievement goals in U.S. samples. Using confirmatory factor-analytic techniques, the authors found strong evidence for the four-factor structure of achievement goals in both the Canadian and Japanese populations. Subsequent multigroup structural equation modeling indicated the metric invariance of this four-factor structure across the two populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Important public health issues have become entangled in trade regulation, where one country's policies may have detrimental effects on other nations. News documents are critical historical records to examine such actions. There appear to be no studies that have employed matched international news documents on a particular public health issue. This article reports on a content analysis that compared tobacco policy articles in two major newspapers each in Japan and the US for a six-year period defining the context during which the WHO negotiated the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control with the international constituencies. The findings indicate significant differences between US and Japanese newspapers in sources, arguments and advocacy bias. Arguments about the policy itself, including effectiveness, legality and jurisdiction, were important predictors of positive bias in the Japanese sample, indicating that 'health and harm' is not the most important argument promoting tobacco control via media advocacy. The implications for effective tobacco policy campaigns are reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current research undertook a U.S.-Japan cross-cultural comparison to explore the underlying structure of family communication standards (FCS), or beliefs about the "ideal" ways of family interactions. The main study (U.S. n = 311, Japanese n = 192), utilizing latent profile analysis, revealed that (a) there are three "FCS profiles" (laissezfaire, high-context, and open-affectionate), each of which represents distinct FCS endorsement patterns; (b) individuals with different FCS profiles have different levels of subjective well-being and family satisfaction, and moreover, such profile-level dynamics operate independently of the effects of individual FCS dimensions; and (c) FCS profile endorsement is undergirded by individualism-collectivism and horizontal-vertical orientation. A follow-up study found that FCS profiles entail unique family conflict strategies. These findings are discussed in terms of the hierarchical structure of human cognition and impact of standards on psychological, relational, and communicative phenomena. Limitations and future directions for the research on FCS are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author argues that there is an ongoing debate among educators concerning the extent to which American educators can learn from East Asian school systems. Some social scientists argue that cultural differences make this impossible. Others argue that there are many ways that Americans can benefit. The author believes that both sides of this debate have a point. He therefore encourages educators to take a middle road. Learning from East Asian education systems is somewhat facilitated because in a number of respects, they were strongly and deliberately modeled after the Western educational rubric. Americans, in particular, were often at the forefront of developing East Asian education systems from the 1870s to the 1950s. However, there are cultural differences that limit the extent to which the United States can transfer various aspects of the East Asian rubrics. Therefore, the author provides guidance on what that middle road might be. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on two gaming conferences including the Association for Business Simulation and Experiential Learning (ABSEL) in Seattle, Washington on March 18-20, 2009 and the Japan Association of Simulation and Gaming (JASAG) in Tokyo, Japan from May 31- June 1, 2008.

This article identifies two, nation-wide, forms of governance or organizing capital, 'shareholder' capitalism and 'managerial' capitalism, epitomized by the USA and Japan respectively. Furthermore, it identifies the implications for managers in these systems. The article argues that both varieties of capitalism have been forced to modify, due to pressures from globalization. Shareholder capitalism in the USA has been intensified with an even greater emphasis on 'shareholder value'. In Japan, meanwhile, poor national economic performance has led to pressures upon managerial capitalism to take on features more akin to the shareholder variety. Such pressures have been transmitted to managers with a more intensified work regime. However; many of the HRM features of the Japanese model remain, despite these pressures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This study explores how cultural values affect the meaning and experiences of daughter (or daughter-in-law) caregivers of elderly persons with dementia by comparing caregivers in the United States and Japan. Nine American and seven Japanese caregivers were interviewed twice at 6-month intervals. Interviews were audiotaped and analyzed using constant-comparative techniques. Data suggest that moral obligation to care and intense loss are two universal themes of caregiving. However the experiences and perceptions of the role of caregivers from these two cultures differed in select ways that were captured within three categories: reasons for caregiving, caregiving as a career, and caregiving as a life phase or detour. Findings suggest that American caregivers may need greater anticipatory socialization regarding the caregiving role, whereas Japanese caregivers may benefit from assistance in accepting needed services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]