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The article discusses the rampant sexual harassment among the workplace in Japan and the need for more stringent measures to tackle it.

This article explores the interaction between the Tokugawa bakufu's laws on adultery and the customary practice of resolving adultery cases through private settlement. The One Hundred Articles (1742), which sentenced adulterous commoners to death, cemented the bakufu's conception of marriage as a metaphor for government in which adultery symbolized treason. But private settlements from Musashi Province reveal that peasants had different ideas about the significance of marriage and adultery. They protected the community's investment in marriage, prioritizing reconciliation over punishment. Ultimately, a working relationship between law and customary practice reinforced the authority of husbands within the family.

The author examines the divergent opinions of two Japanese intellectuals, Abe Isoo and Kawakami Hajime, on poverty and its possible cures.

Traditional problems in Japanese pension reform associated with level adjustment are distinguished from new problems caused by changes in Japan's society and economy. It is suggested that the combination of these new problems with an emerging bipartisan competition led to a steamrolling mode of legislation in 2004 not seen in previous pension reforms.

The economic 'bubble' of the 1980s is widely assumed to mark the start of large-scale immigration to postwar Japan. This article questions that assumption by examining the neglected topic of immigration to Japan in the decades immediately following the Pacific War. Though the scale of immigration to Japan in these decades is difficult to assess, there is good reason to believe that tens of thousands of 'illegal' migrants (so-called mikkosha) entered Japan, mainly from Korea, between 1946 and the 1970s. The article explores the experiences of these migrants and suggests that official responses to their presence had a lasting impact on Japan's migration and border control policies.

Japan has traditionally been ethnically homogeneous, yet its government has recently been strengthening various rights toward foreigners. Research suggests local government is the most important sector promoting foreign visitors' rights in Japan.

This article examines the academic and public controversy over the study of modern history in Japan. Topics addressed include academic freedom, the politics of historical analysis, and the ethical aspects of government authorization of textbooks.

An overview of the Japanese social security system is presented, focusing on its economic foundation, history, and future challenges. Topics include increasing medical payments for the elderly, the declining birthrate, and comparison of Japan's social security system to other that of other countries.

Issues related to Japan's social policy regarding children are examined, focusing on how tax relief and family allowance polices should be made with larger economic goals in mind. Topics include the history of the Japanese work force as it relates to gender division of labor, the relationship between providing for child care and maintaining a dynamic labor force, and suggestions for reform in the family support system.

Emphasis since the 1970s on greater freedom for schoolchildren and less concern for studying has lead to negating the point of education. Schools need to ensure all students firmly grasp educational basics, students need to improve themselves, and administrators must improve local and national performance.

Japanese educational reform is attempting to produce self-responsibility and individual independence, but the usual product of these attempts is inequality of results and greater social stratification. Strengthening a sense of competition among students will help a small elite advance but will lower everyone else's motivation.

This article presents an interview with policy experts Saito Kunihiko and Ishikawa Yoshimi concerning the responsibility of Japan to compensate victims of its military actions during World War II. Topics addressed include reparations, official apologies, and Japan-US relations.

Japan is initiating a program of Long-Term Care Insurance for the elderly as of April 2000. Although modifications will be required, the program should be of benefit to many.

Japan's education system, characterised by its intense competitiveness, is at a crossroads with advocates of reform set to eliminate its good aspects along with those they want to reform. However, it is unlikely that reform will help students develop the characteristics necessary in an increasingly competitive society. Meanwhile, an elite educational system encourages egotism and undermines those wishing to improve their children's educational development. Education can only improve if the efforts of reformers are supported by both schools and teachers.

The rise in divorce rate among the Japanese can be taken as a sign of growing personal independence and self-reliance as a result of increased emphasis on love and fulfillment as a yardstick of a successful marriage. The more conventional Japanese, however, opt to follow social conventions and the will of the majority since doing so is deemed more acceptable and more convenient and does not necessitate stressful criticism from outsiders. Further rise in divorce cases is directly proportional to opportunities in the job market.

Foreign business women and entrepreneurs are thriving in Japan despite common misconceptions that Japanese men look down on women, native or otherwise, and are easily threatened. These women are usually in service-oriented fields where stereotyping, especially in reference to women, is common and competition is stiff. They assert that the Japanese are conservative and that small details such as appearance, attitude and etiquette matter.

Most writings on Sabah's socio-economic development tend to focus on the roles by the British and other Europeans but neglect contributions by the Japanese, who were at least equally important to Sabah's economic growth. This article provides a study of Japanese economic activity in Sabah, focusing on immigrant workers and highlighting the policies of successive Japanese governments toward emigration to Sabah., Writings on Sabah's socio-economic development tend to focus on the roles played by the British and other Europeans but neglect the contributions of the Japanese, who have played a major [...]

The factors behind Japan's contradictory abortion and contraception policies are analyzed. Japan legalized abortion in 1948 but has yet to approve oral contraceptives. The situation is attributed to various interest group configurations and historical circumstances. Abortion was legalized in Japan prior to the invention of the pill. The pill was then viewed by medical and family planning interest groups as a threat to abortion rights.

The passage of the Organ Transplant Law has ended the debate on transplanting organs from the brain dead. The bill, which was sponsored by Foreign Minister Nakayama Taro, took 15 years to be approved because both chambers of the National Diet have difficulties on defining brain death. Nevertheless, they arrived at a legal definition but retained it only to cases when organs are to be donated. The public's and religious organizations' opposition against the bill also influenced the passage of the statute.

Japanese authorities should put more focus on Japanese-language education programs and their strong potentials as foreign policy tools in the light of growing cultural and economic diversities. Organizations involved in Japanese education are also encouraged to collaborate and develop a strategy, which will further the cause of promoting the Japanese language. Mutual trust is an integral component of successful international relations, and such could only be achieved through a better understanding of cultures and breaking down of language barriers.

An economics professor and a social welfare worker maintain that care for the elderly is the combined responsibility of the women, families and the Japanese state and local governments. A social insurance program, that incorporates pension, unemployment and health insurance, and nursing care and assistance for the elderly, needs to be actively executed. A mandatory insurance scheme can ensure public participation in elderly care. Views on Japanese-style welfare system, usage of taxes, caseworkers, cash benefits for caring for the elderly and effects of population trends are presented.

The sexual harassment class action suit slapped by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on the Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturing of America has had a richocheting effect in the US and Japan. The Mitsubishi case has encouraged the female employees of other Japanese companies in the US to take up the issue of sexual harassment in their work environment. The working women in Japan have also taken up the issue of reforming Japan's anti-sexual harassment policy. The Japanese companies are organizing seminars to address the problems of sexual harassment in corporate work environments.

Changing family values in Japan have impelled the need to revise the indigenous Koseki system. This family registration system facilitates the recording of an individual's paternity, social status and family relationships. As marriage is more of a lifestyle decision than an obligation now, the phenomenon of illegitimate children is on the rise. The changes proposed in the civil code by an advisory committee to the Ministry of Justice include equal inheritance rights for legitimate and illegitimate children and allows married couples to have different surnames.

Esaki Leo, the president of the University of Tsukuba, Japan, and a Nobel Prize winner in physics, believes that there is an urgent need to reform the Japanese educational system. This should include a focus on graduate school curriculum, introduction of external evaluation of research projects, upgradation of research facilities, an increase in the number of foreign students, encouragement for the pursuit of Ph.D. programs and a joint partnership of university and industry. Merit and not gerontocracy should be the sole criteria in the advancement of science and competitive environment.

The language planning and policy formation in Japan reflects the condition of several occupational policies which underwent reformation based on both democratization in early years, and conservatism, in later years, after World War II. The development of Japanese studies abroad, the revival of economic security and technological developments in document production have led Japan to ignore the earlier script reforms. The intervention of the LDP has helped to reinforce this reversal of script reforms which were made in the postwar period.

The problems between the government and the social groups, which cooperated to modernize Japan during the 20th century, should not be ignored while giving a new perspective to the modernization process. The problem arose because the government's approach to modernize the country was condemned by the social groups. There is a need to review this issue since historians feel that Japan has the potential to emerge as a world power.

The use of the Kumon method in Japan has been controversial yet successful. Its emphasis on repetition and memorization fits in well with the Japanese educational philosophy. However, its focus on individual achievement runs contrary to the cherished notion of group effort. Kumon schools indulge students' strengths and interests and provide a more nurturing environment complete with female instructors. Traditional Japanese schools are staffed by male teachers and provide instruction in well established and standard fields of study.

Japanese middle schools provide the point of transition from the holistic education of pre-school and elementary instruction to the more specialized, hierarchical and text-based instruction of secondary schools. Studies become more focused and students' strengths begin to be channeled in middle school. However, socialization and the development of the complete person continues to play a role as students participate in extracurricular activities. This combination allows students to develop personally as well as academically.

Japanese middle schools provide students with their first exposure to social and institutional hierarchy. Socialization in the middle school environment encourages students to subsume their individuality to the group and teaches younger students to look to older students for guidance and instruction. Furthermore, older students are held to particularly high standards as they serve as mentors. This organizational hierarchy is strictly maintained by school administrators and instructors and is thought to be the best preparation for the social dynamics that students will face after graduation.

The Rinzai Zen monastery represents the Japanese style of teaching that focuses great attention on both ritual formalism and mystical insight while placing little emphasis on rational teaching. Monastic leaders teach the formal contemplation of mystical paradoxes, and students are not expected to inquire about the methods or the meaning behind the method. They are simply instructed to use ritualistic means to solve their assigned paradox, which is called a koan. The result of this ritualistic process is a mystical insight that leads to greater consciousness. The tandem use of these two seemingly disparate teaching methods is itself seen as a paradox by Western educators.

Middle age or midlife for women in Japan is subject to many misunderstandings because of a lack of concern about the female life cycle by the medical profession there which has created misconceptions in the populace. The Japanese have no real concept of menopause, as the term konenki refers to a longer midlife period which is thought to be more emotional than physiological. Many women feel that konenki is a state of indolence enjoyed by middle-class women of leisure, when in fact, few such exist. These misconceptions may cause some social problems because of the aging populace of Japan.

A theory of Japanese civilization is discussed and criticized using economic history as a standpoint. This theory utilizes a linear phase of development in analyzing the evolution of Japan's politics and economy. This approach is considered as the limitation which unables it to progress an inquiry of the sakoku policy adopted by Japan after the 1600's. It is this method of national seclusion that enabled Japan to attain their leadership in Asia. It is important to note that although the Japanese experiment was different from that of its European counterparts, it also achieved the same results.

Almost 50% of women over age 15 in Japan are now employed outside of the home and the stigma against married women joining the work force is almost non-existent. Among working women, resentment is building against housewives and in the current economy, it would be good for every person to work.

There is a need for moral education in Japan's schools. However, there first must be a legal foundation upon which to build any educational system.

The government of Japan has initiated a public long-term care insurance program for the country's elderly. Although this is a step in the right direction, the insurance alone is an inadequate program.

The issue of Koreans living in Japan and the idea of giving them the right to vote is discussed. Commentary on Koreans in Japan have been propagated by leftists. Children of Koreans in Japan mostly chose the Japanese nationality, a problem which is seen to complicate the granting of voting rights.

The two houses of Japan's legislature is currently divided, creating a political imbalance in the country. The Japanese public has shown contentment over the political climate. But the political trend has also resulted in positive developments such as revelation of taxation policies and civil service reform.

Japan's Social Insurance Agency has confirmed that it has mishandled over 50 million pension contributions. The problem is brought by the lack of clear lines of authority and responsibility and authority at the agency. Solutions for correcting the pension system and regaining public trust are proposed.

The Social Insurance AgencyEs mismanagement of public pension records resulted to the deterioration of peopleEs confidence in the public pension system. One of the reasons for the sloppy handling of records dates back to the computerized system. A close examination of JapanEs pension system is discussed.

A reliable public pension system is vital since it serves as a source of income for retired employees in their old age. JapanEs Social Insurance Agency had mismanaged and misappropriated pension funds which resulted to the subsequent loss of confidence in the system.

Japan's Social Insurance Agency's management of the public pension system was very careless, and the officials responsible for its operations misappropriated the funds. The scandal in the pension system caused the populace to lose confidence in the government. Details of JapanEs retirement system are discussed.

The details and history of North Korean repatriation movement and its implications for both Japanese and North Korean communities, as discussed by Sakanaka Hidenori and Chon Wolson, are presented. Hidenori is a former member of Ministry of Justice and Wolson is a Korean resident of Japan.