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For a long time after the end of large-scale student unrest in the 1970s Japan stood out by a comparatively low level of protest. Yet spectacular waves of mass-protest returned with the anti-nuke mobilizations following the 2011 Fukushima meltdown and other 'post-2011' movements. In this paper I develop an analytical framework inspired by the multi-level perspective in transition studies to illuminate two questions: how can the relatively low level of protest in Japan before 2011 – in particular the so called 'ice age' of protest from the 1970s to the early 2000s – be explained, and what enabled the recovery of protest afterwards, starting in the early 2000s and leading up to the post-2011 protest cycle? I point to the crucial role played on the one hand by niches in the form of social movement spaces in fostering oppositional discourses and on the other hand by landscape changes that destabilized the established politico-cultural regime. A crucial role was played by the creative work of freeter activists in social movement spaces during the 1990s who reinvented activism in response to stigmatization of open protest after the collective trauma of the perceived defeat of the New Left in the 1970s. This creative work was a precondition for the rise of protest movements in the early 2000s which in turn prepared the way for the post-2011 protest wave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The westerly jet (WJ) is an important component of atmospheric circulation, which is characterized by prominent seasonal variations in intensity and position. However, the response of the WJ over Asia during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) is still not clear. Using general circulation model experiments, the seasonal behaviors of the WJ over central Asia and Japan are analyzed in this paper. The results show that, compared to the present day (PD), the WJ presents a complicated response during the LGM, both in intensity and position. Over central Asia, it becomes weaker in both summer and winter. But over Japan, it is enhanced in summer but becomes diminished in winter. In terms of position, the WJ over central Asia shifts southward in both summer and winter, whereas the WJ over Japan moves southward in summer but does not change obviously relative to PD in winter. Such WJ changes are well explained by meridional temperature gradients in high troposphere, which is closely linked to seasonal thermal anomalies over the Tibetan Plateau (TP). Despite cooler LGM conditions, the anomalous warming center over the TP becomes stronger in summer. Derived from the heat budget equation, the stronger heating center is mainly caused by the weaker adiabatic cooling generated from ascending motion over the area south of the TP. In winter, the cooling over the TP is also strengthened, mostly owing to the subsidence-induced weaker adiabatic heating. Due to the importance of the WJ, the potential role of TP thermal effects should be a focus when explaining the East Asian climate change during the LGM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To understand how historical and environmental factors have shaped genetic diversity and spatial genetic patterns of tree species, we characterized the genetic diversity and the genetic structure of a coniferous species, Cryptomeria japonica, which is distributed in Japan (two taxonomic groups) and some parts of southeastern China (C. japonica var. sinensis). We investigated population samples for three groups using high-throughput SNP genotyping, sequencing of multiple genes, and then estimated level of genetic diversity, the genetic differentiation, and the divergence time between the three groups. We also investigated the natural distribution during LGM using species distribution modeling. The genetic variation in the Chinese population, var. sinensis, was lower compared to Japanese populations but it harbored some unique genotypes. The species distribution modeling showed that the Chinese population has decreased since Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) because of lower precipitation than present time, but in Japan the favored environment have remained available for this species even in the LGM. Estimated divergence times of the three groups mostly correspond with the time since the Last Glacial. Our data supports the hypothesis that the glacial period, particularly limitations associated with precipitation, strongly influenced the distribution of C. japonica populations. Our findings suggest that climate change plays an important role in speciation processes of C. japonica. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]