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IN JAPAN, THE INTRODUCTION OF THE BASIC LAW for a Gender Equal Society in 1999 and subsequent efforts to introduce municipal gender-equality ordinances marked the mainstreaming of feminism in the [...]

Abstract The concept of 'sustainable welfare society' is highlighted in the social quality analysis, an approach that was extended from a European into an Asian developmental context. This article will [...]

Owing to equal and increased opportunities for education and employment, today's trend in Japanese marriages is characterized by late and less frequent marriage. This paper discusses unavoidable diversity in rural families to point out the anticipated consequences of aging in rural areas and to discuss limitations in current public social care policies. Specifically, the averaged proportion of never-married and single persons at ages 45 to 49 and 50 to 54 in legally recognized depopulated cities, towns, and villages in Japan is calculated to illustrate the expected diversity in families in rural depopulated areas. It also illustrates the need for future studies to develop better social care policies for increasing numbers of single caregivers and single elders. KEYWORDS family, gender, Japan, rural aging, rural celibacy, social care policy DOI: 10.1080/08959420.2010.507651

This paper examines the treatment and repatriation of Japan's 'war orphans' (zanryu koji) in order to support a critique of 'ethnicity' as an analytical category. War orphans are people of Japanese parentage who as children were stranded in China following World War II. Most of the surviving war orphans were then belatedly repatriated to Japan as adults beginning in the late 1970s. Their stories and circumstances testify to the ways in which concepts of ethnicity and ethnic identity may tragically distort key empirical circumstances in ways that resemble the unscientific assumptions of 'race.' [Keywords: ethnicity, race, culture, war orphans, Japan, China], Introduction Since the 1960s, American anthropologists and sociologists have broadly embraced ethnicity as a benign substitute for race (Banks 1996; Keyes 1997, 2002; Glazer and Moynihan 1975; Hutchinson and Smith [...]

SHUKO TAKESHITA, Department of Asian Studies, Chukyo Women's University, 55 Nadakayama Yokone-cho, Obu Aichi, 474-8651, Japan. The Passing CCKs in Japan: Analysis on Families of Cross-Border Marriages between Japanese and Brazilian Since an amendment to the Immigration Control Act in 1990, which granted 2nd and 3rd generation Japanese unlimited visa status to work in Japan, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of Brazilians of Japanese descent coming to Japan. As a result, there is a large number of couples comprising Japanese and Japanese-Brazilian in Japan. In this paper, I investigated the conditions involving Cross-Culture Kids (CCK) born of these marriages. The children's first language is Japanese, and an overwhelming number of parents want their children to learn English as a second language rather than Portuguese. Regarding the children's name, there were few cases in which the child used a Brazilian name. In Japanese society, which emphases uniformity and homogeneity, using a Japanese name is one method of resolving the issue of being different from others. Parents with children who are not immediately recognizable as CCKs based on characteristics of outward appearance have developed strategies for avoiding discrimination and prejudice through passing. However, passing offers little possibility of enjoying the advantages of multicultural society. CCKs with two nationalities and cultural backgrounds should be guaranteed the right to enjoy the benefit of maintaining and developing an identity as a Japanese, in addition to one more identity. We need to encourage a new awareness of CCKs as agents for a transition from a monocultural system to a multicultural system, not only in Japanese schools, but in Japanese society as a whole. SHUKO TAKESHITA, Department of Asian Studies, Chukyo Women's University, 55 Nadakayama Yokone-cho, Obu Aichi, 474-8651, Japan. The Passing CCKs in Japan: Analysis on Families of Cross-Border Marriages between Japanese and Brazilian Depuis qu'un amendement a la loi sur le controle de l'immigration de 1990 a accorde aux 2e et 3e generations de japonais un visa illimite pour travailler au Japon, il y a eu une augmentation notable du nombre de bresiliens d'origine japonaise a venir au Japon. La consequence en est un grand nombre de couples mixtes composes de japonais et de japo-bresiliens au Japon. Dans cet article, j'ai enquete sur les conditions de vie des enfants dotes d'une double culture (Cross-Culture Kids, "CCK") nes de ces mariages. La premiere langue de ces enfants est le japonais et une grande majorite des parents preferent que leurs enfants apprennent l'anglais comme deuxieme langue plutot que le portugais. En ce qui concerne le nom de l'enfant, tres peu de familles choisissent un prenom bresilien pour leur enfant. Dans la societe japonaise, qui insiste sur l'uniformite et l'homogeneite, choisir un prenom japonais est une des methodes permettant de resoudre les problemes de discrimination. Les parents dont les enfants ne sont pas immediatement reconnaissables comme CCK par leurs caracteristiques physiques ont elabore des strategies de dissimulation des origines pour eviter la discrimination et les prejuges. Toutefois, cette dissimulation offre peu de possibilites de beneficier des avantages d'une societe multiculturelle. Le droit de jouir des benefices d'une identite supplementaire developpee en parallele de 1'identite japonaise devrait etre garanti aux CCK qui possedent deux nationalites et deux origines culturelles. Le Japon d'aujourd'hui rend necessaire une education dans le cadre d'une coexistence multiculturelle, une education qui enseigne aux enfants a comprendre et a coexister avec des gens differents d'eux-memes. SHUKO TAKESHITA, Department of Asian Studies, Chukyo Women's University, 55 Nadakayama Yokone-cho, Obu Aichi, 474-8651, Japan. The Passing CCKs in Japan: Analysis on Families of Cross-Border Marriages between Japanese and Brazilian Desde que una enmienda al acto del control de la inmigracion en 1990, concedio a los descendientes de Japoneses de 2da y 3ra generacion el estado de visa ilimitado al trabajo en Japon, ha habido un aumento considerable en el numero de brasilenos de descendencia Japonesa que han venido a Japon. Consecuentemente, hay una gran cantidad de parejas que involucran a Japoneses y Japoneses-Brasilenos en Japon. En este estudio, he investigado las condiciones en las que se encuentran los hijos nacidos de estas uniones de culturas distintas (llamados aqui "CCK" por las siglas en ingles de "Cross-Culture Kids"). El idioma principal de estos ninos es el Japones, y un numero abrumador de padres desean que sus ninos aprendan Ingles como segundo idioma en lugar del Portugues. Con respecto a los nombres de estos ninos, eran pocos los casos en los que el nino tenia un nombre Brasileno. En la sociedad Japonesa, que pone enfasis en la uniformidad y homogeneidad, el usar un nombre Japones es un metodo para resolver el problema de ser diferente a los otros. Los padres de ninos que no son inmediatamente reconocibles como CCKs basado en las caracteristicas del aspecto exterior han desarrollado estrategias para evitar la discriminacion y el prejudicio quedandose el prejuicio intentando pasar desapercibidos. Sin embargo, el deseo de pasar desapercibidos ofrece poca posibilidad de gozar de las ventajas de la sociedad multicultural. A los CCKs con dos nacionalidades y contextos culturales se les debe garantizar el derecho de disfrutar de la ventaja de mantener y de desarrollar una identidad como Japones, en adicion de una identidad mas. El Japon de hoy requiere educacion en la coexistencia multicultural que ensena a los ninos como entender y coexistir con gente diferente a ellos mismos., INTRODUCTION In Japan, there were 44,701 cross-border marriages in 2006-the highest number ever on record. Currently, one out of every 16 marriages in Japan is a cross-border marriage. This increase […]

In this paper I examine the effects of a means-tested transfer system in Japan ('1.03 million yen ceiling') in a dynamic labor supply model with endogenous retirement. In Japan, married women have reason to limit their annual earnings to no more than 1.03 million yen in order to receive a number of benefits available to low-income wives, and in fact often choose to do so. In a dynamic model, the optimal labor supply schedule follows a pattern that is not seen in a static framework, which I call the 'spillover effect.' The paper also examines the properties of dynamic welfare cost of this ceiling. (JEL J22, H24, H55), I. INTRODUCTION The '1.03 million yen ceiling,' which in this paper refers to the tendency of married women in Japan who work part time to limit their earnings to no [...]

The article examines the development of language, the immigration policies and education among ethnic returnees settled in Germany and Japan.

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.

This paper compares recent efforts to reduce lone mothers' reliance on cash assistance and support their increased participation in the workforce and economic independence in Japan and the United States. [...]

This study inquired into the meaning of family-professional partnerships from the perspective of Japanese families of children with disabilities. Data were collected from 30 mothers who participated in focus groups and/or interviews in Japan. Qualitative data analysis guided identification of four themes. The study's contributions are discussed in relation to not only Japanese society, but also to the global community including the United States. The study's implications for developing partnerships with culturally diverse families also are discussed., The current trend in Japanese special education and social welfare fields is best characterized as a transition to the new era. Japanese governmental departments that oversee these two fields have [...]

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 explores how gender is embodied and embedded in organizations. Organizational embodiment and gendered work are linked to new forms of labor market segmentation around aesthetic labor. The analysis makes visible the situated forms of body management and the productive modes of embodiment in a gender regime as ways of organizing and ordering masculinities and femininities in a valued hierarchy A case study of temporary employment provided by a multinational temporary-help company situates the global in culturally local contexts of gendered work and employment conditions. KEY WORDS aesthetic labor / embodiment / gender/Japan / temporary employment

Research has been conducted on HIV/AIDS surveillance in Japan. Results suggest that Japan should restructure its HIV/AIDS surveillance system and monitor more accurately HIV/AIDS epidemic and related risk behaviors.

Japan has a complex social security system. This article discusses the demographic and economic situation in Japan as background for understanding the setting in which the social security system functions. Japan has a three-pillar system for retirement income. The first pillar is the social security pension plan; the second pillar is the voluntary occupational pension plan; and the third pillar is personal savings, including the personal pension plan. The most important part of the retirement income system is the social security pension plan, which paid benefits accounting for 64% of the total income of elderly households in 1998. The five Employees' Pension Plans are established on a compulsory social insurance basis. Most large Japanese employers have a mandatory retirement age. Over 90% of all employees, including public sector ones, must retire from their career jobs at age 60. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HA WORTH. E-mail address: Website : KEYWORDS. Social security, Japan, pensions, population aging

The termination of a policy is often considered an important step for correcting existing policies and allocating resources efficiently. Scientific advances, for example, may make the existing policy obsolete and unjustifiable. Delay in terminating a flawed policy may result in increasing its harm. In many cases, however, it is suggested that inertia and other obstacles must be overcome before a termination can be accomplished. Health policy is no exception to these findings. The isolation of leprosy patients, a practice introduced early in this century, was maintained in Japan even after it proved scientifically unnecessary. It was only after a few decades of inertia and political struggles that the policy was abolished. As can be seen in previous studies in the other domains, a set of obstacles, such as intellectual reluctance, opposition of vested interests, and bias in expert opinions, existed, and hampered the timely termination of the isolation policy. Over a long time, policy adaptation was gradually made in practice through the loose administration of policy. It was only by the leadership of a skillful terminator that the issue was finally brought to the forefront, consensus achieved among key actors, and the policy abolished., Public policy termination can be defined as the deliberate conclusion or cessation of specific government functions, programs, policies, or organizations (Brewer & deLeon, 1983; deLeon, 1978a). That termination is deliberate [...]

After reading the last two articles--Janet E.. Frantz' 'Political Resources for Policy Termination' and Hajime Sato's 'Policy Termination through Leadership: Abolition of Leprosy Isolation Policy in Japan'--the ever-vigilant Policy Studies Journal reader will have engaged in a set of long-time personal advocacies of mine: policy termination and comparative policy analysis. Professors Frantz and Sato, without consciously engaging in the explicit comparative aspects, have presented a splendid pair of essays examining basically the same phenomenon--the termination of leprosy treatment protocols in the United States and Japan, respectively. With their materials in hand, let me present (at the editors' invitation and with the readers' indulgence) a brief for the continued study of policy termination and comparative policy analysis that their two essays have splendidly, if unconsciously, advanced., Policy Termination Ever since Eugene Bardach's (1976) path-breaking symposium, the study of policy termination has led a checked career; that is, even though numerous administrations have been confronted with demands [...]

Domestic violence was not recognized as a social problem in Japan until 1992, and this was due to efforts by grassroots women's organizations. Action-oriented research and assistance from United Nations conferences helped raise public awareness and began to change national social policy.

Based on prospective observation of elderly people in the community in Japan, we compared the time-course of development and progression of physical disability between women and men. Men experienced disability at a younger age and at a faster rate than did women. The duration of time spent with disability in women was twice as long as in men. Consequently, women consume about two-thirds of the total resources of formal caregiving services in Japan. Women in Japan are increasingly educated, postponing marriage to higher ages, and less likely to care for parents in the home. Given these changes in family structure and social norms, the capacity for informal family caregiving has decreased dramatically. A recently enacted national long-term care insurance system may further change the picture of caregiving. KEYWORDS. Active life expectancy, activities of daily living (ADL), instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), prospective study, long-term care insurance, Japan

Dongxiao Liu (*) Elizabeth Heger Boyle (**) ABSTRACT International treaties have had an important impact on national policies affecting women throughout the world. This is true despite women's marginalized status [...]

This article examines the Long-Term Care Insurance (LTCI) program for the elderly in Japan. LTCI is presented as Japan's policy approach to the growing need for care for the elderly. The paper describes the context around which the policy was developed, describes details about the policy, and the implementation issues of the policy. The paper traces the role of social work as a profession in Japan as it relates to the issues of implementing LTCI. Suggestions are made in this paper for possible integration of social work professional roles in effective implementation of LTCI. KEYWORDS. Long-Term care insurance, gerontology, social work in Japan, elderly care, elderly policy

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.

Social policy has become one of the most important factors in contemporary Japanese politics, and women have significantly shaped strategies, resources, and lobbying channels. Issues such as caring for middle-class and elderly women, political activity of unemployed married women, and local welfare measures have become dominated by women.

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.

This article discusses the individual's sense of identity in imperial Japan during the 1930s; focus is placed on Tanabe Hajime, who in the 1920s established the Kyoto School of Philosophy, and created an argument for multi-ethnic nation-states and universalism in Japanese national identity. Hajime's concept of the Logic of Species is highlighted, suggesting that the individual can identify with the nation through participation in the state, which is a higher form of social order because it integrates all ethnicities.

This article provides an evaluation of the TEACCH (treatment and education of autistic and related communication handicapped children) program, developed to help people with autism and their family members, in Japan. The author discusses the positive and negative responses the program received, and maintains the results have been so successful that groups attempting to hinder its spread are losing power.

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.

In Japan the ideology of familism has reproduced patriarchal family values. It successfully retained family centred welfare provision and gender inequality in informal care work, and ensured formal care services were residual. However, the advancement of modernisation has weakened the effectiveness of the informal care sector, and the demand for care has increased steadily along with the ageing of the population. Moreover, informal care based on the self-sacrifice of family carers tends to be less popular. This tendency is especially evident in the opinions of the younger generation and females. Furthermore, structural shifts in their working circumstances, particularly of females, makes the continuation of the patriarchal approach to informal care more difficult. In the field of the care of older people, as part of the strategy for restructuring the Japanese welfare system, the emphasis is now more on market activities, which is in accord with the assumptions underlying 'the residual welfare model of social policy' (Titmuss, 1974).

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.

Psychotherapeutic work in Japan with minority populations requires an understanding of their specific social and cultural context. Clinical case studies of individuals of burakumin, Korean, and mixed ancestry illustrate the complex issues of prejudice, discrimination, legal constraints, state ideology, and popular mythology of homogeneity that each brings to counseling. Clinical approaches, guided by a multicultural counseling and therapy framework are discussed.