The university is in a state of crisis. This crisis has both quantitative and qualitative, or structural, aspects. Additionally, there are predicaments unique to Japanese universities as well as difficulties being faced by universities worldwide. The main focus of this paper is to explain the dire situation that contemporary Japanese universities are confronting and to suggest ways to overcome it. However, it will also touch upon the broader crisis facing universities in the 21st century.

This study focused on the indirect influences of defective higher education, especially management education, on the corruption of Japanese business communities since 1997. Most arrested or penalized Japanese executives and bureaucrats since 1997 were the alumni of prestigious Japanese universities. Their levels of academic achievements are, consequently, conceived to be the highest of Japanese standards. They were, however, found guilty. Why did these highly intelligent Japanese adults make such fatal mistakes? In this article, the author (...) argued that the event of the continuous exposure of scandals and corruptions in Japan since 1997 was an unintended consequence of Japan's educational systems through Habermasian and Foucaultian positions. (shrink)

Cell phone abuse amongst Japanese school students, including sex crimes and bullying, are commonly managed with filters and phone bans. Many believe these measures are more effective than moral education. Japanese teenagers therefore enter college without moral education in the Internet society, which can cause problems on campus: students plagiarizing from the Internet, or posting anonymous defamatory messages on bulletin boards. Japanese universities address these problems ineffectively. Problems are caused by both student ignorance of network ethics and (...) moral immatureness. Therefore, it is insufficient to provide only information ethics knowledge; students require a citizenship education to learn to build a moral community in the globalized network society. Here, the authors examine the effectiveness and difficulties in the practice of educating students to be moral subjects in such a society. Students are encouraged to debate ethical and practical issues, to express ethical remarks, and to understand the impact of their remarks. (shrink)

This paper presents the results of two mail response surveys conducted in Japan in 1995 among academics. The fundamental question asked is whether the attitudes of these academics differ from those of the public and other groups that have been surveyed in 1991 and 1993 . Some of those questions from those surveys were used in 1995, and the results show some differences with the acceptance of fetal diagnosis and gene therapy despite a positive view towards science.

This study examines processes through which social personae are conveyed by male Japanese students at a public university in Yokohama. Focusing on the frame-setting function of first person pronominals in contexts where there is no intra/inter speaker variation in the choice of FPP, this paper analyzes how speakers manage identity-associated discursive alignments related to a shared Okinawa prefecture background. The common experience of being from Okinawa prefecture and attending university far from home is the primary reason that (...) these speakers are close friends. However, analysis reveals speakers’ continual and active contention and re-formulation of this shared ‘Okinawan-ness’ and the personae to which it is linked. In particular, FPPs are implicated in speakers’ discussion of heterogeneity and/or local differences with respect to their Okinawa prefecture background. Strategic use of FPPs thus emerges as a salient tactic for speakers’ active negotiation of conversation relevant personae categories even in interactional contexts without variation. (shrink)

This article examines the current state of foreign language education in Japanese universities as illustrative of the troubling conditions facing the liberal arts in a globalized neoliberal milieu. The utopian ideal in education has always insinuated, at the least, a pedagogy that inspires personal agency, creative investment, challenge to power and social change. This imagining of incalculable futures, however, has been undermined by the seemingly inevitable and confluent forces of a networked world, represented most forcefully by the socioeconomic reductionism (...) of neoliberal globalism. In the context of contemporary Japanese higher education, these forces are joined by Japan’s uniquely ambivalent relationship with the ‘outside’ world, and manifested in the rigid conceptualizations that motivate deeply problematic government and institutional initiatives for the ‘globalization’ of higher education. Within the frame of Bernard Stiegler’s work on transindividuation (ps... (shrink)

Universities are increasingly part of wider geographical processes including international, national and sub-national actors. Universities now find themselves having to pay attention to many more political centres than before, as seen, for example, with research grants, assessments and teaching accreditation from transnational bodies, individual states and regional authorities. As an institution, the university constitutes a place which needs to be situated within a wider space and the geography of power-relations. This article traces these spatial developments in relation to recent (...) policy changes in the Japanese context. The current university reforms, set against the development of the globalising knowledge-based economy and regionalization of innovation policies, are examined in relation to the changing role of universities in multi-spacial innovation systems. (shrink)

This article explores the profound influence of Zen Buddhism on the formation of Japanese aesthetics, focusing on key concepts such as simplicity (kanso), naturalness (shibumi), and impermanence (mujo). Zen realism, characterized by the acceptance of reality without subjective embellishments, is examined as a foundational principle that shaped not only Japanese cultural identity but also a universal aesthetic language. The study highlights the philosophical tenets of Zen, including the principles of «non-duality» (fuju) and «direct intuition» (jikan), which guide the (...) perception of reality as it is and foster a unique artistic and cultural worldview.Relevance: In the context of globalization and cultural exchange, the Zen-inspired Japanese approach to aesthetics offers valuable insights into contemporary issues of sustainability, mindfulness, and design thinking. The enduring appeal of Japanese minimalism in modern art, architecture, and design underscores the universality and adaptability of Zen principles, making this topic highly pertinent for cross-cultural studies and global artistic dialogues.Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate how Zen Buddhist values influenced the development of Japanese aesthetics and contributed to creating a universal artistic and philosophical framework.Tasks: To achieve this objective, the article:- Analyzes the philosophical underpinnings of Zen realism in shaping the perception of reality.- Explores the aesthetic principles of simplicity (kanso), naturalness (shibumi), and impermanence (mujo) in traditional and modern Japanese art.- Examines the impact of Zen-inspired aesthetics on contemporary global design and architecture.The study demonstrates that the pursuit of simplicity, rooted in Zen practice, transcends cultural boundaries and has become a universal language in the realms of art and design. Examples include Tadao Ando’s architecture, which embodies harmony between light, space, and void, and the minimalist design philosophy of brands like Muji, which resonates globally. The analysis also underlines the role of Zen aesthetics in fostering ecological awareness and a deeper connection to the present moment, aligning with contemporary global challenges.The article concludes by emphasizing the potential of Zen-inspired aesthetics to serve as a universal cultural category, capable of bridging diverse traditions and promoting cross-cultural dialogue. Future research directions include examining Zen principles as a framework for addressing ecological, social, and philosophical issues in an increasingly interconnected world. (shrink)

The aim of this study was to test the claim that languages universally employ morphosyntactic marking to differentiate events of more‐ versus less‐direct causation, preferring to mark them with less‐ and more‐ overt marking, respectively (e.g., Somebody broke the window vs. Somebody MADE the window break; *Somebody cried the boy vs. Somebody MADE the boy cry). To this end, we investigated whether a recent computational model which learns to predict speakers’ by‐verb relative preference for the two causatives in English, Hebrew, (...) Hindi, Japanese, and K'iche’ Mayan is able to generalize to a sixth language on which it has never been trained: Balinese. Judgments of the relative acceptability of the less‐ and more‐transparent causative forms of 60 verbs were collected from 48 native‐speaking Balinese adults. The composite crosslinguistic computational model was able to predict these judgments, not only for verbs that it had seen, but also––in a split‐half validation test––to verbs that it had never seen in any language. A “random‐semantics” model showed only a relatively small decrement in performance with seen verbs, whose behavior can be learned on a verb‐by‐verb basis, but achieved zero correlation with human judgments when generalizing to unseen verbs. Together, these findings suggest that Balinese conceptualizes directness of causation in a similar way to these unrelated languages, and therefore constitute support for the view that the distinction between more‐ versus less‐distinct causation constitutes a morphosyntactic universal. (shrink)

I consider a puzzle that greatly preoccupies some people and mildly preoccupies others, while being of no interest to some at all: “How did those people get into an elite university?” Problems with writing faux Japanese fiction provide one explanation. Once skilled literary craftspeople have failed, one turns to others.

Many years the academic community has been discussing issues of a universal metalanguage as the general conceptual framework of modern social and humanitarian research, especially of philosophy. The article questions the claim that the language of Western philosophy was already accepted as a unified tool in the 20th century. The peculiarities of perception and further application of Western philosophical terminology in Japan in late 19th – first half of the 20th centuries are investigated here as a factual evidence base of (...) argumentation. Special attention is given to examples of translation and interpretation of some concepts of Western origin, such as metaphysics, ethics, logic, substance, subject, etc., as observed in the works of eminent thinkers Nishi Amane, Inoue Tetsujiro, Nishida Kitaro, and Watsuji Tetsuro. The paper provides examples of new original concepts developed by modern Japanese philosophers, such as Kimura Bin, Hiromatsu Wataru et al. The author concludes that the general conceptual framework that modern philosophy operates with is a very dynamic and open system, capable of transforming in different cultural contexts and in keeping with newly emerging issues that require analysis. The article identifies factors that provide philosophical communication between different cultures at the conceptual level, that is, the presence of a common circle of problems and presence of partial overlap between the key concepts. The author poses the problem of the emergence of new approaches and ideas in a situation of “conflicting interpretations,” or incomplete equivalence of similar notions when used by the parties in a dialogue, casting doubt on possibility, necessity and reasonability of exact reproduction of meanings and “complete domestication” in other cultures. (shrink)

In the fall of 1869, the first of eight students set off from the tiny Sadowara Domain in southeastern Kyushu to pursue study in America and Europe. Overshadowed by more famous peers from other domains, the Sadowara students have been all but forgotten, and their lives abroad remain an untold story. Yet they played an important role in the early development of Japanese studies in the United States. Enrolling at diverse institutions mostly in the Northeast, six of the students (...) came to form a close relationship with Yale’s university librarian, a philologist named Addison Van Name. Inspired by his new friends to study the Japanese language, within a year Van Name was offering America’s first college course in Japanese, and he quickly began to produce scholarship on Japan and its language, literature, and history. By the mid-1870s, the Sadowara students had returned to their home country, where their subsequent careers constituted a microcosm of the paradox and transformation of the early Meiji period. Van Name maintained contact with his Japanese friends, and through this long-distance relationship succeeded in building America’s first significant Japanese library collection: a 3,000-volume collection of Edo and early Meiji titles that still survives today. (shrink)

This short enquiry investigates the relationships between knowledge of English and attitude towards the English language as held by Japanese university students. The goal of this study was to gain a better understanding of how attitude affects the learning of English and whether gender or geographic location of a student ’s hometown plays a role. A random sample of 85 participants completed a 26 item questionnaire which measured background information, attitude to English and knowledge of English. The difference (...) in English knowledge over several prefectures was tested using ANOVA and the results indicated that there was no statistical difference observed. Difference in attitude to English between male and female students was tested using a t-test and no statistical difference was observed. Pearson Correlation was used to test for any relationship between knowledge and attitude to English, but again no statistical different relationship was found. In addition , Multiple Regression was used to determine if there was a linear relationship between knowledge of English, and the 3 variables attitude to English, gender and prefecture. Again there was no statistically significant linear relationship between these variable. (shrink)

Among Japanese nurses ethics is perceived as being distant and unrelated to their practice, although this is filled with ethical concerns and the making of ethical decisions. The reasons for this dissociation are the primacy of western values in modern Japanese health care systems and the suppression of Japanese nurses’ indigenous ethical values because of domination by western ethics. A hermeneutic study was conducted to listen to the ethical voices of Japanese nurses. Seven ethical concerns were (...) revealed. Although some of these concerns may seem to share similar values with western ethical principles, the basis for the concerns was unique and rooted in the Japanese cultural value system. The meanings of each concern are explicated in conjunction with related background meanings. Listening and trying to understand these nurses’ voices in their own context suggests a way of bridging the gap between abstract and universal ethics and practical and local ethics. (shrink)

Japanese Frames of Mind addresses two main questions in light of a collection of research conducted by both Japanese and American researchers at Harvard University: What challenge does Japanese psychology offer to Western psychology? Will the presumed universals of human nature discovered by Western psychology be reduced to a set of 'local psychology' among many in a world of unpredicted variations? The chapters provide a wealth of new data and perspectives related to aspects of Japanese (...) child development, moral reasoning and narratives, schooling and family socialization, and adolescent experiences. By placing the Japanese evidence within the context of Western psychological theory and research, the book calls for a systematic reexamination of Western psychology as one psychology among many other ethnopsychologies. Written in mostly non-technical language, this book will appeal to developmental and cultural psychologists, anthropologists interested in psychological anthropology, educators, and anyone interested in Japanese and Asian studies. (shrink)

This collection of essays constitutes the first history of modern Japanese aesthetics in any language. It introduces readers through lucid and readable translations to works on the philosophy of art written by major Japanese thinkers from the late nineteenth century to the present. Selected from a variety of sources (monographs, journals, catalogues), the essays cover topics related to the study of beauty in art and nature. The translations are organized into four parts. The first, "The Introduction of Aesthetics," (...) traces the formation of notions of "beauty," "culture," and "art" in Japan. It includes discussion of the creation of the museum in Japan and the frenetic efforts of Nishi Amane, Okakura Tenshin, Ernest Fenollosa, and Mori Ogai to introduce German, British, and French aesthetic thought to the Japanese. This is followed by three sections that examine the transformation of the aesthetic field into an academic discipline that flourished at three major Japanese universities. "Aesthetics at Waseda University" begins with an essay on the spiritualism and idealism of Onishi Hajime and continues with essays on the impact of German Lebensphilosophie ("philosophy of life") on Shimamura Hogetsu and Takayama Chogyu, and work by the major Waseda aesthetician of the twentieth century, Aizu Yaichi. Thinkers of the Tokyo School adopted a "scientific" method in the study of art theory. Part 3, "Aesthetics at the University of Tokyo," focuses on the ideas of Otsuka Yasuji (holder of the world’s first Chair of Aesthetics), Onishi Yoshinori, Watsuji Tetsuro, Abe Jiro, Takeuchi Toshio, and Imamichi Tomonobu. The section concludes with a look at the contemporary philosopher Sakabe Megumi. The last section, "Aesthetics at the University of Kyoto," includes essays on Nakagawa Shigeki and Fukada Yasukazu, pioneers in the field of aesthetics, and on the philosophy of art of the "Kyoto School," which was deeply inspired by the thought of Nishida Kitaro. Finally the work of Kuki Shuzo, an influential teacher of Western philosophy at the University of Kyoto, is examined. A History of Modern Japanese Aesthetics is a companion volume to Modern Japanese Aesthetics: A Reader (UH Press, 1999). (shrink)

Buddhism’s claim to be a universal religion would seem to be severely compromised by its exclusion of certain groups of people from its scheme of salvation. Women, in particular, were treated at one time or another as less than fit vessels for attaining enlightenment. As is well known, even in the days of Gautama the Buddha, the Buddhist order was not entirely free of misogynist sentiments. Female devotees aspiring to follow the Buddha’s teaching often had to overcome discrimination and negative (...) innuendos from their fellow monks and the monastic institutions. This view of women’s “spiritual inferiority” persisted, casting a long shadow over the Buddhism tradition that took root and developed in Japan. Although the idea of sangha—the community of believers made up of monks, nuns, and laymen and laywomen—was duly embraced in Japan, and although women played a vital role in patronizing Buddhism, the misogynistic view became prevalent around the fourteenth century, with the changes in socio-economic environments. It was only in the last century that the iniquitous treatment of women in Japanese Buddhism came to be critically acknowledged by the ecclesiastical authorities, symbolically marking an important first step for a change. Despite the hard-to -eradicate subtle institutional chauvinism and dubious perceptions concerning women’s spiritual ability, an increasing number of socially engaged and articulate Buddhist women are working on improving their image and their social standing in the last decades. What is still needed, however, is the emancipation of androcentric Buddhist ecclesiastical tradition from the yoke of its past. (shrink)

This paper examines the question of how so-called indeterminate phrases in Japanese (Kuroda 1965) associate with relevant particles higher in the structure. In the universal construction in Japanese, the restrictor (provided by an indeterminate phrase) sometimes appears to be separate from the universal particle mo. It is proposed that quantification at a distance is only apparent, and that the restriction is in fact provided locally by the sister constituent of mo as a whole. The proposal leads us to (...) a straightforward uniform picture of the syntax-semantics mapping of the universal construction and wh-questions, building upon Hamblin’s (1973) semantics for wh-phrases as sets of alternatives. It allows for a switch of perspective on a long-standing puzzle regarding locality effects in the indeterminate–particle association by deriving the locality pattern from the way indeterminate phrases are interpreted and associated with particles, without any stipulations. (shrink)

Sound-symbolism is the nonarbitrary link between the sound and meaning of a word. Japanese-speaking children performed better in a verb generalization task when they were taught novel sound-symbolic verbs, created based on existing Japanese sound-symbolic words, than novel nonsound-symbolic verbs (Imai, Kita, Nagumo, & Okada, 2008). A question remained as to whether the Japanese children had picked up regularities in the Japanese sound-symbolic lexicon or were sensitive to universal sound-symbolism. The present study aimed to provide support (...) for the latter. In a verb generalization task, English-speaking 3-year-olds were taught novel sound-symbolic verbs, created based on Japanese sound-symbolism, or novel nonsound-symbolic verbs. English-speaking children performed better with the sound-symbolic verbs, just like Japanese-speaking children. We concluded that children are sensitive to universal sound-symbolism and can utilize it in word learning and generalization, regardless of their native language. (shrink)

In Japan, few studies and ethical debates have addressed medical futility, but articles suggesting the practice of such treatment exist. The present study aimed to explore attitudes about this by examining personal practical experiences of those who have been involved in judging treatments as futile. We employed a qualitative descriptive design with content analysis of semi-structured and focus group interviews with 11 Japanese physicians and 9 nurses of a university hospital in Japan. The interviews mined their practical experience (...) to identify why they provided treatment that was regarded futile, factors for determining futility, and attitudes toward foregoing futile treatments. All participants had provided treatments judged as futile for various reasons, such as patient request, inadequate decision-making processes, request from another physician, and the lack of standards with which to judge futility, among others. In addition to medical science factors , participants also considered non-medical science factors to determine if a treatment was futile. Almost all participants agreed that futility should be defined and that such treatments should be foregone, but they did not take a proactive stance towards this due to factors related to the healthcare worker‟s situation or the patient. Although the implications of the present study are somewhat limited, our results indicate that futile treatments are provided at multiple treatment departments. Health-care workers employ a variety of factors to determine futility, including non-medical science factors. As provision of such treatment is not always performed for reasons of patient autonomy, diverse approaches should be employed to cope with situations regarding futile treatments. (shrink)

Contrary to the assumption of arbitrariness in modern linguistics, sound symbolism, which is the non-arbitrary relationship between sounds and meanings, exists. Sound symbolism, including the “Bouba–Kiki” effect, implies the universality of such relationships; individuals from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds can similarly relate sound-symbolic words to referents, although the extent of these similarities remains to be fully understood. Here, we examined if subjects from different countries could similarly infer the surface texture properties from words that sound-symbolically represent hardness in (...) class='Hi'>Japanese. We prepared Japanese sound-symbolic words of which novelty was manipulated by a genetic algorithm. Japanese speakers in Japan and English speakers in both Singapore and the United States rated these words based on surface texture properties, as well as familiarity. The results show that hardness-related words were rated as harder and rougher than softness-related words, regardless of novelty and countries. Multivariate analyses of the ratings classified the hardness-related words along the hardness-softness dimension at over 80% accuracy, regardless of country. Multiple regression analyses revealed that the number of speech sounds /g/ and /k/ predicted the ratings of the surface texture properties in non-Japanese countries, suggesting a systematic relationship between phonetic features of a word and perceptual quality represented by the word across culturally and linguistically diverse samples. (shrink)

Many have claimed that education of the ethical issues raised by biotechnology is essential in universities, but there is little knowledge of its effectiveness. The focus of this paper is to investigate how university students assess the information given in class to make their own value judgments and decisions relating to issues of agricultural biotechnology, especially over genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Analysis of homework reports related with agricultural biotechnology after identification of key concepts and ideas in each student report (...) is presented. The ideas were sorted into different categories. The ideas were compared with those in the reading materials using the same categories. These categories included: concern about affects on humans, affects on the environment, developing countries and starvation, trust in industry, responsibility of scientists, risk perception, media influence, need for (international) organizations or third parties, and information dissemination. What was consistent through the different years was that more than half of the students took a “neutral” position. A report was scored as “neutral” when the report included both the positive and negative side of an issue, or when the student could not make a definite decision about the use of GMOs and GM food. While it may be more difficult to defend a strong “for” or “against” position, some students used logical arguments successfully in doing so. Sample comments are presented to depict how Japanese students see agricultural technology, and how they value its application, with comparisons to the general social attitudes towards biotechnology. (shrink)

The article delineates how actors invoke nationalizing accounts—accounts that turn local conditions, actions, and actors into national ones—in everyday talk. Taking the case of Japanese university scientists depicting their commercialization trajectories after the adoption of a set of policies that originated from the U.S., the article delineates how scientists stipulate what they do is Japanese. I outline the discursive practices through which they posit that the cause of others’ actions, or of they themselves, derives from some kind (...) of ethno-national distinctiveness. Interviews show how such nationalizing accounts were made through the inevitable gaps between local practices and formal global structures. Scientific and commercialization practices in Japan that deviated from the original form were explained not only through the institutional differences between the U.S. and Japan, but also through lay categories of “culture,” ethno-psychology, and readily available tropes about Japanese history. In such nationalizing accounts, what the Japanese scientists did under these new, and explicitly global policies, was argued to be fundamentally Japanese because they were rooted in and caused by the ethno-national character. As new institutional theory suggests, a decoupling between formal rules and local contingencies is a hallmark of any institution. The article further shows that such decoupling could then be used as a resource for everyday nationalism. At least in some cases, the global adoption and the localization of a global form may create an opportunity to enact the nation, contributing to a discourse that posits that an imagined community is distinct and special, precisely as the world becomes more globalized. (shrink)

Many of the contributions to this volume are based on research originally presented at the historic first meeting in the United States of Japanese and American phenomenologists that took place at Seattle University in the Summer of 1991. In addition, other contributions have been added in order to supplement and complement the themes of the work presented at this meeting. Owing both to the vagaries of fate and the finitude of time, the publication of these essays has taken (...) much longer than was originally intended. Nevertheless, this delay is more than offset by the inclusion in one volume of both phenomenological thematics and phenomenological authors who do not usually appear together. (shrink)

Background: Patients in different countries have different attitudes toward self‐determination and medical information. Little is known how much respect Japanese patients feel should be given for their wishes about medical care and for medical information, and what choices they would make in the face of disagreement. Methods: Ambulatory patients in six clinics of internal medicine at a university hospital were surveyed using a self‐administered questionnaire. Results: A total of 307 patients participated in our survey. Of the respondents, 47% (...) would accept recommendations made by physicians, even if such recommendations were against their wishes; 25% would try to persuade their physician to change their recommendations; and 14% would leave their physician to find a new one. Seventy‐six percent of the respondents thought that physicians should routinely ask patients if they would want to know about a diagnosis of cancer, while 5% disagreed; 59% responded that physicians should inform them of the actual diagnosis, even against the request of their family not to do so, while 24% would want their physician to abide by their family's request and 14% could not decide. One‐third of the respondents who initially said they would want to know the truth would yield to the desires of the family in a case of disagreement. Interpretations: In the face of disagreement regarding medical care and disclosure, Japanese patients tend to respond in a diverse and unpredictable manner. Medical professionals should thus be prudent and ask their patients explicitly what they want regarding medical care and information. (shrink)

The Bodymind Experience in Japanese Buddhism: A Phenomenological Study of Kukai and Dogen. David Edward Shaner. State University of New York Press, New York 1985. 250 pp. Cloth $ 34.50, paper $ 10.95.

Until recently, many of Japan's medical and bioethical communities had ignored the issue of conflicts of interest . This is no longer the case. Discussion on the economic and ethical problems defined by CIs is now apparent in academic, political, and even industrial spheres. In June 2004, this debate was sparked by a scandal involving AnGes MG, Inc., a bioventure company set up by a faculty member at Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine. AnGes MG developed a gene therapy (...) using the Hepatic Growth Factor for obstructive blood vessel disease. Japanese newspapers reported that “several physicians involved with clinical trials for AnGes obtained unlisted shares of stock. One physician allegedly received 32 million yen after AnGes MG went public on the ‘Mothers’ stock exchange”. (shrink)

This study investigates the effect of socio-ecological networks on the willingness to communicate in English among Japanese people. Previous studies have shown that relational mobility, which is defined as the availability of opportunities to choose new relationship partners, positively affects the WTC in English for Japanese people. However, the network structure of the variables of relational mobility and its effects have not been revealed yet. The present study conducted network analysis with 474 Japanese university students and (...) found the two clusters that correspond to the dimensions of relational mobility in the partial correlation network. Three variables regarding opportunities to meet new people and leave current relationships positively affected the WTC in English; one had a negative effect. Centrality indices, such as nodes strength, betweenness, and closeness, revealed the centrality of several variables in the network. Bootstrapping methods showed the trustworthiness of the estimated network structure and centrality indices as well as edges and variables whose effects differed significantly from that of others. Contrary to the regression analysis results, the network analysis findings can help us understand the in-depth effect of relational mobility on the WTC in a second language, which will prove useful for intervention studies. (shrink)

Nature and time have long been key concepts of educational thought. Educational thinkers from both the East and the West have tried to imitate and follow nature. They have also considered time in relation to human formation and growth. This article attempts to connect these two key concepts of education through the medium of the seasons. The seasons bridge both time and nature. Our experience of nature is temporal and manifests itself in the transition of the seasons. On the other (...) hand, our experience of time is conditioned by the seasons. Seasons are a concrete manifestation of time and nature. It seems that philosophy has not paid enough attention to this. In this article, Japanese arts are used as the examples of how the arts can help to form our sensibility toward the seasons, which has ethical and educational implications. The article also asks questions about contemporary environmental discussions that, in the aspiration to be global and universal, often overlook concrete experience of the seasons conditioned by local climate. (shrink)

In tackling the question of what is Japanese philosophy, the paper discusses: philosophy in general, the issue of Japanese philosophy, and the relevance of both philosophy and Japanese philosophy in our present age of globalization. Examining the definitions of philosophy provided by Kant, Hegel, and Heidegger, and looking at the philosophies of Nishida and Nishitani among others, I argue the source of philosophy—its originary and universal motivation—to be the question of meaning of existence. Japanese philosophy is (...) no exception. I then discuss whether there is something unique to Japanese philosophy in particular and look into the question of the essence of Japanese philosophy. Furthermore, I argue that in order to be true to the original motivation of philosophy, the study of Japanese philosophy, if it is itself to be considered philosophy, cannot be reduced to biography, history, or philology. It must be relevant to our life. I then conclude with a discussion of the relevance of Japanese philosophy and the philosophical study of Japanese philosophy to our life today. (shrink)

This paper reviews the studies of Japanese society and culture undertaken by Hong Kong-based sociologists and scholars in related disciplines. It presents information on research projects funded by the Research Grants Council, Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), and Arts and Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI) journal articles, authored and edited books, book chapters, non-SSCI and non-A&HCI journal articles, as well as master and doctoral theses written by scholars and graduate students associated with Hong Kong's major universities. It is found that (...) the main topics of research are Japan's capitalist development and corporate growth, meanings and social ramifications of traditional and popular culture, education, gender, and marriage, as well as aspects of work and employment, whereas the major research methods include document analysis, ethnography, and in-depth interviews. The limited amount of research and the preoccupation with economic development and popular culture reflect in part Hong Kong's unique political conditions and the government's indifference to the pursuit of social and political policy analysis. In recent years, the growth of academic exchanges between scholars in Hong Kong, Japan, and other East Asian regions and the heightened emphasis by university administrators on academic research will hopefully bring about advancements in such academic endeavors. (shrink)

Perhaps no one is more qualified to write about Japanese culture than Donald Keene, considered the leading interpreter of that nation's literature to the Western world. The author, editor, or translator of nearly three dozen books of criticism and works of literature, Keene now offers an enjoyable and beautifully written introduction to traditional Japanese culture for the general reader. The book acquaints the reader with Japanese aesthetics, poetry, fiction, and theater, and offers Keene's appreciations of these topics. (...) Based on lectures given at the New York Public Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the University of California, Los Angeles, the essays -though written by a renowned scholar- presuppose no knowledge of Japanese culture. Keene's deep learning, in fact, enables him to construct an overview as delightful to read as it is informative. His insights often illuminate aspects of traditional Japanese culture that endure today. One of these is the appreciation of "perishability." this appreciation os seen in countless little bits of Japanese life: in temples made of wood instead of durable materials; in the preference for objects -such as pottery- that are worn, broken, or used rather than new; and in the national love of the delicate cherry blossom, which normally falls after a brief three days of flowering. Keene quotes the fourteenth-century Buddhist monk Kenko, who wrote that "the most precious thing about life is its uncertainty." Throughout the volume, Keene demonstrates that the rich artistic and social traditions of Japan can indeed be understood by readers from our culture. This book will enlighten anyone interested in Japanese literature and culture. (shrink)

Interest in Japanese language, and consequently the number of students of the Japanese language is constantly growing, both globally, and on the national level. Pula University undergraduate study program of Japanese Language and Culture and graduate program of Japanese studies with Japanese Language Teaching module, the first accredited Japanese study programs in Croatia, open up the possibility of introducing the subject curriculum of the Japanese language in secondary schools in the Republic of (...) Croatia. Creation of educated teaching staff and the publication of Japanese language textbooks in Croatian are important prerequisites for teaching in secondary schools, as the results of surveys in secondary schools and the number of students enrolled in Japanese study program indicate a great interest in this language. The aim of this paper is to develop a proposal for a subject curriculum of the Japanese language for secondary schools in the Republic of Croatia with content and structure based on an analysis of existing Japanese language curricula of foreign countries (the curricula of Germany, Serbia, Canada, and Ireland) and on the foreign language subject curricula of the Republic of Croatia (French, Serbian, Greek and Latin). The proposal presents parts of the elaborated learning outcomes and suggests selected topics and language content for two classes of secondary schools. In addition, cross‑subject topics correlated with Japanese language were also listed. (shrink)

The first “test-tube baby” in Japan was born in March, 1983 at Tohoku University Hospital. Since then ten years have passed. Table 1 indicares the clinical results of in vitro fertilization in this country. As it shows, more than 145 institutions perform IVF, and more than 3,000 babies have now been born using this procedure.According to the recommendations issued in October, 1983 by the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology, IVF is defined as a medical practice for treating infertility, (...) and this procedure is performed only on married couples de jure. Eggs and embryos are not donated for IVF in Japan, nor does any “lending” or “leasing” of wombs take place. However, inFebruary, 1988 the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology issued new recommendations which allow clinical use of frozen embryos and eggs. The first baby from a frozen embryo was born in 1989, and 60 babies have been born to date. (shrink)

This study examines the relationship between Japanese archaeology and natural science through a quantitative analysis of the two most authoritative archaeological journals and two other relevant journals in Japan. First, although previous studies have emphasized the impact of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Tokyo on the scientific aspects of Japanese archaeology, results of the present study suggest that its impact has been more limited than previously assumed. Second, while previous studies claimed that research funding (...) by the Japanese government from the latter half of the 1970s was an important factor in developing the scientific aspects of Japanese archaeology, the present study shows a result inconsistent with the claim. Finally, although I admit that the previous studies have properly captured some aspects of the relationship between Japanese archaeology and science, I conclude that we should look at the broader array of contributors to the relationship between Japanese archaeology and natural science. (shrink)