U.S. Military Service Members’ Reintegration, Culture, and Spiritual Development

This qualitative study aims to find common themes that may suggest portrayals of former service members’ psychological development and their reintegration. We have found their cognitive dissonance from experiencing two very different cultures: the highly structured collective culture of military life and the individualistic culture of civilian life. Former service members tend to develop and maintain the strong ideology of “service to others” in civilian life as their goal or purpose of life. It became clear to us how they have reached to this ideology when we used our ethnic backgrounds and understandings as Japanese researchers who came from a society where collective well-being is highly valued. We came to the conclusion that the macroscopic as well as spiritual views would be beneficial to incorporate when counselors, support organizations, or health care providers are assisting former service members’ transition into civilian life

Reflective practice as a tool for professional development of in-service high school teachers of English in Japan

Perceived problems in a state-administered teacher training programme for Japanese teachers of English prompted this thesis. Low consideration and little attention were given to what is meant by teaching ability or teacher professional development. Courses designed to support high school teachers failed to meet their needs. In contrast, considerable emphasis was placed on ‘brushing up’ the teachers’ English proficiency. What the programme lacked was exploring and drawing on teachers’ rich source of ideas and experiences for professional development.\ud Reflective practice seemed to offer a way for high school teachers to examine their ideas and experiences of teaching, to enhance self-awareness, and to foster autonomy. Through a multiple case study approach, this empirical study examines how the incorporation of reflective practice enhances the teacher development of Japanese high school teachers of English. Its incorporation was regarded as a form of methodology borrowing, thus the study attempted to be sensitive to specific cultural practices, so as not to influence their honne (real intent) and to keep them from hansei (self-critical reflection).\ud The study found that reflective practice was more effective for the novice teachers than the experienced teachers. The novice teachers engaged in shaping their professional identity and professional knowledge. In contrast, the experienced teachers seemed to have reflected within their ‘comfort zones,’ that is, what is comfortable for them.\ud In contrast to the approach taken by the state-administered training programme, this study argues that the novice and experienced teachers have different needs in their professional development. The novice teachers needed an opportunity to shape their professional identity. The experienced teachers needed an exploration beyond their ‘comfort zones’. The study also argues that reflective practice, which is likely to be individually based, should be facilitated with interactions and interventions from others, such as peers and teacher trainers

マウス雌性生殖器官における器官特異的エストロゲン応答遺伝子の解析

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Business Activities of Yamanaka Hyouemon Family: The Case of the Gotenba-sake Branch in the Edo period

Yamanaka Hyouemon family who was one of Omi-Hino Merchants established the first and second branches in the Gotenba area located at the foot of Mt. Fuji in the Edo period. Focusing on the licenses to brew and the bookkeeping, this paper examines the business activities of the second Gotenba branch (the Gotenba-sake branch). As the conclusions, we could point out the following topics. 1) Yamanaka Family purchased a license to brew sake from the Gotenba village headman in 1801. Purchasing afterward more licenses and building breweries, Yamanaka Family laid the foundation of the sake brewing industry for a short period. 2) The Gotenba-sake branch brewed three types of sake: shiraume, morohaku, namishu. These sake prices were mainly affected by the rice prices. 3) The Gotenba-sake branch brewed sake on average 756 koku (136,374 litre) a year in 1835-1872. 4) The main business of the Gotenba-sake branch was to brew and sell sake, but the branch also sold soy sauce, salt, vinegar and rice bran. 5) The net assets of the Gotenba-sake branch showed the second largest volume of all five branches of Yamanaka family.Japanese Economic History. Omi-Hino Merchant, Sake Brewing