Unsustainable societies: the failure of familialism in East Asia’s compressed modernity

"Fertility in some East Asian societies has declined to a new global low level, which can be called 'ultra-low fertility'. The first question of this article is whether East Asia is going through a second demographic transition just like Europe. The second question is whether individualism is the cause of the change. The answer to the first question is both yes and no, because the demographic changes currently underway in East Asia have similarities to those in Europe and North America, but there are considerable differences in essence. Unlike Europe, where cohabitation is replacing marriage, marriage as an institution of duty and responsibility rather than intimacy is still intact in East Asia. Because of that, risk-aversive individualization occurred to avoid the burden of a family. It is not individualism but familialism that is causing the current demographic and family changes in East Asia. Different degrees of compression of modernity created the varieties of familialism: familialist reform in Japan and 'liberal familialism' in other societies. We may conclude that both types of familialism have failed in constructing a sustainable social system." (author's abstract

「品のいい主婦」と「官能的な白人女性」 : 戦後日本雑誌における女性の表象

This paper examines how Japanese women have been portrayed in photographs and pictures in Japanese women\u27s magazines during the 52 years following the Second World War. I use iconographic material because it is the most suitable method to study gender roles which subtly combine a variety of elements, and because the cultural integration of postwar popular society would have been impossible without visual media. I chose Shufu no Tomo, Josei Jishin, and non-no as representative magazines of the periods 1945-60, 1960-75 and 1975-present, respectively. I discovered two keys to understanding the development of visual images of women in postwar Japan. The first one is the formation and transformation of the "postwar system of gender roles," where the standardization of the role as housewife was an important factor. The second one is the dichotomy between sensual white women versus healthy Japanese women. The representation of women was not solely determined by the actual gender relationship but also by various social factors including national identity and economic power balance

The Achievement of the EurAsian Project : Historical Demography and Family History

1995年に開始し2000年に一応の終結をみた「ユーラシア人口・家族史プロジェクト」は,日本,中国,スウェーデン,ベルギー,イタリアという5地域の歴史人口学と家族史に関する国際共同研究プロジェクトであり,その規模および厳密な比較分析で国際学界の注目を集めたと同時に,各国内の研究も飛躍的に活性化させた.対象地域は,記名式で,かつ数十年から百年以上連続した,世帯情報も人口動態情報も含む資料が入手可能な地域という基準で選ばれた.この資料的特性を活かして,個人を単位とするミクロ分析,時系列分析,国際比較,家族史と歴史人口学との結合がユーラシアプロジェクトの特色となった.日本国内については,個人を単位とするライフコース分析,長期的な歴史的変化,地域的多様性に焦点を当てながら,徳川日本の人口-家族システムの解明を行った.おもなトピックは,世帯構造の周期的変化,人口学的制約,個人の行動への世帯の影響,世帯戦略などを含む.The EurAsian Project on Population and Family History (1995-2000) was an international joint research project in the field of historical demography and family history that covered 5 societies in Europe and Asia, namely Japan, China, Sweden, Belgium and Italy. Making use of the excellent quality of data in these areas, the project developed (1) micro level analyses focusing on individuals, (2) longitudinal analyses, (3) international comparison, and achieved (4) a synthesis of family history and historical demography. The major topics of the Japan domestic project that aimed to clarify the features of demo-family system(s) of Tokugawa Japan included the cyclic change of household structure, demographic constraints, the effect of household on individual life events, household strategy and regional differences within Japan

Relationship of body mass index to percent body fat and waist circumference among schoolchildren in Japan - the influence of gender and obesity: a population-based cross-sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Although the correlation coefficient between body mass index (BMI) and percent body fat (%BF) or waist circumference (WC) has been reported, studies conducted among population-based schoolchildren to date have been limited in Japan, where %BF and WC are not usually measured in annual health examinations at elementary schools or junior high schools. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship of BMI to %BF and WC and to examine the influence of gender and obesity on these relationships among Japanese schoolchildren.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Subjects included 3,750 schoolchildren from the fourth and seventh grade in Ina-town, Saitama Prefecture, Japan between 2004 and 2008. Information about subject's age, sex, height, weight, %BF, and WC was collected from annual physical examinations. %BF was measured with a bipedal biometrical impedance analysis device. Obesity was defined by the following two criteria: the obese definition of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the definition of obesity for Japanese children. Pearson's correlation coefficients between BMI and %BF or WC were calculated separately for sex.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Among fourth graders, the correlation coefficients between BMI and %BF were 0.74 for boys and 0.97 for girls, whereas those between BMI and WC were 0.94 for boys and 0.90 for girls. Similar results were observed in the analysis of seventh graders. The correlation coefficient between BMI and %BF varied by physique (obese or non-obese), with weaker correlations among the obese regardless of the definition of obesity; most correlation coefficients among obese boys were less than 0.5, whereas most correlations among obese girls were more than 0.7. On the other hand, the correlation coefficients between BMI and WC were more than 0.8 among boys and almost all coefficients were more than 0.7 among girls, regardless of physique.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>BMI was positively correlated with %BF and WC among Japanese schoolchildren. The correlations could be influenced by obesity as well as by gender. Accordingly, it is essential to consider gender and obesity when using BMI as a surrogate for %BF and WC for epidemiological use.</p

「ベトナム・A市の高齢者ケアの現況 : B寺院における支援者へのインタビュー調査及び視察～」（調査報告）

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ベトナムとの交流に向けた現状と課題 : B市におけるインタビュー調査報告

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