Race, biometrics, and security in modern Japan : a history of racial government

This thesis is an historical study of biopolitical relations between racism and biometric identification in Japan since the late nineteenth century to the present day. Adopting Foucault’s historical method, it challenges progressive accounts of the history of racism and that of biometrics. During the nineteenth century, practices of biometric identification emerged as constitutive of the knowledge of race wherein imperial power relations between superior and inferior races were enabled. Progressive accounts proclaim that colonial practices of biometrics were not scientific but politically intervened, which has since been discredited and replaced by a ‘true’ science of biometrics as individualisation. Contra progressivist claims on postraciality, the thesis concretely historicises the ways in which subjectification and control of race is conducted through the interplay between the epistemic construction of race and the technology of identification in each historical and geographical context. It analyses three modalities of racial government through biometrics in Japan: biometrics as a biological technology of inscribing race during Japanese colonialism; biometrics as a forensic technology of policing former colonial subjects in post-WWII Japan; and contemporary biometrics as an informatic technology of controlling a newly racialised immigrant population. The thesis concludes that despite a series of de-racialising reforms in the twentieth century, biometrics persist as a biopolitical technology of race. Neither racism nor biometrics as a technology of race is receding but they are continuously transforming in a way that a new mechanism of racial government is made possible. Race evolves, it is argued, not in the sense of social Darwinism but because the concept of race itself changes across time and space wherein a new model of racism is empowered. The thesis contributes to existing literature on the biopolitics of security and biometrics by extending the scope of analysis to a non-Western context, explicating historical relations between racism and biometrics, and problematising biometric rationality at the level of racialised mechanism of knowing and controlling (in)security. It also makes contributions to Foucaultian studies by advancing the analysis of biopolitical racism beyond Foucault’s original formulation and by offering a critique of rationality in the field of biometrics

Many toric ideals generated by quadratic binomials possess no quadratic Gr\"obner bases

Let $G$ be a finite connected simple graph and $I_{G}$ the toric ideal of the edge ring $K[G]$ of $G$. In the present paper, we study finite graphs $G$ with the property that $I_{G}$ is generated by quadratic binomials and $I_{G}$ possesses no quadratic Gr\"obner basis. First, we give a nontrivial infinite series of finite graphs with the above property. Second, we implement a combinatorial characterization for $I_{G}$ to be generated by quadratic binomials and, by means of the computer search, we classify the finite graphs $G$ with the above property, up to 8 vertices.Comment: 11 pages, 17 figures, Typos corrected, Reference adde

A comparison of nephrotoxicity between patients with a solitary-functioning kidney and those with bilateral-functioning kidneys in cisplatin-based chemotherapy for advanced urothelial carcinoma: a Japanese retrospective multi-institutional study

BackgroundTo compare the prevalence of nephrotoxicity between patients with a solitary-functioning kidney versus those with bilateral-functioning kidneys during the administration of cisplatin-based chemotherapy for advanced urothelial carcinoma.MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed 244 advanced urothelial carcinoma patients treated with cisplatin-based chemotherapy between 2004 and 2010 at 17 institutes in Japan. The 24 h creatinine clearance, Cockcroft–Gault formula, and estimated glomerular filtration rate equation (eGFR), were compared before all chemotherapies. The urinary tract function status was determined based on the data of nephroureterectomy, hydronephrosis, and relief of upper urinary tract obstruction. A total of 244 patients were divided into four groups according to their urinary tract functioning status and eGFR results, including bilateral-functioning kidneys with pretreatment eGFR ≥60 mL/min/1.73 m2 group (n = 83, 34.0%); a solitary-functioning kidney with pretreatment eGFR ≥60 mL/min/1.73 m2 group (n = 36, 14.8%); bilateral-functioning kidneys with pretreatment eGFR  10% and 30% from baseline in the post-third-course of chemotherapy was significantly higher in patients with bilateral-functioning kidneys than in those with a solitary-functioning kidney, among patients with pretreatment eGFR  20% from baseline were significantly higher in patients with bilateral-functioning kidneys than those with a solitary-functioning kidney among patients with pretreatment eGFR < 60 mL/min/1.73 m2 (p = 0.034), whereas no significant difference was observed among patients with pretreatment eGFR ≥60 mL/min/1.73 m2.ConclusionsThe results suggest that cisplatin-based chemotherapy may have more nephrotoxicity in patients with bilateral-functioning kidneys than in those with a solitary-functioning kidney

発症早期ALS患者に対する超高用量メチルコバラミンの有効性・安全性について : ランダム化比較試験

Importance: Post hoc analysis in a phase 2/3 trial indicated ultra-high dose methylcobalamin slowed decline of the Revised Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Functional Rating Scale (ALSFRS-R) total score at week 16 as well as at week 182, without increase of adverse events, in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) who were enrolled within 1 year from onset. Objective: To validate the efficacy and safety of ultra-high dose methylcobalamin for patients with ALS enrolled within 1 year of onset. Design: A multicenter, placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized phase 3 trial with 12-week observation and 16-week randomized period, conducted from October 2017 to September 2019. Setting: Twenty-five neurology centers in Japan. Participants: Patients with ALS diagnosed within 1 year of onset by the updated Awaji criteria were initially enrolled. Of those, patients fulfilling the following criteria after 12-week observation were eligible for randomization: 1- or 2-point decrease in ALSFRS-R total score, a percent forced vital capacity over 60%, no history of noninvasive respiratory support and tracheostomy, and being ambulant. The target number was 64 in both methylcobalamin and placebo groups. Of 203 patients enrolled in the observation, 130 patients (age, 61.0 ± 11.7 years; female, 56) met the criteria and were randomly assigned through an electronic web-response system to methylcobalamin or placebo (65 for each). Of these, 129 patients were eligible for the full analysis set, and 126 completed the double-blind stage. Interventions: Intramuscular injection of methylcobalamin 50 mg or placebo twice weekly for 16 weeks. Main outcomes and measures: The primary endpoint was change in ALSFRS-R total score from baseline to week 16 in the full analysis set. Results: The least-squares mean difference in ALSFRS-R total score at week 16 of the randomized period was 1.97 points greater with methylcobalamin than placebo (−2.66 versus −4.63; 95% CI, 0.44–3.50; P = 0.012). The incidence of adverse events was similar between the two groups. Conclusions and relevance: Ultra-high dose methylcobalamin was efficacious in slowing functional decline and safe in the 16-week treatment period in ALS patients in the early stage and with moderate progression rate. Trial registration: UMIN-CTR Identifier: UMIN000029588 (umin.ac.jp/ctr); ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03548311 (clinicaltrials.gov

The whole blood transcriptional regulation landscape in 465 COVID-19 infected samples from Japan COVID-19 Task Force

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19患者由来の血液細胞における遺伝子発現の網羅的解析 --重症度に応じた遺伝子発現の変化には、ヒトゲノム配列の個人差が影響する--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-23.Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a recently-emerged infectious disease that has caused millions of deaths, where comprehensive understanding of disease mechanisms is still unestablished. In particular, studies of gene expression dynamics and regulation landscape in COVID-19 infected individuals are limited. Here, we report on a thorough analysis of whole blood RNA-seq data from 465 genotyped samples from the Japan COVID-19 Task Force, including 359 severe and 106 non-severe COVID-19 cases. We discover 1169 putative causal expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) including 34 possible colocalizations with biobank fine-mapping results of hematopoietic traits in a Japanese population, 1549 putative causal splice QTLs (sQTLs; e.g. two independent sQTLs at TOR1AIP1), as well as biologically interpretable trans-eQTL examples (e.g., REST and STING1), all fine-mapped at single variant resolution. We perform differential gene expression analysis to elucidate 198 genes with increased expression in severe COVID-19 cases and enriched for innate immune-related functions. Finally, we evaluate the limited but non-zero effect of COVID-19 phenotype on eQTL discovery, and highlight the presence of COVID-19 severity-interaction eQTLs (ieQTLs; e.g., CLEC4C and MYBL2). Our study provides a comprehensive catalog of whole blood regulatory variants in Japanese, as well as a reference for transcriptional landscapes in response to COVID-19 infection

DOCK2 is involved in the host genetics and biology of severe COVID-19

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19疾患感受性遺伝子DOCK2の重症化機序を解明 --アジア最大のバイオレポジトリーでCOVID-19の治療標的を発見--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-10.Identifying the host genetic factors underlying severe COVID-19 is an emerging challenge. Here we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) involving 2, 393 cases of COVID-19 in a cohort of Japanese individuals collected during the initial waves of the pandemic, with 3, 289 unaffected controls. We identified a variant on chromosome 5 at 5q35 (rs60200309-A), close to the dedicator of cytokinesis 2 gene (DOCK2), which was associated with severe COVID-19 in patients less than 65 years of age. This risk allele was prevalent in East Asian individuals but rare in Europeans, highlighting the value of genome-wide association studies in non-European populations. RNA-sequencing analysis of 473 bulk peripheral blood samples identified decreased expression of DOCK2 associated with the risk allele in these younger patients. DOCK2 expression was suppressed in patients with severe cases of COVID-19. Single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis (n = 61 individuals) identified cell-type-specific downregulation of DOCK2 and a COVID-19-specific decreasing effect of the risk allele on DOCK2 expression in non-classical monocytes. Immunohistochemistry of lung specimens from patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia showed suppressed DOCK2 expression. Moreover, inhibition of DOCK2 function with CPYPP increased the severity of pneumonia in a Syrian hamster model of SARS-CoV-2 infection, characterized by weight loss, lung oedema, enhanced viral loads, impaired macrophage recruitment and dysregulated type I interferon responses. We conclude that DOCK2 has an important role in the host immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and the development of severe COVID-19, and could be further explored as a potential biomarker and/or therapeutic target

Towards a global genealogy of biopolitics : race, colonialism, and biometrics beyond europe

This paper examines, at the global scale, the biopolitical strategy of racism that Foucault articulated in the context of 19th-century Europe. Through my historical analysis both of the emergent notion of race and of biometric production of racial knowledge during Japanese colonialism, I endeavour to delineate a circulation of a political rationality of modern racism, which became globally generalised and constitutive of the formation of a non-Western nation-state. I argue that this emergence of global biopolitics, however, should not simply be reduced to a unitary operation but needs to be understood as the process of multiplication that reveals both the continuity and the contingency of the biopolitical strategy of racism in relation to particular spatiotemporal configurations. Furthermore, through an archaeological reading of Foucault on modern racism, I will suggest that Foucault’s Society Must be Defended, albeit arguably underdeveloped in its geographical scope of analysis, can shed light on the operation of biopolitics and modern racism beyond the history of Europe

Decolonial encounter with neo-nationalism:the politics of indigeneity and land rights struggles in Okinawa

Abstract This paper aims to make a contribution to ongoing debates in decolonial, indigenous, and island geographies through a case study of the Okinawan indigenous movement and its recent encounter with a neo-nationalist, and in effect neocolonial, movement. The Okinawan indigenous movement emerged against the backdrop of the continuing US military presence on Okinawa Island, which is the direct result of the post-war American military occupation and continues to be maintained by Japanese post-colonial policies. In the early 2000s, the movement achieved indigenous recognition by United Nations human rights bodies, which have since issued recommendations to the Japanese government to implement protective measures for the islanders, including indigenous land rights measures that are hoped to alleviate the militarised colonial situation. Not only does the Japanese government continue to ignore the recommendations, but the Okinawan indigenous movement today also confronts a new form of neocolonialism. In the past few years, a group of neo-nationalists and conservative politicians have initiated a countermovement against the Okinawan indigenous status. They have mobilised the unpopularity of the term ‘indigenous people’ in Japanese (‘senjūmin’) among Okinawans as a pretext for demanding the retraction of the recommendations. The case study shows that the different conceptualisations of decolonisation and indigeneity represent not only an analytical usefulness but also an empirical importance for they create a space in which these ideas can be (ab)used to both promote and hinder a decolonial pursuit of the reappropriation of colonised (is)lands. It illustrates a particular geopolitics of knowledge in which different actors mobilise different understandings of decolonisation and indigeneity for a decolonial or neocolonial end. The paper concludes with a discussion of the challenges for decolonial geographies that arise from the present study

Crowd surveillance:the (in)securitization of the urban body

Abstract The recent proliferation of the securitization of crowded places has led to a growth in the development of technologies of crowd behaviour analysis. However, despite the emerging prominence of crowd surveillance in emergency planning, its impacts on our understanding of security and surveillance have received little discussion. Using the case of crowd surveillance in Tokyo, this article examines the ways in which crowds are simulated, monitored and secured through the technology of crowd behaviour analysis, and discusses the implications on the politics of security. It argues that crowd surveillance constitutes a unique form of the biopolitics of security that targets not the individual body or the social body of population, but the urban body of crowd. The power of normalization in crowd surveillance operates in a preemptive manner through the codification of crowd behaviour that is spatially and temporarily specific. The article also interrogates the introduction of crowd surveillance in relation to racialized logics of suspicion and argues that, despite its appearance as non-discriminatory and ‘a-racial’, crowd surveillance entails the racial coding of crowd behaviour and urban space. The article concludes with the introduction of crowd surveillance as a border control technology, which reorients existing modalities of (in)securitization at airports

Base borders:militarisation and (post-)colonial bordering in Okinawa

Abstract This article builds on the political geography of islands and emerging research on the relationship between island, border and sovereignty. Today, islands are recognised as crucial sites for the understanding of contemporary border controls. Military bases that were built during earlier colonial periods are increasingly used for transnational migrant detention practices. This article aims to offer another important insight to the politics of borders from an island perspective. Drawing from the case of Okinawa, the article shows how bases on islands themselves produce borders. Fences and lines that encircle the US bases on Okinawa Island cannot be reduced to conventional military off-limits boundaries. They are particular kinds of borders, which I would call ‘base borders’, that continue to divide the island into military and public spaces and demarcate two seemingly territorially bound sovereignties. Base borders are, however, more than the manifestation of extraterritoriality. While they regulate the mobility of local residents, base borders enable military servicemembers to enjoy extraterritorial rights, including the right to avoid being held responsible for a crime they committed outside the bases. In addition to this uneven mobility control, base borders have a function to control local resistance movements through the criminalisation of the base border crossing by protesters and the authorisation of the use of force by security guards. This article closely investigates how base borders function and are used in reality, and in doing so, it uncovers multiple ways in which base borders reproduce colonial relations between the US military (in coordination with Japan) and Okinawa