THE POTENTIAL AND CHALLENGE OF HALAL FOODS IN JAPAN

In preparing for the Tokyo Olympic Games held in 2020, and in aiming to become a “Country Built on Tourism”, many travel facilities in Japan have started to provide halal foods and amenity goods, items that are permissible or lawful in Islamic law, Muslim prayer rooms, etc. in order to accommodate Muslim tourists. Many Japanese companies and municipalities are also interested in exporting their products from the Islamic area, and obtaining the certification of halal from some Islamic organizations. The process for acquiring halal certification is becoming complicated and expensive, so that many of companies and municipalities have abandoned it. There are about 110,000 Muslims in Japan. It is sometimes difficult for them to find halal foods and other goods, and the need for such items is typically addressed by a small halal industry. There is a “dualism” or lack of communication and collaboration between those organizations that are oriented to Muslim tourists and exports, and the small halal industries stated above. The present study also points out that many Japanese people mistakenly assume that halal foods are exclusively for Muslims. Halal foods, however, have potential for meeting the needs of non-Muslim Japanese consumers who are looking for safe and trustworthy foods

Possible Charge-Exchange X-Ray Emission in the Cygnus Loop Detected with Suzaku

X-ray spectroscopic measurements of the Cygnus Loop supernova remnant indicate that metal abundances throughout most of the remnant's rim are depleted to about 0.2 times the solar value. However, recent X-ray studies have revealed in some narrow regions along the outermost rim anomalously "enhanced" abundances (up to about 1 solar). The reason for these anomalous abundances is not understood. Here, we examine X-ray spectra in annular sectors covering nearly the entire rim of the Cygnus Loop using Suzaku (21 pointings) and XMM-Newton (1 pointing). We find that spectra in the "enhanced" abundance regions commonly show a strong emission feature at about 0.7 keV. This feature is likely a complex of He-like O K(gamma + delta + epsilon), although other possibilities cannot be fully excluded. The intensity of this emission relative to He-like O Kalpha appears to be too high to be explained as thermal emission. This fact, as well as the spatial concentration of the anomalous abundances in the outermost rim, leads us to propose an origin from charge-exchange processes between neutrals and H-like O. We show that the presence of charge-exchange emission could lead to the inference of apparently "enhanced" metal abundances using pure thermal emission models. Accounting for charge-exchange emission, the actual abundances could be uniformly low throughout the rim. The overall abundance depletion remains an open question.Comment: Published in Ap

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In order to grasp the actual state of daily eating habits of the female students of the said institution, researches were conducted on their food intake and eating environment, the first report of which appeared in the last issue of this journal (1982). It was found in the previous research that the intake of energy, Ca and Fe were insufficient and, as subsidiary food, Western-style dishes were mostly preferred by the students. Continuing the research, further pursuit was made on the state of food intake and preferences of the students, and the results were as follows : (1) Regarding nutritional intakes, those of energy, Ca, Fe, Vitamin A, and Vitamin B_2 Were insufficient, while the intake of fat was in excess. (2) 20 to 21 kinds of foods were taken per day on an average. (3) kinds of foods that were particularly favored by the students were spaghetti, canned oiled-tuna, eggs, beef, and roast pork. The students showed little liking for the foods which were considered to be traditionally Japanese, such as eel, yellowtails, kamaboko (steamed fish paste), ayu, sardines, and chiken liver. Not many students drink tea (green tea) after each meal ; only the following percentages of students were found to drink tea after each meal : 6% after breakfast, 18%, after lunch, and 42% after dinner. Taken together with the fact that fewer students eat miso-soup nowadays, it is clear that traditional eating habits of Japan are being lost among the students.As for vegetables, tomatoes and lettuce were preferred rather than burdocks, spring onions, green peppers, green asparagus, carrots, celery and so on. Fruits were highly preferred and, as for sweets, Westernstyle cookies and cakes were preferred while Japanese ones were not

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In part I of this report the outline of teaching of home economics in elementary schools in Gifu Prefecture was discussed. In Nagara Municipal Elementary School, Gifu City, as a progressive attempt, home economics has been taught in the lower classes since 1971. This report is an outline of research activities and teaching methods developed during these years at Nagara Elementary School

Suppression of Carrageenan- and Collagen II-Induced Inflammation in Mice by Geranium Oil

To obtain experimental evidence on the therapeutic efficacy of essential oils in aromatherapy for inflammatory diseases, we examined the effects of geranium oil on carrageenan-induced and collagen II-induced inflammation in mice, to assess acute and chronic anti-inflammatory activities of the oil. Single intraperitoneal injection of 5 μL of geranium oil clearly suppressed the carrageenan-induced footpaw edema and increase in tissue myeloperoxidase activity, and repeated administration of the oil suppressed collagen-induced arthritis. These results revealed that geranium oil suppressed both acute and chronic inflammatory responses in mice

Suppression of tumor necrosis factor-alpha-induced neutrophil adherence responses by essential oils.

Background: In aromatherapy, essential oils are used as anti-inflammatory remedies, but experimental studies on their action mechanisms are very limited

構成あそびにおける構成パターンの形成と変容の過程 : 2歳児のパノラマ構成の発展過程の分析を中心として(人文・社会科学篇)

The costructive activities named "a park and pylons" were played and repeated about two months by a thirty-month old boy. This play was named "a panorama constructive play" and three important factors named "composition" "arrangement" and "symbolic combination" were discussed. Some distinct rules that explain the process of gaining complexicity in constructive patterns were found in the analysis of this constructive process