Foreign Policy Opinion Poll in Japan on Development Cooperation

内閣府が実施している外交世論調査における「開発協力の今後のあり方」の結果は、国際社会の変化や日本の経済情勢などによってダイナミックに変遷している。1977年から1989年の間は開発協力について世論の高い支持が続いていたが、1990年から2004年までは世論の支持が低下・低迷し、2005年以降は世論の支持が回復基調にある。この世論の変化を、日本経済、対中国関係、日本の国際貢献の３つの軸から分析すると、開発協力への世論の支持が低下・低迷した1990年から2004年までは、バブル経済崩壊以降の経済停滞と財政事情の悪化、および天安門事件以降の対中国感情の悪化の２つが要因になっていたと考えられる。しかし2005年以降は、リーマンショック（2008）や東日本大震災（2011）などにも関わらず、開発協力に対する世論は回復基調が続いている。2007年に対中国新規資金協力を終了したことも世論回復の一つの理由として考えられるが、より重要なこととして、国際貢献に対する国民の期待の増大が大きな要因であることが分析から示唆される。2005年以降、国際社会での日本の存在感（相対的な経済力）が低下する中で、国際貢献による日本のソフトパワーの強化が国民から強く期待されるようになっている。開発協力に対する国民の期待は、単に人道上の目的や先進国としての責務としてだけではなく、広い意味での「国益」のために実施されることである。すなわち国際社会における日本への信頼の醸成、日本が途上国とともに繁栄すること、エネルギー資源の安定供給などが開発協力の目的として期待されており、それが開発協力への世論の支持につながっている。経済情勢や財政事情の厳しさを理由としたODA予算の抑制が20年以上にわたって続けられてきたが、成熟した国民世論の動向からはこの政策は正当性を失いつつあるのである。Foreign Policy Opinion Poll in Japan, which has been conducted by Japanese government since 1977, shows that the public support for "Development Cooperation" (or Official Development Assistance) has dynamically reflected series of historical events under three socioeconomic dimensions. The three dimensions are (i) Japanese economy, (ii) Japan-China relationship (China was one of the largest recipients of Japanese ODA), and (iii) international contribution by Japan.Since 1990 until 2004, "Development Cooperation" has lost support from citizens because of (i) economic recession and growing public debt after burst of bubble economy in 1991, and (ii) negative Japanese sentiment toward China after Tiananmen Square Incident. However, the public support toward "Development Cooperation" has been recovered since 2005 up to now although Japanese economy was hit by Lehman\u27s shock in 2008 and pulled down by the huge earthquake in 2011. Why this recovery of the public support happened and has been sustained? Termination of new financial ODA to China in 2007 might be one answer. However, this paper suggests that this recovery can be explained mainly by rising expectation of Japanese citizens toward international contribution from Japan.After 2005, Japanese citizens began to expect that the soft power of Japan should be strengthened through its international contribution, while they noticed comparative decline of economic power of Japan. "Development Cooperation" is expected to be implemented not merely based upon humanitarian purpose nor obligation as developed countries, but more importantly should be conducted based upon “national interests” in a broad sense, such as fostering international trust to Japan, achieving mutual prosperity of Japan and the developing countries, securing access to energy and natural resources, and so on. The continuous cut of ODA budget for more than two decades is no longer justified under the matured public opinion.http://doi.org/10.24545/0000108

Late Little Ice Age palaeoenvironmental records from the Anzali and Amirkola Lagoons (south Caspian Sea): Vegetation and sea level changes

This is a postprint version of the article. The official published article can be found from the link below - Copyright @ 2011 Elsevier Ltd.Two internationally important Ramsar lagoons on the south coast of the Caspian Sea (CS) have been studied by palynology on short sediment cores for palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic investigations. The sites lie within a small area of very high precipitation in a region that is otherwise dry. Vegetation surveys and geomorphological investigations have been used to provide a background to a multidisciplinary interpretation of the two sequences covering the last four centuries. In the small lagoon of Amirkola, the dense alder forested wetland has been briefly disturbed by fire, followed by the expansion of rice paddies from AD1720 to 1800. On the contrary, the terrestrial vegetation reflecting the diversity of the Hyrcanian vegetation around the lagoon of Anzali remained fairly complacent over time. The dinocyst and non-pollen palynomorph assemblages, revealing changes that have occurred in water salinity and water levels, indicate a high stand during the late Little Ice Age (LIA), from AD < 1620 to 1800–1830. In Amirkola, the lagoon spit remained intact over time, whereas in Anzali it broke into barrier islands during the late LIA, which merged into a spit during the subsequent sea level drop. A high population density and infrastructure prevented renewed breaking up of the spit when sea level reached its maximum (AD1995). Similar to other sites in the region around the southern CS, these two lagoonal investigations indicate that the LIA had a higher sea level as a result of more rainfall in the drainage basin of the CS.The coring and the sedimentological analyses were funded by the Iranian National Institute for Oceanography in the framework of a research project entitled “Investigation of the Holocene sediment along the Iranian coast of Caspian Sea: central Guilan”. The radiocarbon date of core HCGL02 was funded by V. Andrieu (Europôle Méditerranéen de l'Arbois, France) and that of core HCGA04 by Brunel University

IRAS F02044+0957: radio source in interacting system of galaxies

The steep spectrum of IRAS F02044+0957 was obtained with the RATAN-600 radio telescope at four frequencies. Optical spectroscopy of the system components, was carried out with the 2.1m telescope of the Guillermo Haro Observatory. Observational data allow us to conclude that this object is a pair of interacting galaxies, a LINER and a HII galaxy, at $z=0.093$.Comment: 2 pages, 2 EPS-figures, uses newpasp.sty. To appear in Proc. IAU Colloq. 184, AGN Surveys, ed. R. F. Green, E. Ye. Khachikian, & D. B. Sanders (San Francisco: ASP

Climate change adaptation in practice: People's responses to tidal flooding in Semarang, Indonesia

In many places in the world the effects of common floods are increased by climate change. In the area around the Indonesian city of Semarang, the number and effects of tidal flooding are becoming more and more severe. We found that the inhabitants used different strategies against the impact of flooding. In both the existing and the predicted flood prone areas, most people appear not to intend to leave the area, even when the floods become everyday routine. People are connected to their dwellings in a way that abandoning is not a realistic scenario. This study provides relevant information about the way people in the affected areas perceive flood risks and adaptation opportunities. Governmental policy-makers and urban planners could base their strategies and actions on this information. © 2011 The Authors. Journal of Flood Risk Managemen

話し手の気持ちを伝える日本語表現について

In this paper, we discuss how people are conveying their feelings to each other in their daily communication. In Section 2, we see certain instances where people can convey their feelings without words. In Section 3, we discuss that people convey their feelings directly and explicitly, using lexical words, and also at the same time, they utilize extra-linguistic elements, such as facial expressions, eyes, gestures, body movements, vocal tones, intonation and so on. Moreover, there are many expressions in Japanese that signal the speaker's feelings, not by single lexical words but by some combinations of expressions. We pick up some of those expressions, and discuss what feelings they convey

Many Rivers to Cross: Evaluating the Benefits and Limitations of Strategic Environmental Assessment for the Koshi River Basin

This paper assesses the value of using Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) to account for the spatially and temporally diverse and diffuse impacts of hydropower development in South Asia’s Koshi basin. A policy and practice review and key stakeholder interviews identified opportunities for SEA to improve existing planning procedures, but also barriers to effective adoption. Whilst stakeholders are interested in employing SEA to evaluate cumulative impacts, institutional blockages and an economic development imperative for power generation leave little space for consideration of alternative scenarios as part of SEA. The analysis is conducted through the formulation and application of a conceptual framework for SEA best practice which is then used to identify priority next-steps for SEA in the region