Division of Household Labor and Marital Satisfaction in China, Japan, and Korea

In this study, we compare the association of marital satisfaction with the division of labor between husband and wife in Asia, based on Chinese, Japanese, and Korean General Social Surveys in 2006 (N = 2,346, 997, and 990, respectively). Results show that in all three countries, wives are less satisfied than husbands with marriage, mainly because wives do disproportionately more housework than husbands. Aside from this common gender difference, there are noticeable differences among the three countries. Chinese couples are relatively in favor of an egalitarian division of labor in terms of both market work and housework. Japanese couples are supportive of traditional specialization, with the wives flexibly shifting their efforts between market work and housework. Korean couples are under pressure from conflicts between the wife‘s labor force participation and the traditional division of labor in the household.Division of household labor, gender difference, marital satisfaction

Relative income and happiness in Asia: Evidence from nationwide surveys in China, Japan, and Korea

This study attempts to examine relative income effects on perceived happiness in three major Asian countries -- China, Japan, and Korea -- in comparison with the United Sates, on the basis of largely comparable nationwide surveys in these countries. Consistent with the results from previous studies in Western countries, comparisons with an individual's own income and average income of the reference group are significantly associated with the individual's perceived happiness in Asia. The associations between relative income and happiness are stronger for individual income than family income in China, while the opposite is true in Japan and Korea. Even after controlling for the subjective assessment of family income or personal class identification within the society as a whole, income comparisons within the reference group matter for assessing happiness, especially when using family income for comparisons. Moreover, relative deprivation within the reference group, which is measured by the Yitzhaki index, is negatively related to happiness, providing more evidence for the validity of the relative income hypothesis.Relative income, Relative deprivation, Asia

Density imaging of heterochromatin in live cells using orientation-independent-DIC microscopy

© The Author(s), 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Molecular Biology of the Cell 28 (2017): 3349-3359, doi:10.1091/mbc.E17-06-0359.In eukaryotic cells, highly condensed inactive/silenced chromatin has long been called “heterochromatin.” However, recent research suggests that such regions are in fact not fully transcriptionally silent and that there exists only a moderate access barrier to heterochromatin. To further investigate this issue, it is critical to elucidate the physical properties of heterochromatin such as its total density in live cells. Here, using orientation-independent differential interference contrast (OI-DIC) microscopy, which is capable of mapping optical path differences, we investigated the density of the total materials in pericentric foci, a representative heterochromatin model, in live mouse NIH3T3 cells. We demonstrated that the total density of heterochromatin (208 mg/ml) was only 1.53-fold higher than that of the surrounding euchromatic regions (136 mg/ml) while the DNA density of heterochromatin was 5.5- to 7.5-fold higher. We observed similar minor differences in density in typical facultative heterochromatin, the inactive human X chromosomes. This surprisingly small difference may be due to that nonnucleosomal materials (proteins/RNAs) (∼120 mg/ml) are dominant in both chromatin regions. Monte Carlo simulation suggested that nonnucleosomal materials contribute to creating a moderate access barrier to heterochromatin, allowing minimal protein access to functional regions. Our OI-DIC imaging offers new insight into the live cellular environments.This work was supported by MEXT and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) grants (Nos. 23115005 and 16H04746, respectively), as well as a Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) CREST grant (No. JPMJCR15G2). R.I. and T.N. are JSPS Fellows. R.I. was supported by the SOKENDAI Short-Stay Study Abroad Program in fiscal year 2016

Dynamic organization of chromatin domains revealed by super-resolution live-dell imaging

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2017. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Cell Press for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Molecular Cell 67 (2017): 282-293, doi:10.1016/j.molcel.2017.06.018.The eukaryotic genome is organized within cells as chromatin. For proper information output, higher-order chromatin structures can be regulated dynamically. How such structures form and behave in various cellular processes remains unclear. Here, by combining super-resolution imaging (photoactivated localization microscopy, PALM) and single nucleosome tracking, we developed a nuclear imaging system to visualize the higher-order structures along with their dynamics in live mammalian cells. We demonstrated that nucleosomes form compact domains with a peak diameter of ~160 nm and move coherently in live cells. The heterochromatin-rich regions showed more domains and less movement. With cell differentiation, the domains became more apparent, with reduced dynamics. Furthermore, various perturbation experiments indicated that they are organized by a combination of factors, including cohesin and nucleosome–nucleosome interactions. Notably, we observed the domains during mitosis, suggesting that they act as building blocks of chromosomes and may serve as information units throughout the cell cycle.This work was supported by MEXT and JSPS grants (23115005 and 16H04746, respectively) and a JST CREST grant (JPMJCR15G2).2018-07-1

Single nucleosome imaging reveals loose genome chromatin networks via active RNA polymerase II.

© The Author(s), 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Nagashima, R., Hibino, K., Ashwin, S. S., Babokhov, M., Fujishiro, S., Imai, R., Nozaki, T., Tamura, S., Tani, T., Kimura, H., Shribak, M., Kanemaki, M. T., Sasai, M., & Maeshima, K. Single nucleosome imaging reveals loose genome chromatin networks via active RNA polymerase II. Journal of Cell Biology, 218(5), (2019):1511-1530, doi:10.1083/jcb.201811090.Although chromatin organization and dynamics play a critical role in gene transcription, how they interplay remains unclear. To approach this issue, we investigated genome-wide chromatin behavior under various transcriptional conditions in living human cells using single-nucleosome imaging. While transcription by RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) is generally thought to need more open and dynamic chromatin, surprisingly, we found that active RNAPII globally constrains chromatin movements. RNAPII inhibition or its rapid depletion released the chromatin constraints and increased chromatin dynamics. Perturbation experiments of P-TEFb clusters, which are associated with active RNAPII, had similar results. Furthermore, chromatin mobility also increased in resting G0 cells and UV-irradiated cells, which are transcriptionally less active. Our results demonstrated that chromatin is globally stabilized by loose connections through active RNAPII, which is compatible with models of classical transcription factories or liquid droplet formation of transcription-related factors. Together with our computational modeling, we propose the existence of loose chromatin domain networks for various intra-/interchromosomal contacts via active RNAPII clusters/droplets.We thank Dr. Y. Hiromi, Dr. S. Hirose, Dr. H. Seino, and Dr. S. Ide for critical reading of this manuscript. We thank Dr. S. Ide, Dr. D. Kaida, Dr. T. Nagai, Dr. V. Doye, Dr. G. Felsenfeld, and Dr. K. Horie for valuable help and materials. We also thank the Maeshima laboratory members for helpful discussions and support. R. Imai and T. Nozaki are Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellows. R. Nagashima was supported by 2017 SOKENDAI Short-Stay Study Abroad Program. This work was supported by a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science grant (16H04746), Takeda Science Foundation, RIKEN Pioneering Project, a Japan Science and Technology Agency Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology grant (JPMJCR15G2), a National Institute of General Medical Sciences grant (R01-GM101701), and National Institute of Genetics JOINT (2016-A2 (6))

コウベジョガクインオカダヤマキャンパスノヤチョウ

本報告は、兵庫県西宮市の神戸女学院岡田山キャンパスに生息または飛来する野鳥についてとりまとめたものである。神戸女学院は1875年に神戸市山本通に設立されたが、1933年に西宮市岡田山に移転し、この地で80有余年の歴史をもつ。キャンパスの総面積は14ha、その35％に相当する約5haがクスノキやヒメユズリハ、コナラなどからなる鬱蒼とした天然林に被われており、良好な自然環境が保たれている。岡田山キャンパスの鳥類相については、1974年刊行の「岡田山の自然」に43種、1982年の増補改訂版に8種が追加され、計51種の野鳥が記録されている。また、2010年にはキャンパスの自然環境に関する報告書がまとめられ、34科88種の野鳥が報告されている。既存資料および1991年以降の主として第一著者のよる観察、および2003年度から2005年度にかけて行われたルートセンサスの結果を合わせると、岡田山キャンパスではこれまでに35科93種の野鳥が確認されていることが明らかになった。ヒヨドリ、スズメ、ハシブトカラス、キジバト、ムクドリ、メジロなどが主なものである。夏季日本で繁殖し、東南アジア等の熱帯域で越冬する夏鳥は26種で、ツバメ、サンショウクイ、センダイムシクイ、キビタキ、オオルリなどが主なものである。このうち、本学とその周辺域で確実に繁殖しているのはツバメのみで、他は本学を春と秋の2回通過する旅鳥型の夏鳥である。おもに日本以外の北方域で夏季繁殖し、岡田山を含む西日本で越冬する冬鳥は12種で、ツグミ、シロハラ、ジョウビタキ、シメなどが主なものである。北日本や山岳域で夏季繁殖し、岡田山を含む西日本で越冬する漂鳥は18種で、ウグイス、ルリビタキ、アオジなどが主なものである。日本以外の地域で繁殖、越冬し、春と秋に岡田山キャンパスを通過する旅鳥は4種で、オオムシクイ、マミチャジナイなどが主なものである。To clarify the avifauna of the Okadayama Campus, Kobe College, western Japan, we investigated the wild bird species that inhabit or come flying over the campus, by observations and the route census method. Okadayama campus is located in the southeast corner of Hyogo Prefecture and has an area of ca. 14 ha and elevations from 8 to 50 m above sea level. The campus lies in the warm-temperate zoneand is under the influence fo Seto Inland Sea climate. Nearly 35％ of the campus is occupied by semi-natural forests dominated by evergreen broad-leaved trees such as Cinnamomum camphora, Daphniphyllum teijsmannii, Quercus glauca, and Ilex rotunda and deciduous broad-leaved trees such as Quercus serrata, Celtis sinensis, and Aphananthe aspera. The forest has been isolated by urbanization, and appears as a "green island" in an urban landscape, In the Okadayama Campus, 93 bird species belonging to 35 families have been recorded thus far. Out of the 93 bird species, 33 are resident breeders that breed in and around the campus, such as Hypsipetes amaurotis, Passer mountanus, Steptopelia orientalis, Corrvus macrorhynchos, and Spodiopsar cineraceus. Twnty-six species are migrant breeders that breed in the Japanese Archipelago and winter in the Asia tropics. However, most of the migrant breeders do not breed in and around the campus; they merely pass through the campus in the spring and autumn seasons, except for Hirundo rustica. Twelve species are winter visitors that breed in boreal regions and winter in southwestern Japan, including the Okadayama Campus, such as Turdus pallidus, T.naumanni, Phoenicurus auroreus, and Coccthraustes coccothraustes, Eighteen speces are vagrants that breed in the northern or Emberiza spodocephala. Four species are migrants that breed in boreal regions writer in the Asian tropics, such as phylloscopus examinandus and Turdus obscurus

International differences in gradients in early childhood overweight and obesity : the role of maternal employment and formal childcare attendance

Background There are significant cross-country differences in socio-economic gradients in later childhood and adulthood overweight/obesity; few studies assess whether this cross-national variation is evident from early childhood. Furthermore, the role of childcare in explaining overweight/obesity gradients might vary across countries, given differences in access, quality and heterogeneity within. Additionally, childcare is linked to parental characteristics such as maternal employment. The interplay between childcare and employment in producing early overweight/obesity gradients has received little attention, and might vary cross-nationally. Methods Using harmonized data from six high-quality, large datasets, we explore the variation in gradients in early overweight/obesity (at age 3–4 years old) by parental education across several high-income countries (USA, UK, France, the Netherlands, Germany and Japan). We then assess whether differential formal group care use attenuates some of these gradients, and whether this varies across maternal employment. Results Gradients in early childhood overweight/obesity by parental education are evident across several developed countries. Countries with higher overall prevalence of early overweight/obesity did not have the largest inequalities across education groups. The contribution of formal group care to producing these gradients varied across countries and across maternal employment status. Conclusion Early childhood inequalities in overweight/obesity are pervasive across developed countries, as noted for older children and adults. However, mechanisms producing these gradients vary across national contexts. Our study shows that, given the right context, quality childcare and maternal employment can successfully support healthy weight trajectories and not contribute (or even reduce) social inequalities in early overweight/obesity

Cross-national differences in socioeconomic achievement inequality in early primary school : the role of parental education and income in six countries

This paper presents comparative information on the socioeconomic status (SES) gradients in literacy skills at age 6-8, drawing on harmonized national datasets from France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. We investigate whether understanding of comparative SES gradients in early-to-mid childhood depends on the operationalization of SES (parental education, income, or both); and whether differences in inequalities at the end of lower secondary schooling documented in international large-scale assessments are already present when children have experienced at most two years of formal compulsory schooling. We find marked differences in the SES gradient in early achievement across countries that are largely insensitive to the way SES is measured, and that seem to mirror inequalities reported for older students. We conclude that country context shapes the link between parental SES and children’s educational achievement, with country differences rooted in the early childhood period