Constructing Home Economics in Imperial Japan

This dissertation explores the life and work of two Japanese women, Miyakawa Sumi (1875-1948) and Inoue Hide (1875-1963), who became pioneers of domestic education in Japan in the first half of the twentieth century. They discovered home economics as a field of study, went to the Western nations in an attempt to explore its contours and possibilities, and returned to Japan where they introduced and institutionalized a distinctly Japanese variant of domestic education. Their life stories reveal two distinctive constructions of home economics specifically due to the distinct purposes of domestic education. Miyakawa, who borrowed the British model of practice-oriented domestic training, aspired to modernize women's technical competence in an attempt to advance women's self-sufficiency in household management. She believed that the individual household was a fundamental unit of state and essential to national economic development. Accordingly, she sought to mobilize women for serving the state through self-sufficient household management. By contrast, Inoue adopted scientific and sociological paradigms for home management that she had discovered at elite educational institutions in the United States. She sought to elevate the scholarly position of home economics in an attempt to legitimatize a gender-specific university education for women. Additionally, she promoted social activism in the hope of demonstrating women's civic leadership. Their life stories illuminate the key roles of home economics in expanding and advancing higher education for women. The emergence of advanced educational opportunities for women with marriage aspirations suggests a shift in public demand for programs that could credential and train ideal bridal candidates and expand their education to include post-secondary educational opportunities. Additionally, the emergence of an interdisciplinary framework for home management, the alternative to scientifically-based curricula, suggests a shift in a focus of domestic education from environmental solutions to social problems to the comprehensive pursuit of familial and social wellbeing. Using biography as a methodology, this study illuminates women's agency in refining the meaning of ideal womanhood, Ryôsai Kenbo (Good Wife, Wise Mother), uncovers the models with a high potential of acceptance specifically by urban middle-class women and suggests an expanded view of the mainstream discourse of ideal Japanese womanhood

Toward a Comprehensive Collection on the Allied Occupation of Japan: A Partnership between the University of Maryland Libraries and the National Diet Library of Japan

This chapter outlines an international collaboration model for a digitization project between an American academic library and Japanese national library. University of Maryland Libraries (UMD) partner with the National Diet Library of Japan (NDL), the Japanese equivalent of the Library of Congress. They collectively pursue a bilateral digitization initiative, “Book Reformatting Project,” which aims to preserve and create digital access to the materials held by the Gordon W. Prange Collection. Prange Collection is one of UMD’s premier special collections, which comprehensively archives Japanese-language print publications issued for the first four years of the Allied Occupation of Japan, 1945-1949

Constructing a comprehensive scope of Allied occupation resources

Joint presentation at the Committee on Japanese Materials of the Council of East Asia Libraries annual conference held in Washington D.C. on March 22, 2019. Yukako Tatsumi presented about the Prange collections at the University of Maryland Libraries, College Park, and Keiko Yokota-Carter presented on the Alfred Rodman Hussey Collection at the University of Michigan. Tokiko Yamamoto Bazzell presented about the Kaizawa collection at the University of Hawaii Library. Link: Tatsumi and Yokota-Carter https://www.eastasianlib.org/newsite/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/P3_TatsumiCarter_CJM2018_2.pdf Bazsell https://www.eastasianlib.org/newsite/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/P4_Bazzell_CJM2018_1.pdf 2018 CJM program is found https://www.eastasianlib.org/newsite/meetings/past-meetings/ceal2018/#cjm-programhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/148157/1/2018 CEAL CJM No. 2 Michigan included.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/148157/2/2018 CEAL CJM No. 1.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/148157/6/license_rdf17Description of 2018 CEAL CJM No. 2 Michigan included.pdf : Presentaton file posted with the approval by co-presenters Yukako Tatsumi and Tokiko Y. BazzellDescription of 2018 CEAL CJM No. 1.pdf : Presentation file posted by approval by the co-presenters; Yukako Tatsumi and Tokiko Y. Bazzel

Making a Case for Local Relevance: Strategic Exhibition Planning for the Gordon W. Prange Collection

In the changing academic libraries environment, area studies and special collections, marked by a high level of expertise in a specialized area, are faced with the challenge of articulating their value and becoming connected with a broad range of local users. This article shows that exhibitions can be a powerful instrument for making a convincing case for the relevance of these specialized collections to local users. It discusses a model case of strategic exhibition development for the Gordon W. Prange Collection, which archives Japanese-language print publications issued during the first four years of the U.S. Occupation of Japan, 1945-1949. Making use of the multiple functions of exhibitions, Prange Collection staff strategized exhibition planning as a way to form and demonstrate geopolitical, academic, and linguistic relevance in an attempt to illuminate the potential of the Prange Collection materials to suit local users’ educational and research agendas. By examining this practical approach to exhibition development, this study seeks to highlight the possibility for a specialized collection to go beyond its relationship with its core patrons and reach new user communities on campus and beyond

Asian Studies Scholars and Their Research at the University of Maryland

Report documenting research practices and needs of Asian Studies faculty at a public university.This local report summarizes the findings of scholarly research practices and needs of faculty members specializing in Asian Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park (hereafter UMD). UMD Libraries were invited to participate in ITHAKA S+R’s Research Support Services Project, which is part of a series of investigative studies regarding the research support needs of scholars by their discipline, specifically those underrepresented in the existing literature, such as Asian Studies. Two UMD librarians conducted the project’s protocol through in-depth qualitative analyses of the research practices of academics in Asian Studies at UMD. This project allowed participants the opportunity to voice their opinions on support and services along with the juxtaposition of their field to other disciplines on campus and in academe, in general. Objectives of the study included 1) understanding resources and services that the interviewed faculty members required to be successful in their research; 2) recognizing challenges faced within their research approaches and practices; 3) comparing and contrasting choice of publication venues, including open access; 4) documenting interviewees’ opinions on what would simplify and/or promote their research; and 5) expressing their opinions on the current and future state of this field of study. The interviews provided insight into ways to improve the academic experiences of scholars and their research

Female Reproductive Events and Subclinical Atherosclerosis of the Brain and Carotid Arteriopathy: the Ohasama Study

Aims: Few studies have investigated the subclinical atherosclerotic changes in the brain and carotid artery, and in East Asian populations. We sought to investigate whether gravidity, delivery, the age at menarche and menopause and estrogen exposure period are associated with subclinical atherosclerosis of the brain and carotid arteriopathy.Methods: This cross-sectional study formed part of a cohort study of Ohasama residents initiated in 1986. Brain atherosclerosis and carotid arteriopathy were diagnosed as white matter hyperintensity (WMH) and lacunae evident on brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and carotid intimal media thickness (IMT) or plaque revealed by ultrasound, respectively. The effect of the reproductive events on brain atherosclerosis and carotid arteriopathy was investigated using logistic regression and general linear regression models after adjusting for covariates.Results: Among 966 women aged ≥ 55 years in 1998, we identified 622 and 711 women (mean age: 69.2 and 69.7 years, respectively) who underwent either MRI or carotid ultrasound between 1992–2008 or 1993–2018, respectively. The highest quartile of gravidity (≥ 5 vs. 3) and delivery (≥ 4 vs. 2), and the highest and second highest (3 vs. 2) quartiles of delivery were associated with an increased risk of WMH and carotid artery plaque, respectively. Neither of age at menarche, menopause, and estrogen exposure period estimated by subtracting age at menarche from age at menopause was associated with atherosclerotic changes of brain and carotid arteries.Conclusions: Higher gravidity and delivery are associated with subclinical atherosclerosis of the brain and carotid plaque

Underweight Young Women Without Later Weight Gain Are at High Risk for Osteopenia After Midlife: The KOBE Study

Background: Although underweight young women are targets for interventions to prevent low bone mineral density (BMD), the relationship between change in body mass index (BMI) from youth to older age and BMD has not been widely investigated in community dwellers. Methods: In 749 healthy Japanese women aged 40–74 years, BMD was measured by quantitative ultrasound and anthropometric measurements, and BMI was calculated from body weight and height. The BMI of participants at age 20 years was estimated by self-reported body weight and their present height. They were classified into four groups according to the presence of underweight (BMI <18.5 kg/m2 ) at 20 and/or at present. Logistic regression models were used to estimate multivariate-adjusted odds ratios (ORs) of the presence of underweight at 20 and/or at present for osteopenia (BMD T score <−1 standard deviations) compared with participants with BMI ≥18.5 kg/m2 both at 20 and at present. Results: The participants who were underweight both at 20 and at present had a higher OR for osteopenia compared with those with BMI ≥18.5 kg/m2 at 20 and at present (OR 3.94; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.97–7.89). Those underweight only at present also had significantly increased OR of developing osteopenia (OR 2.95; 95% CI, 1.67–5.24). The OR of those underweight only at 20 was 0.87 (95% CI, 0.51–1.48). Conclusions: Current underweight was associated with increased risk for osteopenia among Japanese women, especially in those who were underweight both at 20 and at present. To prevent low BMD in the future, maintaining appropriate body weight might be effective for young underweight women

Increase in Homeostasis Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) Had a Strong Impact on the Development of Type 2 Diabetes in Japanese Individuals with Impaired Insulin Secretion: The Saku Study

<div><p>Our aim was to assess the impact of increase in homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) on the development of type 2 diabetes in Japanese individuals with impaired insulin secretion (IIS). This study included 2,209 participants aged 30–69 without diabetes at baseline who underwent comprehensive medical check-ups between April 2006 and March 2007 at Saku Central Hospital. Participants were classified into eight groups according to the combination of baseline IIS status (non-IIS and IIS) and category of HOMA-IR change between the baseline and follow-up examinations (decrease, no change/small increase, moderate increase, and large increase). Type 2 diabetes was determined from fasting and 2 h post-load plasma glucose concentrations at the follow-up examination between April 2009 and March 2011. At baseline, 669 individuals (30.3%) were classified as having IIS. At follow-up, 74 individuals developed type 2 diabetes. After adjusting for confounding factors including baseline HOMA-IR values, the multivariable-adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for type 2 diabetes in the non-IIS with a decrease (mean change in HOMA-IR: −0.47), non-IIS with a moderate increase (mean change in HOMA-IR: 0.28), non-IIS with a large increase (mean change in HOMA-IR: 0.83), IIS with a decrease (mean change in HOMA-IR: −0.36), IIS with no change/small increase (mean change in HOMA-IR: 0.08), IIS with a moderate increase (mean change in HOMA-IR: 0.27), and IIS with a large increase (mean change in HOMA-IR: 0.73) groups, relative to the non-IIS with no change/small increase (mean change in HOMA-IR: 0.08) group were 0.23 (0.04, 1.11), 1.22 (0.26, 5.72), 2.01 (0.70, 6.46), 1.37 (0.32, 4.28), 3.60 (0.83, 15.57), 5.24 (1.34, 20.52), and 7.01 (1.75, 24.18), respectively. Moderate and large increases in HOMA-IR had a strong impact on the development of type 2 diabetes among individuals with IIS in this Japanese population.</p></div