Ramseyer, the Japanese Right-wing and the “History Wars”

J. Mark Ramseyer’s publications on the topics of wartime “comfort women” and Japan’s minorities have become the focus of intense controversy. His article on “comfort women” in the International Review of Law and Economics gained global scrutiny following its coverage in Japan’s right-wing newspaper, Sankei Shimbun, and its English-language publication, Japan Forward. Ramseyer claims that “comfort women” willingly entered into sex-work contracts, denying responsibility by Japan’s military and government for the “comfort station” system. He also insists that naming this system “sexual slavery” is “pure fiction” – a stance shared by Japanese history denialists in Japan. Since the controversy over his publications, Ramseyer has been working closely with Japan’s right-wing faction, appearing in their symposiums and media. The controversy over Ramseyer must be understood in the larger political context of widespread historical revisionism in Japan. In this chapter, I will situate Ramseyer’s writings and actions in the context of the so-called “history wars” by the Japanese right-wing and the Japanese government. In particular, I will discuss the Ramseyer controversy in the context of the “strategic communication” policy by the Japanese government, and the right-wing efforts to disseminate revisionist claims in English to academics and politicians abroad

Substrate-induced acceleration of N-ethylmaleimide reaction with the Cys-65 mutant of the transposon Tn 10-encoded metal-tetracycline/H+ antiporter depends on the interaction of Asp-66 with the substrate

AbstractWe previously reported that the reaction of [14C]N-ethylmaleimide (NEM) with the S65C mutant of the transposon Tn10-encoded metal-tetracycline/H+ antiporter (TetA(B)) is competitively inhibited by tetracycline [Yamaguchi, A. et al., FEBS Lett. 322 (1993) 201–204]. However, this observation has been revealed to be a mistake. The reaction of [14C]NEM with S65C TetA(B) was significantly and reproducibly accelerated by tetracycline, i.e. not inhibited. When Asp-66 was replaced by Ala, the reaction of NEM with the Cys-65 residue was no longer affected by tetracycline. In contrast, when Arg-70 was replaced by Ala, the acceleration of the reaction was unaltered. The tetracycline acceleration of the reaction to the Cys-65 residue was further stimulated with energization of the membrane on the addition of NADH. On the other hand, the tetracycline-induced acceleration was not observed in the absence of a divalent cation. These observations indicated that the Cys-65 locus is exposed to the medium according to the interaction of a divalent cationtetracycline chelation complex with Asp-66

Expression patterns of gdnf and gfrα1 in rainbow trout testis.

In mice, glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) is essential for normal spermatogenesis and in vitro culture of spermatogonial stem cells. In murine testes, GDNF acts as paracrine factor; Setoli cells secrete it to a subset of spermatogonial cells expressing its receptor, GDNF family receptor α1 (GFRα1). However, in fish, it is unclear what types of cells express gdnf and gfrα1. In this study, we isolated the rainbow trout orthologues of these genes and analyzed their expression patterns during spermatogenesis. In rainbow trout testes, gdnf and gfrα1 were expressed in almost all type A spermatogonia (ASG). Noticeably, unlike in mice, the expression of gdnf was not observed in Sertoli cells in rainbow trout. During spermatogenesis, the expression levels of these genes changed synchronously; gdnf and gfrα1 showed high expression in ASG and decreased dramatically in subsequent developmental stages. These results suggested that GDNF most likely acts as an autocrine factor in rainbow trout testes

A novel compound, 1,1-dimethyl-5-(1-hydroxypropyl)-4,6,7-trimethylindan, is an effective inhibitor of the tet(K) gene-encoded metal-tetracycline/H+ antiporter of Staphylococcus aureus

AbstractA novel indan derivative, 1,1-dimethyl-5-(1-hydroxypropyl)-4,6,7-trimethylindan (Ro 07-3149), was found to be a strong inhibitor of the tet(K) gene-encoded tetracycline/H+ antiporter of Staphylococcus aureus. One micromole of this compound per mg membrane protein was enough for complete inhibition of the Tet(K)-mediated tetracycline transport and tetracycline-coupled proton transport, without the energy state of the membrane being affected. The mode of inhibition was non-competitive. Although this compound caused membrane de-energization at a high concentration, the IC50 value for de-energization (7.3 μmol/mg membrane protein) was about 17 times and 33 times higher than the values for Tet(K)-mediated proton/tetracycline antiport and [3H]tetracycline transport, respectively, indicating that the inhibitory action of Ro 07-3149 is not due to the uncoupling effect of the inhibitor

A novel CACNA1A nonsense variant in a patient presenting with paroxysmal exertion-induced dyskinesia

ArticleJOURNAL OF THE NEUROLOGICAL SCIENCES. 399:214-216 (2019)journal articl

A 2.75-Approximation Algorithm for the Unconstrained Traveling Tournament Problem

A 2.75-approximation algorithm is proposed for the unconstrained traveling tournament problem, which is a variant of the traveling tournament problem. For the unconstrained traveling tournament problem, this is the first proposal of an approximation algorithm with a constant approximation ratio. In addition, the proposed algorithm yields a solution that meets both the no-repeater and mirrored constraints. Computational experiments show that the algorithm generates solutions of good quality.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figur

D-Tagatose Effectively Reduces the Number of Streptococcus mutans and Oral Bacteria in Healthy Adult Subjects: A Chewing Gum Pilot Study and Randomized Clinical Trial

We examined the effect of D-Tagatose on the growth of oral bacteria including Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans). Saliva collected from 10 healthy volunteers was plated on BHI medium (to culture total oral bacteria) and MBS medium (to culture S. mutans, specifically). Agar plates of BHI or MBS containing xylitol or D-Tagatose were cultured under aerobic or anaerobic conditions. We then counted the number of colonies. In BHI plates containing D-Tagatose, a complete and significant reduction of bacteria occurred under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. In MSB medium, significant reduction of S. mutans was also observed. We then performed a doubleblind parallel randomized trial with 19 healthy volunteers. They chewed gum containing xylitol, D-Tagatose, or both for 4 weeks, and their saliva was collected weekly and plated on BHI and MSB media. These plates were cultured under anaerobic conditions. Total bacteria and S. mutans were not effectively reduced in either the D-Tagatose or xylitol gum group. However, S. mutans was significantly reduced in volunteers chewing gum containing both D-Tagatose and xylitol. Thus, D-Tagatose inhibited the growth of S. mutans and many types of oral bacteria, indicating that D-Tagatose intake may help prevent dental caries, periodontitis, and many oral diseases

Population pressure and prehistoric violence in the Yayoi period of Japan

The causes of prehistoric inter-group violence have been a subject of long-standing debate in archaeology, an- thropology, and other disciplines. Although population pressure has been considered as a major factor, due to the lack of available prehistoric data, few studies have directly examined its effect so far. In the present study, we used data on skeletal remains from the middle Yayoi period of the Japanese archipelago, where archaeologists argued that an increase of inter-group violence in this period could be explained by a population-pressure hy- pothesis. We quantitatively examine the effect of population pressure on the frequency of inter-group violence by compiling an exhaustive data set. We collected demographic information based on burial jars (kamekan) and the frequency of violence based on the ratio of injured individuals. The results are consistent with the hypothesis, i. e., high population density can promote inter-group violence