Environmental Management Systems for Public Sector

International interests in improving environmental management practices in both the public and private sector have increased. Many surveys relating to environmental management systems (EMS) in particular have been conducted, but these have focused primarily on the private sector, especially in manufacturing. While the surveys and questionnaires explain the standard itself and how to implement EMS, no comparative analysis have been made that exceed specific economic region and/ or country. This paper focuses on the public sector. The objective is to assess the social meaning of EMS for the public sector. The information presented in this paper is comprised of an empirical survey in Japan as compare to the EU and United States. It includes environmental reports, government material and field survey information. Public sectors with EMS in these regions not only succeed in controlling environmental impact (including daily activity, public works and procurement), but may improve the sustainability of the production and consumption behavior of other economic sector by applying EMS in their policy. These activities may serve as a model for other regions.

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