Racialization and discourses of “privileges” in the Middle Ages: Jews, “Gypsies”, and Kawaramono

The dominant contention in the sociology of racialization asserts race as a modern Western construction. However, we lack studies that juxtapose the experiences in the Trans-Atlantic with the Trans-Pacific. This article, by examining the social conditions experienced by Jews in Spain, the “Gypsies” in Romania, and the Kawaramono in Japan in the Middle Ages, claims that the racialization had already begun before European colonization. It points out a variety of parallel patterns of marginalization and racialization, including but not limited to, “monopolization” of economic activities, an ambiguous relationship with the ruling class, and the discourses of “privileges.” My examination can contribute to understanding global trends of racism and the backlash against minoritized groups associated with the mythical discourses of “privileges” facing us all in the twenty-first century

Translating and Transforming ‘Race’: Early Meiji Period Textbooks

Although it is an almost established understanding in European and North American literature that race is a social construct, the general academic and social discourses surrounding race in Japan remain outside this model. This can be traced back to school textbooks and geography books in the early Meiji period, after these concepts and words were translated and introduced from Europe and the United States. This article will examine passages related to race in textbooks from the first half of the Meiji period, in order to explore the continuities and discontinuities in the state of knowledge production surrounding race and racial discrimination in contemporary Japan. Investigating the usage of words in educational practice allows us to see how ‘race’ was a term that was located in a position different from that of other words, and how the Japanese transformed their racial position in relation to others

ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY OF GENERAL EDUCATION IN COLLEGE

The problem on textual material and education method for non-English majors of college has been discussed intensively. We have attempted a method for the students of English classes majoring medical professionals, in College of Medical Care and Technology, Gunma University. The lack of interest in English classes of general education have stemmed from the dense curriculum with specialized subjects for medical professionals in addition to the hard preparation for the entrance examination. An experimental syllabus is stated on the basis of the fact that the most effective way to remove the precreated conceptional block toward English from the students is to select suitable topics which would attract their attention. Also, an experimental method attempted for the classes of English translation into Japanese will be discussed in combined with sight translation

Theorizing People of Mixed Race in the Pacific and the Atlantic

The most extensive theoretic and empirical studies of people of mixed racial descent extant today have addressed nations across the Atlantic. This article reveals how this literature on people of mixed racial descent is limited in its claims to represent a “global model”. In contrast, we argue that by juxtaposing institutional factors in the Atlantic region and Japan we can expand our understanding of people of mixed racial descent across a far wider range of social and political terrains. A consideration of Japan uncovers a fascinating combination of factors impactful in the emergence of populations of mixed origins in the Pacific region more generally. By identifying this range of variables, we believe this analysis can be instructive for scholars of race focusing on the Atlantic and can contribute to a more encompassing approach for theorizing people of mixed racial descent

Facilitation of Fund Supply and Small Business Failures

長引く不況と金融危機の中で、各種の中小企業支援施策が繰り返されている。1998年には中小企業金融安定化保証制度(いわゆる特別信用保証制度)が設けられ、その利用は累計29兆円に及んだ。また、同年には中小3公庫にも20兆円の貸し出し枠が設けられた。こうした政府当局の積極姿勢は近年の中小企業金融を特徴づけるものだが、他方、倒産や代位弁済率の上昇による保証協会の負担増など、費用(将来負担)の発生が社会的にも無視できない状況となっている。 本研究では、まず、対中小企業貸出と信用保証政策の80年代以降の推移をマクロ時系列で概観した後に、1)倒産件数比率、2)信用保証残高、及び3)中小企業向け貸出の関係を整理し、その整理に基づいて3者の相互関係を連立方程式で推定した。具体的には、都道府県別のデータ(1995～2001年度)を用い、パネルの2変量固定効果モデルの3段階最小自乗推定を試み、中小企業貸出増進策と銀行・企業行動の関係、政策効果とコストに関する分析を行った。結果解釈のポイントは、信用保証等の90年代後半に強化された中小企業貸出策が、期待される本来機能を発揮し、優良中小企業の発展・成長に寄与していたか、それとも単なる倒産の先送りに過ぎなかったかである。 マクロ時系列の概観からは、1)90年代後半、中小企業の借入依存は異常な水準まで高まっていたこと、2)借入依存の高まりは特別保証等の中小企業金融円滑化策に後押しされていたこと、等が明らかになった。 また、都道府県データのパネル分析の結果からは、1)信用保証は中小企業向貸出を増加させ当座の倒産率を引下げることが確認された一方、特に98年度以降の時期において、2)信用保証利用の拡大が後の倒産率(代位弁済率)の上昇につながっていた、3)倒産率の上昇による信用リスクの高まりが長期的な貸出抑制につながっていた、等の事実が見出された。 本稿の分析結果は、中小企業金融円滑化策(特に98年度以降のそれ)が期待される本来の機能を十全には発揮できていない可能性を示唆している。信用保証や公庫貸出に期待されるのは、厳格な審査・情報生産で優良な企業を支え、倒産件数や代位弁済率を抑制することである。98年度以降の特別信用保証や公庫貸出は一時的に倒産を減少させたものの、次期以降の倒産・代位弁済を増加させる結果につながった。つまり、支援策は倒産を先延ばしにする効果しか生んでいなかった可能性が高い。 90年代後半に見られる中小企業の異常なまでの借入依存状況を踏まえるならば、中小企業の再生に本当に必要な対応は貸出増進ではなく、財務の健全化にあったと言えないだろうか。This paper investigates the effectiveness of policies to facilitate fund supply for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in late 1990s in Japan. We set up a panel on Japanese prefectures from FY1995 to FY2001 to estimate a system of equations of i) Lending to SMEs, ii) Credit Guarantee Outstanding, and iii) Business Failures by error components 3SLS. We found Japanese SMEs are too much indebted to pay back their borrowings from their earnings. Estimated coefficients of the system of equations suggest that, despite their high social costs, fund supply facilitation policies did nothing but delaying the timing of small business failures. SME problems in Japan cannot be dissolved by temporary credits. We would argue that what are really needed to resolve the difficulties of small firms are measures to help reorganizing heavily-indebted firms rather than the measures to promote unprofitable lending