A Phenomenological Study of “Herbivore Men”

From 2008 to 2009, “herbivore men (sôshoku danshi or sôshoku-kei danshi in Japanese)” became a trendy, widely used term in Japanese. It flourished in all sorts of media, including TV, the Internet, newspapers and magazines, and could even occasionally be heard in everyday conversation. As it became more popular its original meaning was diversified, and people began to use it with a variety of different nuances. In December of 2009 it made the top ten list of nominees for the “Buzzword of the Year” contest sponsored by U-CAN. By 2010 it had become a standard noun, and right now, in 2011, people do not seem particularly interested in it. Buzzwords have a short lifespan, so there is a high probability that it will soon fall out of use. The fact remains, however, that the appearance of this term has radically changed the way people look at young men. It can perhaps even be described as an epochal event in the history of the male gender in Japan

Feminism, Disability, and Brain Death :Alternative Voices from Japanese Bioethics

Japanese bioethics has created a variety of important ideas that have not yet been reflected on mainstream bioethics discourses in the English-speaking world, which include “the swaying of the confused self” in the field of feminism, “inner eugenic thought” concerning disability, and “human relationship-oriented approaches to brain death.” In this paper, I will examine them more closely, and consider what bioethics in Japan can contribute to the development of an international discussion on philosophy of life

Rédiger un texte en France et au Japon : quelles différences ?

International audienceCette conférence a pour objectif de décrire comment les conventions textuelles diffèrent lorsque l'on rédige en français ou en japonais et d'expliquer ces différences du point de vue de la rhétorique contrastive. D'après celle-ci, la logique textuelle qui est la base de la rhétorique, se développe à partir d'une culture ; elle n'est donc pas universelle. Ce relativisme langagier est trop souvent méconnu dans l'enseignement et cause des problèmes dans les communications interculturelles. Nous illustrerons certaines difficultés des apprenants japonais en FLE en citant leurs productions et montrerons quelques caractéristiques des textes japonais. Celles-ci dérangent les enseignants qui sont des locuteurs natifs du français si elles sont réalisées dans cette langue. Même si la conférence traitera principalement le cas des Japonais, le problème soulevé concerne également d'autres apprenants de FLE, surtout lorsque leur culture est éloignée de la culture française

Le FLE et les applications des études de corpus au Japon

International audiencecorpus d'apprenants, japonophone, français langue étrangère, histoire de l'enseignement du français, françai

Simplified flocculation model for inorganic and polymer flocculants

Simulation of the flocculation process using both inorganic and polymer flocculants is very difficult because there are many factors that influence the process. In this study, a model that enables the visual understanding of the qualitative trends of the flocculation system using both inorganic and polymer flocculants is proposed. It is a simplified one-dimensional model that expresses flocculation under various additive manners of the flocculant. Various kinds of thought experiments as well as experimental runs with model flocculants were carried out based on the model; the results demonstrate that the model can express many empirical qualitative trends of flocculation

Effect of intermittent addition on turbidity removal by polymer flocculant: computer simulation of simplified flocculation model

Since there are many factors which influence the process of flocculation by polymer flocculant, the scientific understanding of the flocculation mechanism is still under discussion. We have proposed a simple bridging model which expresses flocculation under various additive manners of the flocculant and enables the understanding of qualitative trends of the flocculation system. In this study, from the simulated results based on the model and experimental data, we obtained the following knowledge. 1) The intermittent addition of polymer flocculant gives better and reproducible turbidity removal. 2) The optimum dosage, which results in maximum turbidity removal in a given manner of addition, increases as the number of doses under the intermittent addition increases. 3) At a given amount of primary particles, the reproducibility at the optimum dosage of the 1-time dose is the worst among all results, irrespective of the additive manner. It could, therefore, be concluded that all these findings are originated from the difference of probability of bridging formation among particles under various additive manners

Post-Opening Deformation History of the Japan Sea Back-Arc Basin: Tectonic Processes on an Active Margin Governed by the Mode of Plate Convergence

Three-dimensional structure of the Japan Sea back-arc basin is investigated based on an extensive reflection seismic survey. The process of the Oligocene to early Miocene rifting is described in reference to a geologic database, and the most likely paleoreconstruction of rifted continental fragments is presented. The back-arc region has been subjected to intermittent post-opening deformation events, which the author regards as side effects of temporal shifts in the convergence mode of the Philippine Sea Plate (PSP). The southern shelf of the Japan Sea appears to have suffered North-South strong contraction for a short period of time during the latest Miocene. Resumed convergence of the PSP was responsible for the regional tectonic event because frequent igneous intrusions within the upper Miocene series upon the back-arc shelf, which was confirmed by a borehole stratigraphic study, are suggestive of revitalized arc volcanism linked to dehydration of the subducted slab. During the Quaternary period, confined structure in varied forms developed on the shelf, which is related to the dextral wrench deformation of southwest Japan and the eventual arc-parallel crustal breakup along the back-arc region. Simultaneous highly oblique subduction of the PSP provoked the prevailing shear stress and conspicuous neotectonic deformation

Abnormalities of the First Three Steps of Gait Initiation in Patients with Parkinson's Disease with Freezing of Gait

The purpose of this study was to investigate abnormalities of the first three steps of gait initiation in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) with freezing of gait (FOG). Ten PD patients with FOG and 10 age-matched healthy controls performed self-generated gait initiation. The center of pressure (COP), heel contact positions, and spatiotemporal parameters were estimated from the vertical pressures on the surface of the force platform. The initial swing side of gait initiation was consistent among the trials in healthy controls but not among the trials in PD patients. The COP and the heel contact position deviated to the initial swing side during the first step, and the COP passed medial to each heel contact position during the first two steps in PD patients. Medial deviation of the COP from the first heel contact position had significant correlation with FOG questionnaire item 5. These findings indicate that weight shifting between the legs is abnormal and that medial deviation of the COP from the first heel contact position sensitively reflects the severity of FOG during the first three steps of gait initiation in PD patients with FOG

Does Death Give Meaning to Life?

Some people claim that death makes our lives meaningless. Bernard Williams and Viktor Frankl have made the opposite claim that death gives meaning to life. Although there has been much scrutiny of the former claim, the latter claim has received very little attention. In this paper, I will explore whether and how death gives meaning to our lives. As I will argue, there is not sufficient support for the strong claim that death is necessary for one's life to be meaningful. However, there is support for the more limited conclusion that our finitude enhances or upholds the meaning in the lives of some individuals in four different ways

Manga and Philosophy : Why Was the Book "Manga Introduction to Philosophy" Written?

Slightly modified PowerPoint slides in the PDF format presented at the first conference of the European Network of Japanese Philosophy, Barcelona, Spain. (December 4th, 2015)