Since the early 1990s, Steven Reed and Gary Cox have changed our understanding of Japan's multimember SNTV electoral system, by highlighting its institutional effects similar to what is known as Duverger's law in the Anglo-American context. While we offer some additional evidence to consolidate their findings, we also address an issue left unexplored in these studies, namely the role of partisan information. Under Japan's system, party labels matter in elections. We show that, while Japanese voters are generally willing (...) to abandon the candidates without affiliation with established parties, the partisan effects produce constraints for strategic coordination. (shrink)

Five major claims are made in our paper on strategic voting within the context of Japan's multimember single non-transferable vote (SNTV) electoral system (Fournier and Kohno, 2000). Two claims deal with the reconciliation of Steven Reed's (1990) and Gary Cox's (1997) important work on extending Duverger's law to the Japanese case, and three claims deal with the informational effects of partisan labels on strategic voting.

While people are still alive, we owe them respect. Yet what, if anything, do we owe the newly dead? This question is an urgent practical concern for aged societies, because older people die at higher rates than any other age group. One novel way in which Japan, the frontrunner of aged societies, meets its need to accommodate high numbers of newly dead is itai hoteru or corpse hotels. Itai hoteru offer families a way to wait for space in over‐crowded crematoriums (...) while affording an environment conducive to grieving. Drawing on conversations with itai hoteru employees, we delineate the values this contemporary death practice expresses and show how these values comprise part of the broader idea of a good death. A good death implies duties on both sides of death's divide: to both the dying and the newly dead. (shrink)

Today’s education system needs to be global. ‘World Class Education’ involves a globally accepted high standard of education. Every country needs an increasing number of highly educated people and skilled professionals in order to integrate into the globalization process. These professionals include scholars, philosophers and leaders with vision. Leaders are our human capital. The state must provide opportunities for higher education to create human capital that meets global standards. The overall development of a society is largely determined by the quality (...) of its education, especially higher education. A well-educated, well-trained population could propel a nation towards rapid economic growth. Despite lack of natural resources, countries such as Japan, Korea and Singapore have made rapid economic progress. This was because they invested heavily in education and training. On the other hand, countries such as Nigeria or Congo, despite enormous natural resources, are poor and backward because of large-scale illiteracy and lack of skilled workforce. The aim of education is to create well-trained, competent and progressive individuals who can perform all kinds of tasks and take on a lot of responsibilities. Higher education is the stage of education that takes place at the post-secondary level, and is provided mostly and most meaningfully by universities. A university introduces its students to discussions and debates that prevail in various disciplines and fields of knowledge. The objective of a university is not only to create and disseminate knowledge but also to develop human resources that will accelerate the socio-economic development of the nation. This is possible only when the employees working in these universities are motivated and empowered. To achieve this objective, universities must restructure and redesign their HRD practices and processes. In this background, the present article analyzes the existing HRD practices and processes in 10 leading universities in India and how should these universities go about transforming their HR systems and mechanisms to meet the rapidly changing environmental demands. The research approach and methodology adopted to carry out this study includes collection of primary and secondary data. Primary data has been collected by administering a well-structured and well-designed questionnaire on HRD climate survey developed by XLRI Jamshedpur. The questionnaire had been administered to 1,000 respondents selected from the 10 leading universities of India. Data from both the sources were analyzed statistically by applying various statistical tools and techniques to find the conclusions, based on which the guidelines, recommendations and policy implications were made for the improvement of HRD practices in the universities. (shrink)

Japan constitutes a very interesting and paradoxical case from the point of view of the place of trust in the processes of institution building and institutional dynamics. This problem has, of course, been the basic thrust of Durkheim's emphasis on the importance of precontractual elements for the fulfillment of contracts seemingly dealing with purely considerations. But this crucial insight has not been systematically followed up in the social science literature. Only lately it has been again taken up from within various (...) rational choice approaches which have come to recognize that continuity of patterns of social interaction and of institutional frameworks cannot be explained by purely rational-utilitarian considerations (Braithwaite and Levi, 1998; Kramer and Tyler, 1993). At the same time the more recent analyses have also pointed to some of the complexities, paradoxes; and problems of the construction of trust in social interaction and institution building. (shrink)

Stuart, SN The notorious Yasukuni shrine does not look particularly unusual to the foreign eye. Situated in metropolitan Tokyo, not far from the Ministry of Defence, it is busy with people soberly paying their brief respects, as they will do at any Shinto shrine. Several buildings are distributed over an area comparable to that of the Shrine of Remembrance reserve in Melbourne. There is a statue of a military gentleman and some bronze bas-reliefs of battle scenes, including one depicting a (...) ship's captain heroically calming his terrified men, even as the sea pours in upon them all, through a hole in the hull. Created in the nineteenth century as an imperial memorial to war dead whose names are not apparent today, the shrine authority announced in 1979 it was also accommodating the souls of fourteen executed war criminals - a provocation to pacifists ever since. But facile objection to the piety of others can obscure the historic plight of a whole people. (shrink)

Nishida Kitaro, originator of the Kyoto School and 'father of Japanese Philosophy' is usually viewed as an essentially apolitical thinker who underwent a 'turn' in the mid-1930s, becoming an ideologue of Japanese imperialism. Political Philosophy in Japan challenges the view that a neat distinction can be drawn between Nishida's apolitical 'pre-turn' writings and the apparently ideological tracts he produced during the war years. In the context of Japanese intellectual traditions, this book suggests that Nishida was a political thinker form the (...) very beginning of his career, and consequently, his later political works cannot be dismissed as peripheral to his philosophical project. Counter-intuitively however, Christopher Goto-Jones argues that a consistently political reading of his philosophy reveals a dissenting standpoint even during the height of the Pacific War. This book argues that the prevailing postwar tendency to dismiss interwar and wartime Japanese culture as fascist or ultra nationalist en total neglects a lively political discourse, which contained some serous and profound political insight and even dissent. By suggesting that Nishida tetsugaku was a voice of dissent during Japan's Great East Asia War, Goto-Jones presents a case for the rehabilitation of Nishida as a political thinker, and as an example of a Japanese resistance, able to make a valuable contribution to contemporary debates about international political, globalization , and inter-cultural relations. Offering a unique and potentially controversial view of the subject of Nishida and the Kyoto School, The Political Philosophy of Japan will be of huge interest to anyone studying Japanese History, Political Philosophy and comparative philosophy alike. (shrink)

ABSTRACTThe article opens with a discussion of recent theoretical and methodological innovations in the field of comparative philosophy. In this regard, I propose and explain a new possible method of contrasting particular aspects of divergent philosophical texts or discourses and denote it as a ‘philosophy of sublation’. Then, the paper provides a concrete example for such a post-comparative method of reasoning, I will try to apply a ‘sublation philosophy’ approach for a reinterpretation of certain aspects of the complex philosophical intersections (...) between modern Japanese and Chinese philosophies through the lens of a contrastive analysis of Nishida Kitarō’s and Mou Zongsan’s dialectical thought. In this way, I hope to shed some new light upon some general questions regarding different models of dialectics. (shrink)

OBJECTIVES: Life-sustaining treatment at the end of life gives rise to many ethical problems in Japan. Recent surveys of Japanese physicians suggested that they tend to treat terminally ill patients aggressively. We studied why Japanese physicians were reluctant to withhold or withdraw life-support from terminally ill patients and what affected their decisions. DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS: A qualitative study design was employed, using a focus group interview with seven physicians, to gain an in-depth understanding of attitudes and rationales in Japan regarding (...) medical care at the end of life. RESULTS: Analysis revealed that physicians and patients' family members usually make decisions about life-sustaining treatment, while the patients' wishes are unavailable or not taken into account. Both physicians and family members tend to consider withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment as abandonment or even killing. The strongest reason to start cardiopulmonary resuscitation- and to continue it until patients' family members arrive-seems to be the family members' desire to be at the bedside at the time of death. All physicians participating in our study regarded advance directives that provide information as to patients' wishes about life-sustaining treatment desirable. All expressed concern, however, that it would be difficult to forego or discontinue life-support based on a patient's advance directive, particularly when the patient's family opposed the directive. CONCLUSION: Our group interview suggested several possible barriers to death with dignity and the appropriate use of advance directives in Japan. Further qualitative and quantitative research in this regard is needed. (shrink)

Disturbing international inequalities in health abound. Life expectancy in Swaziland is half that in Japan. A child unfortunate enough to be born in Angola has 73 times as great a chance of dying before age 5 as a child born in Norway. A mother giving birth in southern sub-Saharan Africa has 100 times as great a chance of dying from her labor as one birthing in an industrialized country. For every mile one travels outward toward the Maryland suburbs from downtown (...) Washington, DC on its underground rail system, life expectancy rises by a year – reflecting the race and class inequities in American health. Are the glaring, even larger, international health inequalities also unjust? -/- All of us no doubt think they are grossly unfortunate. Many of us think they are unfair or unjust. Why should some people be at such a health disadvantage through no fault of their own, losers in a natural and social lottery assigning them birth in an unhealthy place? Others of us are troubled by the absence of the kinds of human relationships that ordinarily give rise to the claims of egalitarian justice that we make on each other – for example, being fellow citizens or even interacting in a cooperative scheme. Who has obligations of justice to reduce these international inequalities? And do those obligations hold regardless of how the inequalities came about? What institutions are accountable for addressing them? (shrink)

This article, reporting on selected data from a larger study, discusses some responses to end-of-life questions that elderly Japanese people who were living in small towns gave in a questionnaire survey. Japan is now the country with the largest number of elderly people in the world and confronts numerous social and economic questions concerning how best to cope with its older population. Although it is a highly urbanized society, Japan also has large semirural areas. The focus here is on the (...) questions in the survey that sought responses to ethical dimensions of end-of-life issues. The findings demonstrate the strength of traditional values that still exist throughout small towns in Japan. (shrink)

Stigmatization and sharming of healthcare workers in Japan during the coronavirus 2019 pandemic reveal uniquely Japanese features. Seken, usually translated as ‘social appearance or appearance in the eyes of others,’ is a deep undercurrent woven into the fabric of Japanese life. It has led to providers who become ill with the SARS-CoV-2 virus feeling ashamed, while concealing their conditions from coworkers and public health officials. It also has led to healthcare providers being perceived as polluted and their children being told (...) they were not welcome in schools. Although such experiences are not isolated to Japan and have appeared in other parts of the world, the cultural forces driving them in Japan are unique. Overcoming stigmatization and shaming of Japanese healthcare providers will require concerted efforts to understand cultural barriers and to view such practices as raising human rights issues affecting the safety and well-being of all. (shrink)

This article explores the relationship between diversification and energy security risks. It uses portfolio theory to conceptualise energy security as an insurance mechanism against disruptions to energy import markets. It provides quantitative measures of systematic and specific risks associated with Japanese energy imports during the period 1970—99. It suggests that Japan's policy of diversification of energy import sources has reduced specific risks, although fundamental changes in the political and economic structure of international energy and, in particular, oil markets have also (...) significantly reduced systematic risks. The article concludes that, despite their limitations, portfolio measures provide a much more theoretically and methodologically robust indicator of energy import security than traditional measures of dependence. (shrink)

This is an excellent compilation of essays honoring the seventieth birthday of Joseph Needham. Sivin’s preface plausibly argues for the thesis that, "since the theoretical and practical approaches seem in traditional societies everywhere to have formed a unity with the social, political, and spiritual aspects of life, the reader can enrich his understanding of the latter to the extent that he is aware of the former". The essays belong to two complementary parts. The first four essays by Derek J. de (...) Solla Price, S. Nakayama, A. C. Graham, and Mitukuni Yosida furnish valuable critical aids and perspectives on Needham’s monumental work, Science and Civilization in China. The first three essays contain matters of philosophical interest. The remaining five essays display a variety of representative approaches to Chinese science in the areas of astronomy, Mohist optics, elixir plants, medicine and anesthesia in China and Japan. (shrink)

This article, reporting on selected data from a larger study, discusses some responses to end-of-life questions that elderly Japanese people who were living in small towns gave in a questionnaire survey. Japan is now the country with the largest number of elderly people in the world and confronts numerous social and economic questions concerning how best to cope with its older population. Although it is a highly urbanized society, Japan also has large semirural areas. The focus here is on the (...) questions in the survey that sought responses to ethical dimensions of end-of-life issues. The findings demonstrate the strength of traditional values that still exist throughout small towns in Japan. (shrink)

Societies of the East are often contrasted with those of the West in their stances toward technology. This paper explores these perceived differences in the context of international ethics guidance for artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics. Japan serves as an example of the East, while Europe and North America serve as examples of the West. The paper’s principal aim is to demonstrate that Western values predominate in international ethics guidance and that Japanese values serve as a much-needed corrective. We recommend (...) a hybrid approach that is more inclusive and truly ‘international’. Following an introduction, the paper examines distinct stances toward robots that emerged in the West and Japan, respectively, during the aftermath of the Second World War, reflecting history and popular culture, socio-economic conditions, and religious worldviews. It shows how international ethics guidelines reflect these disparate stances, drawing on a 2019 scoping review that examined 84 international AI ethics documents. These documents are heavily skewed toward precautionary values associated with the West and cite the optimistic values associated with Japan less frequently. Drawing insights from Japan’s so-called ‘moonshot goals’, the paper fleshes out Japanese values in greater detail and shows how to incorporate them more effectively in international ethics guidelines for AI and robotics. (shrink)