Japan Today Research Articles

Global Zen Buddhism—Looking at the Popular and Material Cultures of Zen

The contributors to this special issue participated in a workshop on and popular and material culture convened at Heidelberg University in 2012. We aimed to understand the global potentials of contemporary Buddhism, as well as the challenges Buddhist institutions are facing in the course of Zen's shifting role in the religious marketplace. This transformation of is rooted in Buddhist reform efforts and movements in late nineteenth-century Meiji Japan, when government officials frequently and increasingly criticized Buddhism as a product of decline and degeneration. Anti-Buddhist riots in Japan resulted in the destruction of Buddhist temples, statues, and ritual objects in a movement that is known as haibutsu kishaku (abolish Buddhism and destroy Shakyamuni) (Ketelaar, 1990). The persistent academic discourse on early modern (Edo Period) Buddhist decadence that developed in the context of Meiji Japan (1868-1912) was directly connected to responses to this movement, which extended well into the 1870s, as well as to inter- and intra-sectarian Buddhist criticism in Japan (Klautau, 2008). Both Asian and Western reformers sought to develop a new Buddhism that was compatible with Western concepts of modernity, rationality, and the natural sciences (Sharf, 1993; McMahan, 2008).1Literature on Buddhism by D. T. Suzuki and other authors found recognition in the West during the first half of the twentieth century, but it was only after the 1950s that Buddhist practice found a wider audience outside Japan (Fields, 1992; Offermanns, 2002). Transformations of Buddhism occurred in the process of its translation and transfer to the West. came to be known as an epitome of religious experience (Sharf, 1998) with a particular emphasis on meditation (Sharf, 1995; Borup, 2004; McMahan, 2008). Shunryu Suzuki's role in popularizing Buddhist practices in the United States can be compared with Taisen Deshimaru's efforts in Europe. Both were pioneers of in the West and served as teachers or initiators of numerous Buddhist groups, networks, and institutions. This global spread of Buddhism (see Rocha, 2006 for in Brazil) emerged along with the spread of ritual sitting ( zazen; see Faure, 1991), understood as meditation, which became the best-known practice in the modern world. Across the globe, sitting in silence continues to fascinate individuals in their search for enlightenment and a spiritual self, a temporary release from stress, and the desire for well-being and healing. It is within this context that Buddhist practice spread beyond Buddhist institutions and groups into therapeutic, wellness, and healthcare programs.This special issue seeks to contribute to recent research on contemporary Buddhism and the ways in which was shaped to negotiate modern concepts of religion, spirituality, and individual identity. However, questions remain as to how this transformation of Buddhism has altered forms of social and cultural organization in the West and in Japan. Further empirical proof is needed, notably when it comes to answering if the re-import and re-invention of modern and transculturally shaped concepts of have a lasting impact on practitioners and their self -understanding in Japan today. Global Zen is not representative of Buddhism as practiced at the great majority of Buddhist temples in Japan, which are primarily concerned with rituals and death (Covell, 2005; Rowe, 2011; Nelson, 2013). Modern and transculturally shaped concepts of Zen, however, continue to float and be transformed within and beyond institutionalized religion in Japan, as shown by the case studies presented in this volume. appears in global brands, in commercials, in books and lifestyle magazines, some of which promote as a way of transforming and optimizing the self, while others depict as an everyday down-to-earth practice beyond zazen, and notably as a marker for cultural and sectarian identity. …

Two kinds of feng-shui history in Japan: science and divination

Two kinds of feng-shui history in Japan: science and divination

Current Situation and Clinical Characteristics of Sedative-Related Disorder Patients in Japan: Comparison with Methamphetamine-Related Disorder Patients

The purpose of the present study was to examine the current situation regarding sedative (mainly benzodiazepines)-related disorder in Japan and the clinical characteristics of Japanese patients with this disorder. Subjects were 671 drug-related disorder patients diagnosed according to the ICD-10 classification as "F1: mental and behavioural disorders due to psychoactive substance use," who abused psychoactive substances other than alcohol. Of all the psychiatric hospitals in Japan between September and October 2010, these drug-related disorder patients had consecutively consulted or were admitted to 153 psychiatric hospitals. The present study was conducted by means of a mail survey. Subjects' clinical information, including history of psychoactive substance use, means of access to the primary drug of abuse, other ICD-10 diagnoses including the F1 subcategory and comorbid psychiatric disorders, and recent history of self-destructive behavior, were collected from the attending psychiatrists of each subject. The data thus gathered concerning sedative-related disorder patients were compared with those of patients with methamphetamine-related disorder, which has been the most serious drug-related problem in Japan since the 1950s. Out of the 671 subjects, 119 patients mainly abusing sedatives (SRD group) were identified, while 361 patients were identified as mainly abusing methamphetamine (MRD group). The MRD group was the largest population (53.8% of the total subjects), followed by the SRD group (17.7%), and then the inhalant-related disorder group with 56 patients (8. 3%). Compared with the MRD group, the SRD group was younger, contained more female patients, and had a lower incidence of a history of involvement with anti-social societies and anti-social behavior. Patients in the SRD group were more likely to have started abusing drugs with the intention of reducing the unpleasant symptoms of insomnia (42.9%), anxiety (26.1%), and depression (16.0%), and to acquire the drugs they abused from medical institutions such as psychiatric or primary care clinics (82.1%), while patients in the MRD group were more likely to have started out of curiosity (35.1%) or in response to peer pressure (47. 1%), and to acquire their drugs from a "pusher" (32.8%). Additionally, in the SRD group, the ICD-10 F1 subcategory diagnoses that were the clinically most important were "dependence syndrome" (64.0%), "harmful use" (16.2%), and "acute intoxication" (16.2%), while the most important subcategory diagnosis in the MRD group was "psychotic disorder" (34.3%) and "residual disorder and late-onset psychotic disorder" (32.9%). Further, comorbid psychiatric disorders were more frequently found in the SRD group than in the MRD group; notably, co-occurrence of mood disorder was found in 45.0% of the SRD group in contrast to the MRD group (11.9%). Recent episodes of deliberate self-harm behavior were also more frequently found in the SRD group than the MRD group (33.6 vs. 10.5%, respectively) ; the major means by which these patients harmed themselves was by overdosing on prescribed drugs (23.5 vs. 4.7%, respectively). The present study suggests that sedative-related disorder is an important clinical issue in the field of drug-related disorders in Japan today, and that SRD patients may represent a distinct type of drug abuser whose clinical characteristics are different from those of MRD patients. The development and spread of treatment programs for "dependence syndrome" and "harmful use" will help SRD patients, and educating psychiatrists about SRD will help prevent future sedative abuse.

Phatic Traces: Sociality in Contemporary Japan

Widely recognized as a social problem in Japan, kodokushi (solitary death) stereotypically happens when old people living alone, detached from kin and neighbors, die alone without being noticed immediately, leaving the body to decompose. Reorganizing Japanese discourses of kinship, locality, and other modalities of “connection” ( en ), practices and projects concerning solitary death articulate an emergent fantasy of sociality. I analyze this fantasy as an ideology of communication that draws upon idioms of “contact,” or phaticity: “touching-together” ( fureai ), “connecting” ( tsunagari ), and so on. Due recognition of such an ideology reveals different ways in which sociality is understood in Japan today. Reclaiming the concept of phaticity through a more explicit theoretical metalanguage, I offer an exploration of the cultural concept of en to suggest that the condition of solitude transpires in an interstice between two qualitatively different chronotopes of sociality.

2P1-P09 橋梁調査・点検ロボットシステムの構築

Among various construction problems facing us in today's Japan are rapidly aging society, decrease in constructor, etc. Therefore, there is an urgent development of a robot to assist the construction industry. However, there is not raised remarkable achievements now. Particularly, in the field of the bridge investigation and inspection, a lot of robotization is considered to be a prime task when location is severe environment. However, it is the present conditions that inspection often becomes difficult, and clear result is not achieved by climatic condition. Next, we compared the 3 different types of robot the respective specifications. Therefore, we have developed a new bridge investigation and inspection robot system RoBInS that does not depend on the weather conditions. In addition, we report the demonstration experiment.

Wild harvesting declines as pesticides and imports rise: the collection and consumption of insects in contemporary rural Japan

Entomophagy is a traditional element of the Japanese diet. This is also the case in other Asian countries, where there is an increase in demand for edible insects. However, in Westernised countries in a similar economic position to contemporary Japan, cultural prejudices against traditional entomophagy remain strong. This article offers an overview of the current situation regarding entomophagy in rural Japan, a country with a high gross domestic product per capita that has undergone a degree of Westernisation in recent decades. Data collected during 12 months of fieldwork in rural central Japan shows that traditional entomophagy is still present, but the diversity of species consumed has seen a marked decrease when compared to studies undertaken in the 1980s. Grasshoppers (Oxya spp.) and wasp larvae (Vespula spp.) are the main insects consumed in Japan today. Insects hold some negative connotations, especially among younger Japanese. Elderly people are more likely to have consumed edible insects, and contend that the availability of wild insects, particularly grasshoppers, has declined considerably since their childhood. Sellers of edible insects also report a decrease in availability within Japan, and now turn to imported insects to meet domestic demand, which is increasing. Both sellers and consumers attribute this trend to the use of pesticides in the final quarter of the twentieth century. Further research is required to evaluate the potential of domestic insects to meet the rising demand for edible insects in contemporary Japan.

Gender, Maturity, and “Going out into the World”: Self-Referent Term Choice at Ogasawara Middle School

����� ��� The belief that women and men should use different first-person referent terms in casual, everyday contexts in Japan is a linguistic ideology based on the ideological construct that “women’s language” does and should exist. 1 While women’s language is imagined to have been an eternal feature of the Japanese language, it is, in fact, a contemporary construct, an ideology about gender and gendered expression that assumed a particular form during the Meiji period. What constitutes women’s language or other linguistic practices is not static, however, and the symbolic meanings particular terms assume continue to be reworked. At the same time, particular meanings that persist do so because they are actively reproduced. Historically, perceived linguistic corruption has been linked to moral corruption in Japanese women. Because women stand as symbolic barometers of cultural change and the loss of tradition, the perceived waning of women’s language presents an overt sign of (national) disorder. 2 As Shigeko Okamoto, Hideko Reynolds, Miyako Inoue, and others have found, both men and women continue to monitor and evaluate the degree to which women’s actual speech follows the norms of women’s language. 3 At the root of the critique and monitoring of women’s speech are ideas about who women are and should be. Public fear over the corruption of women’s language takes various forms, illustrating that the construct of women’s language is alive and well in Japan today. In this paper, I examine how middle-school girls navigate the gendered world of self and self-reference through their choice of self-referent terms. The students’ exegesis

Acceptance and Transformation of English Educational Theory in Japan: On Student-Centered Education

In Japan, various theories and methodologies of English education born in other counties have been practiced, but the result has left a lot to be desired. Still, each theory has its own sociocultural background. When theory goes beyond its culture and locality, it transforms by losing its originality and absorbing new elements from a different sociocultural background. The transformation sometimes happens due to other reasons such as misinterpretation, imprecise translation, etc. In Japan of today, technical terms of pedagogy, such as facilitator, empowerment, and contract, are popular in English education. Those terms were introduced by Carl Rogers, an American humanistic psychologist and educator who established an education theory, Student-Centered Education. Rogers’ technical terms as well as his educational theory are often misunderstood or not taken from the full content in Japan. In this essay, I present some examples of common misunderstanding and misuse of Student-Centered Education in Japan caused by scholars’ incomplete research, ignoring the difference of the subject such as student’s age, impact from Learner-Centered Education, and sociocultural background difference between the U.S. and Japan. It is natural that theory transforms when it reaches to a different environment. If an imported educational theory does not work as expected, it is important to consider the fact that theory may been changed. One needs to examine the reasons why it has deviated from its original principle and adjust the theory when applying it to the student.

International and domestic challenges to Japan's postwar security identity: ‘norm constructivism’ and Japan's new ‘proactive pacifism’

Japan today is widely portrayed as on the verge of a significant identity shift that could lead to dramatic new security policies. Yet, Japan's first formal national security strategy, adopted in December 2013, proclaims repeatedly Japan's long-standing ‘peace-loving’ policies and principles. Why does a conservative government with high levels of popular support not pursue policies more in line with views widely reported to be central to its values and outlook? The answer lies in Japan's long-standing security identity of domestic antimilitarism, an identity under siege to a degree not seen since its creation over 50 years ago, but – as evidenced in Japan's new national strategy document – one that continues to shape both the framing of Japan's national security debates and the institutions of Japan's postwar security policy-making process. Relational approaches to identity construction illuminate challenges to Japan's dominant security identity, but a focus on domestic institutions and electoral politics offers the best course for modeling identity construction and predicting its future resilience.

Fenomena Pergeseran Budaya Pemberian Hadiah (贈答文化(ぞうとうぶんか)) dalam Tradisi Masyarakat Jepang

In Japan there is a culture of gift-giving, known as zōtōbunka. This culture is done every year in summer and winter to honor superiors or to maintain relationships between relatives. With the development of times and the incidence of financial crisis in the 1990s, this culture began to be abandoned by the Japanese because of various factors including the economic factors of capitalist society. This study analyzed using descriptive analytical approach with the main data corpus of books, electronic books, websites on the internet, news articles, magazines, and so on. Culture of gift-giving in Japan is explained also with cultural history that originated in China and the trend in Japan today. The conclusion of this paper described the problems in Japan's culture of gift-giving in addition to economic problems, the problem stems from a change or transition from an agrarian society to capitalist society.

SY01-5 * CURRENT CONDITIONS AND TREATMENT OF PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE IN JAPAN

The prescription drug abuse is a growing problem in Japan today. Above all, sedatives and hypnotics related disorders are significant clinical issues. The current study shows that in Japan, sedatives and hypnotics are the third largest group (15.1%) of drugs to be misused by patients with addiction disorders, following methamphetamines (42.0%), and designer-drugs (16.3%). Sedatives and hypnotics are mostly prescribed by psychiatrists. Oversupply of medications and overlapping prescriptions may increase the risk of drug abuse and dependence. Another study shows that it is common for suicide completers to overdose on prescribed drugs as supplementary means of suicide. The 2010 Report of the International Narcotics Control Board indicates that the high consumption levels of benzodiazepine sedative-hypnotics observed in Japan might reflect inappropriate prescribing patterns and associated abuse. This presentation will highlight the current situation regarding prescription drug abuse in Japan and focus on the available treatment strategies.

What lessons can socioeconomic changes in Japan give to the transportation industry?

Currently, Japan is confronting several major socioeconomic changes, which in turn are the primary causes behind transportation issues surfacing in Japan. These changes in socioeconomics can be identified in the four categories of declining birthrate in an aging population, globalization, technological innovation, and improvements in standard of living. In private and public transportation, technological innovation may impact maintenance of the transportation infrastructure by complicating user behavior. Further, improvements in the standard of living foster expectations of profit from demand for tourism even though these expectations are fraught with issues created by globalization. In terms of traffic safety, strategic measures against accidents are expected, with flags raised regarding changes in human behavior due to technological innovation, and suggestions to aim measures toward bicycle transportation through improved standards of living. By sufficiently investigating these socioeconomic factors that color Japan today and the transportation issues that they cause, other countries that may witness similar experiences may learn important lessons.

Bushido and Medical Professionalism in Japan

Medical professionalism has become a core topic in medical education. As it has been considered mostly from a Western perspective, there is a need to examine how the same or similar concepts are reflected in a wider range of cultural contexts. To gain insights into medical professionalism concepts in Japanese culture, the authors compare the tenets of a frequently referenced Western guide to professionalism (the physician charter proposed by the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation, American College of Physicians Foundation, and the European Federation of Internal Medicine) with the concepts of Bushido, a Japanese code of personal conduct originating from the ancient samurai warriors. The authors also present survey evidence about how a group of present-day Japanese doctors view the values of Bushido.Cultural scholars have demonstrated Bushido’s continuing influence on Japanese people today. The authors explain the seven main virtues of Bushido (e.g., rectitude), describe the similarities and differences between Bushido and the physician charter, and speculate on factors that may account for the differences, including the influence of religion, how much the group versus the individual is emphasized in a culture, and what emphasis is given to virtue-based versus duty-based ethics.The authors suggest that for those who are teaching and practicing in Japan today, Bushido’s virtues are applicable when considering medical professionalism and merit further study. They urge that there be a richer discussion, from the viewpoints of different cultures, on the meaning of professionalism in today’s health care practice.

Who Is the Global Fuel Cell Leader Today? What the United States Needs to Do to Get Back in the Lead

Three government entities have vigorously competed for leadership in the fuel cell field—the EU (the European Union in combination with individual European state government), Japan, and the United States. For many years, Japan had no significant fuel cell accomplishments, nor had it successfully brought to market fuel cell products. Yet today Japan is leading the world in fuel cell market share. How did they do it? The story is simple. It worked out a long term plan and stuck with it. Key laws were enacted to address the inferior science and technology competence in Japan and promote originality, inventiveness, and entrepreneurship. Second, the government ensured that the laws were implemented by all the relevant ministries. Third, policy initiatives were developed to promote fuel cell technology, which were supported by the entire government, including the Prime Minister’s office. Fourth, the government published ambitious fuel cell roadmaps and demonstrated consistent and strong leadership to ensure that industry joined forces with the government. Finally, the government provided a robust and stable fuel cell budget. As a result, Japan now leads the world in fuel cell patents and has the largest market for fuel cell products in the world. Comparisons with the EU and US programs suggest that Japan could remain the leader for some time to come, unless the US adopts a new strategy for fuel cell development. This strategy will require building a political consensus between government and industry as well as undertaking substantial changes to R&D programs and management.

A Next-Generation Recipe Recommendation System for Health and Environment

 Abstract—In recent years, recipe search sites have proliferated with the spread of the Internet and the smartphone. Many recipes are available on the Web. In addition, today's Japan is experiencing problems such as aging and the increase in persons suffering from lifestyle-related disease due to westernization of their eating habits. It is often necessary for them to manage their eating habits. For home-bound aging and living alone, having to think about a menu every day is a major burden. At the same time, as the carbon dioxide emission of the whole world increases year by year, significant action on carbon dioxide reduction is underway in Japan. For example, there is a Carbon Foot Print (CFP) on which the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries works. This study seeks to support menu management and the construction of a system which is conscious of the carbon dioxide emission associated with a given meal. It uses recipes on the Web and prepares a recommended menu. We propose a system that displays the carbon dioxide emission of each menu. Finally, we had subjects use this system and determined the effectiveness of this study by performing a user evaluation.

Models of schooling in the global age: the case of Japan

In sum, in Japan today, we see a society that shares many educational trends with the rest of the world (e.g. globalization), while maintaining distinct features of its model of schooling. Some parts of this model have been introduced internationally, while other parts of it are seen as domestic.

Introduction to the Special Issue

Asian Perspective 38 (2014), 179-182 Introduction to the Special Issue GregoryJ. Moore While not new, the dispute between China and Japan over the Diaoyu (as they are called in China) or Senkaku (as they are called in Japan) Islands has brought the bilateral relationship to new lows and threatens to derail altogether the pragmatic SinoJapanese relationship forged between the two in the 1970s. In fact, Japanese prime minister Abe Shinzo has said that China and Japan today face a situation similar to that faced by Germany and Great Britain in 1914, a statement that made some listeners acutely uncomfortable, either because they feared he was right or because they were disturbed that he sees China as analogous to Germany—or both. The islands issue has increasingly become the primary source oftension between China and Japan, or at least the place where the tension is most clearly visible. In this special issue we look at the Diaoyu/Senkaku dispute as an increasingly important issue in its own right. We aim to answer the following questions: What exactly is at issue between Beijing and Tokyo, or more specifically, what do they want and why can’t they agree? Why now, after so many years, has this issue surfaced with such force? How dangerous is this dispute to the bilateral relationship and to regional peace and security? Finally, is there hope of peaceful resolution of this dispute, and if so, where does that hope lie and how might it be achieved? The seeds for this special issue were sown in December 2012, at an international conference hosted by Zhejiang University in Hangzhou. The conference included participants from China, Tai­ wan, Japan, the United States, South Korea, and the United King­ dom, among others. All of the papers in this special issue were first presented at the conference and were selected for inclusion here because of their quality, the useful perspectives they repre­ sent, and the different yet complementary tasks they undertake. Mark Valencia is to my mind the best in the business when it 179 180 Introduction to the Special Issue The Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands JAPAN Pacific Ocean PHILIPPINES^ J w C3 0 Vs Disputed Diaoyu/ Senkaku Islands comes to maritime dispute analysis, and in his article argues that China and Japan must agree on three basic issues before a more comprehensive agreement on Diaoyu/Senkaku can be achieved. They must agree, first, on the existence of a dispute (currently Japan does not agree); second, on a unified boundary accounting for China’s continental shelf claims and Japan’s claims of an Exclusive Economic Zone; and third, on the joint development of fisheries, minerals, and hydrocarbon resources. Valencia is confi­ dent that if the sides start with these, they can resolve their mar­ itime disputes. In my own article I focus primarily on the 2012 island nation­ alization issue and the Sino-Japanese fallout thereafter. My con­ clusion is that we should try to understand this specific event as well as the broader Sino-Japanese relationship from the perspec­ tive of “face politics” and domestic politics. Both governments have shown themselves to be extremely sensitive to issues of face at home and with regard to the other, and neither government has been sensitive to the face needs of the other, leading to an escala­ Gregory J. Moore 181 tion of conflict and a perceived zero-sum situation. I don’t believe a resolution of the Diaoyu/Senkaku dispute is possible unless both sides’ face needs are met at various levels. Kazuhiko Togo has a long career as both a diplomat and a scholar. He puts those skills to work by identifying three agree­ ments that Chinese and Japanese policymakers can make to pro­ mote agreement on the islands dispute: first, that China refrains from entering waters claimed by Japan; second, that Japan contin­ ues its policy of three nos (“not to land, not to investigate, and not to build”); and third, that both sides develop confidence-building measures so as to avoid direct military collisions. He also con­ cludes that the two sides could learn from the Japan-USSR/Russia dialogues on the Northern Territories (Kurile Islands), claimed by Japan but occupied...

Social Problems Caused by Undercover Marketing and Social Media Traces in Japan

According to Sigmund Freud’s thesis “The Ego and the Id,” it is difficult for humans to control our desires consciously, but it is easy for us to be influenced by other people’s desires unconsciously(Freud 1990). For example, to take on other people’s desires is similar to adjusting to an established order or to sharing a sense of community. Therefore, successful advertisements or recommendations must imply popularity. However, if advertisements and others’ recommendations somehow lose their credibility, how does our desire unconsciously change? Undercover marketing has recently become popular on Japanese websites. To take just three examples from 2012, a celebrity made a pseudo-advertisement blog; the most famous restaurant ranking site was found to have manipulated its rankings; and the most famous cosmetics distribution site hired people for working to artificially raise evaluation scores. Simultaneously, social media has begun gathering large amounts of personal data to use for undercover marketing. In this thesis, I compare undercover marketing in Japan today with a similar phenomenon from the classical marketing history of Japan, called Sakura, a doughnutter, or faking. Then I discuss how this new type of undercover marketing creates new human rights problems, such as regarding protecting personal information and the right to be forgotten on websites. I conclude that undercover marketing online represents a change in the unconscious world order that the modern economic system has built up over time. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2013.v2n3p319

Activism Beyond the Pleasure Principle?

Cultural movements in today's Japan are often said to give a prominent place to fun and humour, and to represent a shift towards prefigurative rather than instrumental forms of politics. The author relativizes this portrayal by focusing on how art was used in the struggle around the cardboard village in the Shinjuku underground passages in Tokyo in the mid-1990s. In particular he focuses on the artist Take Jun'ichirō who with his friends painted more than a hundred cardboard houses in the homeless encampment. He argues that the cardboard village art was immensely political, but in a sense that cannot be exhausted by conventional concepts such as instrumental or prefigurative politics. Instead, the article suggests that a concept of therapeutical activism is needed to make sense of the centrality in the cardboard art of themes such as death, monsters and uncanny births.

The need for private universities in Japan to be agents of change

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine a number of current innovations made by private higher educational institutions in Japan to counter decreased enrollments and financial constraints.Design/methodology/approachThe design of this study is both descriptive and conceptual, based on the latest data available. Additional information was obtained through informal surveys of private institutions.FindingsEfforts on all fronts will be required to resolve some of the more glaring problems facing private higher education in Japan today. While some of the factors contributing to the deterioration of educational standards, such as the economy and demographic changes are beyond the control of the institutions themselves, efforts to staunch the rapid deterioration of educational quality are essential. Renovation in Japanese private university higher education should start with improvements in teaching and faculty development. Private universities must realize that reinvigorating the system will need the cooperation of both faculty members and administrators if universities are to survive in the new economic and social environment.Originality/valueThis paper highlights the need for private universities to be the agents of change to address the dire straits of higher education in Japan and it is imperative that new and innovative approaches be implemented.