Japanese Authors Research Articles

Current state and prospects of dihydroquercetin application in food industry

This review is a detailed analysis of the results of the experimental studies carried out by scientists from different countries and devoted to the practical application of dihydroquercetin in food products. The main attention is paid to the antioxidant and functional properties of the bioflavonoid in the composition of milk and dairy products. Currently, dihydroquercetin is considered the most powerful natural antioxidant, which use prolongs the shelf-life of products and has a beneficial effect on the human body. Although much time has passed since dihydroquercetin discovery by Russian scientists, today a significant part of research of the bioflavonoid is focused on the pharmaceutical sphere, while its use in the food industry is at the initial stage of the development. In the article, studies carried out by Russian, Chinese, Japanese, European, American and other foreign authors are systemized, which allowed describing quite thoroughly trends in the use of dihydroquercetin in the global industry. Having focused on the influence of the antioxidant on the characteristics of dairy products, scientists found that it increases the stability of acidity and pH, inhibits the development of the pathogenic microflora, favorably affects taste and aroma. Prospect directions for its use have been revealed, and directions for further research of the use of this antioxidant in the dairy industry have been identified. It is concluded that the addition of dihydroquercetin into a recipe will allow obtaining new functional (parapharmaceutical) food products with the antioxidant stability to prevent socially significant diseases and improve the health of the population.

The role of administrative categories in the globalisation of a psychiatric concept: Case studies of autism in Japan

This paper explores how what I call ‘administrative categories’ have been adopted by the Japanese government and experts in autism support and what roles these categories have played in local settings. Since support practices for children and adults with autism began in the 1950s in Japan, the Japanese government and people engaging in autism support have used Japanese-specific administrative categories, instead of relying on a medical concept of autism, such as ‘severe moving disabilities’ (SMD), ‘emotional disturbance’, and ‘extremely disruptive behavioural disorders’ (EDBD).To understand the emergence of these three autism-related administrative categories in Japan, historical materials published from the 1950s to the 1990s by Japanese authors (doctors, psychologists, teachers, educationalists, welfare workers, government officials, and parents) and interview data with 19 leading experts of autism in Japan were collected and analysed thematically.The analysis revealed that the governmental ministries aimed to focus on establishing administrative support by avoiding engaging in aetiological debates among doctors, and to describe the political agenda more vividly. Administrative categories filled the gap between local interests and international medical concepts, enabling the concept of autism to be rooted in Japan's administrative systems. Three roles of administrative categories were identified: i) separation from medicine, ii) describing local problems, and iii) claimsmaking to wider actors and the public.I concluded that looking purely at medical and specifically diagnostic concepts limits our understanding of the formation of practices regarding disabilities, and thus more focus should be placed on categorisation practices outside of medicine. In addition, to the literature on the globalisation of Euro-American psychiatric concepts, this study contributes to our knowledge of a form of locality that has not been central in the exploration of the influence of globalisation on local settings and the relationships between the local and the global.

Half a century of Japanese research on two Neglected Tropical Diseases (trypanosomiasis and leishmaniasis): Overseas scientific cooperation

Trypanosoma and Leishmania species are responsible of a range of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) from disfiguring conditions to fatal processes in humans. Both genera also affect wild and domestic animals causing diseases of public health significance and high economic impact on farm economy of developing areas. Japan has been actively involved in overseas cooperation and the country has a large scientific community. However, there is no information on the scientific output of Japanese scientists and institutions on these two NTDs. To explore the Japanese contribution and its profile, we have mined Web of Science database from 1971 to 2022 the articles by Japanese scientists, scientific areas and institutions, time-related variations of these parameters, and involvement in cooperation activities with foreign scientists. Research on Trypanosoma has been present in all the studied period, with higher production, whereas Leishmania-related activities showed a delay. A steady increased of Japanese scientific output was found up to the beginning of 2000s, whereas a certain stagnation was found in the present century. Low growth rate of research output on these two NTDs by Japanese authors in the 21st century is not correlated neither to the pattern found globally nor the situation in other parasitic infections. Thus, other elements should be considered in future analysis including the actual number of scientists involved and the available funding. Reinforcement of research groups from Japanese institutions and widening the scope of collaborations, particularly with health and academic centers from endemic regions, could trigger the Japanese productivity in the research area.

Coherence features of published research articles by Japanese authors: Culture-specific features and their acceptability

Previous studies have demonstrated that research articles by non-native English-speaking researchers often contain features discordant with rhetorical conventions of English academic writing. It has also been revealed that creation of such non-standard elements may be related to the influence of the writers’ first language writing culture. Some have argued that these cultural rhetorical features ought to be viewed as acceptable because they are part of published content that passed the rigorous examinations. Others have reported findings suggesting that these cultural yet non-standard features constitute potential writing problems. To further explore this topic, the present study examines coherence features of the discussion section of research articles (RAs) produced in English and Japanese by Japanese-speaking authors. Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST) is used for the analysis of the selected texts in terms of coherence conventions of English expository or argumentative prose. The results are then compared with previous findings of coherence breaks created by student writers. The analysis shows that both English and Japanese RAs contain features discordant with coherence conventions described by RST. Close examinations show that the most prominent non-standard features in these RAs are closely comparable to those of coherence breaks in students’ writings reported by previous studies.

Analyzing the Spiritual Connotation of Japanese Pop Culture from the Course of Modernization Based on Contemporary Japanese Writers

The development of pop culture in Japan has long historical roots. Since its post-war modernization, Japan has successfully transformed itself from an old culture-importing country to a culture-exporting country. The article focuses on a number of epochal points since Japan's post-war renaissance, analyzing a number of representative Japanese authors and their works from 1945 to the present, and understanding the birth and spread of Japanese popular culture. Studies have shown that the development of Japanese popular culture has been heavily influenced by European and American culture, but has also demonstrated rebellion and reflection on past cultures and ideologies, ultimately opening up a wide range of cultural areas on this basis. The article takes the representative writers and works of contemporary Japan as the blueprint for research, and finds that Japanese pop culture has a unique rebellious character and humanistic sentiment in its spiritual connotation. In the present day, the Japanese national psyche, on the other hand, interacts and influences popular culture.

Dialogised heteroglossia and the Japanese-Chinese mixed style of “Kaidōki”

This paper attempts to analyse the technique of assimilation of classical Chinese writing into the Japanese literary tradition of the early medieval period. The author’s main focus is one of the three styles used by Japanese authors of the time, namely the mixed Japanese-Chinese style (the so-called wakan konkō buntai). It was used in various prose genres, including travel diaries. Referring to the text of Kaidōki (Records of [a journey along] the seacoast road), a Japanese travel account from the early 13th century, the author shows on the selected source material how, in accordance with Bakhtin’s understanding of heteroglossia, a dialogue occurs on the level of Chinese and Japanese writing and how intertextual relations can influence the formation of the style of a literary work. As can be noted, the historical and literary borrowings from the Chinese tradition (the rich Sino-Japanese vocabulary and the prosaised poems originally composed in classical Chinese) enriched the semantic layer of the Japanese text. This was also reflected in the style of the work, which, despite its “crabbedness” and the fact that it was shaped by the experience of borrowed but also native polyphony, seems to be the optimal way to express it.

Measuring science and innovation linkage using text mining of research papers and patent information

In this study, the text information of academic papers published by Japanese authors (about 1.7 million papers) and patents filed with the Japan Patent Office (about 12.3 million patents) since 1991 are used for analyzing the inter-relationship between science and technology. Specifically, a distributed representation vector using the title and abstract of each document is created, then neighboring documents to each are identified using the cosine similarity. A time trend and sector specific linkages within science and technology are identified by using the count of neighbor patents (papers) for each paper (patent). It is found that the science intensity of inventions (the number of neighbor papers for patents) increases over time, particularly for university/PRI patents and university–industry collaboration patents over the 30 years studied. As for university/PRI patents, the institutional reforms for the science sector (government laboratory incorporation in 2001 and national university incorporation in 2004) contributed to the interactions between science and technology. In contrast, the technology intensity of science (the number of neighbor patents by paper) decreases over time. It is also found that the technology intensity of life science papers is rather low, although they have a significant impact on subsequent patents. However, there are some scientific fields which are affected by technological developments, so that the state of science and innovation interactions is heterogeneous across the fields.

Intramedullary osteosynthesis for ankle fractures and distal tibiofibular syndesmotic disruption

Introduction The optimal surgical approach for malleolar fractures and distal tibiofibular syndesmotic (DTFS) disruption remains controversial. There is no uniform treatment protocol for this type of injury.The objective was to review modern surgical treatments of the pathology and determine the optimal option.Material and methods Articles of French, English, Uzbek, Kazakh, German, Danish, Japanese and Chinese authors were retrospectively reviewed. An internet search of MedLine; PubMed; Scopus; Web of Science, CINAHL, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases was performed.Results Comparative studies of dynamic fixation and static fixation of the DTFS showed advantages of the dynamic methods enabling precise, anatomical syndesmotic fixation and faster healing. Dynamic fixation methods would require no implant removal, while syndesmotic screw woul be taken off to reduce compression in the ankle joint and minimize a risk of malreduction facilitating mobility of the ankle joint. Dynamic methods are associated with greater stability and less complication rate. However, static methods have the advantages of being more accessible and less expensive, which can be an important factor choosing a treatment method. Static methods are a wide application and can be used in a wide range of clinical cases. Long-term results show no statistically significant differences between dynamic fixation and static fixation.Discussion Literature review indicates the dynamic method with suture-button, a combined method and titanium cable isotonic annular fixation system as the preferred technique for surgical stabilization of distal syndesmosis associated with ankle fractures with a lower risk of postoperative complications and the possibility of short-term rehabilitation.Conclusion The choice between dynamic and static methods of distal syndesmosis fixation depends on many factors, including the complexity of the injury, the availability and cost of implants and the experience of the surgeon.

Analysis of Marchantia polymorpha-microorganism interactions: basis for understanding plant-microbe and plant-pathogen interactions.

Marchantia polymorpha is a bryophyte gaining significance as a model plant in evolutionary studies in recent years. This is attributed to its small-sequenced genome, standardized transformation methodology, global distribution, and easy and rapid in vitro culturing. As an evolutionary model, M. polymorpha contributes to our understanding of the evolution of plant defensive responses and the associated hormonal signaling pathways. Through its interaction with microorganisms, M. polymorpha serves as a valuable source of knowledge, yielding insights into new microbial species and bioactive compounds. Bibliographic analysis involved collecting, reading, and categorizing documents obtained from the Scopus and Web of Science databases using different search terms. The review was based on 30 articles published between 1995 and 2023, with Japanese and Spanish authors emerging as the most prolific contributors in this field. These articles have been grouped into four main themes: antimicrobial metabolites produced by M. polymorpha; identification and characterization of epiphytic, endophytic, and pathogenic microorganisms; molecular studies of the direct interaction between M. polymorpha and microorganisms; and plant transformation using bacterial vectors. This review highlights the key findings from these articles and identifies potential future research directions.

Explicitation and (In)directness in Literary Translations from Japanese into English and Romanian: A Contrastive Analysis

Abstract A complex process that necessarily goes beyond the surface level of words and phrases, (literary) translation is also a means to understand the cultures whose products the translated texts are. In this article, I look at the English and the Romanian translations of two Japanese novels in an attempt to identify those elements that prove that the texts carry the load of the specific type of culture that both the translators and the readers belong to. More specifically, I analyse the way in which the discourse is reconstructed in English and Romanian in light of Edward T. Hall’s high-context culture vs. low-context culture distinction. This article does not focus on the translation of culture-specific realities, as is the case with most studies that compare textual products belonging to different cultures, but on the way in which ordinary realities are rendered in English and Romanian. I look at the degree to which the context created by the Japanese authors is explicitly specified and the level of directness of the discourse in the two languages, as representative features of the high-context vs. low context cultures dichotomy. The examples analysed here suggest that the English translations tend to employ more strategies for an explicit specification of the context and to create a more direct discourse than the Romanian ones, which is consistent with the fact that English is a language considered typical of low-context culture spaces. Romanian translations are generally closer to the Japanese original, showing a more high-context culture perspective, confirming the existence of a continuum between the two extreme ends in Hall’s dichotomy.

The TriAGe + score for vertigo or dizziness: A validation study in a university hospital emergency department in Hong Kong

ObjectivePatients with dizziness commonly present to Emergency Departments (ED) and 6% of these patients will be diagnosed with acute stroke. The TriAGe+ score comprises of eight clinical parameters and stratifies patients into four risk groups. The Japanese authors reported that the tool performed well, so our aim was to validate this diagnostic tool in our ED in Hong Kong. Materials and methodsA single-center retrospective observational study was conducted in the ED of our university hospital in Hong Kong. The primary outcome was the diagnosis of an acute cerebrovascular event. Receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed to determine the best cut-off score. Secondary outcomes included univariable and multivariable analyses of stroke predictors. Results455 patients aged 18 years or above with dizziness or vertigo at ED triage were recruited between 19 July and 30 September 2021. The overall prevalence of stroke was 11.9%. The median TriAGe+ score was 7 (IQR = 4–9). The AUC was 0.9. At a cut-off >5, sensitivity was 96.4% (95%CI: 87.3–99.5) and the negative likelihood ratio was 0.09 (95%CI: 0.02–0.3). At a cut-off >10, specificity was 99.8% (95%CI: 98.6–100.0), and the positive likelihood ratio was 237.6 (95%CI: 33.1–1704). On multivariable analyses, atrial fibrillation, blood pressure, gender, dizziness (not vertigo) and no history of dizziness, vertigo or labyrinth/vestibular disease were found to be positively associated with stroke outcomes significantly. ConclusionThe TriAGe+ score is an efficient stroke prediction score for patients presenting to the ED with dizziness.

Ideating University Reform in Japan

AbstractAs is the case in many countries, university reform is a perennial topic of discussion in Japan and there is an extensive domestic literature on this topic, ranging in character from tabloid to scholarly. The purpose of this essay is to introduce some of the themes currently preoccupying Japanese authors at the more scholarly end of this spectrum. The essay reviews texts dealing with the fundamental nature of ‘Japanese’ universities, how they are managed, and their relationship with government, all with a view to identifying ways out of the gridlock of intractable problems and unworkable solutions which, as the essay explains, afflicts much of the existing literature. The essay highlights especially contributions which lack direct parallels in the international Anglophone literature on university reform, encouraging readers to explore further for themselves and initiate greater dialogue between vernacular and ‘global’ scholarly traditions.

Global Status of Research on Lateral Lymph Nodes in Rectal Cancer from 1994 to 2022: A Bibliometric Analysis.

Tremendous progress has been made in the field of lateral lymph nodes (LLNs) in rectal cancer, but no bibliometric analysis in this field has been carried out and published. To reveal the current status and trends in LLNs in rectal cancer, this bibliometric analysis was performed. Cooperation network, co-citation and keyword co-occurrence analyses were conducted. Annual publication, cooperation relationships among authors, institutions and countries, co-cited journal, co-cited author, co-cited reference and keywords were the main outcomes. A total of 345 studies were included in this bibliometric analysis. The number of articles published in this field has been increasing year by year. The authors, institutions and countries worked closely together in this field. Japan has the largest number of published articles, accounting for 51.59% of the total publications. International Journal of Colorectal Disease (30 papers, 8.70%) published the most papers in this field. The JCOG0212 trial was the most cited article. Preoperative chemoradiotherapy, multicenter, lateral lymph node dissection (LLND) and metastasis are recent hot keywords, and LLND had the highest burst strength. In conclusion, this bibliometric analysis found that Japanese institutions and authors dominated the field of LLNs in rectal cancer. The JCOG0212 trial was the most influential article, which had a significant impact on the development of guidelines. LLND is a hotspot in this field with the highest burst strength. Further prospective studies are needed in this field.

Prevention of vehicle windscreen fogging by means of automatic climate control when driving

Introduction (problem statement and relevance). A great deal of attention is paid to the problem of increasing the effi ciency of automatic control of glass fogging. Hundreds of research and studies have been carried out, and a great deal of papers by American, Japanese, Korean, European, Chinese, Iranian and other authors have been published within this topic. The ability of the vehicle HVAC system to automatically detect and prevent potential windscreen fogging improves safety. Less obvious is that it allows reduction of energy costs (prevention of fogging is more energy saving than removal of condensate) and also wider use of the means available in the vehicle, the usage of which usually leads to fogging problems. The paper describes the principles of automatic prevention of windscreen fogging by means of the vehicle HVAC system when driving. It also considers the strategies of early forecasting of fogging and automatic prevention of condensation that are comfortable for the driver and passengers.The purpose of the study is to increase the efficiency of automatic control of windscreen fogging by means of the vehicle HVAC system.Methodology and research methods. Study of methods to assess the risk of vehicle glass fogging and to prevent it automatically. Analysis of the related scientifi c literature, technical documentation and materials published in open sources; bench experiments and fi eld tests.Scientific novelty and results. Automatic operation of the HVAC system in the vehicle windscreen fogging prevention mode when driving was considered. The scientific novelty consists in the suggested method of forecasting the risk of fogging and advanced control including simplifi ed calculation of the air dew point in the cabin, digital extrapolation of the risk level and corresponding advanced stage-by-stage correction of the HVAC system actuator control signals ensuring prevention of possible fogging.Practical signifi cance. Preliminary checking under the winter field test conditions has shown the efficiency of the proposed method of windscreen fogging prevention compared to the typical way of controlling the risk of fogging. Further research is planned to obtain quantitative indicators of efficiency and economy of the proposed method.

Calling Back the Soul: From Apocryphal Buddhist Sutras to Onmyōdō Rituals

Three Japanese Buddhist scriptural manuscripts related to the practice of calling back the soul are kept in Nanatsudera, Hōbodaiin in Toji, and Kōshōji, respectively. They show complex lineage connections that have been discussed little. This paper discusses the relations between the two sutras contained in the three manuscripts, traces their respective origins, and analyzes how Japanese authors transformed the apocryphal sutras into a liturgical text. Both the Nanatsudera and the Hōbodaiin manuscripts consist of the Sutra on Calling Back the Soul, while the Kōshōji manuscript comprises the Duxing Sutra. All of them were classified as Buddhist apocrypha written by Chinese authors. While the two sutras share similar text structures and the use of words, their contents reveal remarkable differences. The Sutra on Calling Back the Soul focuses mainly on how to release the souls of the dead and how to prevent fulian (reconnection with the dead), while the Duxing Sutra focuses on the healing of diseases and the alleviation of disasters through the restitution of the souls of the living. The Sutra on Calling Back the Soul has exerted a long-lasting effect in Japan where it was paraphrased into a liturgical text for the removal of disasters and the prolongation of life.

Humanitarian Assistance in Japan's Foreign Policy: Basic Principles and Mechanisms for Providing Humanitarian Aid

Humanitarian assistance is one of the most important criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of foreign policy of a state. The provision of humanitarian aid is currently a key area of Japan's international activities and foreign policy. As one of the world's largest humanitarian aid donors and the oldest member of the OECD's Development Assistance Committee, Japan provides assistance in practically all areas of the world's conflicts and natural and anthropogenic hazards. Official Development Assistance (ODA) and humanitarian aid as its subspecies are considered as a practical tool for Japan's international humanitarian activities. Japan's experience in the field of humanitarian assistance is the object of research by both Japanese and foreign authors who evaluate Japanese humanitarian assistance in different ways. A distinctive feature of modern Japan's humanitarian assistance is an integrated approach to providing aid, with an emphasis on cooperation with international organizations and the attraction of available funds from various government departments and organizations. Japan plays a leading role in the field of humanitarian assistance in the international arena and takes an active part in shaping the international agenda in this area.

Sexuality, Maternity, and (Re)productive Futures: Women’s Speculative Fiction in Contemporary Japan by Kazue Harada

Reviewed by: Sexuality, Maternity, and (Re)productive Futures: Women’s Speculative Fiction in Contemporary Japan by Kazue Harada Kumiko Saito Defying the Demands of (Re)production. Kazue Harada. Sexuality, Maternity, and (Re)productive Futures: Women’s Speculative Fiction in Contemporary Japan. Brill, brill’s japanese studies library, 2022. 214 pp. $108 hc. Kazue Harada’s study explores the much-dismissed world of speculative fiction written by Japanese women, particularly focusing on themes of reproduction. In the field of science fiction from Japan, which Kazue refers to as Japanese “speculative fiction” for a reason (as I will return to below). Scholarly approaches have largely excluded women writers and neglected questions of gender and feminist issues. The book adds a truly refreshing perspective to scholarship not only by challenging existing male-centered views that have framed the genre but also by critiquing the Japanese government’s long-lasting conservatism regarding women’s reproductive roles. Harada’s book fills an academic void created by the general absence of studies about Japanese sf, and she proposes a wide array of theoretical directions toward the inclusiveness of queer and feminist issues. [End Page 124] The key idea framing Harada’s study is the double meaning of the term (re)production, which aligns human reproduction with the nation’s mission for productivity. Her analysis begins with a statement made by Mio Sugita, a politician and member of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party that is known for conservative policy making. In a 2018 article published in Shinchō45, Sugita claimed that tax money should not be spent on LGBT rights initiatives because same-sex couples do not reproduce and have “no productivity.” Harada plays on the word’s duality as the nation’s productivity and women’s bodily reproduction, critically questioning the deep-rooted belief in the importance of reproduction for the nation’s growth. Harada cites Lee Edelman’s critique in No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive (2004) of reproductive futurism, the common belief that having children will ensure the future because reproduction (re)produces labor and increases economic activity. In addition to reproductive futurism, Harada argues, heteronormativity and eugenic selectivism are embedded in the political discourse that promotes reproductivity. She also cites José Esteban Muñoz’s concept of queer futurity to conceptualize the framework for her overall argument that queerness advocates for society’s relationship to futurity and the not-yet-conscious (17). Speculative fiction texts by contemporary Japanese women authors challenge these dominant discourses of reproduction by eroding the borders between humans and nonhumans and presenting alternative visions in the form of hypothetical futures. Employing the term “science fiction” may often entail lengthy debates and genre controversies, so Harada chooses to use the term “speculative fiction” and rightly maintains the focus on a selection of textual examples from five women authors from Japan. These three fiction writers (Murata Sayaka, Ôhara Mariko, Ueda Sayuri) and two manga artists (Hagio Moto and Shirai Yumiko) “imagine alternative possible futures in order to question historical inequalities of sex and gender differences and social categories based on present social realities in the (re)productive, heteronormative family system of Japan” (26). Based on close reading and textual interpretation, the author provides insightful perspectives on why women writers need speculative features to write about futures against the present state of society hegemonically manipulated by government policies and medical guidelines that incorporate eugenics, allegiance to the biological family, and child-bearing as the consequence of a heterosexual act. The textual selections serve as both the book’s strength and its vulnerability. In both textual production and criticism, sf has often been reserved for allegedly masculine stories of technology and reason, told from a macrocosmic viewpoint. Harada’s study makes a significant contribution to scholarship by challenging the gendered assumptions surrounding the genre. As much as this is a strength of the book, however, it leaves unanswered many questions for readers who wish to learn more about sf or about Japan. The text selections are all literally contemporary, most appearing since 2010. The clear exceptions are Moto Hagio’s classic manga, such as Jūichinin iru! [There Are Eleven, 1975] and Mājinaru [Marginal, 1980], which were [End Page...

Authorship by gender in anesthesiology journals: a retrospective cross-sectional study for Japan.

Although it is important to recognize gender disparities in publishing to achieve gender diversity, women's authorship in Japan remains unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the percentage and analyze the trends of articles authored and published in anesthesiology journals by Japanese female authors. The genders of the first and last authors affiliated with Japanese institutions were surveyed in the Journal of Anesthesia (JA) (1990, 1995, and 2000-2022) and 11 international anesthesiology journals (2010-2022). We included 845 and 819 original research articles from JA in the analyses of the first and last authors, respectively. The proportion of female first authors significantly increased from 41 (11.7%) out of 351 before 2009 to 119 (24.1%) out of 494 after 2010 (p < 0.001). The proportion of female last authors was 11 (3.3%) out of 335 before 2009 and 22 (4.5%) out of 484 after 2010, respectively, with no significant difference (p = 0.470). We included 624 and 572 original research articles from international anesthesiology journals in the analyses of first and last authors, respectively. Among these, there were 134 (21.5%) and 23 (4.0%) female first and last authors, respectively. These proportions in international anesthesiology journals did not significantly differ from those in JA (p = 0.334, p = 0.789, respectively). The percentage of female first authors has increased, commensurate with the percentage of female anesthesiologists. However, the percentage of female last authors has not increased and remains low in Japan.

Anxious Apocalypse: Transmedia Science Fiction in Japan’s 1960s

Science fiction (SF) developed as a self-identified genre in Japan in the 1950s and quickly underwent a boom in the 1960s. Throughout this period, SF literature, film, and television were tightly intertwined industries, sharing production personnel, textual tropes, and audiences. As these industries entered global circulation with the hope of finding recognition and success in the international SF community, however, they encountered the contradictions of the Cold War liberal cultural system under the US nuclear umbrella. Awareness of the discursive marginalization of Japanese SF in the Euro-American dominated global SF scene manifested in Japanese texts in the twin tropes of apocalypse and anxiety surrounding embodiment. Through a close reading of two SF films—The X from Outer Space (Uchū daikaijū Girara, 1967) and Genocide (Konchū daisensō, 1968), both directed by Nihonmatsu Kazui for Shochiku Studios—and Komatsu Sakyō’s 1964 SF disaster novel Virus: The Day of Resurrection (Fukkatsu no hi), I argue that, largely excluded from discursive belonging in the global community of SF producers and consumers, Japanese authors and directors responded with texts that wiped away the contemporary status quo in spectacular apocalypses, eschatological breaks that would allow a utopian global order, as imagined by Japanese SF, to take hold.

Typology of Pedagogical Interaction in Japanese School

A unique phenomenon in Japan is the pedagogical interaction of teachers and students. Its cultural specificity originates in the history of Japanese society, in the ancient traditions of social communication. The article reveals some features of pedagogical interaction in schools of modern Japan. The culturological approach and a set of methods are used: comparative analysis, content analysis, typologization, observation, systematization, analytical-synthesizing, literature analysis, etc. The result of the study is to identify the basic types of pedagogical interaction in Japanese schools. The Russian typology of pedagogical interaction and research of Japanese authors is taken as a basis.