Japanese Municipalities Research Articles

Subjective well-being and problem-solving skills for alleviating the stress of elderly men attending a randomized controlled trial of shogi-assisted cognitive behavioral therapy

Shogi is a popular board game in Japan, and shogi-assisted cognitive–behavioral therapy (S-CBT) has been applied in Kakogawa City, a Japanese municipality. The purpose of this study was to clarify the effects of S-CBT on the subjective well-being of elderly men. Participants were 61 elderly men with amateur skill at shogi. They were randomly assigned to either the S-CBT group or a wait list group (control). The S-CBT group participated in a weekly, six-session S-CBT program. The intervention outcomes were scores on the K6, Lubben Social Network Scale, and a five-item cognitive–behavioral functioning scale. The Subjective Well-being Scale was used to assess happiness and satisfaction with life, and all the participants were classified into high- and low-happiness groups using the median score as the cutoff. The results showed that scores on “self-reinforcement” were significantly (P < 0.05) increased for those receiving S-CBT compared with controls, regardless of the participants’ happiness scores. In contrast, the scores on “problem solving skills for alleviating stress” were significantly (P < 0.05) increased for those receiving S-CBT compared with controls only among those in the low-happiness group. These results remained significant after controlling for the effects of age and baseline scores on the K6, Social Network Scale, and “problem solving skills for alleviating stress” category. The S-CBT may be especially beneficial when focused on practical advice for the stress management of older people with low subjective well-being. (trial registration: 000036003 [UMIN, Japan]).Trial Registration: Trial registration number: 000036003 [UMIN, Japan].

Governance Practices in the Administrative Supervision of Local Governments - The Case of Japanese Municipalities -

Governance Practices in the Administrative Supervision of Local Governments - The Case of Japanese Municipalities -

Discussion on regional revitalization using woody biomass resources as renewable energy

Expanding the use of renewable energy is a matter of concern in many countries. Many Japanese local municipalities are attempting to promote business creation using renewable energy as an opportunity for regional revitalization based on the policy of the Japanese government. Renewable energy makes significant contributions to the region in terms of energy security, stable energy supply, and job creation. However, the most important contribution is enhancing residents’ attachment to their community and supporting actions that appeal to the community through renewable energy utilization. Residents should actively participate in regional revitalization, which leads to sustainable prosperity of the region. However, the current measures of local municipalities seem to be lacking such a viewpoint. This study aims to analyse the environmental and economic aspects as well as the social acceptance of establishing a bathing business that utilizes woody biomass as its heat source. This study also discussed how the generation of heat from woody biomass contributes to regional revitalization. The case study area was Kobe and Mt. Rokko, Japan. First, heat production and utilization was assumed for the forest resources in Mt. Rokko, and the annual biomass energy production potential was estimated. The annual costs of lumber cutting, transportation, and chipping, and the annual CO2 reduction by substituting bunker A with woody biomass for heat production were also estimated. A questionnaire survey was conducted to determine community awareness of energy production using woody biomass from Mt. Rokko. Principal component analysis, contingent valuation method, and path analysis were used to quantify respondents’ awareness.

THE POTENTIAL AND CHALLENGE OF HALAL FOODS IN JAPAN

In preparing for the Tokyo Olympic Games held in 2020, and in aiming to become a “Country Built on Tourism”, many travel facilities in Japan have started to provide halal foods and amenity goods, items that are permissible or lawful in Islamic law, Muslim prayer rooms, etc. in order to accommodate Muslim tourists. Many Japanese companies and municipalities are also interested in exporting their products from the Islamic area, and obtaining the certification of halal from some Islamic organizations. The process for acquiring halal certification is becoming complicated and expensive, so that many of companies and municipalities have abandoned it. There are about 110,000 Muslims in Japan. It is sometimes difficult for them to find halal foods and other goods, and the need for such items is typically addressed by a small halal industry. There is a “dualism” or lack of communication and collaboration between those organizations that are oriented to Muslim tourists and exports, and the small halal industries stated above. The present study also points out that many Japanese people mistakenly assume that halal foods are exclusively for Muslims. Halal foods, however, have potential for meeting the needs of non-Muslim Japanese consumers who are looking for safe and trustworthy foods.

Socioeconomic inequalities in low back pain among older people: the JAGES cross-sectional study

BackgroundLow back pain is an important public health issue across the world. However, it is unclear whether socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with low back pain. This study determines an association between SES and low back pain among older people.MethodsWe used cross-sectional data derived from the year 2013 across 30 Japanese municipalities. The survey was conducted between October 2013 to December 2013. Functionally independent community-dwelling older adults aged 65 and above (n = 26,037) were eligible for the study. Multilevel Poisson regression analysis with a robust variance estimator was used to examine the association between SES and low back pain. Self-reported low back pain in the past year was used as a dependent variable. Educational attainment, past occupation, equivalized household income, wealth, and subjective economic situation represented SES and were separately analyzed as independent variables, adjusted for covariates including age and sex.ResultsThe prevalence of low back pain was 63.4%. Overall, lower SES were more likely to suffer from low back pain compared with that for the highest. First, as for the educational attainment, the prevalence ratio (PR) (95% credible interval (CI)) for the lowest level was 1.07 (1.02–1.12). Second, as for the past occupation, the PR (95% CI) for the blue-collared workers compared with professionals was 1.06 (1.01–1.11). Third, as for the equalized household income, the PRs (95% CI) for lower middle and the lowest income levels were 1.08 (1.02–1.13) and 1.16 (1.10–1.23), respectively. Fourth, as for the wealth, the PRs (95% CI) for lower middle and the lowest wealth levels were 1.11 (1.04–1.19) and 1.18 (1.11–1.27), respectively. Fifth, as for the subjective economic situation, the PRs (95% CI) for lower middle and the lowest financial conditions were 1.18 (1.10–1.26) and 1.32 (1.22–1.44), respectively.ConclusionsSignificant socioeconomic inequalities were observed in low back pain among older individuals in Japan. Policymakers and clinicians must understand the nature of these inequalities.

Characteristics and challenges of health promotion volunteer organizations in Japan: Findings from a national municipality survey

Objective Various types of health promotion organizations exist in Japan, including volunteer organizations that promote healthy diets, health improvement, and maternal and child health. Health promotion volunteers, trained and recruited by municipalities, provide counseling and education on various health concerns to community members. A previous study on the effect of these activities and the organizational challenges demonstrated a decrease in the number of volunteer members. The present study aimed to identify the organizational characteristics and challenges of health promotion volunteer work in Japan to gain insight into volunteer recruitment and organizational management.Methods A questionnaire was sent to 1,873 Japanese municipalities via e-mail or postal mail (excluding Tokyo's 23 wards). For cities of cabinet order, a questionnaire was sent to each borough in the municipality. Data were collected from February to March 2017. The survey was used to collect data on four types of health promotion volunteer organizations: healthy diet (organizations of volunteers who were shokuseikatsu kaizen suishinin), health improvement (organizations of volunteers who were kenkozukuri suishinin), and two types promoting maternal and child health (organizations of volunteers who were boshihoken suishinin and aiikuhan). We asked about the presence or absence of the organization type, year of establishment, number of members, the largest age group, recruitment methods, etc. Twelve organizational challenges were measured with a six-item Likert scale (from 1="strongly agree" to 6="strongly disagree"). Proportions of active members in the volunteer organization ranged from 0% to 10%.Results Eight hundred eight municipalities responded to the survey (valid responses: 805, valid response rate: 43.1%). The presence or absence of the four types of volunteer organizations differed among the municipalities. The most common type was organizations of volunteers who were shokuseikatsu kaizen suishinin (84.7% municipalities), followed by kenkozukuri suishinin (64.3%), boshihoken suishinin (26.4%), and aiikuhan (10.1%). The total ratio of responses of "strongly agree," "agree," and "somewhat agree" about the organizational challenges, including "The organization cannot find new members easily" and "The participants are always the same people," was commonly more than 50% for the four types of volunteer organizations. The challenges, including "Many do not enjoy what they do," "For many volunteers, participation is limited due to work and family obligations," and "The goal of the activities is not widely shared among volunteers," were significantly correlated to the proportion of active members in the volunteer organization for all four types of organizations.Conclusion This study revealed that organizational characteristics differed among the four types of health promotion volunteer organizations; however, many of the organizational challenges were found to be common throughout Japanese municipalities.

Industrial Specialization or Diversity? How High-Speed Rail Fosters Japan’s Regional Agglomeration Economy

We investigate the relationship between high-speed rail (HSR) and agglomeration economy in the scope of specialization and diversity to answer two questions: first, to determine whether specialization or diversity promotes economic productivity, and second, to determine whether HSR promotes specialization or diversity. Specialization/diversity agglomeration index based on the coefficient of variation of localization agglomeration is proposed to measure city’s specialization and diversity. Our analysis utilizes data of agglomeration across 17 industrial sectors in Japanese municipality level. Depending on the definition of agglomeration diversity, one of the results reveals a U-curve relationship as productivity is plotted in Y-axis and specialization agglomeration in X-axis. In other words, both specialization and diversity benefit to economic productivity. Yet, a city which is not specialized and not with a high level of industrial diversity will be the loser in the economy. For the second question, based on the assumption of a quadratic function, HSR could affect city’s specialization and diversity based on the distance to HSR service. From the results, HSR promotes industrial diversity in the city with HSR service, and the city located around 540 km away from HSR service, while HSR promotes city’s specialization in the city located around 270 km away from HSR service.

Does citizen participation affect municipal performance? Electoral competition and fiscal performance in Japan

ABSTRACTSubnational fiscal performance has been receiving a lot of attention from researchers in various disciplines. However, there is very little published on the impact of citizen involvement on fiscal performance. This paper shows that a lack of citizen involvement in the electoral process was associated with fiscal performance in all 807 city-level Japanese municipalities from 2006 to 2012.

Interdependency in vaccination policies among Japanese municipalities.

Economic theory predicts that vaccination policies at the local level can be negatively affected by the policies of neighboring regions because of free-riding motives, whereas positive dependency may exist due to policy diffusions among localities. By using the unique variations in the provision of vaccination subsidies in Japan, we assess how vaccination policies in a local government are affected by the decisions of neighboring governments. We find that the provision of vaccination subsidies is positively correlated with the decisions of neighboring localities. Moreover, a correlation is found with neighboring municipalities within the same prefecture but not with those in surrounding prefectures, indicating that the correlations are likely to arise because of mimicking behavior among localities within a prefecture. Our results show that vaccination policies tend to be formed following neighboring municipalities and do not necessarily aim to optimize community health, thus questioning the autonomy of local government authorities regarding vaccination policies.

Municipal merger and local democracy: An assessment of the merger of Japanese municipalities

Municipal mergers have been widely used as a tool for administrative reform. The goal of most municipal mergers is to increase the efficiency of service provision, but their impact on local democracy has been neglected. In particular, little is known as to how mergers affect performance of local legislatures. In filling these gaps, this study uses a dataset of 754 Japanese city-level governments from 2008 to 2014 to examine how mergers influence legislative performance. After controlling for potential confounding factors, the analysis shows that municipal merger is negatively correlated to legislative performance.

Municipal Merger and Local Democracy: An Assessment of the Merger of Japanese Municipalities

Municipal mergers have been widely used as a tool for administrative reform. The goal of most municipal mergers is to increase the efficiency of service provision, but their impact on local democracy has been neglected. In particular, little is known as to how mergers affect performance of local legislatures. In filling these gaps, this study uses a dataset of 754 Japanese city-level governments from 2008 to 2014 to examine how mergers influence legislative performance. After controlling for potential confounding factors, the analysis shows that municipal merger is negatively correlated to legislative performance.

Social determinants of pneumococcal vaccination status in Japanese elders

Introduction Pneumonia is a major cause of mortality in older adults and pneumococcus is one of the most important pathogens resulting in pneumonia in this population. Although pneumococcal vaccine is available in many countries, vaccine coverage is low, especially in developing countries. In Japan, a regular immunization program for older adults was begun in 2014. We investigated the social determinants of pneumococcal vaccination in older Japanese adults. Methods We analyzed data from the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study (JAGES), a self-administered postal survey of community-dwelling adults aged 65 years or older. Pneumococcal vaccination status was ascertained by means of the question, “Have you been vaccinated for pneumococcus within the previous 5 years?”. Multilevel Poisson regression was used to examine associations of individual socioeconomic status and municipal subsidization for pneumococcal vaccination with vaccination status, after adjustment for age, self-rated health, underlying respiratory diseases, and living arrangement. Results Among the 166,776 respondents (76,944 men and 89,839 women) in 39 Japanese municipalities, 43.3% (72,274) had been vaccinated during the previous 5 years. Men were more likely than women to have been vaccinated (odds ratio [OR], 1.25; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.22–1.27). As compared with elders aged 65–69 years, older elders were significantly more likely to have been vaccinated (OR [95% CI]: 1.52 [1.47–1.56] for age 70–74 years, 2.37 [2.29–2.44] for age 75–79 years, 3.00 [2.89–3.12] for age 80–84 years, and 2.98 [2.84–3.13] for age 85 years or older). As compared with elders with incomes less than 0.5 million yen, those with higher equivalent incomes were significantly more likely to have been vaccinated (OR [95% CI]: 1.13 [1.05–1.22] for 1–1.99 million yen, 1.32 [1.23–1.42] for 2–3.99 million yen, and 1.42 [1.31–1.54] for 4 million yen or more). As compared with elders with less than 6 years of education, those with greater educational attainment were significantly more likely to have been vaccinated (OR [95% CI]: 1.39 [1.23–1.58] for 6–9 years, 1.63 [1.44–1.85] for 10–12 years, and 1.67 [1.47–1.89] for 13 or more years). Municipal subsidization for pneumococcal vaccination was not significantly associated with immunization status. Conclusions Immunization behavior in older adults was significantly associated with individual socioeconomic status but not with municipal subsidization for pneumococcal vaccination.

On the valuation of community resources: The case of a rural area in Japan

Many Japanese municipalities are currently suffering from declining populations and have responded by establishing various initiatives aimed at revitalizing their communities and stabilizing their resident populations. We argue that the success of these initiatives lies in how to effectively leverage regional community resources in ways that actually revitalize the local community, while tailoring such efforts to local social conditions. In this paper, we discuss a method of resource assessment that can contribute to rebuilding declining communities and improving the wellbeing of community residents. We use the case study of Totsukawa village in Nara Prefecture, Japan. Our results highlight five necessary elements: 1) understanding local characteristics, 2) recognizing resource relationships, 3) effectively utilizing external factors, 4) considering the balance of resources, and 5) creating a community connection. These elements are vital to preserving capitalized community-specific resources and making them profitable enough to maintain livelihoods. In developing countries, where total populations are also increasing, rural areas face population drains or shrinking younger generations. In summary, we present a methodology for conducting community-led regional revitalization projects for both developed and developing countries.

The structure of the perceived professional identity of Japanese public health nurses

As health problems become more diverse and complicated, the way public health nurses (PHNs) work is changing. Research at the conceptual level of professional identity of PHNs is lacking. This study aimed to explore the structure of the perceived professional identity of Japanese PHNs. Grounded theory method was used. Twenty-five PHNs in Japanese municipalities were participated in the study. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and analyzed using open, axial, and selective coding. Three categories emerged: (1) providing support to the consulter directly, (2) working as a member of the administrative organization, and (3) working for all residents to improve community development. The modality of perceived professional identity showed interindividual and intraindividual differences and was either stable or unstable. The perceived professional identities coexisted, but there was a conflict between (1) and (2). PHNs should be made aware of the three identities revealed in our study and the possibility of a conflict between identities. Moreover, to ensure working for all residents to improve community development, a population-based approach to education is needed with cooperation of universities and clinical practice.

A Comparison of Disaster Management Plans for Both Japan and Myanmar

Recently, national level disaster management legislation systems have been established in Myanmar, and preparation of disaster management plans at the township level has also been encouraged. This study aims to explain these disaster management plans in Myanmar through content analysis and comparison with the Japanese Municipality Disaster Management Plan. The classification of activities by 45 categories revealed the prioritized activities in the disaster management plan for each township. Furthermore, the comparison identified differences between the disaster management plans of the two countries, of which some are explained by the difference in situations in Myanmar and Japan, but the others indicate activities missed in the township disaster management plans in Myanmar.

Are Reactors Like Casinos? A Culture of Dependency in Japan

Japanese communities with nuclear reactors have the reactors because they applied for them, and they applied for them for the money. Among Japanese municipalities, they were some of the most dysfunctional before the reactors had even arrived. Communities depend on young families for the social capital that holds them intact, and these were the communities from which those families had already begun to leave. After the reactors arrived, young families continued to disappear. Unemployment rose. Divorce rates climbed. And in time, the communities had little -- other than reactor-revenue -- to which they could turn.

わが国における財政競争 ―市町村・歳出分類別の分析

わが国における財政競争 ―市町村・歳出分類別の分析

Advancing Green Purchasing in Japanese Municipalities

Advancing Green Purchasing in Japanese Municipalities

Forbidden Colors

Forbidden Colors

Trace lithium in Texas tap water is negatively associated with all-cause mortality and premature death.

Lithium in tap water was previously found to have life-extending effects across 18 Japanese municipalities. Using a larger dataset with several Texas counties, our study shows that lithium concentrations in tap water are negatively associated with all-cause mortality (r = -0.18, p = 0.006, 232 counties) and years of potential life lost (r = -0.22, p = 0.001, 214 counties). Thus, our present findings extend and reinforce lithium's purported life-prolonging effect in humans.