Japanese Ones Research Articles

A new subtype of serovar 6, K6b:O3, of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae based on genotypic analysis

We have analyzed the capsule (CPS) and the lipopolysaccharide O-Antigen (O-Ag) biosynthesis loci of fifteen field isolates of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae, including eleven North American and four Japanese ones, reactive to antisera against serovars 3, 6, 8 and/or 15. Ten North American isolates amplified a serovar 6-indicative fragment derived from the capsular loci, whereas one North American isolate and all four Japanese isolates amplified the serovar 6-indicative fragment as well as the serovar 3-indicative fragment. The five isolates producing a 3/6 banding pattern contain a type I CPS locus, named K6b, similar to serovar 6, but with differences in the cpxABCD and cpsABC gene sequences and the length of intergenic regions (modF-cpxA, and cpsC-cpsD). The main difference found between the K6 and K6b cps genes is a loss of function of a 113 AA UDP-glycosyltransferase found in type 6b due to the amino acid substitutions in the C-terminal domain of Cps6bA. Additionally, the isolates harbor a LPS O-Ag locus highly identical to those of field and reference strains of serovars 3, 8, 15, 17 and 19 but different from that of serovar 6. Taken together, our results indicate the existence of a subtype of A. pleuropneumoniae, serovar 6, that we called “K6b:O3′′, and we propose isolate EH1248 as the reference strain.

How are mental state references represented in English and Japanese picture books? An analysis of the frequency of emotional and cognitive words and their relation to the self or others

AbstractThe text of picture books is a fertile source through which young children learn about mental states. By focusing on English and Japanese books (N = 100; for children aged 3–5 years) as respective representatives of independent and interdependent cultures, the present study examined the cultural differences in the use of two types of mental state language: emotion and cognition. While our findings revealed no cultural differences in emotional word tokens or types, cognitive word tokens and types were higher in English picture books than in Japanese ones. Importantly, English picture books exhibited more self‐oriented mental state references, while Japanese picture books had more other‐oriented mental state references. Our study suggests that mental state references in picture books reflect culture‐specific characteristics.

A marginal branch of the left hepatic artery running along the umbilical vein and supplying the anterior surface of the liver left lobe: a report of 5 cases in 12 Japanese human fetuses.

In human fetuses, the left hepatic artery (LHA) issues the marginal artery that runs along the umbilical vein and, sometimes, reaches the umbilicus. The further observation demonstrated that, in 5 of 12 Japanese midterm fetuses (crown-rump length mm: 46, 50, 54, 59, 102), the marginal artery issued not only a thin umbilical branch but also a liver parenchymal branch that took a posterosuperior recurrent course in a peritoneal fold and supplied the anterior surface of the liver left lobe (segment III). However, in 22 Spanish fetuses of which gestational ages corresponded to the Japanese ones, we did not find the parenchymal branch. Therefore, between human populations, there seemed to be a considerable difference in the incidence as to whether or not the marginal artery issues the liver parenchymal branch. The parenchymal branch might be degenerated at the later stages due to friction between the liver free surface and growing diaphragm.

Classification of Kansai and Chugoku dialects spoken by old Japanese speakers

The present study examined how Kansai and Chugoku dialects in Japanese are classified using hierarchical density-based spatial clustering (HDBSCAN) and Random Forest (RF). We obtained the written-format pronunciations of 48 words from 1450 Japanese speakers over age 50 who had been residing in their birthplaces. We calculated phonetic distance (ALINE distance) between the dialectal pronunciations and standard Japanese ones, and ran HDBSCAN and RF models with 1000 bootstrap samples. The optimal HDBSCAN model demonstrated that there are two groups of speakers in the northern and southern pastoral areas of Kansai region. The RF models demonstrated that speakers from each prefecture were classified with a wide range of accuracies (F1 = 0.73). Kansai-region speakers in the urban area where Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara prefectures share borderlines were poorly classified. Similarly, Chugoku-region speakers living near the borderlines of Hiroshima, Shimane, and Tottori prefectures were poorly classified. The rest of the participants were generally classified well. These results suggest that each prefecture generally has its own dialect, but its distribution goes beyond prefecture borderlines. This is the first study to reveal such classification patterns of Japanese dialects using machine learning approaches.

Cultural, Molecular and Genetic Variability of Ustilaginoidea virens Causing Rice False Smut Disease

Rice false smut disease is caused by Ustilaginoidea virens, an ascomycetous fungi. Thirty isolates of U. virens showed well defined colonies on potato sucrose medium (PSA). The maximum colony diameter was found to be 85.68 mm with a growth rate of 2.85 mm in the UV23 isolate and the minimum colony diameter was found to be 10.14 mm with a growth rate of 0.33 mm, which was observed in the UV15 isolate. However, thirty isolates exhibit various cultural and morphological characteristics like colony color, growth pattern, elevation, and chlamydospore formation. In cluster analysis, two major groups (I) and (II) were formed. The first major group (I) contains UV15 isolates and the second major group (II) contains 29UV isolates. Furthermore, the division of group II includes subgroup IIa, which contains 22 isolates, and subgroup IIb, with 7 isolates. The PCR amplification was done with a species-specific primer which yielded products of 380 bp and 230 bp, respectively. The results of the phylogenetic tree analysis revealed that cluster I contained 5 isolates and cluster II contained 28 isoates from China and Japan. The MAT1-1-1 primer yielded a product of 250 bp that contains 18 isolates. Whereas the MAT1-2-1 primer yielded a product of 220 bp with 12 isolates. The nucleotide divergence analysis results revealed 7 polymorphic sites (s), 10 mutations (Eta), 0.76515 nucleotide diversity (k) and -2.13885 for the tajimas test value. Likewise, haplotype analysis revealed 10 haplotype(h)groups, with a haplotype diversity (hd) of 0.4773. With 24 isolates, hap-1 was the most common. Similarly, clear nucleotide variation was observed between Indian and Chinese isolates as well as Japanese ones. The genetic similarity coefficient matrix revealed that thirty Indian isolates showed maximum similarity (0.9). whereas the UV32 isolate showed 0.6, the UV31 isolate exhibited 0.5, and the UVA33 isolate had 0.4,.These results indicate a genetic variability between the Indian UV isolates and the isolates from China.

An Illustrated History of the Maṇḍala: From Its Genesis to the Kālacakratantra

An Illustrated History of the Maṇḍala: From Its Genesis to the Kālacakratantra

Impact of five important factors on restaurant performance and hospitality management: an empirical analysis of technological innovation

This study aims to explore the effects of five factors, i.e., price, food quality, ambiance, service quality, and online order on the performance of the Japanese restaurant of Kenzo in Iran. In this research, the required data were collected through a mixed-method involving both quantitative (with 81 participants) and qualitative (2 participants) approach. Data analysis was performed using the SPSS software. With the use of Lewin's Model of Change, the study's intervention plan was suggested. The Wilcoxon test results showed that the performance of the restaurant enhanced after the intervention. Foreign restaurants, especially Japanese ones, need to pay close attention to service quality and employees’ behaviors. This factor cannot be changed or improved overnight; it takes time and investment to grow. The findings of this study help the managers and policymakers of the restaurant to gain a deeper insight into the influence of the above-mentioned factors on customer satisfaction and, consequently, the revenue of the restaurant. Additionally, it was found that food quality, price, online order, and service quality are the most important common problems of Japanese restaurants in Iran. Two phenomena limited this study: sanctions posed by the U.S on Iran and the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the results of this study may not be generalized in the post-sanction time and post-pandemic time. Due to the pandemic, most customers prefer not to be present in the restaurant, which limits the results of the research. On the other hand, for future studies, researchers can study how to guide restaurant owners to use social media to increase the number of customers and attract new customers, which can be one of the unique factors that can directly affect the restaurant's performance. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this issue has not been studied in the Middle East region yet.

Comparison of Pure and Crossbred Japanese Black Steers in Growth Performance and Metabolic Features from Birth to Slaughter at a Spanish Fattening Farm.

Simple SummaryCattle growth performance is a determinant of beef production. Nowadays, customers demand specialized, high-quality beef products produced according to stringent health and welfare standards. Intramuscular fat, or marbling, improves beef quality, and the Japanese Black (Wagyu) is the breed with the highest rates of marbling. Wagyu steers are reared under specific conditions in Japan, which may differ from the conditions in other countries, and these differences may affect animal well-being and, therefore, growth rates and beef quality. The current study shows that purebred Wagyu and crossbred Wagyu-by-Angus steers that were raised at a cow–calf operation and fattening system in Spain with no exercise restriction, high welfare, and a local diet high in olein content showed appropriate growth and fattening rates, health status, and metabolic development. Wagyu crossbred steers did not show substantially faster growth than purebred Wagyu animals, so they may not be as profitable as purebred Japanese Black in this type of production system.Japanese Black (Wagyu) cattle produce high-quality beef. However, whether Wagyu steers can be profitably raised under conditions different than the traditional Japanese ones remains unclear. From 2018 to 2020, we raised 262 Wagyu purebred steers, 103 Wagyu-by-Angus (Wangus) crossbred steers, and 43 Angus-by-European (ACL) crossbred steers on a Spanish farm with high welfare standards and a locally sourced, high-olein diet. Factors and factors’ interactions impacting steer growth were analyzed using generalized linear models. ACL steers grew faster than the other two groups, with Wangus showing intermediate fattening and muscle development. Average daily weight gains (kg/day) were 0.916 for Wagyu, 1.046 for Wangus, and 1.293 for ACL during the weaning to growing period, and 0.628 for Wagyu, 0.64 for Wangus, and 0.802 for ACL during the growing to fattening phase. ACL showed the lowest marbling rates. Wagyu and Wangus usually showed higher cholesterol, triglycerides, and high-density lipoprotein than ACL. ACL calves may experience greater stress at weaning, as suggested by higher glucose, lactate, and β-hydroxybutyrate than the other groups. The results suggest that Wagyu and Wangus steers showed adequate growth, health, and metabolic development in this type of production system, with Wagyu purebreds probably being more profitable than Wangus crossbreeds.

(INTER)CULTURAL AWARENESS IN JAPANESE LANGUAGE TEXTBOOKS

(Inter)cultural awareness is a widely discussed concept in foreign language education, being considered one of the main pillars on which the process of language learning is based. Our paper’s aim is to analyze the way in which (inter)cultural awareness is constructed in the main Japanese language textbooks used worldwide after the 1980s. We focus on the self-introduction sections in A1-level textbooks, identifying the main “foreigner” characters and examining their linguistic and cultural behavior in their interactions with the Japanese ones, as this is the first encounter of non-Japanese learners with the (inter)cultural construct in Japanese language study materials. We demonstrate that, at this level, we can speak of an advanced cultural awareness, but not of a genuine intercultural one.

Granulomatous Mastitis with Corynebacterium Infection

Background: Idiopathic granulomatous mastitis (IGM) is a rare relapsing benign, chronic inflammatory breast disease characterized by infiltration of inflammatory cells including multinucleated giant cells. Recently, it has been suggested that infection with Corynebacterium species (spp.) may be involved in the onset of the disease. Therefore, the aim of this article is to summarize the previous IGM reports related to Corynebacterium spp.Methods: I used the terms "granulomatous mastitis Corynebacterium" in PubMed and "granulomatous mastitis Corynebacterium" with Japanese in Google Scholar, which resulted in 63 English articles and 71 Japanese articles. I read all the abstracts and summarized the recent articles with Corynebacterium in the title.Results: In 16 English articles and 4 Japanese ones, the most common Corynebacterium spp. was Corynebacterium kroppenstedtii, followed by Corynebacterium tuberculostearium. Conclusion: Corynebacterium infection is widely detected with IGM. In addition to bacterial culture, real-time polymerase chain reaction and formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded biopsy specimens’ analysis can be used to detect Corynebacterium spp.

Rethinking Wh-island Effects in Chinese

Abstract The traditional observation that Chinese wh-arguments do not exhibit wh-island effects may be only apparent. With new evidence from “how-many” phrases, it is demonstrated that Chinese has wh-island effects even with wh-arguments. What nullifies such effects is in fact the disguise of D-linkedness. Although the lack of wh-island effects seems to pattern Chinese wh-construals with Japanese ones, further tests show that these two languages are still different with respect to strong island effects, (anti-)crossing effects, and multiple wh-interpretations. The finding leads to the need to reinvestigate the mechanisms underlying the scope-taking wh-elements of wh-in-situ languages on the one hand, and those triggering wh-island effects on the other.

An Image of Korean Women during the Japanese Occupation of the Peninsula, as It Emerges from Literary Masterpieces

Abstract This paper1 aims to offer a picture of the darkest period in the history of the Korean women, namely that of the Japanese colonial rule (1910–1945). The only advantage Korean women enjoyed as a result of their country’s annexation to Japan was access to institutional education, even if this was done in Japanese and from Japanese course books. But this came with a price: many of the Korean teenaged females were turned into comfort women (sex-slaves) for the Japanese soldiers before and during the Pacific War. Not only did these girls lose their youth, but they also lost their national and personal identity, as they were forced to change their Korean names into Japanese ones and to speak Japanese. To build the image of the fate of the Korean women during this bleak period, the research method I have used is a simplified version of content analysis, “an analysis of the content of communication” (Baker 1994, 267). I have explored the content of fragments from a couple of novels authored by Korean or American-Korean authors, which cover the historical events in the peninsula leading to the end of WWII (Keller’s Comfort Woman (2019) and Bracht’s White Chrysanthemum (2018), to mention just a few) and which are focused on the topic of comfort women,2 i.e. young women that were sexually exploited by the Japanese military. The results of the analysis indicate that many of the surviving victims became “unpersons” and led a life of solitude and misery until their death.

2020년 현재 사용중인 한·일 중학교 교과서 어휘 연구 - 1~3학년 국어교과서를 대상으로 -

This paper aims to illuminate the socio-cultural characteristics of the national language textbooks, which Korea and Japan intend to make their students influenced by, through drawing on the significant differences between categories that appear in lexical distributions by areas of the meaning of vocabulary in the current national language textbooks for middle school students in Korea and Japan.<BR> For a qualitative change, the lexical distributions were compared according to the five major categories of Bunruigoihyou (1964, 2004). In the case of Korean textbooks, there are significant differences in the order of <1.2>, <1.4>, and <1.3> based on the total number of words. In the case of Japanese textbooks, significant differences are in the order of <1.5> and <1.1>. It was also compared with Lee(2020) that analyzed the vocabulary of a first-year textbook, which revealed the significant difference in <1.2> and <1.3>, <1.5> is shrinking. Therefore the characteristics of first-year textbooks are now slightly ambiguous.<BR> These tendencies were also found in the medium categories. In the case of Korean textbooks, significant differences were found in ＜human＞，<race·people>, <family>, <members·position> <duty>, <mind>, <economy>, <dwelling>, <clothing>, <foodstuff>, <body> and <life>. On the other hand, Japanese textbooks are different from Korean ones in terms of <instruction>, <quantity>, <time>, <space>, <living organism>, <nature·object>, <animal>, <creation·writing>, and <machinery>.<BR> In particular, Korean textbooks have more vocabulary associated with humans and families than Japanese ones, while Japanese textbooks have more words related to information literacy which is the same tendency shown in the previous textbooks. In addition, the revision of Japanese textbooks has resulted in a decrease in literature-related vocabulary and an emphasis on environmental and ecological themes.

Sino-Japanese Relations from the Perspective of Chinese Mainstream Media During the Pandemic: Based on Word2vec and DTM Model

We conducted sentiment classification for news reports during the COVID-19 pandemic on Sino-Japanese relations from Chinese and Japanese media. Based on the Word2vec and Dynamic Topic Models, we analyzed the macroscopic dimension of theme distribution and the semantic change process of “Sino-Japanese” related words. The results indicate that Chinese media reports are mainly neutral, but Japanese ones are mainly negative. The meaning of the terms related to “Sino-Japanese” has not changed significantly, but there are minor differences in the content of reports on the same subject in different periods. During Suga’s administration, the overall stability of Sino-Japanese relations and the continued advancement of pragmatic cooperation are expected to continue.

Sociodemographic inequities in dental care utilisation among governmental welfare recipients in Japan: a retrospective cohort study

BackgroundMaintaining oral health is one of the global public health challenges. Income and out-of-pocket payments for dental care services are predictors of dental care utilisation. Although public assistance programmes guarantee income security for impoverished people, access barriers other than financial costs may cause unmet dental care needs. We aimed to explore the potential sociodemographic factors determining dental care utilisation among recipients of public assistance in Japan using linkage data of public assistance database and medical assistance claim data administered by municipalities.MethodsThis was a retrospective cohort study involving a sample of public assistance recipients. We extracted the recipients’ sociodemographic data (age, sex, household number, employment status, nationality, disability certificates, and long-term care status) in January 2016 and observed them until December 2016 to identify incidences of dental care utilisation as outcomes. We performed a multivariable modified Poisson regression analysis with a robust standard error estimator to calculate the incidence ratio (IR) of dental care utilisation in each variable.ResultsWe identified a total of 4497 recipients at risk. Among them, 839 recipients used dental care services. Younger age was associated with a higher incidence of dental care utilisation. The female recipients had a higher incidence of dental care utilisation when compared to the male ones (adjusted IR, 1.22; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.08–1.38). Immigrant recipients had a higher incidence of dental care utilisation than the Japanese ones (IR, 1.53; 95% CI, 1.16–2.01). Recipients with mental disabilities had higher incidences than those without disability certificates (IR, 1.30; 95% CI, 1.08–1.56).ConclusionsNon-financial sociodemographic inequities in dental care utilisation stemming from age, sex, nationality, and presence of mental disability were found despite minimum income protection and equitable financial dental service access amongst public assistance recipients in Japan. Providing targeted preventive care and treatments for dental care among underserved populations is required to tackle oral health inequities.

The Recognition of Cross-Cultural Emotional Faces Is Affected by Intensity and Ethnicity in a Japanese Sample.

Human faces convey a range of emotions and psychobiological signals that support social interactions. Multiple factors potentially mediate the facial expressions of emotions across cultures. To further determine the mechanisms underlying human emotion recognition in a complex and ecological environment, we hypothesized that both behavioral and neurophysiological measures would be influenced by stimuli ethnicity (Japanese, Caucasian) in the context of ambiguous emotional expressions (mid-happy, angry). We assessed the neurophysiological and behavioral responses of neurotypical Japanese adults (N = 27, 13 males) involved in a facial expression recognition task. Results uncover an interaction between universal and culturally-driven mechanisms. No differences in behavioral responses are found between male and female participants, male and female faces, and neutral Japanese versus Caucasian faces. However, Caucasian ambiguous emotional expressions which require more energy-consuming processing, as highlighted by neurophysiological results of the Arousal Index, were judged more accurately than Japanese ones. Additionally, a differential Frontal Asymmetry Index in neuronal activation, the signature of an approach versus avoidance response, is found in male participants according to the gender and emotional valence of the stimuli.

Introgressive-interspecies complex Musa basjoo sensu lato: results of genetic diversity research by molecular phylogeny methods

In this article, we compare the phylogenetic position of various specimens of the Japanese banana (Musa basjoo) originating from the greenhouses of the St. Petersburg Botanical Garden of Peter the Great and from the Kyoto Garden using the analysis of marker sequences ITS1–5.8S rRNA–ITS2 and trnL–trnF. Samples of M. basjoo grown in the Peter the Great Botanical Garden originate from China and have some morphological differences from typical Japanese ones. In addition, we used sequences from the international GenBank database. According to the results of the analysis of ITS sequences, the M. basjoo samples form a single clade with M. itinerans and M. tonkinensis, possibly corresponding to the subsection in the section Musa. At the same time, M. basjoo from Peter the Great Botanical Garden differs in the primary sequence of the ITS1–5.8S rRNA–ITS2 from Japanese one forming a lowly supported clade with M. tonkinensis. Two M. basjoo samples collected in China, whose sequences are taken from the GenBank database, fall into a separate subclade within M. basjoo clade, possibly being a special species from this affinity group. According to the trnL–trnF chloroplast sequences, most of the M. basjoo samples also fall into the clade with M. itinerans. However, one M. basjoo specimen from the Genbank database is monophyletic with M. acuminata from a completely different clade. Possibly, the affinity group of M. basjoo is a compound hybrid complex containing plants that differ in the composition of the maternal genome.

MOTOCHI50, LA ÚNICA MOTO DISEÑADA EN CHILE: UN EMPRENDIMIENTO PRIVADO EN UNA ECONOMÍA EN CRISIS. 1972-1974

El presente artículo busca determinar los orígenes del vehículo Motochi50, la única motocicleta diseñada en Chile, identificando su contexto temporal, político-económico y tecnológico, con el objetivo de ponerla en valor. Para ello fueron consultadas fuentes primarias a través de entrevistas en profundidad, análisis de publicaciones, documentos de la época y el método “autopsia del producto”. Además, se recurrió a fuentes secundarias, en especial, a revisión bibliográfica. A partir de estos análisis, pudo establecerse que la Motochi50 fue el resultado del emprendimiento privado de ingenieros chilenos, liderados por Eduardo Alvear, quien diseñó y construyó la motocicleta para atender la demanda de un medio de transporte personal en Chile durante 1972. Se determinó, asimismo, que su modalidad de organización productiva fue de carácter distribuida, aspecto adelantado para su época y que hoy se practica a escala mundial. Para su producción se externalizó la fabricación de piezas, supervisando que estas cumplieran con especificaciones determinadas por el diseño. Las piezas fueron fabricadas por especialistas que contaban con infraestructura y equipamiento necesario, siendo el proceso final de integración supervisado por Solutec Ltda. El modelo de producción utilizado era contrario a la tendencia económico-política que el gobierno socialista imperante pregonaba. De tal forma se desarrollaba una empresa privada en un contexto social, político y económico que se encaminaba hacia una crisis de dimensión nacional y que culminaría con el golpe de Estado del 11 de septiembre de 1973.La producción de Motochi50 concluyó después del golpe de Estado, cuando el nuevo gobierno abrió la economía al comercio exterior y el proyecto no pudo continuar debido a la llegada de motocicletas del extranjero, como las japonesas, con mejor tecnología y con un precio conveniente. La moto se comercializó hasta el año 1975, si bien la fábrica cerró definitivamente en 1977, una fecha aún por confirmar.

Cryptic diversity in the inshore hagfish, Eptatretus burgeri (Myxinidae, Pisces) from the northwest Pacific

The fishery of inshore hagfish (Eptatretus burgeri) is particularly important from the perspective of the eel-skin leather industry in the northwest Pacific. In order to reveal the genetic diversity and population structure of E. burgeri in the northwest Pacific, we analyzed partial nucleotide sequences of three mitochondrial DNA regions (523 bp in COI, 712 bp in ND4 and 617 bp in Cytb) based on specimens collected from six locations in Korea and Japan. The genetic diversities of E. burgeri were higher in Korean locations compared to Japanese ones. AMOVA showed that E. burgeri was completely separated into two groups (group A: southern coast of Korea and western coast of Japan vs. group B: eastern coast of Japan). Furthermore, groups A and B were divided into each two lineages (lineage I: west southern coast of Korea, lineage II: east southern coast of Korea and western coast of Japan, lineage III and IV: eastern coast of Japan). Our molecular results suggest that these two groups and lineages of E. burgeri may be different evolutionary significant unit and management unit, respectively.

Analysis of Mozambican Elementary Mathematics Textbooks Compared with Japanese Textbooks Focusing on Tasks and Exercises Related to the Real World

The importance of sociocultural perspective in curriculum emphasized in the context of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Textbook has a strong relation of all three types, intended, implemented and attained curriculum. Therefore, analyzing sociocultural features of the textbooks leads to improving quality of education in the context of SDGs. This study aims to clarify the pertinent characteristics of Mozambican elementary mathematics textbooks from a sociocultural perspective (in comparison to Japanese ones) by focusing on how they treat ‘real-world’ mathematics. The following four perspectives are discussed: (1) Proportion of the tasks related to the real world via the introduction of new learning content (2) Proportion of exercises related to the real world (3) Categorization of the situation of the tasks and exercises related to the real world. As a result, we found that there are few problems which are related directly to the real world in the Mozambican elementary mathematics textbooks. The content of the problems related to the real world are about the tax system and salaries, which means students are given opportunities to view and think mathematically about their social system right from the elementary school age. In addition, various exercises related to social science topics are contained to help students to understand and hand down Mozambican culture.