Japanese Packaging Research Articles

The Adequateness of Methadone for Japanese Terminal Cancer Patients Can Be Determined Earlier than 7 Days: A Preliminary Retrospective Study.

Introduction: The Japanese packaging instructions for methadone prohibit dose escalation within 7 days of administration initiation as this may result in overdose and subsequent adverse events. However, for terminal cancer patients, evaluation of the effects of methadone may be desirable within 7 days because they have limited prognoses. We aimed to determine the possibility of estimating the adequateness of methadone earlier than the 7th day by investigating the onset timing of analgesic effects and adverse events of methadone in Japanese terminal cancer patients. Methods: Japanese terminal cancer patients who started taking methadone in Ashiya Municipal Hospital were enrolled from January 1, 2013 to February 28, 2019. Verbal rating scale (VRS) scores on pain and adverse events before and after methadone administration (on days 3, 5, and 7) were retrospectively investigated from medical records. Results: We enrolled 25 patients, of which 20 (80.0%) received methadone until day 7. The VRS score (mean ± standard deviation) on pain was significantly reduced to 0.90 ± 0.55 on day 3, compared with 1.65 ± 0.67 before the administration of methadone (p < 0.05). The mean VRS scores did not differ significantly on days 3, 5, and 7. Additionally, of the 23 patients who received methadone until day 3, 20 (87.0%) showed an analgesic effect on day 3 and 17 (85.0%) received methadone without experiencing serious adverse events until day 7. Conclusions: The adequateness of methadone in Japanese terminal cancer patients could be determined before day 7, considering the high analgesia incidence and few adverse events 3 days after the methadone administration under careful observation by a physician experienced in methadone administration. However, as this is a preliminary study, the relationship between pharmacokinetic parameters and analgesic effects was not evaluated. Further studies involving pharmacokinetics and multicenter prospective studies are required to support these findings.

How to Wrap Five Eggs: Traditional Japanese Packaging by Hideyuki Oka and Michikazu Sakai

How to Wrap Five Eggs: Traditional Japanese Packaging by Hideyuki Oka and Michikazu Sakai

容器分野における材料・技術動向

容器分野における材料・技術動向

Japanese Aesthetics of Packaging

In contemporary Japan, Westernization has transformed so many aspects of everyday lives in a relatively short period of time-just over a century-ranging from architecture to clothing, political system to industry. In the midst of this rapid Westernization, it may appear that traditional Japanese aesthetic sensibilities can be found only in time-honored art forms such as the tea ceremony, flower arrangement, Noh theater, and calligraphy. However, in the Japanese cultural tradition, aesthetic considerations permeate every aspect of daily life. In the past, aesthetic sensibilities guided not only the creation and appreciation of painting, music, and literature, but also the experience of cooking, swordsmanship, and letter writing, as well as the cultivation of etiquette and moral virtues, and even the execution of ritual suicide.2 This aesthetic attention to various dimensions of daily life is still alive and well today.3 For example, seasonable haikus are featured daily on the front page of major newspapers, business letters are written with reference to the beauty of the season, food is carefully arranged on a plate specifically chosen to suit the particular food item and the season, both at restaurants and at home, and a gift is wrapped with an appropriate material in a meticulous manner. In what follows, I would like to take this last item, Japanese packaging, as an example of how highly sophisticated aesthetic sensibilities are involved in this rather mundane, and otherwise ordinary, object. I. THE ALLURE OF THE HIDDEN

Japanese Aesthetics of Packaging

In contemporary Japan, Westernization has transformed so many aspects of everyday lives in a relatively short period of time-just over a century-ranging from architecture to clothing, political system to industry. In the midst of this rapid Westernization, it may appear that traditional Japanese aesthetic sensibilities can be found only in time-honored art forms such as the tea ceremony, flower arrangement, Noh theater, and calligraphy. However, in the Japanese cultural tradition, aesthetic considerations permeate every aspect of daily life. In the past, aesthetic sensibilities guided not only the creation and appreciation of painting, music, and literature, but also the experience of cooking, swordsmanship, and letter writing, as well as the cultivation of etiquette and moral virtues, and even the execution of ritual suicide.2 This aesthetic attention to various dimensions of daily life is still alive and well today.3 For example, seasonable haikus are featured daily on the front page of major newspapers, business letters are written with reference to the beauty of the season, food is carefully arranged on a plate specifically chosen to suit the particular food item and the season, both at restaurants and at home, and a gift is wrapped with an appropriate material in a meticulous manner. In what follows, I would like to take this last item, Japanese packaging, as an example of how highly sophisticated aesthetic sensibilities are involved in this rather mundane, and otherwise ordinary, object. I. THE ALLURE OF THE HIDDEN

Food Packaging in Japan

Japan is the highest per capita consumer of packaging materials in the world. The Japanese packaging materials industry has an annual value of US$50 billion. There is a close relationship between the food and packaging industries in Japan. There is a tendency toward ingenuity in packaging designs in Japan, and Japanese food manufacturers use high-tech packaging techniques. At the same time, there is still widespread usage of traditional packaging materials (i.e., wood, earthenware, ceramics, and bamboo). Available space, energy, and a severe lack of natural resources directly affect the food packaging industry in Japan.

包装産業と紙

This paper is described on the degree of contribution of paper and paperboard to Japanese packaging industry and recent technical trends as packaging materials.Total production amounts of packaging materials in Japan in 1985 is 17, 980.8 thousand tons and its 53.6% is paper and paperboard products.Production amounts of corrugated boards to total amounts of paper and paperboard for packaging materials is 66% and its main uses is food packaing as shown in Fig. 5.Milk carton in Japan has been drastically increasing scince 1975 and spreading now for Japanese proper drinkings such as sake and tounyu.Finally, this paper introduces on development state of new packaging matrials for new life style and high technological application.Many kinds of electro conductivity, antitarnish paper, lint free paper and electro-magnetic wave shielding materials for electronics packaging has been developing now as packaging materials.As a results, it is supposed that paper and paperboard production for packaging industry does not decrease if the new development for packaging industry is much more progressed.

How to Wrap Five More Eggs: Traditional Japanese Packaging. By Hideyuki Oka. New York &amp; Tokyo: John Weatherhill, 1975. 215 pp. Plates. $15.00

How to Wrap Five More Eggs: Traditional Japanese Packaging. By Hideyuki Oka. New York &amp; Tokyo: John Weatherhill, 1975. 215 pp. Plates. $15.00

How to Wrap Five More Eggs: Traditional Japanese Packaging.

How to Wrap Five More Eggs: Traditional Japanese Packaging.