Young Japanese Woman Research Articles

Intercultural dialogue in manga: Building friendships, sharing spaces and values

Manga as a cultural art form delves into various sociocultural issues and narratives, and the representation of diverse cultural contexts in manga has increased over the years. The role of Japanese manga as a site for intercultural understanding and engagement is worth further investigation, and research in this area is still growing. This article explores intercultural dialogue through a case study of the Japanese manga Satoko and Nada Volume 1 by Yupechika, which narrates the friendship between Satoko, a young Japanese woman, and Nada, her Saudi Muslim roommate. It adopts a literary approach to the analysis of the manga and employs textual analysis as the methodology. The manga is analysed through the lens of interculturalism and deep dialogue focusing on the themes of food, fashion and faith. Through the analysis, readers are exposed to the narrative of intercultural engagement as portrayed by the mangaka. Yupechika incorporates pre-existing prejudices in the engagement between the two culturally diverse characters. The narrative arc reveals the importance of empathy, space and value sharing in forging intercultural understanding. This reading into Yupechika’s intercultural narrative is a microcosm of the type of dialogue needed in the world today to overcome the acute racism and xenophobia.

Detection of early stage medullary thyroid carcinoma by measuring serum calcitonin using an electro chemiluminescence immuno-assay: A case report of a young Japanese woman with a high-risk RET mutation.

.Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) in multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 (MEN2) is an autosomal dominant disorder caused by the mutation of the RET proto-oncogene, that shows nearly complete penetration. The American Thyroid Association guidelines recommend prophylactic thyroidectomy for patients with high-risk RET mutations. However, in Japan, ethical and medical issues may preclude prophylactic treatment in young patients. Hence, an early diagnosis of MTC is necessary to ensure a favorable outcome. Here, we report the case of a young Japanese girl with a high-risk RET mutation, diagnosed with very early stage MTC using serum calcitonin (Ctn) values measured using an electro chemiluminescence immuno-assay (ECLIA). The Japanese girl with a family history of MEN2 had been followed at our hospital since she was 5-mo-old. RET analysis revealed that she displayed a Cys634Gly mutation. The patient underwent annual neck ultrasonography and calcium infusion testing. When she was 8-yr-old, the Ctn level, measured using ECLIA, dramatically increased with calcium stimulation, from a baseline of 11.3 pg/mL to 333 pg/mL. She subsequently underwent total thyroidectomy and was diagnosed with stage I MTC. Detecting early stage MTC by monitoring serum Ctn measured by ECLIA, may represent a useful strategy for patients with high-risk RET mutations.

Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome detected incidentally by asymptomatic bilateral pneumothorax in health screening: a case of a young Japanese woman.

Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome (BHD) is an autosomal dominant disease caused by mutations of germline folliculin (FCLN) mapped in the chromosome 17p11.2 region. BHD commonly accompanies renal tumors, fibrofolliculomas, multiple pulmonary cysts, and spontaneous pneumothorax. We report a case of a young Japanese woman in whom asymptomatic bilateral pneumothorax was found incidentally in a health screening, which led to the diagnosis of BHD. She had developed neither renal tumors nor fibrofolliculomas. However, her father, uncle, and aunt also experienced pneumothorax. In Japan, BHD is not yet well known because skin-related symptoms of fibrofolliculomas are sometimes absent unlike in most cases in Europe and the United States. On the basis of this case, we propose that BHD should be considered at the time of pneumothorax examination.

Case of erythema nodosum associated with granulomatous mastitis probably due to Corynebacterium infection

Granulomatous mastitis (GM) is a rare chronic inflammatory breast disease that can be mistaken for a variety of inflammatory and neoplastic disorders of the breast. Erythema nodosum (EN) is a common panniculitis, and is often associated with a variety of diseases, yet coexistence of EN and GM is very rare. In this paper, we present a young Japanese woman with EN associated with GM probably due to Corynebacterium infection. Both lesions of EN and GM were successfully treated with oral minocycline and surgical drainage. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of EN associated with GM due to Corynebacterium infection in the English-language published work.

Representations are Misrepresentations: The Case of Cover Designs of Banana Yoshimoto’s Kitchen

Megan Backus’s English translation of Kitchen is notable for being both a critical and commercial success. Critics have praised its readability but noted that its translation strategy is foreignizing. Although its cover designs have not been discussed in relation to domestication and foreignization, the strategies are worthy of mention, because they have huge implications for the symbolic representation of marginalized cultures and dominant counterparts. The American publisher Grove Press uses a foreignizing strategy which succeeds in producing an intelligible image of the Oriental novel which at the same time appeals to readers, and the design accelerated the popularity of this novella in the US. In contrast, the first UK edition uses a photograph of a weeping geisha, even though the main character is a young Americanized Japanese woman. Most importantly, there are no geishas anywhere in this story. The cover may seem foreignizing at first glance, but is in fact, obviously domesticating. This design fits the stereotyped mould of what Westerners regard as “a typical Japanese image,” completely unrelated to the content. This paper investigates how Kitchen has been represented in Western countries, with a focus on the cover designs of the translations.

"Citizen Sure Thing" or "Jus' Foreigner"?: Half-Caste Citizenship and the Family Romance in Onoto Watanna's Orientalist Fiction

"Citizen Sure Thing" or "Jus' Foreigner"?Half-Caste Citizenship and the Family Romance in Onoto Watanna's Orientalist Fiction Jolie A. Sheffer (bio) In "a contract" (1902), one of Winnifred Eaton's popular orientalist romances published under the pen name Onoto Watanna, O-Kiku-san, a young Japanese woman, explains to her suitor, the Japanese-born but racially white businessman Masters, the difference between citizenship and belonging. She tells him, "You Japanese citizen sure thing . . . all the same you jus' foreigner, all the same."1 Masters protests, insisting, "You are trying to rob me of my birthright. Am I or am I not Japanese?" (56). Kiku's answer is unwavering: "Japanese citizen, yes. . . . Japanese man? No, naever" (56). Speaking as a full-blooded Japanese woman in Japan, Kiku articulates the vast gap between legal rights and social recognition, between being a "sure" citizen under the law while nevertheless ("all the same") being perceived as "jus' foreigner," one who is virtually indistinguishable from all other foreigners (as indicated by the repetition of "all the same"). In this scene, Masters wants to be recognized as Japanese, and the most effective means by which he imagines achieving recognition is to marry a Japanese woman, with the hope that "the next of our line possibly may be partly Japanese, and the next" (56). In this story, as throughout Eaton's body of work, those who look different on account of race—whether as a white man in Japan or a biracial woman in the United States—are perpetually seen as "jus'" foreigners. The white man's status as perpetual foreigner in Japan neatly reverses the far more common experience of Asians in early-twentieth-century America, particularly since Kiku's judgment of [End Page 81] Masters's foreignness is also based on his apparent failure to assimilate: he was educated in the West and lives in the English colony within Japan. Here, as throughout Eaton's fiction, mixed blood is the primary measure of and means to cultural acceptance, more powerful than the legal rights granted by citizenship and more persuasive than residency. Eaton's formulation of the "citizen sure thing" who is nonetheless a perpetual foreigner complicates Lisa Lowe's now-paradigmatic account of the ways that "the American citizen has been defined over against the Asian immigrant, legally, economically, and culturally."2 Again and again in Eaton's fiction, the route to recognition is imagined through romance, breeding, and familial ties, embodied by the figure of the "half-caste," the offspring of a white man and a Japanese woman. With her focus on the plight of the biracial figure born of the West's previous encounters with the East, Eaton's stories should be read as aggressive dramas of national belonging in which white men desire mixed-race women, and mixed-race children demand recognition in the U.S. family. In the story "A Half Caste" (1899) in particular, Eaton merges the interracial love story with a familial reunification plot in order to make the controversial claim that the threat of incest may be productive, serving as the means by which the half-caste can secure her rights as daughter and citizen. In Eaton's fiction, the moment of incestuous desire and its disclosure occasions recognition of the half-caste's rights as a member of the family and, by extension, as a citizen of the American "fatherland." The term "half-caste," which was invented to define the mixed-race children of European fathers and Indian mothers on the subcontinent, relies upon the entrenched gendering of raced bodies and the racialization of women.3 In America as in Europe, masculinity and fatherhood have long been associated with the West, while femininity and motherhood have been aligned with racial and cultural Otherness. In the United States, ever since Commodore Matthew Perry "opened" Japan to American trade in 1853, American audiences have responded enthusiastically to the image of an American captain penetrating the mystical, oriental East via military and economic might—symbolized by the cannons extending from Commodore Perry's ships when he entered Tokyo Bay. This "scenario" of Western political-sexual conquest, to use Diana Taylor's term for the "predictable, formulaic, hence...

Simultaneous squamous cell carcinoma in situ and adenocarcinoma in situ of the uterine cervix in a 36-year-old Japanese woman

Simultaneous occurrence of squamous cell carcinoma in situ (SIS) and adenocarcinoma in situ (AIS) is very rare in Japan. The author reports a rare case of coexistence of SIS and AIS in a young Japanese woman. A 36-year-old Japanese woman complained of abnormal uterine bleeding, and consulted to our hospital. Colposcopic examination revealed irregular lesions in the cervix, and a biopsy showed simultaneous SIS and AIS. Conization was performed. The SIS corresponded to cervical intraepithelial neoplasm3, HGSIL, or carcinoma in situ, and AIS was typical AIS. The SIS showed in situ atypical cells without stratification and polarity. The AIS showed tubular or cribriform apparent AIS of mixed endocervical and intestinal type. There was adequate structural and cytological atypia regarded as malignant in both lesions. Most of the areas of SIS and AIS were separated but the two were occasionally seen to merge when involving the glands. Immunohistochemically, both elements were positive for cytokeratins, p53 protein, CEA, and CA125. The Ki-67 labeling was 82% in the SIS and 78% in the AIS. The author reported a Japanese case of combined SIS and AIS, so far infrequently reported in Japanese woman.

Breakthrough Rhinocerebral Mucormycosis in a Liver Transplant Patient Receiving Caspofungin

Zygomycetes are among the most frequent causes of non- Aspergillus mycelial fungal infections in transplant recipients. We have described a single case of breakthrough zygomycosis. A young Japanese woman presented because of idiopathic fulminant hepatitis and renal failure. On the third day of admission, she underwent orthotopic liver transplantation. A considerable amount of red blood cells and fresh frozen plasma were transfused during surgery. On posttransplant day 2, Candida albicans was isolated from respiratory secretions; prophylactic caspofungin was prescribed. During the next 6 days, C albicans was isolated from tracheal secretions, surgical wound, and exudates and stools. Ventilator-associated pneumonia was diagnosed day 4. Her renal function did not improve during the postoperative period; the patient continued on hemodialysis. On day 28, a dark blue eschar due to zygomycosis was detected on the skin of the nose. Tracheal and nasal exudates yielded Rhizopus sp. The patient died 12 hours later due to multiorgan failure with hypothermia. The fatal evolution in this case may be related to a presumed brain infarction after progressive vessel fungal invasion. The presented case had 2 risk factors related to zygomycosis. A high index of suspicion is required in transplant recipients with risk factors for zygomycosis. Early diagnosis and surgery with appropriate systemic fungal drugs (amphotericin B) are mandatory to improve the prognosis.

Ritual suicide of Japanese girl in the Slovak Republic

The body of a young Japanese woman was found buried in the mass of snow in February 2006 near the town of Liptovsky Mikulas in the Slovak Republic. Hypothermia was declared as the cause of her death, the body of the deceased was deeply frozen. The autopsy and police investigation classified her death as a suicide, having some features of an Eastern Asian suicidal ritual. The case shows that the era of world globalization and migration of people bring together also the curious cases of human tragedies. Thus the forensic expert of nowadays must expect that s/he might be faced with cases of death unseen before.

Acquired Dermal Melanocytosis Naevus of Ota-like Macules on the Face and Extremities Lesions in a Young Japanese Woman

Acquired Dermal Melanocytosis Naevus of Ota-like Macules on the Face and Extremities Lesions in a Young Japanese Woman

Japan's Health Care Universal, but M.D.s Cite Flaws

Japan's Health Care Universal, but M.D.s Cite Flaws

Severe degenerative change of multiple organs mediated by chronic active Epstein–Barr virus infection with infected T-cell expansion

We here report the case of a young Japanese woman diagnosed with chronic active Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection. Intensive therapy with the CHOP regimen was partially able to control virus expansion, but various central nervous system symptoms appeared and gradually progressed. EBV-encoded RNA, detected using in situ hybridization, disclosed the presence of EBV in liver and bone marrow tissue, and real-time PCR revealed the presence of EBV in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum. CD3+CD4+CD8-CD56- T-cell expansion in the peripheral blood (PB) and CSF was also observed. Atrophic brain changes were progressive, and the patient died of central nervous system disturbance and pulmonary hemorrhage a year after diagnosis. Autopsy revealed that EBV-infected T lymphocytes with a phenotype similar to those seen in PB and CSF had infiltrated multiple organs: the lymph nodes, bone marrow, endocardium, pericardium, myocardium, spleen, liver, and spinal cord. There have been few previous reports of severe degenerative changes in the myocardium, liver, and spinal cord in patients with EBV infection. Although EBV occasionally infiltrates the central nervous system and brain, atrophic changes mediated by EBV are rare. The autopsy results of this case suggest the possibility of EBV-mediated, severe degenerative changes in multiple organs.

Basaloid squamous-cell carcinoma of the lung in a young woman

We report a rare case of basaloid squamous cell carcinoma of the lung in a young Japanese woman. An 18-year-old woman presented with productive cough. Chest radiogram and computed tomography (CT) revealed a tumor in the left hilum accompanied by partial atelectasis of the left upper lobe and pleural effusion. Transbronchial fine-needle aspiration cytology supported a tentative diagnosis of primary squamous-cell carcinoma of the lung. The clinical stage was T4N2M1, with multiple bone metastases. Despite a transient response to chemotherapy consisting of carboplatin and paclitaxel, the patient died because of tumor progression 2 months after the start of the chemotherapy. Necropsy established the diagnosis of basaloid squamous-cell carcinoma of the lung. Immunohistochemical studies of the necropsy specimen indicated that the tumor was positive for keratin, vimentin, and S100, and negative for chromogranin A, cytokeratin CAM5.2, and bcl-2. Besides the rarity of the disease itself, the present case seemed to have additional uniqueness in that the patient was 18 years old and female. This is the youngest patient with a case of basaloid squamous cell carcinoma of the lung ever reported.

Extreme hypertrophy of the labia minora

Hypertrophic labia minora are occasionally a concern of young adults or adolescent girls. The hypertrophy may cause local irritation and discomfort in walking or sitting, as well as problems of personal hygiene during menstruation. Labial hypertrophy is defined as a maximum distance of the labia from base to edge of 4 cm (1). Although most cases of subjectively reported hypertrophic labia minora require reassurance and no correction is necessary, some cases should be surgically corrected for several reasons. We have recently experienced a case of extreme protuberance of bilateral labia minora in a young Japanese woman without any appreciable causal factors. The patient was a 19-year-old nuliparous Japanese woman with a chief complaint of unusual shape and vague discomfort of her labia minora. She began to recognize that her labia minora was becoming larger and longer when she was 12 years old. No injuries or chronic stimulations were reported. The elongation was more apparent on the left side but the right side was also thought to be considerably long. A further elongation was noted on the right side at 16 years old. She began to experience discomfort when sitting, as both labia became longer than 5 cm. She had become sexually active at 18 years old but she admitted recent withdrawal from sexual activity due to the fear and concern of her vulvar shape. No vulvar pain, injuries, abnormal discharges or pruritus were reported. Her menstrual cycle has been regular with an interval of 28 days and she has never used oral contraceptives. Currently she is not sexually active. She denied any depressive mood changes but she has an obsessive concern with her labial shape and has therefore withdrawn from many social activities. Her family history and her developmental history were essentially normal. The patient's mother denied any recognizable anomaly at her early childhood. Upon examination, the patient had normal development of breasts, pubic hair and normal-sized clitoris. The vaginal orifice was slightly relaxed. The bilateral labia minora both protruded and were sagging from their base by more than 10 cm (Fig. 1). Markedly elongated labia minora of the 19-year-old nuliparous woman. The growth was first noticed at age 12 years of age and slowly but progressively increased. Pelvic examination showed a normal-sized, anteverted uterus. Both ovaries were also normal in size and ultrasonography confirmed the findings in addition to visualizing normal follicular development. Magnetic resonance imaging of the pelvis, an intravenous pyelogram and laboratory tests showed no abnormalities. The patient underwent a bilateral labioplasty under general anesthesia. The redundant labial skin was excised and the labia were reshaped using 4–0 PDS running sutures (Fig. 2). Her postoperative recovery was excellent and she was discharged without event. A histological study showed that the labial tissue was edematous with occasional lymphocyte infiltrations (Fig. 3). No structural or cellular atypia was noted. The excess labial tissues were excised and labial plasty was performed using 4–0 PDS sutures. Histology of the excised labial tissue showing occasional infiltration of lymphocytes but otherwise nonspecific changes. The follow-up visit at 12 weeks showed the normal appearance of the vulva and the patient reported satisfactory resumption of sexual activity. It is not unusual that young adults complain about their unusually shaped vulvar area. The concern tends to be with regard to the labial shape or size but medical intervention is usually unnecessary. The surgical criteria for hypertrophic labia minora are not clearly established. Previous reports use a labial length of 4 cm (1) or 5 cm (2) as an indication for surgical correction but a large study by Rouzier et al. does not show an average length for the cases (1). Certainly the length itself is not an absolute indication. The esthetic aspect and some extent of dysfunction or discomfort should be considered for surgical correction. Histological examination shows somewhat dilated blood vessels and edematous stroma. Infiltration of lymphocytes in close proximity to blood vessels also suggests a possible inflammatory process. The number of nerve endings in hypertrophic labia may be higher than those in a normal labia minora (3). The etiologic factor of the labial hypertrophy is unknown. Filaria sanguinis hominis infection may cause blockage of the lymph channels and as a consequence labial edema may occur to mimic true hypertrophy. Chronic stimulation such as constant pulling may also result in the elongation. Kato et al. reported hypertrophic labia minora in myelodysplastic women and this was attributed to chronic inflammation or stimulation of the labia by the constant use of a diaper (4). These factors are obviously not involved in the present case. In conclusion, we have experienced unusually hypertrophic labia minora in a young woman without any causal factors. In the present case, surgical correction was highly efficacious, safe and satisfactory.

“The Pacific Era Has Arrived”: Transnational Education among Japanese Americans, 1932–1941

Looking back on the two years at Keisen Girls' School, I am so grateful for the opportunity to have been able to study here…. Our teachers have taught us that it was mistaken if we simply aspired to mimic the ways of Japanese woman. Cognizant of our special position as Americans of Japanese ancestry, we must instead strive to promote the U.S.-Japan friendship. Furthermore, we must adapt the merits of the Japanese spirit [that we have acquired here] to our Americanism. Back in the United States, we will dedicate ourselves to the good of our own society as best possible citizens, cooperating with Americans of other races and learning from each other…. Such is the mission of the Nisei as a bridge between Japan and the United States—one that we have come to appreciate [through our schooling in Japan].Just about two years before Pearl Harbor, a young Japanese American woman took this pledge to herself when she completed a special study program in Tokyo, Japan. Although the shadow of war loomed increasingly over the Pacific, thousands of American-born Japanese (Nisei) youth like her flocked to their parents' native land during the 1930s to pursue cultural and language learning, as well as formal secondary and higher education. In any given year following 1932, an estimated 1,500 young Nisei students from North America resided in Tokyo and other urban areas of Japan. Often referred to as Kibei after returning to their native land, these young women and men attempted to embrace their ethnic heritage and identity during their sojourn in Japan with the support of Japanese educators.

Clinical features of a young Japanese woman having marked obesity and abrupt onset of diabetes mellitus with ketoacidosis

The subject was a 26-year-old Japanese woman of 148 cm height, 96.2 kg of body weight (BW) (body mass index (BMI) of 43.8 kg/m 2). She was referred to our hospital on May 1, 2000 for the evaluation of marked hyperglycemia with clinical symptom of general malaise, polydipsia, and ketonuria (3+). She did not smoke, or drink alcohol. But, she tended to eat lots of sweet food every day before the onset of this symptom. Her father was diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus. Her fasting plasma glucose and HbA 1c, and serum C-peptide were 398 mg/dl, 7.8% and less than 0.05 ng/ml [normal range: 0.94–2.8], respectively. She tested negative for anti-glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) antibodies and islet-cell antibodies. C-peptide level in her urine was as low as 3.4 μg/day. We immediately started insulin treatment under the diagnosis of abrupt onset of diabetes mellitus with diabetic ketoacidosis on the day of her admission, and the insulin treatment was continued after her being discharged. She showed continuous BW reduction until her BW reached approximately 60 kg, followed by her BW being plateau. During the period, intra-abdominal visceral fat (VF) and subcutaneous fat (SF) volume assessed by helical computerized tomography (CT) showed a substantial reduction [3.9–0.5 l for VF, 19–3.2 l for SF volume]. Pre-heparin plasma lipoprotein lipase (LPL) mass showed a considerably lower value when she had continuous BW reduction than did it when her BW reduction discontinued. These findings suggest that in this subject, continuous BW reduction after the abrupt onset of diabetes is closely associated with intra-abdominal fat mass reduction, which may be related to decreased production of LPL.

Familial Crohn’s disease with systemic lupus erythematosus

We describe a young Japanese woman who was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease affecting the ileum, transverse colon, and rectum, as confirmed by barium studies, colonoscopy, and histopathological examination. Her father and sister also had Crohn’s disease. After a 4-yr course of sulfasalazine and elemental diet therapy, she was readmitted for perianal abscess associated with the presence of pancytopenia, microhematuria with granular cast, hypocomplementemia, and high titers of autoimmune antibodies (anti-ANA and anti-dsDNA antibodies). Based on these features, a diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) was made. Despite the rarity of such combination (Crohn’s disease with SLE), patients with Crohn’s disease who develop such clinical findings might need evaluation for SLE.

MAKABE, Tomoko, PICTURE BRIDES: Japanese Women in Canada

MAKABE, Tomoko, PICTURE BRIDES: Japanese Women in Canada. North York, Ontario: Multicultural History Society of Ontario, 1995, 180 pp., $24.95 softcover This is an English translation of a book first written in Japanese by a young Japanese woman, Tomoko Makabe. Her research into the life histories of five elderly issei (first generation) immigrant through interviews is a sentimental journey. She sees herself as someone who has followed in their footsteps by immigrating to Canada as a student, becoming one of the shinissei, or new first generation immigrants. Occasionally Japanese stereotypes of Japan persist in some of the general commentary, such as the proclaimed projection of Japanese homogeneity as an essentialized Japanese trait even among those in Canada. The wealth of this book is in the oral narratives of five Japanese immigrant women's lives. As women (born in the Meiji era, 1868-1911) they prove that Meiji did not always conform to the good wife, wise mother ideal. Despite Japanese notions that are totally devoted to the home, these are working women. They worked because they wanted to, and also out of necessity. In this small sample, there are two who divorce. Of those who stay married, one leaves her three children in Japan to free her for work. In another case the couple hide the wife's paid work from the husband's family. Clearly these were who did not necessarily stay tied to marriages, nor to total involvement in the domestic sphere, or with their children. Despite images that Japanese culture has always expected excessive maternal involvement, these examples reveal an alternate reality, encapsulated in the Japanese proverb, ova ga naku to mo, ko wa sodatsu (even though the parent is not there, the child grows up). These life histories reveal much about Japanese customs of the time, the persistence of these in issei communities in Canada, and shifts toward a sense of Japanese Canadian identity. Many picture brides were married in Japan to absent husbands through the Japanese practice of proxy marriage. The phenomenon ofAmerican village among immigrants is presented. This refers to communities initially seen as extensions of communities or regions in Japan. As the women's lives progress there is a gradual lessening of the constraints upon them as individuals expected in Japan. The talk of personal traits they believe result from their early socialization in Japan. …

A Concrete Island: Hisaye Yamamoto's Postwar Los Angeles

1950 HISAYE YAMAMOTO WROTE A SHORT STORY called Bus, its main character a young Japanese American woman resettling in Los Angeles after the wartime internment camps. In this deceptively modest tale of a bus ride down Wilshire Boulevard, Yamamoto sharply critiques postwar optimism and modernity. With irony and care, she exposes Los Angeles' racial complexities and the buried costs of World War II. Wilshire Boulevard's stark architecture obscures a recent past most city residents would rather forget.

Value Conflict: A Cross-Cultural Assessment Paradigm

With the continuing increase of contact between peoples of different cultural backgrounds, counselors are often hard pressed in understanding the problems from perspectives other than their own. Using a case study of a young Japanese woman, the article presents a paradigm for use in assessing problems presented that have a cross-cultural basis. The focus of the paradigm is on environmental and value characteristics as perceived by the client and the counselor.