Is Histoplasma capsulatum a native inhabitant of Japan?

Histoplasmosis is an infectious disease caused by inhaling spores of the fungal pathogen H. capsulatum and in Japan is considered an imported mycosis. However, some patients in Japan with histoplasmosis have no history of traveling overseas nor of risk of occupational exposure to Histoplasma. To investigate the possibility of native distribution of Histoplasma in Japan, 187 bat guano samples from 67 bat‐inhabited caves in 17 prefectures were collected. These were examined for H. capsulatum by culture and Histoplasma‐specific PCR in three independent laboratories. No H. capsulatum was detected by either method, therefore H. capsulatum is unlikely to be present in bat guano in Japanese caves.     

Deaths from heat-stroke in Japan: 1968–1994

Global warming is increasingly recognized as a threat to the survival of human beings, because it could cause a serious increase in the occurrence of diseases due to environmental heat during intermittent hot weather. To assess the direct impact of extremely hot weather on human health, we investigated heat-related deaths in Japan from 1968 through 1994, analyzing the data to determine the distribution of the deaths by age and their correlation to the incidence of hot days in summer. Vital Statistics of Japan, published by the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Japan, was the source of the heat-related mortality data employed in this study. Meteorological data were obtained from the District Meteorological Observatories in Tokyo and Osaka, the two largest cities in Japan. Heat-related deaths were most prone to occur on days with a peak daily temperature above 38°C, and the incidence of these deaths showed an exponential dependence on the number of hot days. Thus, even a small rise in atmospheric temperature may lead to a considerable increase in heat-related mortality, indicating the importance of combating global warming. Furthermore, half (50.1%) of the above-noted deaths occurred in children (4 years and under) and the elderly (70 years and over) irrespective of gender, indicating the vulnerability of these specific age groups to heat. Since a warmer climate is predicted in the future, the incidence of heat waves will increase, and more comprehensive measures, both medical and social, should be adopted for children of 4 years and younger the elderly to prevent heat-related deaths in these age groups. Received: 20 January 1999 / Accepted: 15 June 1999     

The Age of Decline? Anxieties about Ageing in Japan

In the context of unprecedented life expectancy, the social position of the Japanese elderly is changing. Anxieties related to ageing are widely experienced by people of all ages and on a number of levels, including nationwide concerns over the ‘ageing population’ and its economic consequences; the ageing of local communities; on an interpersonal level, as older relatives may require care and support; and, finally, in relation to one's own ageing. These anxieties are examined based on ethnographic research in the city of Osaka. The concept of ikigai, often equated with purpose in life but closely associated with the elderly in public discourse, is used to illustrate how ageing implicates a number of apparently unconnected issues. It is argued that anxieties about ageing may ultimately achieve such prominence because they give focus to a range of fundamental human concerns with meaning, death, freedom, and isolation.     

Ruth Benedict’s Japan: the Benedictions of Imperialism

Critics and defenders continue to debate the meanings and uses of Ruth Benedict’s Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture (1946). Recently reporters have used Benedict’s ideas to justify the U.S. invasion of Iraq, citing, for example, Pauline Kent’s defense of Benedict published in Dialectical Anthropology (1999; 24(2): 181–192). This essay examines the flaws of Chrysanthemum and Kent’s views, including Kent’s attacks on the best critique of Chrysanthemum to date by Lummis (1981). Drawing from Lummis, it highlights Benedict’s radical political transformation during the 1940s, her embracement of U.S. nationalism, and subsequent reversals of her anthropological positions. It shows how in Chrysanthemum Benedict compared nationalist cultures and ideologies rather than ethnic cultures, but demonstrates that Benedict’s methodology remained consistent. Finally, it scrutinizes the logic of Benedict’s vision and portrayal of Japanese ethnicity as a “shame culture” and her argument for saving the emperor system and culturally rehabilitating the Japanese.

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Trawl fishery resources in the “southern waters” of Japan

Settlement-stage larvae of the coral reef fishes Ostorhinchus doederleini (Apogonidae) and Pomacentrus coelestis (Pomacentridae) prefer the odor of their settlement reef to that of other nearby reefs. It was unknown whether these olfactory preferences are temporally stable or the result of recent olfactory experience. Ostorhinchus doederleini and P. coelestis larvae were held in aquaria and exposed to water from either their settlement reef or a neighboring reef for 5–9 days and their olfactory preference was tested. We show that exposure to water from another reef did not influence olfactory preference. Ostorhinchus doederleini olfactory preference declined slightly over time whereas P. coelestis preference was gradually lost after 2–3 days in captivity. Neither species switched their preference to the new reef odor. While we cannot determine conclusively the time window of odor learning, imprinting at or shortly after birth is logical and has been demonstrated in other fish species.     

Does Social Capital Promote Physical Activity? A Population-Based Study in Japan

Background

To examine the association between individual-level social capital and physical activity.

Methodology/Principal Findings

In February 2009, data were collected in a population-based cross-sectional survey in Okayama city, Japan. A cluster-sampling approach was used to randomly select 4,000 residents from 20 school districts. A total of 2260 questionnaires were returned (response rate: 57.4%). Individual-level social capital was assessed by an item inquiring about perceived trust of others in the community (cognitive dimension of social capital) categorized as low trust (43.0%), mid trust (38.6%), and high trust (17.3%), as well as participation in voluntary groups (structural dimension of social capital), which further distinguished between bonding (8.9%) and bridging (27.1%) social capital. Using logistic regression, we calculated the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for physical inactivity associated with each domain of social capital. Multiple imputation method was employed for missing data. Among total participants, 68.8% were physically active and 28.9% were inactive. Higher trust was associated with a significantly lower odds of physical inactivity (OR = 0.58, 95% CI = 0.42–0.79) compared with low trust. Both bridging and bonding social capital were marginally significantly associated with lower odds of physical inactivity (bridging, OR = 0.79, 95% CI = 0.62–1.00; bonding, OR = 0.71, 95% CI = 0.48–1.03) compared with lack of structural social capital.

Conclusions/Significance

Low individual-level social capital, especially lower trust of others in the community, was associated with physical inactivity among Japanese adults.     

Cumacean Lamprops pumilio—A New Species for the Sea of Japan

The treatment of materials collected in Srednyaya Bight (Peter the Great Bay) revealed in a sample taken on December 3, 1986, a female Lamprops pumilioZimmer with oostegites (3.5 mm long). The sample was obtained using an Okean bottom sampler (with the mouth area of 0.25 m²), at a depth of 10 m, from fine sand, at a temperature of –1.5°C.     

Species richness of exotic and endangered fishes in Japan’s reservoirs

We analyzed the patterns of total, endangered and exotic fish species richness in 80 reservoirs throughout Japan using Generalized Linear Models (GLMs) with variables of dam characteristics (e.g. reservoir size, isolated period, altitude, DO, pH, rainfall, and air temperature) and watershed characteristics (e.g. watershed area, human population, and land-use patterns). Exotic species richness was positively correlated with total species richness but negatively correlated with endangered species richness. Largemouth bass, rainbow trout, and bluegill were the three most widely distributed species, occupying 47.5, 37.5, and 33.8% of the reservoirs, respectively. The patterns of total and endangered species richness were largely explained by watershed area and annual air temperature. Exotic species richness was determined primarily by the proportion of developed areas within each watershed. Therefore, reservoirs in more developed areas tend to support more exotic fish species that in turn threaten endangered fish species more severely.

Community Life and Discourses among Fiji Islanders in Kantō, Japan

This article examines how Fiji Islanders of diverse ethnic backgrounds living in Japan's Kantō area reflect on and constitute community life in the diaspora. While they occasionally refer to the ‘community’ and speak about its social value, get-togethers of significant numbers occur infrequently. Ultimately, a Fijian-centred community is virtually absent in the everyday lives of Japan-based Fiji Islanders. Based on twelve months of ethnographic fieldwork in the Tokyo Metropolis and its neighbouring prefectures, this contribution suggests that for Fiji Islanders in Kantō, talking about ‘community’ serves two particular purposes: on the one hand community discourses create an emotional bond, both among the migrants and between the migrants and their place of origin. At the same time, discourses on the relevance of the community without undergoing efforts to maintain it, serve as strategies of navigating self and belonging in a critical and reflexive way. As migrants’ social lives are complex and shaped by numerous economic, spatial, and individual disjunctures, Kantō Fiji Islanders contextually configure and extend their social relations with regard to their socio-cultural heritage, their place of residence in Japan, their gaikokujin (foreigner) status, and their life-work cycles.     

What's In a Condom? – HIV and Sexual Politics in Japan

Utilizing a range of ethnographic data from anAIDS hotline, a women's shelter, a night club,AIDS campaigns, news articles, and interviewswith health bureaucrats, this paper exploresthe history of AIDS in Japan and the ways inwhich official practices reproduce systems ofdomination. This paper examines the officialcategories of ``foreign woman' and``prostitution' as discursive strategies ofcontainment, and argues that nationalistdiscourses and representations of sexuality areclosely linked in maintaining relations ofpower.