Human T-lymphotropic virus type I seroprevalence among Japanese Americans.

The epidemiology of human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) infection is not well defined in Japanese Americans. This impairs using approaches that could reduce viral transmission and monitor carriers for the disease. Using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and p21e recombinant Western blot testing, HTLV-I antibody was measured in unlinked samples from Japanese-American patients at 4 physicians'' offices in San Francisco, California. Of 442 patients, 4 (0.9%; 95% confidence interval 0.25%, 2.3%) were confirmed seropositive, all with an HTLV-I rather than an HTLV-II pattern on Western blot. Seroprevalence was highest among the issei or immigrant generation (3/230 or 1.3%) compared with the second-generation nisei (1/191 or 0.5%) or third-generation sansei (0 of 17). Prevalence did not differ by age or sex, although the number of positive subjects in each subgroup was small. Of 88 patients with familial origins in endemic areas of southern Japan, none were seropositive. In this sample of Japanese Americans, HTLV-I seroprevalence was lower than in residents of endemic southern Japan but higher than among American blood donors. The prevalence was most similar to that in nonendemic areas of Japan. The public health implications of HTLV-I infection among Japanese Americans are discussed.     

Occurrence of the endangered species Nitellopsis obtusa (Charales,Charophyceae) in western Japan and the genetic differences within and among Japanese populations

Nitellopsis obtusa (Charales, Charophyceae) are widely distributed from Europe to Asia; however, this species has been recorded in only the five lakes in central Honshu in Japan. This species was thought to be extinct in Japan, but was rediscovered in limited areas of Lake Kawaguchi in central Honshu. More recently, we discovered more Japanese populations of N. obtusa in Lake Biwa in western Honshu, and it became clear that the species had a broader distribution in Japan than originally believed. In addition, although only male or female thalli have been collected at each lake, both male and female thalli were found from Lake Biwa. This is the first report of a potentially sexual population of N. obtusa in Japan. The DNA sequences of three chloroplast DNA markers, including both coding and non‐coding regions, were identical in all specimens from Lake Kawaguchi and Lake Nojiri (Central Honshu), and differed from those of Lake Biwa and German specimens. Although Japanese and German specimens were genetically similar, Japanese specimens displayed considerable genetic diversity according to locality.     

Rapid expansion of the distributional range and the population genetic structure of the freshwater amphipod <Emphasis Type="Italic">Crangonyx floridanus</Emphasis> in Japan

The freshwater amphipod Crangonyx floridanus (Amphipoda: Crangonyctidae) is considered to have been recently introduced from North America to Japan, and the recorded sites at which it has been collected now cover nearly all of Japan except for the northern part. In this study, we surveyed further areas outside of its known distribution range, and examined the population genetic structure and the phylogenetic relationships between Japanese and North American populations of this species based on nuclear (18S rRNA) and mitochondrial (COI) DNA sequences. We found that this amphipod has already reached Hokkaido, northernmost Japan, which suggests that it has undergone rapid expansion in a pattern of concentric circles from the central part of Japan. Genetic analysis showed that the Japanese population is genetically homogeneous, in contrast to the genetic diversification of this species seen in North American Crangonyx populations. The process of introducing, establishing, and expanding this amphipod in Japan may be explained as follows. A limited number of individuals from a North American native population were probably inadvertently introduced and established somewhere within the Kanto region. The local population size then increased and its distribution range expanded rapidly across Japan.     

Mitochondrial DNA analysis of the introduced fall webworm, showing its shift in life cycle in Japan

The fall webworm, Hyphantria cunea (Drury) (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae), was introduced from North America into Japan in 1945. For the first three decades after its introduction, its life cycle was bivoltine. Thereafter, its life cycle shifted to trivoltine in south‐western areas of Japan. Two hypotheses have been proposed for the process that led to the shift in voltinism: one based on a single and the other on multiple independent colonizations. To test these hypotheses, mitochondrial (mt)DNA sequences were analyzed in the black‐headed type of 14 Japanese, one Korean and two North American populations of H. cunea. In addition, the same regions of mtDNA were compared with the red‐headed type of two North American populations. In the black‐headed type, mtDNA sequences were the same in all Japanese populations and in the Korean population, but sequences of the North American populations differed from each other and from those of the other populations. These results suggest that the process of the shift in voltinism occurred originally in Japan, and that the Japanese and the Korean population of H. cunea originated from a relatively small area in North America.     

Practice and Politics in Japanese Science: Hitoshi Kihara and the Formation of a Genetics Discipline

This paper examines the history of Japanese genetics in the 1920s to 1950s as seen through the work of Hitoshi Kihara, a prominent wheat geneticist as well as a leader in the development of the discipline in Japan. As Kihara’s career illustrates, Japanese genetics developed quickly in the early twentieth century through interactions with biologists outside Japan. The interactions, however, ceased due to the war in the late 1930s, and Japanese geneticists were mostly isolated from outside information until the late 1940s. During the isolation in wartime and under the postwar U.S. Occupation, Kihara adapted to political changes. During wartime, he developed a research institute focusing on applied biology of various crops, which conformed to the national need to address food scarcity. After the war, he led the campaign for the establishment of a national institute of genetics and negotiated with American Occupation officers. The Americans viewed this Japanese effort with suspicion because of the rising popularity of the controversial theory of the Russian agronomist, Trofim Lysenko, in Japan. The institute was approved in 1949 partly because Kihara was able to bridge the gap between the American and Japanese sides. With Kihara’s flexible and generous leadership, Japanese genetics steadily developed, survived the wartime, and recovered quickly in the postwar period. The article discusses Kihara’s interest in cytoplasmic inheritance and his synthetic approach to genetics in this political context, and draws attention to the relation between Kihara’s genetics and agricultural practice in Japan.     

Ethological analysis of children-parent interaction in outdoor play

Previous studies clarified more affinity toward fathers by boys and toward mothers by girls (FB&MG tendency) in indoor play interactions between infants (a few years old) and parents of Western countries. In the present study, behavioral interactions by Japanese parents and children including infants and elementary school pupils were examined in a naturalisitic outdoor park. The results indicated that the FB&MG tendency is also seen in infants of a non-Western country (Japan), in outdoor play interaction, and in older children. The meaning of the FB&MG tendency was discussed based on the results of the present study and the related previous ones.     

Human Rights and Japanese Bioethics

The main contentions of this paper are twofold. First, there is a more than century-old Japanese tradition of human rights based on a fusion of Western concepts of natural rights and a radical reinterpretation of Confucianism, the major proponent of which was the Japanese thinker Nakae Chomin. Secondly, this tradition, although a minority view, is crucial for remedying the serious defects in the present Japanese medical system.
In the latter half of the nineteenth century, Nakae Chomin sought to reinterpret Chinese tradition, especially Confucianism, by injecting the concepts of popular sovereignty and democratic equality, drawn from Western sources. The resulting view maintained the Confucian commitment to a moral nexus for society, but replaced hierarchy with egalitarianism.
The pressing need for such an approach to patients' rights in present-day Japan is illustrated by two recent cases: the photographing and commercial exploitation of patients' genitals without serious response by authorities, and the attempt by physicians to manipulate the time of death and, possibly, to improperly pressure family members in order to transplant organs from the brain-dead victim of a criminal assault.
Such problems stem from hierarchy and paternalism, which seem to be a legacy of the rapid, state-sponsored introduction of Western medicine in the mid-nineteenth century, and in particular from the government's adoption of and support for German military medicine as a model for Japan.     

Human rights and Japanese bioethics: a report from Japan

The main contentions of this paper are twofold. First, there is a more than century-old Japanese tradition of human rights based on a fusion of Western concepts of natural rights and a radical reinterpretation of Confucianism, the major proponent of which was the Japanese thinker Nakae Chomin. Secondly, this tradition, although a minority view, is crucial for remedying the serious defects in the present Japanese medical system.
In the latter half of the nineteenth century, Nakae Chomin sought to reinterpret Chinese tradition, especially Confucianism, by injecting the concepts of popular sovereignty and democratic equality, drawn from Western sources. The resulting view maintained the Confucian commitment to a moral nexus for society, but replaced hierarchy with egalitarianism.
The pressing need for such an approach to patients' rights in present-day Japan is illustrated by two recent cases: the photographing and commercial exploitation of patients' genitals without serious response by authorities, and the attempt by physicians to manipulate the time of death and, possibly, to improperly pressure family members in order to transplant organs from the brain-dead victim of a criminal assault.
Such problems stem from hierarchy and paternalism, which seem to be a legacy of the rapid, state-sponsored introduction of Western medicine in the mid-nineteenth century, and in particular from the government's adoption of and support for German military medicine as a model for Japan.     

BIOGEOGRAPHY AND TAXONOMY OF BATRACHOSPERMUM HELMINTHOSUM (BATRACHOSPERMALES,RHODOPHYTA) IN JAPAN INFERRED FROM RBCL GENE SEQUENCES1

Twenty‐seven individuals of Batrachospermum helminthosum Bory were collected from various sites in Japan, from temperate Iwate Prefecture to subtropical Okinawa Prefecture. The chloroplast‐encoded rbcL gene was sequenced from each sample. Phylogenetic analyses were performed using these and previously published sequences of 12 samples from North America. There were five haplotypes among the Japanese samples. Haplotype 1 was collected throughout a large geographical area corresponding to most of the sampling range in this study and was represented by most individuals (21 individuals). The other haplotypes were represented by one to three individuals, respectively. These distributions of haplotypes suggest the occurrence of one large metapopulation and/or recent colonization over a wide geographical area in Japan. Phylogenetic analysis showed two well‐supported clades within B. helminthosum, one clade containing four haplotypes (1–4) from Japan and the other clade comprising five North American haplotypes. Such differences between Japanese and North American haplotypes might be a result of continental drift and subsequent isolation in the Mesozoic era. The position of haplotype 5 from Okinawa in Japan is poorly resolved, but it is not closely related to the other four Japanese haplotypes. It is suggested that several taxonomic characteristics (sexuality, point of origin of carpogonium‐bearing branches, and trichogynes with or without basal knobs or branching) is not fixed genetically but is affected by environmental conditions. Based on the results of the present study, B. coerulescens Sirodot and B. elegans Sirodot should be placed in synonymy with B. helminthosum.     

The Genetic Structure of Populations of Potato virus Y in Japan; Based on the Analysis of 20 Full Genomic Sequences

The genetic structure of Potato virus Y (PVY) populations in Japan was analysed using 20 isolates; five were retrieved from the public DNA sequence databases, and an additional 15 complete genomic sequences were determined using field samples collected in Japan. Recombination and phylogenetic analyses of a total of 149 isolates from Japan and other countries showed that PVY has three major lineages (C, N and O); at least one, two and six sublineages in C, N and O lineages, respectively. One recombination pattern was newly found among Japanese PVY^NTN strain isolates, which was most closely related to the PVY^NTN strain isolates previously found in Europe and North America. On the other hand, PVY^O was a complex of several divergent lineages, and there were at least three non‐recombinant subpopulations in Japan. Studies on nucleotide diversities of populations and phylogenetic relationships of the isolates in the PVY sequences showed that Japanese PVY populations were in part distinct from the European and North American populations.     

Racialized national identity construction in the ancestral homeland: Japanese American migrants in Japan

This article examines Japanese Americans in Japan to illuminate how ‘Japanese American’ – an ethnic minority identity in the US – is reconstructed in Japan as a racialized national identity. Based on fifty interviews with American citizens of Japanese ancestry conducted between 2004 and 2007, I demonstrate how interactions with Japanese in Japan shape Japanese Americans’ racial and national understandings of themselves. After laying out a theoretical framework for understanding the shifting intersection of race, ethnicity, and nationality, I explore the interactive process of racial categorization and ethnic identity assertion for Japanese American transnationals in Japan. This process leads to what I call racialized national identities – the intersection of racial and national identities in an international context – and suggests that US racial minority identities are constructed not only within the US, but abroad as well.     

Resurrection of Rabdophaga salicivora Shinji (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae), a Japanese gall midge formerly misidentified as a North American species, Rabdophaga rigidae (Osten Sacken), with observations on the phylogenetic relationships of its populations in Japan and the Russian Far East

Intercontinental biotic connections between Eurasia and North America are common in many gall midge genera (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae), but only a few species have been recorded from both continents. In Japan, four gall midge species had been previously considered to be identical to North American species, but three of these cases have already been disproved. We examined the remaining species, Rabdophaga rigidae, which had been originally described from Japan as Rabdophaga salicivora in 1938, later recorded from the Russian Far East in 1967, and synonymized with a North American species, R. rigidae, in 1982. Morphological features and partial sequence data of the mtDNA cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) region suggested that the Japanese species is a distinct species and is identical to the species recorded from the Russian Far East. We therefore apply the original name, R. salicivora, to the Japanese and the Russian species. In addition, on the basis of a molecular phylogenetic analysis, we conclude that R. salicivora possibly came to the Japanese Archipelago through the Korean Peninsula and established itself first in the southern parts of Japan. Then, it expanded its distribution range to northern parts of Honshu, but could not reach Hokkaido, probably because of the Tsugaru Strait between Honshu and Hokkaido.     

Biological and Serological Properties of Strains of Barley Mild Mosaic Virus

The biological and serological properties of two Japanese barley mild mosaic virus (BaMMV) strains (BaMMV-Kal and BaMMV-Nal) and a German BaMMV strain (BaMMV-M) were compared. Mechanical inoculation experiments showed that these three strains differed from one another in their ability to infect specific barley cultivars. BaMMV-Kal and BaMMV-M caused similar symptoms, but BaMMV-Nal clearly differed from them in its symptoms on some barley cultivars. The three BaMMV strains efficiently infected barley plants at 15°C, whereas at 20°C BaMMV-Kal and BaMMV-M also infected many plants but BaMMV-Nal infected only a few. BaMMV-Kal and BaMMV-M were indistinguishable by ELISA, while BaMMV-Nal was distinguished from both. The biological and serological variability reported shows that BaMMV occurs as two distinct strains in Japan.     

Fatal Baylisascaris larva migrans in a colony of Japanese macaques kept by a safari-style zoo in Japan

A colony of Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata fuscata) kept by a safari-style zoo in Japan experienced 9 sporadic cases of fatal neurological diseases, such as epilepsy and posterior paralysis, during the 12 yr from 1989 to 2001. This macaque colony consisted of approximately 30 animals, on average, during this period, and the macaques shared their living space with II American black bears (Ursus americanus) harboring zoonotic roundworms (Baylisascaris transfuga). Close to this enclosure, a cote for 2-3 raccoons (Procyon lotor) was placed, and raw sewage from this cote ran into a shallow drain in the area for macaques and bears. However, fecal examinations in recent years did not detect the infection of raccoons with zoonotic roundworms (Baylisascaris procyonis). Postmortem histological examination of the latest 2 ill macaques detected multifocal malacia in the brain; 2 ascarid larvae of 60 microm maximum width were encapsulated in the cerebrum and lungs of 1 of the animals. To determine the causative ascarid species of the fatal larva migrans, we analyzed 2 additional encapsulated Baylisascaris larvae collected from formalin-fixed lungs by morphological and molecular approaches. This sporadic outbreak is the second record of Baylisascaris larva migrans in animals in Japan.     

Factor I (C3b inactivator) polymorphism among five populations in Eurasia

Factor I (C3b inactivator) polymorphism in the Japanese (in Western and Southern Japan), Taiwanese, Nepalese and French was studied using isoelectric focusing on polyacrylamide gels. The exposure of passively blotted nitrocellulose membranes to glutaraldehyde vapor facilitated the subsequent immunodetection of a low concentration of factor I and permitted the reliable identification of the three phenotypes determined by two codominant alleles FI*A and FI*B. The data indicated a west-to-east genocline, ranging from France to Western Japan, in which FI*A changed from 0.006 to 0.120.     

The life and work of Hiroya Kawanabe: the priest ecologist

Hiroya Kawanabe was born the son of a Buddhist priest and teacher of Japanese literature, who died when Kawanabe was very young. Kawanabe also studied Buddhism by himself, and passed the examination to be a priest of his sect while still in high school. He studied zoology and ecology at Kyoto University and earned his doctorate under the guidance of Denzaburo Miyadi, a well-known Japanese ecologist, in 1960. During his academic career at Kyoto University, Kawanabe advanced to hold the chair of Animal Ecology as Professor in the Department of Zoology. Kawanabe's doctoral research concerned the social behavior and population ecology of the ayu, Plecoglossus altivelis, an amphidromous fish that lives in streams as adults and grazes algae. His research lead to the discovery that social structure changed from territoriality to schooling as population density increased, and also varied with changes in food and habitat. During this work, he pioneered the use of underwater observation to study ecolo gy of freshwater fishes in streams. Kawanabe also observed ayu social structure from the northern to southern limits of their range, and advanced the theory that the more stable territoriality in the Lake Biwa population was a relic social structure to guarantee food supply during earlier glacial periods when productivity was lower. Additional work on stream fishes in central Japan and Okinawa Island led Kawanabe to propose that interactions among individuals affect interspecific relationships, and thereby, community structure. Discussions with Charles Elton, the famous British ecologist of Oxford University, strengthened Kawanabe's view that communities could be best understood as the whole of interrelationships among organisms. Kawanabe advanced these ideas during a joint study he led with a host of Japanese and Zairean scientists on the fishes of Lake Tanganyika, beginning in 1979. This work, as well as additional research on Lake Biwa in Japan, led to a deeper understanding of the complexity of biotic interactions (including competition, predation, mutualism, commensalism, and indirect effects) that promote the high species diversity in these ecosystems. In addition to basic research, Kawanabe was part of research teams organized during the 1960s by D. Miyadi to study the effects of public works projects on natural environments and biota in Lake Naka-umi and Lake Biwa. During the late 1980s he expanded his network to an international venue, both by organizing and hosting important international ecological meetings in Japan, such as the Fifth International Ecological Congress, and by increasing his international activities to promote global biodiversity. In 1991, Kawanabe founded the Center for Ecological Research at Kyoto University to study the interrelationships among organisms and their environments. Recently retired from the University, he became Director General of the new Lake Biwa Museum in 1996, and continues to promote conservation of biodiversity worldwide through an international network of scientists and organizations.     

Genetic relatedness among Japanese,American and European isolates of viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV) based on partial G and P genes

Molecular virological analyses of 8 Japanese VHSV (viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus) isolates from wild and farmed Japanese flounder Paralichthys olivaceus were performed to investigate their genetic relatedness to American and European isolates of VHSV. Phylogenetic analyses based on the partial nucleotide sequences of G and P genes revealed that there are 2 genogroups of VHSV in Japan. The first one represented by the Obama25 isolate is closely related to the American isolates (Genogroup I) while the other, the KRRV9601 isolate, is closely related to the traditional European isolates (Genogroup III). The 2 types of Japanese VHSV showed differences in the relative mobility of the G protein and intensity of the antibody reaction on the P and M proteins. The Obama25 type of VHSV is widely distributed as a native virus in the coastal areas of western Japan and has been responsible for the occurrence of VHSV infection in farmed Japanese flounder while the KRRV9601 isolate is considered to have been introduced from a foreign country.     

Comparison of Microbial Consortia in Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF) Preparations between Japan and Germany

Refuse-derived fuels (RDF) pellets manufactured in Japan have been reported to contain a relatively high number of viable bacterial cells, and these bacteria generated a large amount of hydrogen gas during fermentation under wet conditions. In this study, we compared hydrogen gas generation from RDF pellets manufactured in Japan and in Germany and found that a large amount of hydrogen gas was generated from the Japanese RDF pellets but not from the German ones. This difference can be explained by the absence and presence of a biodegradation process before molding of raw garbage into RDF pellets. That is, the German process includes a biodegradation (or biological drying) process with forced aeration for a week, and this appears to reduce BOD in the garbage. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis of 16S rRNA gene followed by DNA sequencing indicated that microbiotas of the RDF pellets manufactured in Japan and in Germany were very different.     

Comparison of microbial consortia in refuse-derived fuel (RDF) preparations between Japan and Germany

Refuse-derived fuels (RDF) pellets manufactured in Japan have been reported to contain a relatively high number of viable bacterial cells, and these bacteria generated a large amount of hydrogen gas during fermentation under wet conditions. In this study, we compared hydrogen gas generation from RDF pellets manufactured in Japan and in Germany and found that a large amount of hydrogen gas was generated from the Japanese RDF pellets but not from the German ones. This difference can be explained by the absence and presence of a biodegradation process before molding of raw garbage into RDF pellets. That is, the German process includes a biodegradation (or biological drying) process with forced aeration for a week, and this appears to reduce BOD in the garbage. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis of 16S rRNA gene followed by DNA sequencing indicated that microbiotas of the RDF pellets manufactured in Japan and in Germany were very different.     

Cultural adaptability as an attribute of therapies: The case of morita psychotherapy

Morita psychotherapy, a form of therapy developed in Japan some sixty years ago, has survived extensive changes in Japanese society, and is now enjoying popularity in the United States. This gives us an opportunity to look closely at the concept of cultural fit between an important therapeutic technique and its social milieu, and to speculate about recent changes in American culture that may account for the growing popularity of Moritism. In contrast to Western style `talking therapies' like psychoanalysis, Morita psychotherapy is relatively group-centered, ritualistic, and behavioristic. One would expect to find these features in a Japanese therapy, but their acceptance in America suggests that previously popular Western techniques may not be optimum for handling certain problems of the post-industrial American. McLuhan, Peacock, Douglas, and others have suggested some emerging traits of Western character that might shed some light on this question.