Japan

Several states have put in place a set of parental leaves. Through a documentary research, the purpose of this article is to compare the province of Quebec, that has a successful paternity leave, and Japan, where only a small proportion of Japanese fathers use parental weeks. In 2015, it was nearly 79% of Quebec’s fathers who had taken a leave, with an average of 7 weeks. On the contrary, in Japan, they are still very few to use the public programs available, around 3.16 % in 2016. Many reasons can explain the success of Quebec’s policy, among others historical factors. In the reform of the Civil Code of Quebec in 1977, the father's status changed from "paternal power" to "parental authority" to be shared equally with the mother, a responsibility that both parents retain after separation or divorce. It confirms to fathers their status of "parent" who has not only a monetary obligation (alimony), but also a minimum amount of time to spend with his child. In Japan, the role of the father is not considered as strongly. Fathers face the “flexibility stigma”, a notion that implies that the need for work-life accommodations is still associated with female employees, because the role of the father is to be a “good provider”, as promoted by the traditional breadwinner ideal. Companies use frequently the practice of tanshin funin (単身赴任) which spaces contacts between the father and his children. Furthermore, in a divorce, parental authority is transferred to one of the parents, usually the mother who will then fully assume custody.
世界の幾つかの政府がこれまで育児休暇法を成立させた。本論文においては、多くの文献や論文を検証した上で、カナダ東部のケベック州と日本における育児休暇法の適用状況を比較する。2015年の統計によれば、ケベック州では79%もの父親が平均７週間の育児休暇を利用している。それに対して日本ではほぼ同時期の2016年の時点で育児休暇を利用する父親は僅かに3.16%に止まっているのだ。両者の、こうした大きな違いを説明しようとして、すでに多くの考察がなされている。それは歴史的に説明できると主張する学者もいて、ケベック州で見られる成果は1977年の同州における民法改正によるものとされる。それまでの「権力」としてみなされていた「父親の立場」が、改正以降は母親と共有すべき「親の権威」と変わったことにあると指摘するのだ。これ以降、父親か母親かに拘らず、別居や離婚の後も両親は同じ権利と義務を持って育児にあたるべきということになったからだ。従って、父親は妻と別れた後も（養育費という形で）財政的に貢献をするだけでなく、最低限の時間を子供と過ごすことが義務付けられた。これ対して日本では、父親の役割はケベック州ほど重要なものとはみなされていない。基本的には「子育て」という役割は「時間に余裕のある」母親の方にあると思われているからだ。事実、何世紀にも渡って、日本では父親が「生活費を稼ぐ」役割を演じてきたからである。会社側にも「単身赴任」という、既に定着した慣行をしばしば社員に命じ、父親でもある社員は次第に自分の子供との接触を失っていく。これに加えて、離婚の際に親権はしばしば母親に与えられるから、養育義務はほぼ自動的に母親のものとなる。

According to Newton’s Third Law “Every action has an equal and opposite reaction”. In applying this logic to
International relations, though the effect cannot be assessed in degree but some links can be drawn to the way a state behaves to the other in terms of balancing, hedging or bandwagoning. Such geometrics of power politics can be tested by equating India-Japan’s AAGC to that of China’s BRI, wherein a strong counterbalancing is at play. Rather than applying hard power politics, another significant facet is witnessed in the growing competition
in the infrastructure domain.

In view of this, one of the key aspects of AAGC is witnessed in India-Japan’s joint collaboration in infrastructure investment. This is driven by the objective of development and cooperation between the two countries in building quality infrastructure and institutional connectivity. In this regard, the paper seeks to examine the convergence of strategic interests between New Delhi and Tokyo from an infrastructure investment perspective. More specifically, the point of reference is the joint initiative under the AAGC framework.

This paper empirically analyzes bot activity in contentious Twitter conversations using case studies from the Asia-Pacific. Bot activity is measured and characterized using a series of interoperable tools leveraging dynamic network analysis and machine learning. We apply this novel and flexible methodological framework to derive insights about information operations in three contexts: the senatorial elections in the Philippines, the presidential elections in Indonesia, and the relocation of a military base in Okinawa. Varying levels of bot prevalence and influence are identified across case studies. The presented findings demonstrate principles of social cyber-security in concrete settings and highlight conceptual and methodological issues to inform further development of analytic pipelines in studying online information operations.

In this article, we describe the experiences of Polish war refugee children, isolated in Shanghai between the years of 1941-1945. Our research has studied a wide range of ar- chival material, including original documents relating to the transportation of Polish Jewish families to China, their settlement in Shanghai, the publication of a newspa- per, and the education of displaced children to retain their original identity, preparing them for eventual return to their homeland. Combining archival and documenta- ry research with personal interviews of survivors of the Shanghai ghetto, this article provides a testament to the lives of war refugee children in general by describing in detail the lives of interned Polish Jews.

Few studies have reported the association between body mass index (BMI) and outcome among Asian breast cancer patients. We analyzed data for 20,090 female invasive breast cancer patients who had been followed-up for a median period of 6.7 years entered in the National Clinical Database-Breast Cancer Registry between 2004 and 2006. We used mainly the WHO criteria for BMI (kg/m(2) ) categories; <18.5 (underweight), ≥18.5-<21.8 (reference), ≥21.8-<25, ≥25-<30 (overweight), and ≥30 (obese). We divided normal weight patients into two subgroups because this category includes many patients compared to others. The timing of BMI measurement was not specified. The Cox proportional hazards model and cubic spline regression were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Smoking, alcohol, and physical activity were not controlled. A total of 1418 all-cause, 937 breast cancer-specific deaths, and 2433 recurrences were observed. Obesity was associated with an increased risk of all-cause (HR: 1.46; 95% CI: 1.16-1.83) and breast cancer-specific death (HR: 1.47; 95% CI: 1.11-1.93) for all patients, and with all-cause (HR: 1.47; 95% CI: 1.13-1.92) and breast cancer-specific death (HR: 1.58; 95% CI: 1.13-2.20) for postmenopausal patients. Being underweight was associated with an increased risk of all-cause death for all (HR: 1.41; 95% CI: 1.16-1.71) and for postmenopausal patients (HR: 1.45; 95% CI: 1.15-1.84). With regard to subtype and menopausal status, obesity was associated with an increased risk of breast cancer-specific death for all cases of luminal B tumor (HR: 2.59; 95% CI: 1.51-4.43; Pheterogeneity of Luminal B vs. Triple negative = 0.016) and for postmenopausal patients with luminal B tumor (HR: 3.24; 95% CI: 1.71-6.17). Being obese or underweight is associated with a higher risk of death among female breast cancer patients in Japan.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether young age at onset of breast cancer is an independent prognostic factor in patients from the Japanese Breast Cancer Registry, after adjustment of known clinicopathological prognostic factors. Of the 53,670 patients registered between 2004 and 2006 and surveyed after a 5-year follow-up prognosis, 25,898 breast cancer patients (48.3 %), who were obtained prognostic data, were examined. Clinicopathological factors were compared between young adult (YA; <35 years), middle-aged adult (MA; 35-50 years), and older adult (OA; >50 years) patients. Five-year disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) rates were studied. YA patients were associated with an advanced TNM stage and aggressive characteristics (e.g. human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive or oestrogen receptor (ER)-negative breast cancers) compared to MA and OA patients (P < 0.001). The 5-year DFS and OS rates were 79.4 % and 90.8, 88.5 and 95.0 %...

The rate of breast cancer screening for women of all ages in Japan is increasing. However, little is known about the biological differences between screen- and self-detected tumors. We used data from the Japanese Breast Cancer Registry (JBCR), a nationwide registry of newly diagnosed breast cancer cases in Japan, to investigate patients diagnosed between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2011. We compared the clinicopathological features of tumors and assessed yearly trends regarding the proportion of screen-detected cases during the study period. We found that 31.8 % (65,358/205,544) of cancers were detected by screening. Asymptomatic tumors detected by screening (asymptomatic) were more likely to have favorable prognostic features than those that were self-detected (ductal carcinoma in situ [DCIS]: 19.8 versus 4.1 %, node-negative: 77.0 versus 61.6 %, and estrogen receptor-positive [ER+]: 82.0 versus 72.9 %, respectively). All these findings were statistically significant (p < .001). The proportion of breast cancers detected by screening among all cases increased from 21.7 % in 2004 to 37.1 % in 2011. During the same time period, the proportion of screen-detected DCIS increased from 41.5 to 66.0 % and that of ER+ cancers increased from 23.2 to 39.7 %. This study demonstrated that low-risk tumors, including DCIS, ER+, and lower TNM stage, account for a substantial proportion of clinical screening-detected cancers. The differences in biological characteristics between screen- and self-detected cancers may account in part for the limited efficacy of breast cancer screening programs aimed at improving breast cancer mortality.

It is often difficult to enrol healthy volunteers into a randomized controlled trial (RCT) as there are barriers to participants' proper understanding of a trial. This study aimed to evaluate degrees of understanding of the informed consent (IC) process among healthy volunteers who participated in an RCT. Additionally, factors associated with degree of understanding were investigated. The J-START (the Japan STrategic Anti-cancer Randomized controlled Trial) is an RCT investigating the effectiveness of ultrasonography screening for breast cancer in women aged 40 to 49 years. To evaluate participants' understanding of the J-START, we administered questionnaires to 376 Japanese women on the day of enrolment at five study sites across Japan. The respondents were asked to complete the anonymous questionnaire within 2 weeks. We assessed objective understanding and perceived subjective understanding of IC using a Japanese version of the Quality of Informed Consent scale (QuIC). The...

Mammography is the only proven method for breast cancer screening that reduces mortality, although it is inaccurate in young women or women with dense breasts. We investigated the efficacy of adjunctive ultrasonography. Between July, 2007, and March, 2011, we enrolled asymptomatic women aged 40-49 years at 42 study sites in 23 prefectures into the Japan Strategic Anti-cancer Randomized Trial (J-START). Eligible women had no history of any cancer in the previous 5 years and were expected to live for more than 5 years. Randomisation was done centrally by the Japan Clinical Research Support Unit. Participants were randomly assigned in 1:1 ratio to undergo mammography and ultrasonography (intervention group) or mammography alone (control group) twice in 2 years. The primary outcome was sensitivity, specificity, cancer detection rate, and stage distribution at the first round of screening. Analysis was by intention to treat. This study is registered, number UMIN000000757. Of 72 998 women...

The objective of the Japan Strategic Anti-cancer Randomized Trial was to verify the efficacy of the use of ultrasonography in breast cancer screening among women aged 40-49 years. The purpose of this paper was to report the design and recruitment result of this study. In this study of women in their 40s, the participants were divided into two groups, one of which (the intervention group) was subjected to mammography and ultrasonography (using a standardized ultrasonography examination), while the other (the control group) was examined with mammography, in a randomized controlled trial, with the objective of verifying the accuracy and efficacy of examinations by comparing the two groups. The cumulative total number of participants registered in the study was 76 196 (38 313 in the intervention group and 37 883 in the control group). 71.0% of participants registered to the study were under individual randomized controlled trial, 25.0% were under cluster randomized controlled trial and 3.9% were under non-randomized controlled group. The study was designed so that participants registered at their first examination underwent examinations by the same method for the subsequent two years. 74.1% of participants scheduled for a second examination had undertaken it, while information regarding the presence of interval cancer had been obtained from a further 20.6% using a questionnaire. At July 2013, the status of 5.3% of all participants was unclear. It was the first large-scale randomized controlled trial carried out in Japan. The scheduled second examinations were completed at the end of fiscal 2012. Once the proportion of participants whose status is unclear has fallen to ≤5%, the authors plan to collate the data relating to the primary end points, and publish the results.

The US Preventative Services Task Force assesses the efficacy of breast cancer screening by the sum of its benefits and harms, and recommends against routine screening mammography because of its relatively great harms for women aged 40-49 years. Assessment of the efficacy of screening mammography should take into consideration not only its benefits but also its harms, but data regarding those harms are lacking for Japanese women. In 2008 we collected screening mammography data from 144,848 participants from five Japanese prefectures by age bracket to assess the harms [false-positive results, performance of unnecessary additional imaging, fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNA), and biopsy and its procedures]. The rate of cancer detected in women aged 40-49 years was 0.28%. The false-positive rate (9.6%) and rates of additional imaging by mammography (5.8%) and ultrasound (7.3%) were higher in women aged 40-49 years than in the other age brackets. The rates of FNA (1.6%) and biopsy (0.7%) were also highest in women aged 40-49 years. However, they seemed to be lower than the rates reported by the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium (BCSC) and other studies in the US. The results, although preliminary, indicate the possibility that the harms of screening mammography for Japanese women are less than those for American women.

Computer-aided detection (CAD) increases breast cancer detection, but its cost-effectiveness is unknown for breast cancer screening in Japan. We aimed to determine whether screening mammography diagnosed by one physician using CAD is cost-effective when compared with the standard double reading by two physicians. We established our model with a decision tree and Markov model concept based on feasible screening and clinical pathways, combined with prognosis of the health state transition of breast cancer. Cost-effectiveness analysis between double reading by two readers and single reading with CAD by one reader was performed from a social perspective in terms of the expected cost, life expectancy and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER). The hypothetical population comprised 50-year-old female breast cancer screening examinees. Only direct medical costs related to breast cancer screening and treatment were considered. One simulation cycle was 2 years, and the annual discount rate was 3 %. Sensitivity analysis was performed to evaluate the robustness of the model and input data. Single reading with CAD increased expected costs by 2,704 yen and extended life expectancy by 0.0087 years compared with double reading. The ICER was 310,805 yen per life year gained, which is below the threshold. Sensitivity analysis showed that the sensitivity and specificity of CAD and the number of breast cancer screening examinees greatly affected the results. Single reading using CAD in mammography screening is more cost-effective than double reading, although the results are highly sensitive to the sensitivity and specificity of CAD and the numbers of examinees.

Being breastfed in infancy has been hypothesized to influence subsequent breast cancer risk. In a hospital-based case-control study, we investigated the relationship between having been breastfed and breast cancer risk, both overall and separately among female subjects with different birth years. The study subjects included 571 cases and 2,155 controls admitted to a single hospital in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, between 1997 and 2005. History of having been breastfed was assessed with a self-administered questionnaire. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were estimated using logistic regression. After adjustment for known risk factors, no association for having been breastfed was observed overall (OR = 1.20; 95% CI: 0.82-1.76). Analysis stratified according to birth year (<1950, ≥1950) demonstrated heterogeneity in the association for having been breastfed between the two birth-year groups (p for interaction = 0.0006); having been breastfed was significantly associated with a decreased risk among subjects who were born before 1950 (OR = 0.59; 95% CI: 0.35-0.99), whereas no such risk reduction was observed for subjects born after 1950 (OR = 1.60; 95% CI: 0.88-2.90). Although having been breastfed is not related to overall risk, birth year may modify the association between having been breastfed in infancy and breast cancer risk. In Japan, sociodemographic changes have occurred since the end of World War II. The use of standard formula supplement began to spread around 1950. The difference of breast cancer risk between birth-year groups may be attributable to these environmental changes.

This paper analyzes the Taiko no Tatsujin (Bandai Namco, 2001/2018) franchise and the musical literacy it conveys. While previous accounts of game musical literacy have focused on the competence necessary to interpret references across media (van Elferen, 2016), this paper expands on the concept, including forms of musical participation such as live performances and oral traditions. The musical compositions included in Taiko no Tatsujin pertain to the Japanese phenomenon of media convergence known as media mix (Steinberg, 2012), as they have been previously popularized by anime and geemu ongaku (or game music) (Yamakami & Barbosa, 2015). However, the musical participation extends its references to the practice of Japanese taiko drumming, a largely oral, non-notated musical form, which cannot be reduced to a musical repertoire. The conclusions show that game musical literacy is constructed not only on media literacy, but also on various different forms of participation in musical performances, or musicking (Small, 1998), which concur in constructing game musical literacy. The musical culture associated with digital games is therefore expressed through a large variety of musical practices.

To date kawaii (cute) culture, as it is performed by women in Japan, has been understood to be both a submissive and a subversive practice. This debate tends to frame kawaii texts as inherently infantile, and their use by women as either a form of submission to patriarchal forces, or as a mode of resistance to adult responsibilities.

Using an interpretivist lens, this paper seeks to complicate this understanding of kawaii texts through the use of emerging research into cuteness, affect, and play; and Takahara Eiri and Honda Masuko's conceptualisation of "the girl". Using Takahara and Honda's theory, this paper proposes that girlishness in the Japanese context: Places emphasis on affect; Is characterised by a longing to become like that which the individual adores and; Involves "radical self interest".

Drawing upon 20 qualitative interviews with female-identifying kawaii fashion practitioners in Tokyo, this paper examines how kawaii culture is understood by alternative communities in Japan. For the purpose of this paper, kawaii fashion is defined as clothing that is typically associated with the Harajuku scene, consisting of styles such as Lolita fashion, Decora fashion, Fairy kei and Hime fashion. Practitioners assemble outfits that draw upon both conventional and unconventional feminine texts to create looks that are bold, girly, and creative. Practitioners experience kawaii to be joyful, creative and exciting and that kawaii objects were used to contemplate new potentials for the self. These new potentials were guided by an underpinning wish to be seen as adorable and loveable by others, and thus the usage of fantastic feminine texts, such as princesses or dolls, complicates readings of this community as a subversion of gender norms.  This instance presents a complex instance of the shifting relationships between femininity and feminist practice.

Since the global financial crisis of 2008/09, international cooperation has failed to curb volatile financial markets. Changes in the global rules of finance discussed in the G20 during the last decade remain limited, and it is uncertain whether they are suitable to help mitigate and manage future crises to come. This book offers an alternative to the popular notion that this failure is the result of the ‘nature’ of the international system, the clash of national egoisms, or lack of leadership. It instead investigates problems of international cooperation by looking at their deeper structural origins in the competition of different models of capitalism.
US finance-led, EU integration-led, and East Asian state-led capitalism complement each other globally but have conflicting preferences on how to regulate international finance. This interdependence of capitalist models is relatively stable but also prone to crises caused by volatile financial flows, global economic imbalances, and ‘currency wars’. By bringing together approaches from International Political Economy and Comparative Capitalism, this book shows that regulating international finance is not a technocratic exercise of fine-tuning the machinery of international institutions, but rather a political process. International cooperation can only be successful, if it goes hand in hand with deep domestic changes in each of these capitalist models.