Northern culture refers to the mode of life unique to northern areas in terms of ecology, society and culture, dating back to the advance into Northern Eurasia by modern man (Homo sapiens sapiens) in the history of human evolution and proliferation to North America. "Northern culture" describes a whole body of cultures, which have changed, descended and developed up to today. On the basis of this definition of northern cultures, changes of and products from northern studies in Japan are reappraised in each period: the Age of Exploration (c. 400-1867), the Age of Academics (1868-1945), and the Age of the World (1946-2000). As a result, research subjects for northern studies have changed from Ainu culture to a variety of cultures in broad northern circumpolar areas including Northern Eurasia, Japan and North America. Study methodology also has changed from folklore and ethnology to anthropology of nature and culture-shizenshi-and study objectives have shifted from the clarification of the origin of the Japanese and their culture to the clarification of universal issues in anthropological studies; i.e., "What are human beings?" Finally, since the northern studies have been developed to search for the universality of human beings, I present an outlook for the 21st century of anthropology as the Age of the Humanity.

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High frequency of the bony deposition and the bony absorption observed inside of maxillary sinus indicated the prevalence of the maxillary sinusitis. It is pointed out that the inflammation frequency of maxillary sinusitis has the close relationship with a living environment. However, there were few studies on the epidemic study of maxillary sinusitis for a historical Japanese group. Skulls excavated from the medieval group cemetery in Kamakura Yuigahama, Japan were used. It was suitable for observation of the wall of the maxillary sinus that most of their facial bones were partly damaged. The number of skull were 592, and totally 809 maxillae were macroscopically observed under the electric light. Inner surfaces examined were superior, buccal, basal, anterior and posterior walls. The lesions were classified into seven categories such as pits, opening, spicule, bridge, lichen, mound, and lobule. As a result 56.1% of 809 sinuses and 39.6% of 2,315 walls had abnormal lesions caused by maxillary sinusitis. Previous study by Merret and Pfeiffer, 2000, reported that osseous lesions of the maxillary sinuses were observed in 49.8% of individuals of fifteen century Iroquoians who were experiencing high airborne pathogen levels and poor indoor air quality. Higher abnormal rate of our study compared with this study suggested that the environment of Kamakura city in medieval era was also poor in indoor air quality and nutritional status caused by a succession of famine and wars.

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Degenerative diseases of the spine were investigated in the early modern people, consisting of 56 male and 45 female human skeletal remains found in Kumejima. The skeletal population had mainly cultivated rice during the 17-19th century AD. The lumbar region was most affected in each sex. Moreover, severe degenerative diseases of the lumbar vertebra were more frequently seen in females. The frequency of spondylosis deformans in the anterior parts of the body was significantly higher than that in posterior parts. Principal component analysis demonstrated that the cervical vertebrae tended to be affected in the articular process and posterior part of the body while the anterior and sides of the lumbar vertebrae were more affected, although the frequency of degenerative disease was high in both the cervical and lumbar vertebrae. The greater frequency of degenerative diseases seen in female cervical vertebrae may have been caused by traditional behavior, such carrying items on the head, as suggested by folklorists and cultural anthropologists.

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The purpose of this study was to clarify developmental changes of relationship between speed and accuracy of three manual tasks. The subjects were 60 children in a primary school and 10 adults in a university. The tracing Japanese character, folding a paper (origami in Japanese), and stamping seals were performed. A one-way MANOVA was conducted to examine effects of age in the three tasks. Results were as follows: (1) Motor accuracy developed faster than motor speed in childhood. This result suggested that motor speed was independent of accuracy in the developmental stage. (2) The folding a paper developed fastest of all the tasks. The stamping seals developed faster than the tracing Japanese character.

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In the compulsory education, no systematic approach has been taken for the study of humans, since there are no units allocated to anthropology. After the recent revision of the Course of Study, where the school hours of science were reduced and `evolution' was eliminated from the teaching content, classes on humans are given only in an advanced course of animal studies or fossil studies in geology. Although the students have a great interest in the study of humans, the development of appropriate teaching materials is yet to be sufficient under the current sporadic teaching condition. The practical way for improvement is to find `where and how to teach what'. In recent years, information on anthropology has been more easily obtainable than before. There are many TV programs and publications, are made and we have easier access to computer software and specimens. Hopefully, the effective use of these media will enable us to dynamically teach human evolution. Students are ready to learn and have interest in their own history.

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When physical anthropology is taught in elementary, junior high or high schools, the major concern on the side of the education authorities is its educational effectiveness. With this in mind, a lab program for junior high and high school students, who have little basic knowledge in the field, was developed and actually used in the class. Resultantly, educational effectiveness, such as fulfillment of intellectual curiosities and awakening of research mind, was recognized. At the same time, the physical anthropology related topics taken up in the ordinary biological classes were proved to be effective to improve the students' motivation to study. In conclusion, physical anthropology will possibly become an excellent topic in science education in junior high and high schools.

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In general, only little time is allocated to the study of physical anthropology in high school science education classes. Under these circumstances, a survey was conducted on high school biology teachers in Kagawa Prefecture in order to find out what kind of topics were taught in this field, and how the teachers concerned were feeling about the current situation. As a result, half of the teachers were found to be taking up some topics related to physical anthropology in their classes. At the same time, however, they didn't have good knowledge of physical anthropology, and their standpoints toward physical anthropology were varied. This survey gives a direction for the Anthropological Society of Nippon (the Japan Anthropological Society) on how to contribute to the anthropological education in future.

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This study reviews descriptions related to physical anthropology found in high school textbooks. These descriptions are sporadically found in the textbooks of General Science B, Biology II, Japanese History, and World History. In the case of Biology II textbooks, references are made to the core idea of physical anthropology in the chapter for `classification of organisms and evolution'. When these sporadic references of physical anthropology are linked with some additional explanations and effectively used in the class teaching, the composite science filed of anthropology will be accurately recognized, and the interest in-and understanding of-this subject could be amplified. The current Course of Study stipulates the selection either of `classification of organisms and evolution' or `population biology' in Biology II. This elective system deprives many high school students of the opportunity to study the biological evolution including humans. The high school textbooks call for some improvement in future for the teaching of biology including physical anthropology.

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In Japan, the legalized `Course of Study for Upper Secondary Schools' stipulates the content of the subjects to be taught, and the textbooks are issued to fulfill this standard. Accordingly, the current high school science discipline consists of 11 subjects and the students can choose a few subjects among them. At present, 67% of the total students learn Biology I, and 18% learn Biology II. Under these circumstances, not a few high school students are graduating without a basic knowledge of biology. Biology I, which is learned by approximately two thirds of the high school students, does not cover human inheritance, mutation, evolution or ecology, nor molecular analysis of life. Efforts are needed for the improvement of biological teaching in the Course of Study, and for the improvement of the basic understanding and knowledge acquisition of biology.

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