Journal of the Asia Ethno-Forms Association

Featured article

Volume 22 (2026) Pages 45-50

How Cultural Resources Transformed into Industrial Forms?

Hideaki Aoyama

＜Abstract＞ This research note examines how cultural resources can be transformed into industrially operable forms through the creative practices of Oji Hiroi. Cultural resources are understood not only as traditional culture, but also as bundles of pre-commercial experiences, including local memories, family history, food, urban space, songs, theatre, modern history, cross-cultural representations, and media memories. Hiroi’s practice connected these resources to games, stage performance, voice acting, music, printed media, and fan participation. The analysis focuses on a repeatable process for developing composite creative personnel: collecting cultural resources, reading media constraints, designing portable character components, embodying them through voice, song, and stage, and sustaining them through communities of reception. The case of Li Kohran in Sakura Wars is treated as a key example in which memories of modern East Asia, including Li Xianglan, Manchuria, China, and family history, were translated into an acceptable and repeatable character form.

Volume 22 (2026) Pages 37-44

Shinran and Prince Shotoku faith About the ｇood

Ikuo Watanabe

＜Abstract＞When considering the meaning which the Prince Shotoku faith has in the Shinran thought about the relation between Shinran and the Prince Shotoku faith, it may seem to be unable to take compatibility in both relations. I mainly consider the relation of the problem of the “good”, and the state in the Jodo Shinshu temple of the Prince Shotoku image related to it this time. In that case, it is necessary to consider what has Confucian contents or what not Buddhism-like or a thing between success in life not worldly or of the “good.” In that case, the contents of the “good” think in a Confucian thing. Or I consider Buddhism-like. Or I consider whether I am worldly. Or it is necessary to consider whether it is what left the world. Prince Shotoku has Confucianism and Buddhism. Moreover, I have both sides of a worldly field and the field which left the world. It is easy to take compatibility between the Prince Shotoku faith and the Shinran thought the Buddhism field which Shinran observes. If it inclines in a Confucian virtue, I will become difficult to take compatibility. Moreover, the Prince Shotoku image of the Jodo Shinshu temple is called “image faithful to the parents.” It is not Prince Shotoku's image which Shinran originally recommended. I could say that it is an image which has achieved the duty expected as a religious group of Jodo Shinshu. If it does so, I will become further difficult to take the compatibility with the Shinran thought. Probably, it expresses the Prince Shotoku faith as a religious group.

Volume 22 (2026) Pages 28-36

The Transmission of Martial Arts Culture in Tokyo during the Meiji Period

Hideaki Aoyama

＜Abstract＞ This study employs a methodology combining densho (traditional scrolls) comparison, statistical analysis, and oral history to visualize the structure of martial arts reorganization and the transformation of traditional culture in Meiji-era Tokyo, thereby reconsidering the framework of “discontinuity and succession” in modern Japan. It was confirmed that the actual techniques claimed to be ancient traditions (kuden) had lost their original forms during the Meiji period, and were instead transmitted as “new-style jujutsu” under the guise of classical schools (koryu). Furthermore, by examining the engagement with Zen found in the scrolls, this study demonstrates that martial arts were not merely technical arts but a cultural system involving spiritual cultivation.

Volume 22 (2026) Pages 18-27

Mitochondrial and Cranial Nerve Activation and Release from Defense Patterns via Quantum Resonance of Vocal and Color Waves

Matsuki Takako

＜Abstract＞Unraveling Ryokan’s “Heart of Benevolence” through Quantum Resonance: A New Domain for Mitochondrial Activation. This study aims to empirically demonstrate the influence of the reception of traditional vocal waves (singing) and color waves on human life energy and the release of psychological defense patterns, integrating perspectives from Health Sciences of Mind and Body, Quantum Life Science, and the Science of Benevolence. Specifically, we sublimate the philosophy of spatial tuning based on the “Heart of Benevolence (jiai)” demonstrated by the Edo-period Zen monk Ryokan into modern Environmental Physiology. We verified the psychophysiological transformation process mediated by “wave energy’s non-thermal effects” and the “brain wave resonance mechanism originating from the mitochondrial electron transport chain,” both based on Density Functional Theory (DFT) as proposed by Shozo Yanagida. Furthermore, we integrated the spirit presented by Pablo Picasso in his painting Science and Charity—specifically the essence of “reception of non-visual light (color)”—with a quantum receiver model to construct an ultimate paradigm for the “fusion of mind, body, art, and life science” aspired to by Health Sciences of Mind and Body. In the experiment, 32 adult men and women aged 20 to 80 participated in intervention sessions involving vocal and color waves across varying spatial volumes (Tokyo International Forum open lobby, a large-scale 100-tatami space, and a medium-scale 30-tatami room). Participants joined sessions without light-shielding, either by closing their eyes during singing or by fixating on white attire functioning as a “quantum receiver,” followed by multifaceted analysis. The results demonstrated that “fundamental sense of security” and “activation of life energy” significantly increased under all spatial conditions, with multiple resonance between individuals and the environment being maximized, particularly within the largest spatial volume. Additionally, the “non-visual color cognition” exhibited extremely high clarity scores, suggesting the possibility of photon reception at the cellular level. These findings prove that the “resonance of benevolence,” which encapsulates ultra-high frequencies, orients the intracellular water molecular network and accelerates mitochondrial electron transport, thereby possessing a highly reproducible mechanism for the autonomous release of psychological defense patterns.

Volume 22 (2026) Pages 3-17

Beyond “Transgender”: Translating LGBTQA+ Discourses

Gaoli LIU

＜Abstract＞ This paper ethnographically examines the relationship between the Khawaja Sara community and LGBTQA+ discourses in contemporary Pakistan. In recent years, alongside the expansion of legal protections for sexual minorities and the growing influence of international human rights movements, Khawaja Sara have increasingly been described as “transgender” or as part of the broader LGBTQA+ community. However, Khawaja Sara self-understandings do not necessarily correspond to the LGBTQA+ categories ― lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender ― that were largely developed in Western contexts. Drawing on participant observation and interviews conducted by the author across Pakistan between 2011 and 2025, this article explores how the Khawaja Sara community has received, translated, and reworked global LGBTQA+ discourses. It focuses on three questions: (1) how Khawaja Sara understand themselves; (2) how LGBTQA+ discourses entered Khawaja Sara communities; and (3) how issues of representation, religion, and resource distribution have been negotiated in the process.

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2026 Volume 22

Beyond “Transgender”: Translating LGBTQA+ Discourses Gaoli LIU
Mitochondrial and Cranial Nerve Activation and Release from Defense Patterns via Quantum Resonance of Vocal and Color Waves Matsuki Takako
The Transmission of Martial Arts Culture in Tokyo during the Meiji Period Hideaki Aoyama
Shinran and Prince Shotoku faith About the ｇood Ikuo Watanabe

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Beyond “Transgender”: Translating LGBTQA+ Discourses among the Khawaja Sara in Pakistan
Researcher and Curator at the National Ainu Museum
LIU gaoli
Beyond “Transgender”: Translating LGBTQA+ Discourses among the Khawaja Sara in Pakistan (7.8M)
Shinran and Prince Shotoku faith About the good
Professor, Hiroshima University of Economics
Ikuo Watanabe
Shinran and Prince Shotoku faith About the good (5.2M)
The Transmission of Martial Arts Culture in Tokyo during the Meiji Period — Focusing on Asayama Ichiden-ryū and Kensō-ryū —
Doctoral Program, School of History, Nanjing University
Hideaki Aoyama
The Transmission of Martial Arts Culture in Tokyo during the Meiji Period — Focusing on Asayama Ichiden-ryū and Kensō-ryū — (4.8M)
Mitochondrial and Cranial Nerve Activation and Release from Defense Patterns via Quantum Resonance of Vocal and Color Waves Based on Ryokan’s “Heart of Benevolence”
Soprano Singer, Master of Science in Health Sciences of Mind and Body, Researcher in Vocal and Mind-Body Health
Takako Matsuki
Mitochondrial and Cranial Nerve Activation and Release from Defense Patterns via Quantum Resonance of Vocal and Color Waves Based on Ryokan’s “Heart of Benevolence” (4.6M)
Researcher and Curator at the National Ainu Museum; Visiting Researcher at theNational Museum of Ethnology
LIU Gaoli
Journal Paper
Institutions and Symbols of Identity: The Naming of Khawaja Sara in Pakistan (1.0M)

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The journal of Academic Society for Asian Culture and Ethnic Form

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Published:JOURNAL OF ASIA ETHNO-FORMS ASSOCIATION 21st Issue

Published:JOURNAL OF ASIA ETHNO-FORMS ASSOCIATION 20th Issue

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Published:JOURNAL OF ASIA ETHNO-FORMS ASSOCIATION 19th Issue

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