Kyosei Studies
Online ISSN : 2759-5471
Volume 17, Issue 1
Transforming Capitalism and the Bearers of Symbiotic Society Formation
Displaying 1-22 of 22 articles from this issue
  • Koyu FURUSAWA
    2023 Volume 17 Issue 1 Pages 1-7
    Published: September 29, 2023
    Released on J-STAGE: December 14, 2024
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The theme of the 2022 symposium is "Transforming capitalism and the bearers of the formation of a symbiotic society - Phase changes in the global economy, environment, agriculture, and cooperation, and challenges for regional revitalization - " , and consisted of three reports. In the first report, it clarified the overall picture of the transformation of capitalism from a large macro perspective. Problems and issues in Japan's current situation are clarified regarding the transformation of the capitalistic economy, immaterial development, decarbonization(environment), disparities(digital economy), social and human investment.In the second report, an analysis was made of the transformation of Japan's food security system in the midst of economic globalization. Concerning the destabilizing situation of the times, it indicated the direction of the reform of the current state of affairs, focusing on food and agricultural policies, toward the better national agricultural policies that Japan should pursue. In the third report, trends in the cooperative sector, associations, and the social solidarity economy were reported as counter-sectors in the capitalistic economy. In Japanese society, where there are concerns about super-aging and regional decline, the issues were presented regarding the bearers of the symbiotic social system.
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  • Toru MOROTOMI
    2023 Volume 17 Issue 1 Pages 8-24
    Published: September 29, 2023
    Released on J-STAGE: December 14, 2024
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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  • Akane ICHIHARA
    2023 Volume 17 Issue 1 Pages 25-27
    Published: September 29, 2023
    Released on J-STAGE: December 14, 2024
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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  • From World Agriculture to National Agriculture Trajectory
    Hiroshi ISODA
    2023 Volume 17 Issue 1 Pages 28-48
    Published: September 29, 2023
    Released on J-STAGE: December 14, 2024
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    This paper first clarifies that the neoliberalist food security discourse and policy has in fact failed. Under the consistent increase of trade dependence, export ratio, and import dependence since the 1990s, i.e., the progress of world agriculture trajectory, food insecurity indicators have clearly deteriorated, especially in the 2010s, both in the world and in least developed countries. Japan has been caricaturing itself as a world agriculture trajectory by rapidly increasing its puny exports while further lowering its notably low self-sufficiency ratio, and has been increasing its food-insecure population in recent years. Internal concerns about the continuation of food security along this trajectory, include the rapid growth and structurization of the trade deficit, the decline in the current account balance, the huge amount of outstanding government bonds causing the amount of foreing debt payment to approach that of agricultural imports along with the steadily increasing share of these bonds held by foreign investors. As external concerns, China and the U.S. have become the world's top agri-food importers, and the global grain and oilseed market has become a " politicized one " significantly influenced by the national policies and politics of these major countries. Thus, Japan's food security vulnerability and food insecurity have become worse than those of other advanced capitalist countries, and a shift from the world agriculture trajectory is urgently needed. Necessary tasks are an expansion of the concept and policy practices of food security, reform of neoliberal economic policies and structures, and a national agricultural policy based on the autonomy and pluralism of nation-states, relying more on farm-internal, local, and domestic resources and markets in terms of both inputs and outputs, which is stable and resilient and can contribute to resource recycling and greenhouse gas reduction, as well as reconstruction of a trade framework that can guarantee these.
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  • Mitsuru AKIYAMA
    2023 Volume 17 Issue 1 Pages 49-53
    Published: September 29, 2023
    Released on J-STAGE: December 14, 2024
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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  • Natsuko TANAKA
    2023 Volume 17 Issue 1 Pages 54-71
    Published: September 29, 2023
    Released on J-STAGE: December 14, 2024
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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  • Yoshiyuki TAKETANI
    2023 Volume 17 Issue 1 Pages 72-76
    Published: September 29, 2023
    Released on J-STAGE: December 14, 2024
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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  • The Absence of 〈 Trust 〉 and its Future as Deciphered from Anti-natalist Sentiments
    Takahide UEGAKI
    2023 Volume 17 Issue 1 Pages 77-100
    Published: September 29, 2023
    Released on J-STAGE: December 14, 2024
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Anti-natalism is an ideology that believes that any life born in the world is harmful, and therefore we should not create new life in the world, and that it would be better to exterminate humans as soon as possible. Anti-natalism has spread rapidly in recent years, with the writings of D. Benetar. This argument is certainly persuasive in principle. However, it is only valid in the ideas, and it is fundamentally impossible to bring it into human reality. In real life, we cannot choose to eliminate a particular pain (impossibility of eliminating pain), and we cannot choose a particular action in a situation at will(impossibility of choice). We cannot grasp our own life as independent of the lives of others, and we cannot hold ourselves responsible for it (impossibility of independence). However, the reason why this ideology strikes a chord with so many people living today is because there is something in it that justifies a particular sentiment held by people. Underlying this sentiment is the belief in unlimited responsibility , the belief that one should take full and unlimited responsibility for all one's actions that include affecting others and creating new life. In real human life, one cannot live alone, but must influence others to live. Likewise, if new lives do not come into being, those who have come before them will face tremendous hardship. There is a distorted world view = human view that denies these many realities and fails in trying to take responsibility that cannot be borne in the first place. This illusion of unlimited responsibility , however, has only recently appeared in history. The more fundamental problem is that modern society lacks the ‹trust› to share responsibility for each other's lives. If we, as a society, continue to be unable to foster the ‹trust› , and if we continue to be mired in the illusion of independence, we will be forced to become more and more anti-natalist.
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  • From Endogenous Development Theory to Endogenous Degrowth Theory
    Kazuaki NIWA
    2023 Volume 17 Issue 1 Pages 101-116
    Published: September 29, 2023
    Released on J-STAGE: December 14, 2024
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    This paper clarifies what Kazuko Tsurumi's thoughts on Kyosei and eco-becoming are from the two perspectives of the ethics of environment and care, by tracing the transition of Tsurumi's own thoughts on the subject. Based on this arrangement, I have positioned Kazuko Tsurumi, who has generally been introduced as a comparative sociologist, as a thinker of Kyosei and eco-becoming. In addition, I critically examine endogenous development theory, which has been the central argument in Kazuko Tsurumi's research, and refer to the three fields of applied ethics:(1)care ethics,(2) bioethics, and(3)environmental ethics, which are organized as follows:(1)Care ethics is a field of study that discusses the ethics of care between nature and humans, and among humans themselves.(2)Bioethics is a field that discusses the kyosei of healthy people and disabled people, in particular, among human beings.(3) Discussions in environmental ethics are concerned with the kyosei of nature and human beings. In some cases, by regarding nature as female, the kyosei between male and female is discussed. Based on the premise of these discussions, I have expanded the scope of Tsurumi's thoughts, which has been limited to endogenous development theory, to Tsurumi's poetics, which was born from her experience of a stroke and rehabilitation in her later years, centering on her Minamata research and the ethics of animism she learned from it, to clarify a wider range of possibilities. I have concluded that this was not nihilistic, but rather the impetus for her to arrive at endogenous degrowth theory in her life. This paper shows that Tsurumi's thoughts have the potential to contribute to the realization of a kyosei society.
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  • Focusing on the Relationship with the River Environment Image
    Mingjun ZHANG, Naoki INOUE
    2023 Volume 17 Issue 1 Pages 117-136
    Published: September 29, 2023
    Released on J-STAGE: December 14, 2024
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The purpose of this study is to grasp the current state of the image of the river space, which is changing, and to clarify the interrelationship between the image of the river space, the use of tourism, and the formation of attitudes toward participation in river beautification activities. A questionnaire survey was conducted targeting residents in the Yura River basin in northern Kyoto Prefecture. Using the survey data, covariance structure analysis was performed and based on the results of verifying the hypothetical model, the interrelationship between the image of river space, willingness to support tourism, and willingness to participate in river beautification activities was estimated. Based on the estimation results, the findings are summarized as follows. 1 In addition to improving the visual image of the river space and the mental image simultaneously, if it is possible to constantly show the economic, social, and environmental effects of tourism, it will be useful for river tourism and community development. In response, the understanding and support of more basin residents can be obtained. 2 While maintaining a good " visual image " and " mantal image " of the river space, improving the safety image by ensuring safety through river development, etc. will gain support for the tourism of the river space. 3 Even if the " safety image " of the river space is improved, there are concerns about the threat to the living environment due to tourism. Securing the quality of the living environment for river basin residents must always be incorporated into tourism activities. 4 When appealing to river basin residents to participate in river beautification activities, it is more effective to simply point out the physical shortage of river space. 5 If we are to gain the support of more residents in the river basin for tourism in the river space, we have to accept the fact that only some residents participate in river beautification activities.
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  • Findings from a Training Program for Taiwanese Care Specialists
    Masako HIROHASHI
    2023 Volume 17 Issue 1 Pages 137-160
    Published: September 29, 2023
    Released on J-STAGE: December 14, 2024
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
  • For Realizing a Society Rooted in Ecology
    Sayuri TOHO
    2023 Volume 17 Issue 1 Pages 161-182
    Published: September 29, 2023
    Released on J-STAGE: December 14, 2024
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Our society is based on a capitalist economy; however, we have faced the catastrophe of pollution of the natural environment and destruction of livelihoods since the 1960s. At this time, we gained a shared understanding that humans are a part of nature. But we have not yet realized an ecological society. This paper points out that not only does a capitalist economy position nature as outside but also that it takes out profits from " nature power " . To clarify the relationship between the capitalist economy and " nature power " , I focused on the domestic labor debate. First, I demonstrated the distinction between inside and outside in the capitalist economic theory. Second, I examine the domestic labor debate and explored the origin of why domestic labor is considered unpaid. Third, I focused on reproductive labor and clarified that capitalism profit by exploiting reproductive power, defined as a form of " nature power " that includes delivering, nursing, and caring for infants. Finally, I pointed out that capitalism make " nature power " invisible by putting it in an exchange relationship. Hence, to realize a society rooted in ecology, we must reconsider " nature power " . I suggested that life living in nature should be treated as a subject rather than as in use value or exchange value.
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  • The Establishment and Development of the Ainu Museum in Shiraoi Town,Hokkaido
    Kengo OKA
    2023 Volume 17 Issue 1 Pages 183-208
    Published: September 29, 2023
    Released on J-STAGE: December 14, 2024
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    This report focuses on the Ainu Museum in Shiraoi Town, Hokkaido, as an area where the Ainu people themselves have worked to create a center for learning about their own culture. The study clarified the nature of the Ainu cultural learning center as an ethnic educational institution and the issues it faces. With the dramatic increase in the number of tourists, the Ainu people of Shiraoi Town initially received outside capital to build a tourist and commercial facility. Later, in response to the growing demand for cultural values backed by academic research rather than spectacle, they built a museum as a public educational institution instead of a tourist and commercial facility, and established a foundation whose operating body was run by local Ainu residents. The museum was later registered as the Ainu Museum and became a center for Ainu ethnic education. Furthermore, as a result of accepting a request from the government to build a new national museum, the museum has become the National Museum of the Ainu People to this day. The Ainu National Museum as a center for Ainu cultural education has the following characteristics: construction and proactive management of the museum by the residents(Ainu people), provision of scientific information and hands-on activities based on research and exchange with Japan and other countries, and positioning as a regional educational plan through hometown learning. It also has the significance and challenges of building a museum as a public educational institution and issues surrounding the positioning of Ainu ethnic education in school education respectively. As described above, the Ainu cultural learning center as an institution of ethnic education has potential for future development, and at the same time, there are issues to be addressed.
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  • Ryo SAKURAI, Takuro UEHARA, Taisuke YOSHIOKA
    2023 Volume 17 Issue 1 Pages 209-220
    Published: September 29, 2023
    Released on J-STAGE: December 14, 2024
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    We conducted content analysis of articles published in Yomiuri and Asahi Shimbun to articulate how Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs)were portrayed in newspaper in Japan. Since 2015 till the end of 2019, a total of 465 and 1,005 articles were published in Yomiuri and Asahi Shimbun respectively. Less than 10 articles were published in 2015 and 2016 for Yomiuri Shimbun, however it increased to 295 articles in 2019. In Asahi Shimbun, less than 20 articles were published in 2015 and 2016, however, it increased to 546 articles in 2019. As for the contents, the articles published in 2015 and 2016 in both Yomiuri and Asahi Shimbun were mostly about international actions such as how SDGs were adopted by United Nations, however, since 2018, more articles were about events and activities related to SDGs implemented in local areas of Japan. Increase of newspaper articles on SDGs implies that media reported SDGs as important agenda that readers should know, and this could also have affected to increase public awareness and interests toward this topic.
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  • A Case Study of Organic Milk in T Town, A County, Hokkaido(Hilly and Mountainous Area)
    Hiroko YAMADA
    2023 Volume 17 Issue 1 Pages 221-240
    Published: September 29, 2023
    Released on J-STAGE: December 14, 2024
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    In 2009, in T Town, A County, Hokkaido, the supply of organic milk produced in the town for school lunches was started once a week. Elementary and junior high school students in T Town say that organic milk is " very delicious " and is liked by them. The producers want to " improve the quality " of the organic milk, as it is supplied for school lunches in the town. In addition, they think that they would like to continue to supply it for school lunches. In T Town, a system was formed to supply local organic milk for school lunches. From this research, it became clear that in T Town, the supply of organic milk for school lunches has led to the formation of a " community symbiosis system " in which schools and producers are connected, and that it has continued and expanded for over 14 years.
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  • Based on Statistical Analysis
    Tohru YOSHIOKA, Yoshihiko YOSHINO
    2023 Volume 17 Issue 1 Pages 241-256
    Published: September 29, 2023
    Released on J-STAGE: December 14, 2024
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The production of medicinal crops in Japan decreased sharply from around 1988 to around 2000, both in terms of the number of farms and the area under cultivation, due to factors such as the drop in the price of crude drugs. However, in 2010, due to export restrictions in China and soaring raw material prices, Herbal medicine manufacturers began to actively explore contract cultivation in Japan. In addition, the government has begun to pay attention to crops that will lead to the utilization of abandoned farmland and the revitalization of hilly and mountainous areas. There are moves aimed at forming a production area for medicinal crops, such as starting to hold a " Block Conference " . As a result, the cultivation area of medicinal crops is increasing. By the way, the above-mentioned understanding of the production situation of medicinal crops is mainly based on the analysis of domestic trends, and there are almost no analyzes of production trends by region. For this reason, this paper uses statistical data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the Japan Specialty Agricultural Products Association to analyze changes in production trends by prefecture during the production contraction period from the 1990s to 2000 and the production recovery period from 2000 to recent years. I confirmed it and tried to organize its characteristics. As a result, during the period when the production of medicinal crops increased, there were areas where production was newly increased and areas where production was recovering. In addition, in areas where production has recovered, there are areas where crops different from those cultivated so far are being cultivated. From this, it was confirmed that the re-expansion of medicinal crop production in recent years is progressing in a different direction from the formation of production areas in the past.
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