In Japan, frequent job changes have been treated in research studies as an exceptional phenomenon or a problem of the socially vulnerable. Dissociating from this perspective, this study aims to re-examine the significance underlying frequent job changes by analyzing the psychological process of a narrative of a man in his 40s, who experienced thirteen job changes, all done voluntary. As a result, the analysis extracted three distinguishing traits: one’s view of profession that does not separate personal life from work, not having attachments to a significant regional migration, and an orientation toward learning from each employment. In addition, the study demonstrated the necessity to examine these traits from a non-Western cultural perspective. Thereafter, the narrative was further examined. As a result, a new career model, Zenzai-doji (Sudhana) Career, was constructed using Zenzai-doji as a metaphor, a character that appears in Kegon-kyo (Avatamsaka-Sutra) sutra, which the Japanese public has been familiar with since old times. Unlike Western models that focus on individuality, this model is anticipated to contribute to the cultivation of eachness, which emphasizes relations with the surrounding people.

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The prevalence of individuals with two ethnic backgrounds is increasing rapidly, and this group has been emerging as a new ethnic minority in Japan. However, much about their identity, which integrates both of their ethnic backgrounds, is not fully understood. This article was based on data obtained in interviews with 13 residents of Japan who had two ethnic backgrounds. Data regarding integrated identity were analyzed to develop a typology and a matrix of how these 13 informants used these types. This study defined four types of integrated identity ("half," "double," "marble," and "accurate") according to three criteria: emphasis on group boundaries, emphasis on the characteristics of their ethnic backgrounds, and whether the individual thought that he/she met the characteristics of both his/her ethnic backgrounds to a certain degree. An examination of the data from two informants who demonstrated a unique relationship to their integrated identity also showed that consideration of the "positions" adopted by individuals toward these four types enables the efficient development of an understanding of individuals.

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This paper analyzes different types of classroom satisfaction among MBA students and proposes a learning model based on the results. A review of adult learning processes demonstrates the significance of mutual personality development for both teachers and students. A qualitative analysis of comments collected through a student survey at a Tokyo business school produced eight types of satisfaction in two categories: moment-by-moment quality (1. educational services, 2. learning environment in student centers, 3. teaching methodology, 4. useful professional content, and 5. changes in student perspectives) and cumulative leaning quality (6. task linkage in the learning process, 7. human interaction, and 8. connections between theory and practice). These results and additional analyses of interview responses suggest the desirability of an open-system learning model. MBA students learn literally and passively to accept target theories, examine them from diverse viewpoints, and finally apply them in open-ended tasks, namely presentations, papers, or practice.

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Past research has indicated that Japanese Christians have inconsistent narratives regarding shukyo (religion) and have taken multiple subject positions. The purpose of this study is to examine, using positioning theory, the way they deal with conflict in contradictive narratives. On examining their narratives, it is evident that informants conceal contradiction by relying on the temporal nature of narratives. It was also found that they dealt with the moral order (a set of rules on a particular position) on religion in Japanese society through personal positioning, which is the speech act to emphasize their individuality. By examining personal positioning, we found that speech acts can indicate the essential identity of the each narrator, make them position"sanctuary," and free them from the constraints set up by social roles. In modern society, an individual is impacted simultaneously in various contexts, but his/her identity is singular. For examining "individuality" in modern society, it is useful to consider individual’s speech acts, which indicate the essential identity in narratives that involve various positions.

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This paper reports a case study of an elderly person with dementia, focusing on elements shared between the patient’s narratives and interactions with a listener. This study focused on the connective aspect of consecutive stories, that is, utterances between the end of one story and the beginning of another. Conversation analysis revealed the following: First, the end of a story overlapped with the beginning of the next one. This overlap was thought to be caused by the similarity between the beginning and the end of a story. Therefore, the end of one story was converted into the beginning of the next. Second, the listener encouraged the elderly person to repeat the same story by maintaining his role as a listener. For example, he withheld expected responses at the end of the story and instead requested the elderly person to continue the story. Therefore, the phenomenon of a looped story identified in this study was attributed to an interaction between the elderly person and the listener.

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Mori is a philosopher who systematically analyzed the meaning of experience. The present study is an attempt to understand his thoughts about experience and utilize this in the study of life stories. Experience for Mori is life itself, it fills and organizes a person’s life. Mori expressed the process of discovery and generation of experience through the appearance of "things" which fills the world of experience and appears as objects with unity. He defined words using such "things" and sought for ideas that consisted of their definitions. To investigate the process is to follow "the route from meaning to existence". Meaning circulates between objects and experiences. Semantics that can explain this process are generative semantics, in which meaning is perceived in the context, such as in Vygotsky’s semantics. Meaning of experience is condensed into the theme of life in going through life contexts. The organization of experience and giving meaning to experience in life stories are fully explained by the condensation of the theme of life.

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This study examined the narrative process of parents who were dealing with their children’s "delinquency" and explored the role of a self-help group in this process. Data were collected by participant observation and interviews with group members. The analysis focused on narrative form and parents’ experiences while narrating, as well as on narrative content. The results show that the focus of the narratives shifted from suffering from the "delinquency" to a reconsideration of the "delinquency" and, finally, to an acceptance of the "delinquency". These shifts were understood as stages in a process whereby the possible meanings of events expanded as multiple narrative perspectives were offered. Indeed, parents became aware of new ways of thinking as members shared their narratives and then tried to incorporate these novel perspectives into alternative stories. During this process, the group provided parents with new perspectives, accepted their feelings, and supported their journey through a long and difficult period.

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This study examined the impromptu thinking underpinning revoicing by a teacher. Classroom discourse of reading lessons conducted by an elementary school teacher whose lessons focused on discussion and interviews were qualitatively examined, focusing on her beliefs. We found that the teacher recognized student utterances from multiple viewpoints that changed according to the situation, and her viewpoints reflected the words used and the addressee when revoicing; she appeared to believe it important to listen to others and restate what students heard in their own words. This belief seemed to affect her impromptu thinking underpinning revoicing in three ways: she found the view for following discussions of students’ utterances and recognized them as an opportunity to increase reading comprehension; she found that students changed in the manner she wished and hoped for further change; and she listened to students’ utterances based on their viewpoints and reasoned their reading process. This suggests that for this teacher, revoicing was a strategy for orchestrating discussion, embodying her own beliefs, and managing the classroom.

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This paper focuses on the process by which a German-Japanese girl in the third-fourth grades of elementary school performed homework assigned by local and supplementary schools. Qualitative analyses of data consisting primarily of 2.5 years of diary entries by the student’s Japanese mother were undertaken from the perspective of parent-child collaboration, revealing four findings. First, the girl was helped primarily by her mother when performing homework for both schools. Second, both mother-daughter interactions and support from her German father increased while performing homework assigned by her local school after the fifth period, whereas these phenomena remained unchanged while performing homework for the supplementary school. Third, as the girl’s proficiency in German approached that of her mother, her mother found it difficult to help her daughter, especially with vocabulary and composition, after the fifth period. Fourth, although the girl was able to perform Japanese composition assignments almost independently, she experienced difficulty performing Kanji exercises. These findings suggest that parents should offer flexible and complementary support according to the difficulties encountered by parent and child.

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This research examined how and why adolescent siblings of individuals with mental retardation make life choices. The sample consisted of 12 siblings, and data obtained from semi-structured interviews were analyzed with the Trajectory Equifinality Model (TEM), a method for comparing diverse and complex phenomena occurring over the course of life as a function of time. The TEM showed that the participants believed they had to care for their siblings but also wanted to choose their own paths in life. Their ambivalence was positively related to the extent to which their desired choices differed from caring for their siblings. In this regard, it was important that participants had opportunities to distance themselves from their siblings, so that they could consider both the issues involved in caring for them and relationships between their siblings and their parents. It was also important for siblings to verbally support their decisions. During adolescence, the siblings of individuals with mental retardation are transformed from potential to actual caregivers, and their parents have a key role in expanding their perceived options.

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This research explores how three junior high school students revealed their mental processes in English classes for one year and nine months through their "murmured speech". Based on an analysis of classroom discourse in chronological order, the features of "murmured speech" and its transformational processes are discussed. Five findings were made: (1) while 71 percent of the teacher’s utterances were spoken in English, 79 percent of the students’ "murmured speech" was in Japanese; (2) there were six different kinds of "murmured speech"; (3) each student’s "murmured speech" showed his or her own uniqueness, and some students altered the characteristics of their "murmured speech" while others did not; (4) examining the features of "murmured speech" and the students’ participation in classroom discourse helps throw light on their mental processes; and (5) each student’s social context is likely related to his or her "murmured speech". The paper concludes it is necessary to consider not only the cognitive but also the social aspects of students’ utterances and suggests the effectiveness of English learning through "murmured speech".

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This study clarifies how a master of Japanese traditional dance teaches her skills through practice and the relationship between the master and her students. We specifically focus on the master’s concern about the skills that she teaches the students. The data collected were qualitatively analyzed revealing three categories: "concern for reinforcing important skills that have already been taught," "concern for enabling students to deepen their skills," and "concern for encouraging students to understand the meaning of their skills." In addition, we created the category "not concerned about lectures" to contrast with the three categories. The findings are summarized as follows. First, there are three areas of concern: "reinforcement," "deepening," and "encouragement." Second, the master teaches her skills that she wants to pass on through a caring relationship with the students. Finally, using the narrative approach, we describe that how the master teaches her skills as well as how the master serves as a mediator who combines the older and younger generations.

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The development of medical technology has extended life expectancy, but it has also had unwanted effects in our life. We report a case study of a family who chose to feed their elderly parent with cognitive difficulties by using a gastrostomy tube. The decision-making process for adopting gastrostomy was investigated with a series of semi-structured and informal interviews given to the family caregivers. Collected data were analyzed and were compiled as ethnography. We investigated the everyday life of the elderly parent at home and at a care home and found the following three points. The meaning of gastrostomy is determined by the circumstances perceived by people involved in the process. Prior knowledge of gastrostomy and preparation for facing the end-of-life are effective in handling an elderly person’s rapidly deteriorating health condition. The family members found peace in their daily life by regarding gastrostomy as a tool for caregiving.

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