[in Japanese]

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In recent years, Japan has seen an increase in the slaughter of wild animals as a means of vermin control and resource utilization. Historically, Japan has shied away from openly discussing meat consumption, and the act of slaughter and dismemberment. However, there is a growing interest among urban residents in experiencing these processes through workshops. This study aimed to analyze qualitatively the experience of an individual, referred to as A, who participated in such processes. We explore A’s motivation, the significance A attributed to the experience, and the impact it had on A. Three key findings emerged from our analysis: a desire to step beyond the ordinary, an encounter with Bakhtin’s concept of grotesque realism, and the emotional impact of interacting with the body of another living being, in this case, a deer. These insights suggest the emergence of new discussions regarding adult learning.

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This study attempts to understand the psychological experience of a candidate preparing for the 2017 mayoral election in Shingu City, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. There are few candidates in their 20s or 30s for mayoral elections in Japan. This case is unique in that the candidate was 32 years old as of the election announcement date and was not a native of the city. The author was involved in the election as an advisor. From an unstructured interview with the candidate and materials created for the election, the candidate’s initial apprehension was gradually resolved through numerous interactions with citizens. In addition, the campaigning activities he undertook to gain supporters helped him prepare himself psychologically for the role of mayor.

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This study involved a qualitative analysis of the narratives of Bosai-Kakarigamashi-no-Kai, a group involved in disaster prevention tourism in Kuroshio, Kochi Prefecture, Japan, using the perspective of time, which can be expressed in terms of the relationship with the subject. Although time is an indispensable element in action research, few studies have analyzed action research on disaster prevention and mitigation from the perspective of time. In this action research study, the narratives of Bosai-Kakarigamashi-no-Kai members expressed during storytelling activities and at reflection meetings were collected and analyzed from the perspective of time. The members told narratives of hope for the future with ante-festum elements to outsiders who came to visit the tsunami evacuation tower. In contrast, at the review meeting, they told post-festum time narratives of inescapable anxiety about the tsunami. As they gradually concretized their images of the time of the disaster through the Bosai-Kakarigamashi-no-Kai activities, they told intra-festum narratives of time based on the value of everyday life.

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Recent recognition of sex education as a right for people with intellectual disabilities has prompted the global promotion of comprehensive sexuality education. Through interviews, this study sought to clarify how Teacher H’s recognition changed through her sex education practices at F special needs school. Two “walls” emerged as a challenge in sex education: the discomfort experienced by children unfamiliar with sex education, highlighting the importance of introducing sex education at an early stage; and the lack of opportunities in the educational context for Teacher H to interrogate and revise her internal conviction that men perceive women as sexual objects. However, this stereotyped recognition changed as a result of training and interactions with colleagues. Sex education that is delivered collaboratively by teachers at special needs schools can mitigate difficulties and alter stereotyped recognition, creating possibilities for forging positive relationships with students and others. Teacher training on sex equality and social constructs should be enhanced.

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This study aimed to promote dialogue between couples through a practice called “couple study” and examined the communication characteristics of this practice. We conducted this study with four couples, referring to the framework of Tojisha-kenkyu and The Open Dialogue. As a result, the participant couples and researcher couples presented their experiences mutually as common or contrasting episodes. The possible meanings of a problem and the diversity of the narrative increased after presenting common or contrasting episodes, and the conversation became more dialogical. However, in some cases, the conversation did not become dialogical, implying that differences between the two couples were related. The following three implications of this practice were identified: understanding of the problem will change, there will be more material with which to understand the problem, and there will be time and space to reflect on the couple’s problem. The results also imply that a moderate difference between couples is important for reflection to occur.

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The study describes the transmission of disaster education practices from two schools, where the authors have conducted action research for many years, in one locality to other localities, based on the concept of “inter-locality.” The inter-local development of disaster education practices was concretized and mutually enhanced through relationships between teachers at the schools practicing disaster education and teachers at other schools, as well as through personnel transfers. Thus, inter-locality was the key to realizing continuity of disaster education and contributed to solving the problem that “teachers lack specialized knowledge in disaster prevention and do not know how to conduct disaster education,” which has been pointed out as a practical reason why the continuation and spread of disaster education is difficult. This study also showed that transferable disaster education practices can be realized by interconnecting unique disaster education practices in one locality with those in other localities, rather than by pursuing universally applicable disaster education practices.

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Although teachers are tasked with providing appropriate instruction and support to students, considering their unique circumstances, this role has become increasingly challenging due to the complexity of student issues in recent years. Previous studies have inadequately addressed teachers’ perspectives on students’ problematic behavior, a cornerstone of effective teaching. This study explored these perspectives through interviews with junior high school teachers. The collected data were subjected to a qualitative analysis. The results highlighted the “problematic behavior” and the “background factors leading to problems” that teachers identified as troublesome. From these findings, a model representing teachers’ perspectives on problematic student behavior was established. This model features two axes: the temporal perspective (current/future problems), and the motivation to resolve the problems (surrender/persist). This model can provide a scaffold for teachers’ reflections and collaborative team efforts, thereby assisting teachers who are uncertain about managing these challenges in gaining clearer perspectives.

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This study examined the impact of parental divorce on young adults. Individual and focus group interviews were conducted with four participants in their 20s and 30s who had experienced parental divorce. The focus group interviews were analyzed from a narrative perspective, focusing on the participants’ interactions and changes in narratives during the interviews. During interactional situations, the participants’ narratives demonstrated “sharing experiences,” “empathy,” “presenting different experiences,” “assumptions,” “expressing their thoughts,” and “new awareness.” As the participants shared their experiences and empathized with each other, a warm and reassuring atmosphere formed within the group. Additionally, by “presenting different experiences” along with “assumptions” regarding others’ experiences, the participants perceived the presentation of their thoughts as a “new awareness,” and their narratives were observed to be changing. Furthermore, the participants assigned new meanings to their own experiences by developing narratives from the “new awareness” within the group. The interactions among the participants revealed that they were attempting to reconcile their parents’ divorce in their own lives.

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Psychotherapists may choose from among the many schools of psychotherapy. This study employs the life history method to explore the decision-making process of a psychotherapist who trained and practiced in the Jungian school of psychotherapy. The investigation examines the reality of choosing a therapeutic approach by focusing on the therapis’s experiences of “healing” from a Jungian perspective and practicing psychotherapy to create similar experiences for clients. The study underscores the importance of encountering a role model whose attitude the therapist wants to internalize, which aids in their choice of a school. The findings suggest that adopting the model’s internalized attitude and continually interpreting practical experiences through the unique lens of the chosen school are critical steps in becoming a specialized psychotherapist. This research sheds light on the factors influencing psychotherapists’ selection of a psychotherapy method. The study contributes to our understanding of how their chosen theoretical framework shapes a therapist’s practice.

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This paper explores the diversity of students’ learning and interpretations of an extracurricular global citizenship programme at the high school, including a study tour to Cambodia, and how students associate them with their daily experiences, future actions and careers after graduating from high school through retrospective perspectives. The data analysis includes students’reflection papers and interviews with 13 programme attendees from among programme’s first year participants. The students’ narratives indicate various aspects of global citizenship, such as ethical responsibility, a critical mindset, intercultural understanding and neoliberal attitudes towards economic participation. This study provides new insights into students’ transformation and engagement in social actions, even when they remain in their comfort zone; these are topics that have been largely unexamined until now. In addition, a global citizenship education programme as an extracurricular activity is effective for use in secondary education, which is otherwise strongly restricted by examinations and curricular requirements. The case study implies that this kind of extracurricular programme may change perspectives and behaviours in the context of the students’ lives.

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There is little psychological support for deaf and hard-of-hearing people. One reason for this is that psychologists do not understand deaf and hard-of-hearing people. This paper examines how psychologists perceive the deaf and hard-of-hearing people. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight psychologists who support deaf and hard-of-hearing people, and their perceptions were categorized using a case–code matrix. The results showed that the framework for understanding deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals consisted of three elements: the social background, aspects of interpersonal relationships and communication, and their characteristics. Then, I compared the nature of perception between three deaf/children of deaf adults (CODA) psychologists and five hearing psychologists. The former perceived deaf and hard-of-hearing people as beings who live visually in a small world with closely constructed relationships, and as those who have been hurt by the hearing world. The latter perceived deaf and hard-of-hearing people as those who have unique experiences and perspectives, and as those who have difficulty developing relationships and skills in a small world.

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This study focused on the experience of nursing teachers who faced the COVID-19 crisis.It aimed to clarify the process of competency formation. The narratives of instructors with 10 years of educational practice experience were analyzed using the Trajectory Equifinality Modeling (TEM).During the COVID-19 pandemic, nursing instructors were faced with family illness and had to deal with [conflicts with medical staff] and [conflicting thoughts between the end of life during COVID-19 and daily life].The questions that arose in these experiences were to reconsider the essence of “What is life, ” “What is care, ” and “What is nursing?” The rapid realization of online classes and various alternative educational methods due to the COVID-19 crisis must bring new possibilities to future nursing education. For clinics and schools to cooperate in the truest sense and collectively consider student education, each of us needs to face the essential questions found in the conflicts faced by nursing instructors.

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The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of community collaboration as a mode of learning in a special school for the intellectually challenged. The study involved students, local residents, and teachers; in addition, a novel connection called a “naname” (diagonal) relationship was established between the students who organized the class and local residents who participated. This connection yielded a positive change among the local residents, dismantling their psychological barriers and fostering self-awareness regarding unconscious biases that they may have held with respect to individuals with disabilities. The teaching delivered in the experiential classroom further facilitated transformative experiences for the students, leading to increased autonomous motivation through two distinct adjustment styles: internal adjustment and identification adjustment. The teachers’ respect for the students’ autonomous motivation was crucial in facilitating the emergence of unplanned learning opportunities, ultimately transforming the dynamics of the learning environment

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This study aimed to examine the adulthood experiences of siblings of individuals with developmental disabilities but without any intellectual disability. A qualitative analysis of the developmental changes in the experiences of siblings was conducted, without compromising diversity. To obtain data, the author interviewed two older sisters of a person with a disability, twice over a nine-year period. The sisters’ narratives were arranged at the same point in time on the horizontal axis to examine the diversity of siblings. For the vertical axis, the sisters’ narratives were repeated nine years later. This procedure aimed to capture changes in the siblings’ experiences and narratives. The results revealed themes that characterize adulthood, conflicts over the disclosure of disabilities, conflicts over fertility treatment and the heritability of disabilities, and conflicts over unexpected issues related to the aging of parents. The findings suggest that siblings experience the difficulty of positioning themselves as siblings and caretakers while seeking to distance themselves from their families at different times.

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This study investigates the initial interactions between shop clerks and regular customers in grocery stores by analyzing data collected through fieldwork in the Seto Inland Sea region, Japan. Typically, interactions begin with people noticing each other’s presence after being in close proximity and exchanging greetings. However, boundaries such as walls and doors in the stores influence these interactions. This study explores interactions cross physical boundaries in grocery stores with separate interiors and exteriors. It also highlights the significance of the “predictability of encounters” shared by shop clerks and customers and outlines the visual and auditory resources to facilitate communication. Furthermore, the study discusses the link between the predictability of encounters and community life, positioning the research within the domain of communication studies in rural communities.

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In this study, we continuously observed three children at play in an adventure playground, and tried to visualize the engagement in each activity as well as the difficulty level and risk of activities. As a result, (1) when playing for the first time, although they showed interest in watching other children play, they failed to do well at first, and learned to play while being taught by other children and adults; (2) they showed interest in more difficult activities, and followed the process of becoming able to play by themselves while failing; (3) the choice of activity varies, with some children transitioning gradually from easy play to more difficult play, while others continue to engage in many types of play regardless of the difficulty of the activity.

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To investigate the impact of classroom space on children’s appreciation activities through production in arts and crafts courses, a survey was conducted with 75 fifth-grade students. They had prior experience with at-home production during the period of school closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Children who positively evaluated their classroom production experience emphasized the importance of collaborative discussions with classmates and teachers as essential for learning through appreciation. Although they acknowledged having higher concentration levels at home, they held a positive view of the active involvement and influential surroundings offered by the classroom environment. By contrast, children who positively evaluated their at-home production experience acknowledged the valuable perspectives obtained in the classroom while appreciating the freedom to express their creativity based on their feelings and ideas. These findings suggest that while guidance and influence from classmates and teachers in classroom production may foster idea generation and lead to creative output, they may also hinder active trial-and-error as a result of being attuned to the reality of the place.

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Small talk often occurs during group work in university classes. Although small talk has a relationship-building function, it is treated as an obstacle to learning goals during in-class group work. Few studies have focused on small talk, leaving the inner workings of such interaction unclarified. Therefore, using interaction analysis, we investigated what students achieve through small talk during group work. In this study, the group work comprised reflection activities during the final session of a junior college course. First, the analysis verified that small talk occurs frequently during group work. Thereafter, an interaction analysis was conducted to examine the situations before and after the small talk. The results revealed that students share an orientation through small talk and that they approach new topics together. Consequently, students may use small talk to make group work more inclusive of all participants.

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Action research conducted in Japanese calligraphy workshops for people with intellectual disabilities found that practicing brush writing increased social activity and positive attitudes. The study included people in their twenties who participated in social-skill training programs at a social-welfare facility after completing pecialneeds education. In the workshops, the participants practiced writing words they chose themselves, and many became interested in learning to write new and unfamiliar words, which expanded their knowledge and creativity. Furthermore, the activity promoted social inclusion: the addition of a nearby shopkeeper to the group stimulated lively interactions between existing and new participants. This paper concludes with a discussion of the social implications of Japanese calligraphy as a collaborative practice leading to the development of a community in which people with intellectual disabilities can actively express their thoughts and feelings with both peers and those without intellectual disabilities.

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