[in Japanese]

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The purpose of this study is to investigate what are required of consumers in a system of their right to sue for an injunction, and seek the direction of the education to be given for consumers. No survey has been attempted concerning systems of the said right in this country while various injunction systems have been studied in other countries. The writer employed a questionnaire in order to collect data regarding the subject matter from March to July, 1999. The result of the survey consists of the conditions enabling consumers to exercise their right to sue for an injunction, the requirements of the related consumer associations, and eleven key words that came out as a result of general analysis, i.e. sense of right / self-responsibility or self-reliance / citizen participation / awareness of public interest and justice / judgement / data collecting ability / capability to lead consumer life / knowledge of economy / acquaintance with goods / financial power / association.

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Old records remaining in the area were analyzed to clarify the changes and their historical significance in the style of entertaining among the common people in Kagawa Prefecture during the last 200 years.
It was clear about entertaining at Buddhist ceremonies that the foods, dishes and menus on sara and hirazara in zenbu tended toward stylization with the times.
This report examined the menus in shojiki, chazuke, yonaga, hiji, etc. (hereinafter referred to as shojiki, etc.) which were served before and after zenbu, the main part of the entertainment.
These menus consisted of simple dishes like udon and soba noodles or rice and one or two dishes, and supplemented zenbu. In respect of shojiki, etc., each region had its own recipes for noodles, cooked rice, dishes and foods, and they were served daily, while they were not as stylized as zenbu was.

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The four tea ceremony documents, Matsuyakaiki, Tennoujiyakaiki, Kamiya Soutan Nikki and Imai Soukyu Chanoyu Nikki Nukigaki, were examined to investigate the early-stage of kaiseki from the end of the medieval period to the beginning of the modern period.
Twenty-five percent of kashi in kaiseki consisted of confectionery (rice cake, steamed bun, candy, sweetened and jellied bean paste, etc.) and 75% consisted of other food, which means that confectionery was still at an early stage of development. Among the other food were nuts, seeds and fruits, as well as various vegetables, potatoes and other starch, fungi, algae, etc.
The kinds of food and recipes of that age suggest that the concept of kashi was not clear; there was not a definite distinction between kashi and sai.
The recipes used for kashi changed later; for example, nishime continued to be used as a recipe for kashi, while frying fell out of fashion.

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The end use properties of new synthetic powder and liquid detergents, powder soap and composite liquid soap were observed from the viewpoint of detergency and biodegradation. The following results were obtained.
1) In detergency above the recommended detergent amount, all of the detergents showed higher detergency in accordance with the increase in concentration.
2) The detergency of liquid detergents was basically unaffected by temperature, although it tended to decrease at elevated temperatures.
3) Detergency decreased with an increase of hardness. However, it was scarcely observed at 5-10° DH.
4) With biodegradation behaviors of surfactant concentrations of 20mg/l, all of the detergents were observed with the river die-away test. The progress of biodegradation was followed by measuring the loss of total organic carbon (TOC), and analyzing dissolved oxygen (DO). As a result of the test, soap disappeared first, followed by composite liquid soap. When synthetic powder was compared with liquid produced by the same company, it was found that the former disappeared more rapidly.
5) The biodegradation of each detergent under daily laundry use conditions was examined. While soap was biodegraded very slowly, other detergents disappeared rapidly.

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The purpose of this study is to obtain basic data on changes of the elderly's physical functions due to aging, and to improve the standards of clothing to meet their needs.
A questionnaire was administered to three groups (1, 117 subjects total) consisting of elderly men, elderly women and young women. Based on the questionnaire responses on the physical functions related to dressing and undressing abilitiy and demand conditions of usable clothing for the elderly, the following four points became evident.
1) Due to decreased physical functions and shoulder flexibility, and to increased aches in their joints, the elderly need clothing which is easy to put on. When putting on their socks, they select the most stable positions for themselves.
2) The elderly want to wear front opening type shirts and they like loose-fitting elastic waist bands. Small buttons, hooks and snaps are difficult to work with.
3) Hayashi's Quantification Method III was applied to 24 items. Four axes were interpreted. Axes I and II pertain to age and difficulty of dressing and undressing. Axis III pertains to usable clothing construction. Axis IV pertains to aches in their joints and torso, and flexibility related to dressing and undressing.
4) The means of the sample scores were calculated on each axis and statistical tests related to sex differences and age differences were applied to the mean scores. The results of axes I and II indicated significant differences between each age group. The results of axes III and N revealed significant differences between the subjects in their 60's and 70's. It is clear that clothing which is easy to put on must be planned and targetted for the age group of over 70's. Elderly men experience difficulty dressing and undressing about ten years earlier than do elderly women.

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The purpose of this study is to find the relation between life and housing planning for the aged residents of the Silver-pia-Housing project. The data used for our analysis are the results of four investigations conducted in 1993 through 1997. We analyzed the basic and detailed investigations, and the characteristics of the Silver-pia-Housing and its aged residents may be summarized as follows :
1) The project has provided varieties of housing complexes, each of which is different in the number of rooms and housing style (most of the condominiums rented by the project for the aged only number less than twenty in a complex; more than half of the TOEI complex rented by the project are for the aged and others; and more than twenty condominiums per complex are rented by the project in other complexes). Great majority of the aged are satisfied with their housing style. But communication seems to be established rather insufficiently between residents; solon or common room is not frequently used. On the other hand, the aged residents are highly satisfied with the warning devices provided.
2) Single females are about 70%, and those over the age of 75 are more than 40%. It is noted that the rate of those who are disabled in movement tends to increase as they grow older; especially conspicuous is the increasing rate of those over the age of 85. Majority are the pension earners. About 50% have an annual income of one to two million yen. The conditions that had confronted in their previous dwelling seem to be the reason why they moved into the present dwelling; about 40% were forced to move out. About 70% expessed their desire to remain in their present dwelling provided by the Silver-pia-Housing, even receiving care service.

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We carried out a study of school bags used by junior high school students from the viewpoint of health care. We conducted the investigation by means of a questionnaire given to 246 junior high school students (both sexes) in Hyogo and Shizuoka Prefectures during the period from December 1998 to January 1999. We reported on how they are using school bags.
The results are as follows :
Backpacks accounted for 50% and shoulderbags 40% of the total number of bags in the entire area. As a whole, shoulderbags proved to be attractive, especially for junior high school students.
A school bag weighs 4 kg on average, although the weight ranges from 0.1 to 9.5 kg, showing a big difference among individuals and also schools. Some schools regulate school bags.
We offered advice to school authorities so that they may take some measures to decrease the students' burden.

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The author aims to elucidate to what extent storage facilities outside home could be utilized in achieving the successful management of durable consumer goods for average families. An investigation was made on the actual status and consciousness of using safekeeping service; the subjects of the study were the housewives living in both detached house and condominium, and a large city and a small local city were respectively chosen as target of survey. The results of the investigation, are as follows :
1) Eighty-nine percent of the housewives are aware of the safekeeping service, but those who have actually utilized it is only 6%, a percentage lower than that of the users of rental goods. In fact, the housewives under study would like to keep durable consumer goods in their household.
2) Seasonable, unused or hobby goods, occupying a large part of their possessions, pose a significant problem for housewives to find storage space. Therefore, they would have to consider the utilization of safekeeping service.
3) Safekeeping service is considered only for a temporary period of time such as at the time of building a new house or reconstructing an old house, as well as for a fixed time of period such as assortments of seasonable dolls.
4) The limited storage space available in condominium is bound to make housewives seek safekeeping service just like they would want to rely on rental service.
5) The terms and conditions to be considered by housewives include charge, reliability, facility, and accessibility.

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