An analysis of the structure of Japanese home cooking was made by producing a correlation diagram of the ingredients from a large number of recipes on an Internet site. The structural analysis of the ingredients to construct the ingredient correlation diagram consists of a four-step process: 1) making a synonym dictionary, 2) sorting according to the frequency of use, 3) clustering by using a Kohonen network, and 4) linking the clusters by using an association rule. The stability and changeability of the diagram were considered. In respect of the stability, the constancy of the ingredients with time and their versatility across different recipes were confirmed. Changeability was investigated by monitoring the emergence of new elements in Japanese home cooking due to the fusion of Japanese, Western and Chinese cooking culture.

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Enhancing the physical activity level has become a significant issue for the Japanese to prevent lifestyle-related diseases. For developing a simple and valid method to assess daily energy expenditure, we measured the energy expended by several physical activities in 13 young Japanese adults using the portable expiration gas metabolic monitor. Each subject wore a heart rate monitor on the chest and three-dimensional accelerometers on the wrist, waist and ankle. The energy expenditure was correlated with the heart rate and with the acceleration at the wrist, waist and ankle. Energy expenditure showed higher correlation coefficients with the acceleration at the waist and ankle than at the wrist. A multiple regression analysis showed that the energy expenditure could be estimated from the accelerations at the wrist and waist, the heart rate, gender, height and weight. The results indicate that measuring both the body acceleration and heart rate was important for developing a simple and valid method to assess daily energy expenditure.

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The purpose of this study was to clarify the characteristics of an IGUSA mixed-spun fabric blouse in terms of its thermal responses and its amenity to heat-loading in women. An IGUSA mixed-spun material blouse was compared in terms of three conditions: fabric composed of 20% IGUSA blended with 80% cotton, 100% cotton, and nude. Eleven women were exposed to 43-degree moist heat loading for 30 min. Individual skin temperatures, local sweat rate (M_sw), core temperature (T_core), and inner-clothes temperature and humidity were measured throughout the experiment. Although the mean skin temperature (T_sk) calculated based on individual skin temperatures beneath the IGUSA mixed-spun material blouse increased abruptly at early heat loading, it tended to be lower than the temperature under a 100% cotton blouse. M_sw under the IGUSA mixed-spun material blouse increased slowly and tended to be lower compared with that under the 100% cotton blouse during the later heat loading. During the recovery period following heat loading, both T_sk and T_core under the IGUSA mixed-spun material blouse decreased slowly compared with those under the 100% cotton blouse, showing a significant difference between the IGUSA mixed-spun material blouse and the 100% cotton blouse during the later recovery period (p<0.05). The increases of inner-clothes temperature and humidity under the IGUSA mixed-spun material blouse were significantly greater than those under the 100% cotton blouse throughout the experiment, which could be attributed to the material's heat retention. These results suggest that IGUSA mixed-spun material could reduce the stress of the human body under thermal loading by allowing slower adjustment to inner-clothes temperature and humidity.

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In this paper I have attempted to investigate the clothing life of people in the United States in the late 19th century on the basis of relevant evidence provided in women's magazines. Articles and advertisements appearing in various women's magazines featured items differing in price and type aimed at similar classes of readers. However, it also seems likely that there were differences in the type of clothes presented in the articles and advertisements appearing in such magazines. This was evident in articles and advertisements in connection with clothes that appeared in magazines such as Vogue and Harper's Bazar published in the United States in the late 19th Century. In conclusion, articles and advertisements about clothes from Vogue and Harper's Bazar were different in certain respects. Such differences were a reflection of the level of their readers' quality of life based on the class to which the readers belonged.

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