In modern society, the younger generation needs to develop parental readiness. The purpose of this study was to investigate the younger generation's developmental process of Sympathetic Responsiveness (SR) to children regarded as an important aptitude for parenting. In addition, this research identified the educational factors: knowledge of child development, experience in early childhood education and care, and individual or family factors; affinity with one's own parents, acceptance of becoming parents, all of which would affect SR and the relationships between their SR and these factors were examined. Each specific scale was developed and the questionnaires used by each scale were administered to 500 junior high school students, 537 senior high school students, and 574 university students. It was found that SR develops as their grades get higher. Although male students' SR is at a lower level of development than female SR, such differences between males and females become smaller as their grades get higher at least in the case of university students. Furthermore, the analyses on the relationships between their SR and the effective factors revealed that the amount of knowledge of child development and the level of acceptance of becoming parents were significantly associated with their SR. In university students, it was shown that experience in early childhood education and care was related to their SR.

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Glutinous rice reportedly originated in Northern Thailand, and several hill tribes, including the Karen, Mon, and Hmong, live in this area. A comparison of the rice cake-eating culture among the Karen, Lahu, Akha and Lisu tribes was made by collecting data from field surveys conducted six times during 2005-2009. Rice cakes made by pounding rice in a mortar were found with all these tribes when celebrating at their religious ceremonies on their New Year's Day and Christmas. These rice cakes were also presented to temples and churches. With the exception of the Karen, rice was pounded with a mortar and pestle. Kneaded rice cakes were also made by the Lisu and Aka tribes. The Lisu make them communally in the village on Thanksgiving Day, while the Akha usually make them at home. The Karen wrap the rice cakes in bamboo leaves and eat for good health. The Karen, Lafu and Akha tribes add perilla seeds to steamed rice when pounding the rice, while the Lisu add black sesame. This helps to prevent the rice cakes from sticking to the mortar and pestle, and imparts a more sweet-scented and better taste.

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Meat samples were prepared by adding mashed tubers of different kinds (white potato, yam and taro) to minced pork loin, to compare the “ease of eating" of the samples. This was evaluated, by sensory tests, measurement of the masseter muscle activity at the time of mastication, and the physical properties of the samples. The results indicated that, compared with a meat sample, which was soft and had high levels of both adhesiveness and cohesiveness, a meat sample which was hard and had small levels of adhesiveness and cohesiveness induced greater muscle activity. Among the meat samples that were similar in hardness, the samples that demonstrated higher stress at 95% strain showed greater muscle activity. The sensory test showed that the meat samples that were evaluated as “hard" at the time of mastication induced greater muscle activity. The overall results imply that a meat sample needs to have adequate levels of adhesiveness and cohesiveness as well as softness to be easy to swallow.

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In the modern world where lifestyles and the way people work have diversified, people need to flexibly sift through life, trying to balance housework, child rearing, care experiences such as nursing care, and vocational experiences. In view of that, this study first examines the state of the career development of home economics teachers from the perspectives of personal history, vocational history, and family history, and then aims to review the factors relating to the vocational identity of home economics teachers. This study surveyed 157 active home economics teachers using a questionnaire. As a result, a significant difference was found in the following factors relating to the vocational identity of home economics teachers: “faculty of the preferred career" and “period of wanting to become a home economics teacher" in the subjects' personal history; “role model," “job separation awareness," “complaints and burdens concerning vocational life," “financial reasons" and “non-teacher vocational experience(s)" in the subjects' vocational history; and “married relationship" and “awareness of leaving work for nursing care" in the subjects' family history. The vocational identity of home economics teachers not only involves vocational history, but also concerns personal history and family history to a great extent. This study also revealed that these are also important perspectives when considering career development.

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An approach called “COOL BIZ," which suggests raising the preset air-conditioning temperature to 28°C in summer as well as wearing lighter business clothes, has been promoted since 2005 for the possible reduction of the energy consumption in Japan. The objective of this study is to investigate the actual condition of workers' clothes in an office in which the air conditioner temperature has been set at 28°C in summer. Questionnaire results about clothes during the COOL BIZ period showed that the average value of basic thermal insulation of clothing (Icl) was 0.54clo for males and 0.52clo for females. The modal class of Icl for males in this study was lower than that from previous research in the 1970's. Most office workers answered that their thermal environment should be improved and that they used fans to alleviate their heat stress. Seventy-two percent of the respondents felt that the quality of their office environment lowered their work performance. When an effort is made to conserve energy, worker' performance should be taken into account.

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