Sociological studies of desabilities have examined the social process of making particular physical or mental features stigmatized, focusing on the political economy of modern Western countries. They have played an important role in challenging the social norm, by which people without disabilities ensured their hegemony over people with disabilities. However, their analysis has been criticized by feminists, as they did not pay attention to the plurality of micro practices and the experience of people with disabilities in difficult situations. It is necessary to consider the process in which people with disabilities and the people relating with them make their style of living in their daily life. This study explores the plurality of practice and experience with disabilities by adopting an anthropological method based on the theory of practice and situated learning as a new approach to the problem of disability. In the theory of practice, 'practice' is understood in social relations, and 'learning' is understood, not as change in individual abilities but change as in the social and cultural level. In my research, I took the practices of "normal" classes in a public school and a parent advocacy group in particular consideration. The Japanese national policy of special education assumes that students with disabilities attend only training schools or special classes, and it does not give any sanction to students in integrated classes. So students with disabilities in public school, who need but are unable to obtain specialized support, find themselves in a position of uncertainty. From the perspective of learning theory, I focus on the negotiation process between children with disabilities on the one hand, and their classmates, teachers, parents, support group members and national education policy on the other. Then I explore how the types of indentification function as points of both resistance and intervention for parents and children working within the rigid definitions established by national policy.

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The purpose of this study is to delineate the value of self-utilization and the meaning of illness experiences that two middle-aged women with breast cancer attained while leading two different breast cancer support groups, through a deepening of the understanding of the agony of their own illness and the mutual understanding with other members, and caring for other patients. Data were collected by interviews, practically unstructured, with both group leaders. Their narratives were transcribed, and reorganized according to their respective life historical contexts. Despite their different family backgrounds and living conditions, the leaders had similar life historical experiences that were related to their rediscovery of the meaning of life at the time of their recovery. Those experiences can be summarized by the following eight points: 1. Neglecting one's own health while taking care of other family members as middle-aged full-time housewives. 2. Enhancing the cognition of one's illness while receiving breast cancer treatment, and suffering from the agony of illness. 3. Overcoming multiple cancer experiences: for Ms.B, recurrent cancer; for Ms.C, another cancer found a week after being discharged from the hospital. 4. Learning more deeply about illness while suffering even more from the agony of illness than during the first revelation of breast cancer. 5. Helping each other to organize support groups after getting acquainted with each other in the process of becoming group leaders; and working together with Dr.T, a specialist in mammary gland diseases. 6. Developing support groups with the help of family members. 7. Developing activities of the support groups socially, with assistance from their doctors and the support group members. 8. Being inspired by the idea of "illness as an asset" when they started feeling that organizing the support groups had been beneficial to them. Further analysis of the leaders' usage of words and expressions revealed three meanings that were important to their lives: 1. One's own life should be woven by oneself. 2. Illness is coexistent with sufferers, and is part of their woven lives. 3. The power to overcome illnesses is strengthened by interweaving one's own life with those of other sufferers. The two support-group leaders interpreted their situation by concluding that leading a life with illness eventually strengthened and deepened their lives as a whole. They also thought it worthwhile to care for the members of the support groups, as they saw that the members' lives were strengthened by doing so as well. They received the kind of satisfaction that they would not have experienced had they not experienced their illnesses, having successfully mobilized the administrative office to change its policy on medical examinations, and establishing a system whereby they could play a part in the education of medical students. Had they not been ill, they would not have felt the gratification they received when effecting the policy change on medical examinations, and participating in one segment of the education of medical students. In sum, they experienced the processes of what is thought as the quintessence of care: namely, "growth" and "self-realization" through caring for others.

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Increasing attention is being drawn nowadays to the way of caring for others, especially the aged. With the rapid graying of society, concern has mounted about how to manage the care of old people. Much of that worry seems to stem from the sense that families have lost the ability to care for their older members. However, a government-run survey on attitudes about senior citizens' lifestyles has revealed that old people, above all, do not want to rely totally on their children. That feeling may result from various factors, and much thought must be given to the wishes of the aged to lead their own lives "as a whole." In my quest to discover ways to live our lives "as a whole," I devote the first chapter of may paper to exploring the meaning of the word "care" itself. Caring for other people cannot happen without creating interrelationships with them at every life stage. In chapter two, then, I study factors that hinder interrelationships between people at defferent life stages, delving into the historical background of the term "generation," and researching certain historical materials that refer to the status of each life stage. In the process of modernization, the status of the "adult" has grown in value as an agent to care for people in other life stages. With the fixation of the status of the adult, the same thing has happened to the status of children and aged as well. That restricts the flexibility and possibilities of people's conduct at every life stage. Yet, even in modernized society these days, people have tried to make their schedules more flexible so as to be able to communicate with others. In the third chapter, I explore cases I observed in my fieldwork in Switzerland, starting in 1997. In Appenzell, a town of 5,000 situated in the northeastern part of the country, people tend to demand shorter working hours in order to do what they like most at certain times of their lives. Many people say that true "wealth" lies in being able to manage one's life as one likes with the money one earns. Surprisingly, not only the rural dwellers of Appenzell practice that custom. Even such professionals as medical doctors employed at university hosipitals in busy cities like Zurich are able to reduce their working hours as well. People long for more free time to spend happy hours with their family and friends under the sun, not just on weekends but also weekdays. Although many old people in Switzerland enjoy meeting their children often, they usually live independently from them, instead making use of a system called "Spitex." That system provides medical services as well as assistance for everyday life for those aged and disabled people who prefer to live at home. Decision-making concerning Spitex is made locally, and payments are subsidized by both municipal governments and non-profit, government-licensed, compulsory health insurance companies. While Spitex seems to work well in rural towns such as Appenzell, where most people are lifelong friends and often meet with each other, it does not seem to be sufficient for people living alone in the city of Zurich. As Spitex is supported by public finances, it does not give helpers as well as nurses and other trained specialists much time to communicate with their client patients or to enjoy dinner together. Under the Spitex care system alone, it is hard for aged people to get sufficient care in the sense of having enough time for communication and creating interrelationships with others. Focusing on that point, chapter four of my paper looks at the changes in lifestyle experienced by old people living in a depopulated town of about 2,000 inhabitants, on the island of Shikoku in Japan, based on my research and interviews that took place there starting in 2004. There, both the young and old have joined forces in establishing a new industry to

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In 1872, the Meiji Government established a new educational system, providing compulsory education to the Japanese. The system, however, did not include the handicapped, who were considered "worthless, useless people." Japanese modernization is defined as a process that assimilated various minority groups into the majority. However, the disabled became neglected and shunned under the policy to enhance the affluence and military strength of modern Japan. They were inevitably separated and obliged to work very hard to show their worth and usefulness. In this article, my argument is based on the history of the disabled in postwar Japan (from 1945 to the present). I would like to make an anthropological study of the relationship between the welfare of our society and the visually handicapped by using the concept of "barrier-free." The long-cherished desires of blind people to improve their status are still unfulfilled dreams. From the middle of the Edo Period (1603-1867), down to the present, many Japanese blind people have been engaged in massage and acupuncture. Traditional Asian medicine has been the most important subject in the field of modern education for the blind. After World War II, special education was authorized under the Fundamental Law of Education. Yet even today, there are limited vocational choices for blind people besides being an acupuncturist. Why are most of the blind in Japan engaged in acupuncture and massage? In other words, how did they end up in those occupations? Before schools for the blind were established, there was a blind guild called Todoza, formed in the 14th century by biwa-hoshi (lute players or minstrels) who were all blind and whose long tradition extended back to ancient times. In the history of Japanese music and performing arts, blind people have played important roles for many years. The biwa-hoshi were not just good at religious rituals, but folk entertainment as well. "The Tale of Heike" (Heike Monogatari), one of the greatest Japanese literary works, was created and spread by the biwa-hoshi, who prayed for the souls of fallen soldiers. It was believed that they could communicate with the spirits of dead persons. Using the biwa, or lute, they held memorial services for the Heike in various parts of Japan. "The Tale of Heike," a long epic poem, is the compilation of all the stories narrated by biwa-hoshi, and has been passed down orally from generation to generation. In medieval times, there was no other choice for blind men to make a living but to be a biwa-hoshi. Therefore, they formed a guild called Todoza to maintain their interests. In the Edo Period, the Todoza was supported by the Tokugawa shogunate, and its own hierarchy system was established. Besides the biwa, blind people played the koto or shamisen professionally, and acquired the technical skills of massage and acupuncture as new occupations. Now, let me introduce the living conditions of blind women. In the Tohoku district live blind psychic mediums called itako, or blind shamans, and they can speak in the voice of dead persons. In medieval times, blind women participated in the creation of the "Tale of Soga" (Soga Monogatari). which also was related to departed souls. Under the influence of the Todoza, itako (blind women) organized their own guild in the Edo Period. Itako were similar to counselors, healers and entertainers for village communities. They were given special roles or positions by villagers, and were very proud of their vocation. A guild that is built up by the blind alone seems to be exclusive or anachronistic to us today. There is no doubt that Japanese blind culture goes against the aim of egalitarianism or mainstreaming. Ecen so, the idea that blind people can do what sighted people cannot is applicable to present-day life. In 1871, the Todoza was abolished by the Meiji Government. After the Meiji Era,

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The Kobe Earthquake, which struck Japan just ten years ago, made us aware that a natural hazard could turn into one of the most serious problems for our society. Also, during the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction of the United Nations (the 1990s), more attention was drawn to the social factors of disasters that make the damage more serious and/or biased in the context of developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to take a closer look at such social factors of disasters. I have examined the related literature, and outlined my opinions on the position of anthropologicak studies in the present situation of disaster studies and practices. The paper consists of four sections: introduction, review, discussion and conclusion. The review section is divided into two parts: a review of the sociology of disasters, and that of the anthropology of disasters. Through a review of the existing literature, I illustrate past trends in the sociology of disasters, which have mainly dealt with communities in developed countries, as studies of the "management of emergency" from an organizational perspective. On the other hand, the features of the anthropology of disasters, which have mainly dealt with communities in developing countries, are considered as "fieldwork" in terms of method and "vulnerability" in terms of perspective. In the next section, I look into the current situation of disaster studies from a social-scientific perspective. The differences between sociology and anthropology identified above have gradually disappeared in the context of the involvement of many global organizations, such as the World Bank, the Red Cross and FEMA, involved in the local fields of disaster preparation and recovery. That situation requires anthropological studies to rethink and recreate their theoretical frameworks in order to contribute to illuminating the complex phenomena of disasters beyond the vulnerability theory. It is now necessary to focus on the period before a disaster strikes - the so-called processes of disaster mitigation and preparedness - because research on that stage makes clear the dynamic process of the accumulation and reproduction of "vulnerability" in everyday social life. A description of that process allows a practical contribution to the promotion of activities to mitigate future disasters, besides enabling a theoretical contribution, as it clarifies the fact that compared with other practices, the activities and practices related to disasters are strongly conditioned by past experiences and ("ethno"-) calculations of future risks. In the last section, I lay out some concepts describing activities that are related to the preparation and mitigation of disasters in a broad sense. First, to understand the mixture of explicit activities and everyday practices at the community level, I point to the significance of mezzo-level local groups with obscure boundaries that are formed in everyday life, as they can affect each individual's decision-making through their tacit roles or the information their members share. Moreover, I propose to take into account the interactions of many groups and organizations as "communication" following Gregory Bateson, and to analyze "disaster cultures" through the way that information, knowledge, tools and experience circulate, accumulate, and are arranged among the members of a group.

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