The objective of this study is to construct a psychometric test for measuring subject/object mindsets (Hayashi, 1999, 2001) and to examine the validity of this test. We created 129 items recognized through brainstorming. A panel of intercultural experts reviewed each item, and then we constructed a 40-item pilot test. This pilot version was administered to a sample of 656 subjects. Results from the factor analysis identified five subscales: (1) Self-referral (6 items), (2) Self-assertiveness (3 items), (3) Object dependency (3 items), (4) Group-referral (6 items), and (5) Flexibility of subject boundary (6 items). These subscales and other comparison scales were administered to a sample of 293 subjects. Correlation analyses with other authors' comparison scales showed construct validity in each subscale.

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With the process of globalization, there are an increasing number of foreigners from diverse origins living in Japan. There are also numerous local initiatives to cater to this trend. This paper will focus on the organizations set up by the newcomers (newly arrived foreign nationals) that protect human rights regardless of nationality, and respects the traditions and cultures. Through it the organizations aim to invigorate a multi-cultural society. The term self-help organizations, used in this paper are defined as those groups that have a clear vision to work to help themselves as well as each other. Specifically, the paper will study the formation process of a particular self help organization for the newly arrived - "Brazilian Community of Kansai" - which I took part in its early stages. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the general policies and the necessity of the self-reliancy of these self-help organizations. Furthermore, the paper will analyze the awareness and the measures, and assess the necessary components of a system of the self-help organizations formed by the foreigners, civil societies, and the local governments. This paper is a baseline study specifically outlined to advocate public policy measures in the future. .

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Cultural distances of Individualism-Collectivism and High-Low context are supposed to play an important role for cross-cultural adaptation of international students in Japan. A series of survey have been conducted for the comparison between guest and host groups. In this survey Japanese students as the host group sample in comparison with international students are investigated on these dimensions. Japanese students evaluated 1)themselves and 2)other Japanese people concerning: A)Individualism-Collectivism and B) High-Low context. People with higher or similar collectivistic orientation showed better adaptation to human relations and Japanese norms. People with higher or similar high-context tendencies showed better adaptation to human relations and Japanese norms. People with higher high-context tendencies showed better adaptation to human relations. Japanese students with higher collectivistic and high-context tendencies supposedly have an advantage adapting to Japanese culture.

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The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of social identities and shame in the process of sense making when Japanese male employees encounter differences in the perception of their work. In this study, PAC analysis was used to explore the role, and two cases are discussed. One research participant was eager to retain his identity as "creator" in his interaction with other job counterpart whose qualification and role was different", and tried to make sense of the differences. Another research participant didn't insist his identity as a "member of sport committee secretariat" in his interaction with the members of other organizations, and seemed to reposition his existing identity and psychologically grow himself.

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The study examines the role of intercultural communication competence (ICC) and its relationship with cultural background and stress in the changing working environment of an automobile manufacturer with a foreign business alliance in Japan. Specifically intercultural communication in the environment where the employees communicate with their foreign counterparts in a language other than their native language was investigated. A survey was administerel to 70 employees. Cultural background and stress were found to be related when trying to survive in the changed corporate culture. ICC was found to be the mediator between cultural background and stress. While ICC has not yet attracted enough appreciation in Japanese corporations, it is likely to gain recognition comparable to English skills in the near future.

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This article examines the use of intercultural training by Japanese corporations in order to help cultivate internationally competent Japanese employees. Its aim is not to gauge how effective or successful the training is from a managerial point of view, but instead to ascertain how the training uses "culture" in constructing a particular approach to communication as social practice. I argue that the training constructs communication with much emphasis on making oneself understood to others but with little regard for understanding others in terms of their cultural specificity, and that examining such meta-discursive constructs of social relations is important in social-scientific attempts to grasp the historical unfolding of multicultural relations more generally.

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The number of international marriages including a Japanese partner is increasing in Japan today and the diversification of their nationalities, and residential status is significant. About 70 percent of the international marriages is that of Japanese men and foreign women who are mainly from Asian countries such as Philippine, the South Korea, the North Korea and China. The causes of its increase is international migration due to the social and economical situation both in Japan and foreign countries.
The foreign wives are bewildered by the differences of language, life styles and values in Japan where they are discriminated economically and are assimilated to Japanese culture. They also have confronted the communication gap in their family and the weakened ethnic identification.
Now not only the families of international marriage families but also the whole Japanese societies are required to solve this issue concerning the foreign wives.
This paper aims to provide some implication how to establish a multilingual and multicultural society that would accept various values and customs by summarizing the characterization of current international marriages and problems faced by the foreign wives, basing on the view of family sociology.

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This paper examines:1) the use of Korean language in Japan in various social contexts; and (2) the interrelationships among Korean identity, the amount of Korean used daily, and self-perceived competence of Korean language. The results show that the 2nd and 3rd generations use much less Korean language than the 1st generation who report that they conduct 54.4% of interactions with other 1st generation members in Korean. The 2nd and 3rd generations report they use Korean language in only 2% of interactions among themselves but 15% of interactions with 1st generation members. Correlational analyses reveal that those who perceive their competency of Korean language as high tend to have stronger ethnic identity regardless of their generation. Finally, the implication of the results on heritage language education is discussed.

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Ishii (1984)'s Enryo-Sasshi Communication model characterizes Japanese-style communication. This paper attempts to discuss the applicability of this culture-specific sasshi (sharp guess-work) ability to multicultural settings. In Japanese culture, sasshi communication has a mechanism through which people gradually acquire the ability to guess what others really mean from indirect or subtle verbal and non-verbal expressions. Also, it allows people to nurture the ability to sympathize with and understand others' feelings and positions. These abilities, as long as they go hand in hand with knowledge of cultural diversity, can be converted into the ability for many Japanese not only to sympathize with and understand multiple positions of culturally diverse people but also to create mutually beneficial relationships in multicultural contexts.

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Research about cultural heritage in the social sciences almost always involves the issue of power. Power, together with culture, communication, and context, has been appropriated by Intercultural Communication as one of its four main pillars of research. However, the field has no explicit theory about power. At the same time, it has so far only been minimally concerned with cultural heritage. This paper offers a look at problems in studies concerned with cultural heritage and power, existing theories on power in Intercultural Communication, the links between heritage and power, and, finally, discusses case studies that merge these topics, with the view to stimulate much-needed theoretical work on the power theme in cultural heritage and Intercultural Communication studies.

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