Scholars have frequently argued that the East-Asian welfare system model is characterized by the backwardness of a welfare state in the region and distinguished by the practice of family members and private firms supplementing an incomplete social security system. There are no actual comparative studies on company welfare; however, pioneering studies on the family' s role in caring for elder persons in East Asia has started in recent years. To re-examine conventional understandings on this matter, we conducted joint research that focused on the company welfare system in six select countries (economies): China, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, and Indonesia. Our surveys included questions regarding management-side views of company welfare, varieties of company fringe benefits (with a selection of 24 items, including housing, canteen, meal subsidies, and transportation), and the composition of labor costs (legal benefits, non-legal benefits, and retirement allowance). We obtained 804 samples. After examining the results of our questionnaires, we were unable to identify any characteristics of company welfare systems unique to East Asia. All of the selected countries agreed with the notion that company welfare is important, but the reasons behind this agreement and the managerial considerations regarding the trade-off between company fringe benefits and a performance-based wage system are quite different between each surveyed country. The composition of labor costs also exhibits variety. The countries included in this survey may be categorized into four groups: Japan-Korea-Taiwan, Singapore-Malaysia, Thailand-Indonesia, and China. Variations included differences in the path-dependency used in designing a social security system, the role of international organizations such as ILO, and company strategy. Consequently, we have concluded that it is difficult to assert that company welfare is one of the common elements essential to characterizing an East Asian welfare system, both in references to Confucianism as well as a familial managerial system.

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Comparative research on Asian societies is a challenging endeavor. There are at least three challenges involved. One is the challenge of framing in order to set up the questions to be addressed. The different social backgrounds in Asia compared to Europe and North America require different framing. The second is the challenge of theory which means the difficulty of developing adequate theories that capture the social realities of the region. The third issue is the challenge of data, or the lack of data that lends itself to international comparison. Comparative study of care regimes in Asia initially reveals that care in Asia is framed in relation to the quantity and quality of population as the basis of national power. Secondly, theory that deals only with policy does not suffice because the welfare state is not sufficiently developed in this region. It must be expanded to include the family, the market and the community as well, forming the care diamond framework. Thirdly, it is difficult to gather governmental statistics which are comparable to each other, so the best way to quantify care would be to use time, based on Time Use Surveys. Another challenge in theory involves the direction of change. The distinction between the two pathwaysof de-familialization, namely de-familialization by the state and de-familialization through the market is particularly important in the Asian context. A theoretical framework that uses the four quadrants created by the two directions of de-familialization will be applied i. The possible transition of socialist countries to welfare states can also be covered in this framework.

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The purpose of this paper is to verify the hypothesis that a mutual exclusion relationship exists between the welfare state and civil society (the nonprofit sector). The mutual exclusion relationship hypothesis assumes that the amount of social security in a nation negatively correlates with the rate of participation in voluntary associations. In order to test this hypothesis, we compared countries that are members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and clarified the relationship between the welfare state and civil society by analyzing each nation's data. We compared the data from several indexes regarding social security contained in OECD statistics and the average rate of civic participation stated in the World Value Survey. This comparison yielded three main findings. First, the relationship between social security expenditure (as percentage of GDP) and the average rate of civic participation is not linear, but rather exhibits different patterns unique to each welfare regime. This implies that a welfare state does not necessarily exclude an active civil society, and vice versa. Second, the welfare state is not related to civil society in a single way. They have various aspects and functions, and the relationships among these are equally various. Third, chronologically speaking, countries where the social security expenditure had increased were likely to decrease the rate of participation between 1995 and 2005. Given this information, the mutual exclusion relationship hypothesis could be construed as partially supported in the context of neoliberalization.

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The present paper examines the background of the establishment of the Japan Welfare Sociology Association and discusses the attributes of welfare sociology. It also delves into the history of welfare sociology prior to the establishment of the Japan Welfare Sociology Association as well as its current activities. Papers authored by Association members address a diverse range of topics, including public-private partnerships, the family domain, the welfare state, and disparity; however, care theory and policy studies are the predominate topics featured within papers published in the Association's journal. The primary purpose of the present paper is to provide insights regarding the "Welfare Sociology Handbook" that was published to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Japan Welfare Sociology Association. The handbook is organized into three sections. The first section presents a framework for welfare sociology, specifically, clarification of its principles and methods. The second section provides insight into the various areas of welfare sociology from different perspectives, including micro, macro, life-course, life-stage, discrimination, and class. The third section focuses on policy theory and welfare practice. Finally, this paper presents five agendas of welfare sociology and discusses indications of the discipline's future direction. These agendas are as follows: (1) recognize the need for an approach that values quality of life in welfare sociology; (2) focus on the future of ideal social design; (3) construct a system for identifying and tackling value judgments regarding policy issues; (4) recognize that remedying disparity and focusing on aspects of relationship are indispensable as the basis for meta-policy; and (5) establish methods for applying social system theory to welfare sociology.

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This article aims to raise some issues that need to be addressed by the field of welfare sociology, based on research trends both in and outside of the discipline. First, theoretical research should be developed more intensively in the field of welfare sociology. This is necessary because, on the one hand, current theories are considered unfashionable because of the transformation of social and economic conditions, and on the other hand, the development of social policies, or welfare state policies, has been unable to justify itself enough to convince the population to support them in the dominance of neoliberalism. Therefore, the time for evolving new theories has come. Second, the relationship between one's well-being and personal freedom has been in need of re-examination in situations where the trend towards utilitarianism has been strengthened by public policies. Libertarian paternalism, which is one of the policy approaches for trying to promote a certain way of life while feigning that individuals are free to choose, collides with the predominant view respecting an individual's freedom of choice and realization of personal well-being. Despite this, most people willingly accept libertarian paternalism. This fact indicates that people do not necessarily want free choice and neither do they consider their freedom irreplaceable. Moreover, the consequences of one's choice as well as one's freedom of choice are given great importance in social policy, as far as an individual's well-being is concerned. Therefore, libertarian paternalism could be seen as a new attempt at balancing freedom of choice with desirable consequences for one's well-being. In this sense, libertarian paternalism forces us to re-examine the conventional view, which emphasizes freedom of choice as it concerns an individual's well-being.

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The purpose of this paper is to report the results of a review of the literature published by the members of the Japan Welfare Sociology Association. The articles that appeared in the Journal of Welfare Sociology during the last decade were reviewed, focusing on the research methods and themes. The review revealed that most of the articles were about empirical research based on qualitative methods, and the number of popular research themes (such as care) was limited. This is characteristic of research trends in the field of welfare sociology, in contrast to that of family sociology, in Japan. A brief discussion regarding the possibility of using academic practices that might increase the diversity of research methods and themes concludes this paper.

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This paper analyzes what kind of interactions male student volunteers engage in when caring for children in Kosodate-hiroba (childcare space, hereafter referred to as Hiroba) and how Hiroba's "non-program" structure facilitates their becoming agents of care. When first volunteering at Hiroba, male students look for a "space" between the parents and children in which the volunteer may engage with the child. After repeated trial and error, the distance between the child and volunteer contracts, and the volunteer's area of strength ("intense play") is established. In doing so, the volunteer is able to engage with the child and act as an agent of care. By both intentionally and unconsciously using gender as a resource, this process can be referred to as a practice of differentiation. Male student volunteers also build deep, intimate relationships with children and mothers by regularly attending Hiroba. This intimacy was often described as "parent-like." In this way, male volunteers' Hiroba practices can be regarded as assimilating with the mothers' parenting practices, rather than differentiating. Because of Hiroba 's "non-program" structure, male volunteers can use strategies of differentiation and assimilation flexibly and interchangeably, according to context, in order to maintain their position as agents of care. Moreover, Hiroba is an important contributor to the socialization of childcare in that it serves as a space in which various non-parent actors care for and build intimate relationships with children.

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The purpose of this research is to identify the factors and methods used to develop the planning capabilities of residents by comparatively analyzing two districts, designated as the A and B districts of C City. In C City, the Local community-based welfare action plan has been in development since 2000, overseen primarily by the District Council of Social Welfare (the Council). The comparative analysis of the A and B districts was performed to identify the developing factors of both districts' planning capabilities. District A is was found to have greater capability than B. The primary elements that develop the residents' planning capabilities are as follows, as identified by this research and analysis: (1) the abundance of opportunities and mechanisms for daily mutual communication among the local organizations, (2) the availability of opportunities and mechanisms for daily, mutual communications, especially between the Council and the local organizations, (3) the willingness of the Council to take initiative in opening discussions, as well as cooperation between local organizations, including the neighborhood associations, (4) the presence of the base office of the Council, (5) a mechanism in the Council for encouraging the autonomy of each member, (6) a mechanism in the Council for sharing burdens among each of the members, (7) the leadership by the head of the Council, and (8) a mechanism to enhance the existential value of the Council. The above results from the analysis confirmed that the Council played a major role in creating measures and methods. Further investigations are expected to clarify the methodology that promotes the development of residents' planning capabilities by accumulating more knowledge via research and case studies lilce that presented in this analysis.

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