This paper explores the theoretical foundations of Communicative Language Teaching （CLT） and the history of English education in Japan, emphasizing the shift toward intercultural communicative competence （ICC）. Initially, it outlines CLT and the evolution of English teaching in Japan, highlighting the importance of ICC in the current educational landscape. Despite the widespread use of the term “communicative competence” in Japan, its definition is often oversimplified. However, academically, it involves more than just grammatical knowledge—it requires understanding language use within societal norms. The research by the EU and the Council of Europe has revealed the importance of intercultural understanding for future global sustainability. Apart from this movement, Japan has launched projects to develop “Global Human Resources,” concluding that the communicative competence to be fostered is ICC. In this context, cooperative learning is highlighted as a valuable method in CLT classrooms, as it helps students build empathy, tolerance, and autonomy while interacting in diverse settings. Thus, cooperative learning is beneficial for students to acquire and practice ICC effectively.

I have been conducting historical sociological research on late modern Japan, which is oriented toward wholeness, paying attention to the multidimensional linkage of “state,” “economy,” and “society. The 2000s have been called the “Zero Age,” which coincides with the rise of “subculture” studies, and the rise of a distinctive younger generation. This paper focuses on the “zero period” and the reasons for the rise of young scholars characteristic of this period, while attempting a holistic historical sociology that pays attention to the multidimensional linkage between “state,” “economy,” and “society. In conclusion, the destabilization of Japan’s diplomacy and security and the increase in the working poor due to “structural reform” can be linked to people’s “sense of survival,” but more than that, changes in the information environment (architecture) have also been linked to “gaming” and “survival,” leading to short-sighted and myopic (self) perceptions, which in turn have led to the current state of young debates in which performance is required. Compared to previous structural and wholeness-oriented historical sociological studies, it is possible to situate the growing influence of the discourse (institutions) of the information environment (architecture) in a partial but systematic way, as much as the institutional and discursive influence of the “state” and “economy”.

Analysis method of chloride ions by silver nitrate titration is widely used as a simple method. However, the method has an uncertainty in the analysis on low-concentration of the chloride ions. In order to solve the matter, as a basic investigation, the method was compared with other analytical methods, and it was assumed that the accuracy could be improved by making certain corrections in the silver nitrate titration method.

The beech forest around the headwaters of the Asaka River in the Suzuka Mountains is the largest in the mountain range and plays a valuable role in terms of water source conservation, slope stabilization, ecosystem conservation, and tourism resources. In this study, the ozone concentration of the atmosphere in the beech forest was measured by the Ogawa type passive samplers. The ozone near the ground level is known to give bad effects on plant growth, and the index AOT40 is widely utilized to evaluate the level of ozone effect. The results of this study confirmed that ozone concentrations rise at around 2 ppbv/100 m along the mountain slopes, and that ozone reaches its maximum from April to May (monthly average concentration of around 60 ppbv). The concentrations were found to be similar to or higher than those found near the summits of the Tanzawa Mountains, which are known for the large-scale beech dieback. Using hourly ozone data at the foot of the mountain and the ratio of ozone concentrations between the foot of the mountain and the beech forest obtained by passive samplers, the cumulative AOT40 (12h) for the April-September period was estimated, and it was shown that there is a possibility that it could reach 40 ppmv・h, far exceeding the 10 ppmv·h that begins to cause damage to beech trees.

We conducted a long-term survey of microplastics (MP) drifting ashore on the Yoshizaki Beach using a spatially dense arrangement of observation points. The average value of MP number density for all observation points and all observation periods was 9,356 pieces/m², and polymer coatings of control release fertilizer (CRF) accounted for approximately 75% of the total. The number density of MP increased rapidly from June to August, suggesting a causal relationship with paddy plowing works. The gravity center of the number of MP along the beach showed a temporal variation and the MP types with smaller apparent specific gravity, such as pieces of foamed plastics, travel a longer distance than other plastic pieces. Most of the MP moved toward the southern part of the beach during autumn to winter and drifted away to the ocean until spring. The seasonal wind might be the main cause the drifting motion. A 150-day or 120-day sunlight exposure test was conducted on five types of polymer coatings of CRF. All samples developed discoloration and fragmentation during the test period, but the changes varied considerably with types. The weight loss rate during the test period ranged from 2.5% to 33.5%. The carbonyl index of the polyethylene (PE) coatings increased linearly as the number of days during the test. The carbonyl index of PE coatings collected during the survey of Yoshizaki Beach showed the annual fluctuations and it reached its maximum and minimum in February and from August to October, respectively. The recruitment of new plastic pieces of CRF during spring to summer and the photodegradation on the beach during summer to autumn is assumed to be the cause of the fluctuations. Comparison with the results of the sunlight exposure test showed that the number of exposure days of the PE coatings of CRF collected at Yoshizaki Beach ranges from 28.9 to 55.5 days. This number of days may be much smaller than the manufacturers of the fertilizer expected