A psychoeducational program for promoting career development in third- and fourth-year undergraduates, which was based on small group activities was evaluated. The program was designed to promote awareness, and develop attitudes of participants regarding career development. It consisted of peer-support group activities that were conducted on four occasions in which participants, facilitated by one group member, discussed their views on work values and activities for seeking employment. Pre- and post-test assessments that included the Vocational Self-Esteem and Identity Scale indicated positive changes in participants that suggested the effectiveness of the program. However, scores of each participant showed individual differences, which indicated the need for additional individual support.

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An improved version of an educational program developed by Kikushima, Teramoto, and Shibahara (2018) for promoting critical thinking and attitudes of undergraduates was evaluated. The program consisted of small-group activities using worksheets and reaction papers in which self-awareness about critical thinking was focused. Pre- and post-test scores including skills and attitudes scores indicated positive changes in the participants. Content analysis of descriptions in the worksheets and reaction papers showed changes in participants’ attitudes related to the self-awareness of critical thinking. These findings suggest the effectiveness of this program.

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In this decade, the number of learners who study Japanese as their second language without any formal educational system has increased. This paper aims to investigate their learning method and learning belief. An interview with a Korean student was held and analyzed by a qualitative research method called Thinking at the Edge. The interviewee was a self-learner who learned Japanese through watching Japanese animation via the Internet for three years when he was in junior high school. His learning method involved picking up Japanese sounds and studying Hangul characters in dictionaries. From this experience, he realized that listening was most important for learning foreign languages. When the interview was held, he was a university exchange student in Japan and learning the way he did before. He would pick up Japanese sounds spoken around him and consult a dictionary. In cases where he could not find a dictionary immediately, he did would do so upon coming home. According to him, learning the Japanese language was not for a special concrete purpose but for something more substantial, such as self-growth. This research reveals that the methods and beliefs of self-learners differ from those of students who are under educational systems.

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This paper discusses the powerful motivating role of authentic writing projects in promoting international communication and cultural exchange. International friendship letter exchanges have proven to be a successful way of activating foreign language students’ language acquisition. Show-cased are several examples of such authentic writing projects implemented by the authors between university students in Japan and various levels/ages of students in Australia, Laos, and China. The paper summarizes the highlights of such projects and aims to synthesize their positive outcomes. Steps for emulation and suggestions as to how to animate the L2 experience are also demonstrated. Teaching practices related to the projects have been shared with an international audience of English L2 educators though numerous workshops organized under the Teachers Helping Teachers (THT) Special Interest Group (SIG).

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The uncertainty regarding Russia’s further economic development in conditions of a new wave of sanctions imposed by the West is forcing Russia’s government to further shift East (the proclaimed pivot to the East policy), particularly towards strengthening its foreign relations with China. International sanctions deprived Russian banks of cheap financing from international capital markets, compelling them to search for new sources of capital financing. In this regard, it is important reevaluate the present condition of both Asian banks operating in Russia and Russian banks expanding to Asian countries. This paper selectively investigates foreign entry of Asian banks from China, Japan, and South Korea into the Russian banking market, particularly focusing on the analysis of their business activities. The author demonstrates that despite relatively high positions of Asian banks in global rankings, the scope of their activities in Russia remains limited. The macro-analysis of FDI has shown that the share of Asian banks in total banking liabilities remains rather moderate and the majority of the liabilities are short-term. The analysis of financial statements of banks, particularly focused on credit and deposit portfolios, allowed to identify market segments in which Asian banks operate. In conjunction with the support of their domestic clients under the follow the customer approach, Asian banks also provide corporate loans to both Russian and foreign large companies; a small number of Asian banks provides loans to Russian SMEs and invest into federal bonds of Russia’s government. Retail banking is mostly comprised of automobile loans with Japanese banks having leading positions in this market segment. The paper also highlights the fact that current credit portfolio structures of Asian banks are highly concentrated, industry-biased, and short-term. Thus, Asian banks can hardly be regarded as providers of manufacturing FDI and new sources of financing that are crucial for Russia’s economic modernization. Consequently, it is unclear whether there will be new windows of opportunity under the proclaimed initiative of the pivot to the East in the short term.

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The period of high economic growth following World War II in Japan saw a change in the handling of life rituals. Until then, life rituals were performed largely by community organizations, but in the post-war era, such rituals became increasingly handled by entities outside of the “ie” (home, family, or community). Moreover, use of services may cover not just one but all components of the life ritual. One such example is the SHICHIGOSAN, possibly the most popular of all childhood rituals. For example, the most necessary components of the SHICHIGOSAN ceremony—KIMONO rental and dressing, hair and makeup, and photography—can all be delivered at the KODOMO SHASHINKAN one-stop shop. Such services have become quite popular and heavily utilized. But there are not so many people who know that before the KODOMO SHASHINKAN has started the business, the supermarket played a role to spread SHICHIGOSAN throughout the country. In this paper, I present the post-war trends of ceremony services in SHICHIGOSAN, which had hitherto not been seen as a focused subject of study. Research outcomes are based on survey research of the ceremonial services industry and the consumers of such services. I intend to present a new perspective for research on contemporary life rituals through this study on recent trends in SHICHIGOSAN celebrations.

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In the current textbook, Moral Education has been repositioned as Special Subject - Moral Education. Due to the textbook generally being the primary teaching material in most subjects, it has been decided to implement classes with the textbook as the core resource within Moral Education too. However, in current government curriculum guidelines there is a specification to commit to the application of diverse teaching materials in the realm of Special Subject - Moral Education classes. Therefore this document will primarily consider the effectiveness of the adoption of Swimmy, presently a part of the lower-level Japanese language curriculum, as a teaching resource outside of the current elementary school upper-level teaching materials. Furthermore, it will attempt to clarify the requirements and ways of thinking in implementing said resource with regards to current Moral Education teaching materials.

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This paper is a report based on the findings of an investigative survey issued to 28 third and fourth year students enrolled in a one-semester practical translation studies course taught by the author at a four-year private university in Japan. The course itself is a bilingual Japanese-to-English and English-to-Japanese translation studies course utilizing CALL (computer-assisted language learning) technology to create subtitles for various visual-media through the application of TILT (translation in language teaching) principles. This paper is authored in Japanese and the investigative survey was also administered and collated in Japanese.

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This paper deals with the actual investigation of information literacy and problem related to information education for international undergraduate students at university in Japan. As information literacy has been widely recognized as a key college learning outcome for decades, information literacy is required for any students of college or university. And the subject of Information has been opened at Japanese high schools since 2003. We can find several reports on the investigation of information literacy or information education for students of college or university. But, we cannot find any detailed report on the investigation of information education for international undergraduate students of Japanese universities, even if it is an important issue to know the actual condition of information education at international university. Therefore, we did a questionnaire survey for the students of Kaichi International University, including both of Japanese students and foreign students, and then give a consideration on the information education of international university based on the actual investigation of information literacy. To do this, we firstly revert the terminology, definition and aim of information literacy. Secondly, we express the research method and demographics. Thirdly, we report the current state of information literacy for the international college students. Fourth, we consider the relationship between the levels of proficiency related to computer skills and the necessity of information education. Fifth, we give a consideration on the information education, including Information Device Operation, Information Ethics and Information Literacy. In addition, we develop a construction model for the information education of international university by modifying an existing model.

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In play therapy, which is an approach to children with psychological maladjustment, Cl sometimes expresses death and rebirth repeatedly. It is pointed out that the motif of death and rebirth is important in psychotherapy. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate what kind of processes Cl has grown in play therapy and to examine the significance of Cl repeating death and rebirth in overcoming its own problems. We created fictitious cases from numerous play therapy cases and presented them in four stages. ①Stage of relationship formation between Cl and Th. ②Cl is projecting its aggressiveness, destructibility, grotesque thing on Th, threatening Th, killing it and reviving it. ③Stage when Cl controlled the Th at will. ④Stage when Cl became a role to care for Th. It is important that Th has an idea to help Cl death and rebirth process. In keeping with the principles of play therapy it is also important to support what Cl can do as you like. Furthermore, it is vital that Th does not remain dead, and to continue to live by regenerating. Consideration from biology showed that death and regeneration such as apoptosis could be assumed in the work of the mind.

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[in Japanese]

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