This paper tries to provide precise understanding of the historical background and current status of prenatal diagnosis from the standpoint of historical studies of Japanese eugenics. SectionⅠargues that the prototype of the prenatal diagnosis and genetic counseling in the modern era were not sterilization laws such as the 1940 National Eugenic Law and the 1948 Eugenic Protection Law, but rather eugenic marriage and genetic counseling in the prewar era. SectionⅡdiscusses the status of the argument about abortion for fetal abnormality, amniotic diagnosis, and genetic counseling. Especially, this paper relativizes the stereotypes generated by the disability rights and women’s liberation movements, and tries to understand trends in prenatal diagnosis by utilizing oral histories from the Fukuoka area. Moreover, this paper stresses that the existence of voluntary eugenics has been wrongfully neglected in the historical studies of eugenics in Japan, and that the introduction of amniotic diagnosis in the 1970s should be included in that consideration. Taking cognizance of the above factors, this paper tries to situate prenatal diagnosis and genetic counseling within the history of eugenics, while at the same time looking ahead to a better understanding of the history and current state of prenatal diagnosis and eugenics.

Objective: To clarify the latest health checkup status and background of obtaining a health checkup among middle-aged people with a national health insurance.

Methods: The subjects were 40-59 years old and living in three districts of the Kyushu region. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews about health consciousness, attendance status, and thoughts on the health checkups. The data were qualitatively analyzed, coded, and categorized.

Results: Among ten subjects, five out of eight attendants underwent the health checkups passively. From the data gathered as the background of obtaining a health checkup, we have the following seven categories: 1) Thoughts about way of life, 2) Awareness of physical condition, 3) Impacts of threats from surroundings, 4) Thoughts about health and prevention, 5) Experience related to past medical examinations, 6) Easiness of visitation and 7) Thoughts about the health checkups.

Conclusion: The inhabitants had their own value to health approach and maintenance, which they discovered through their own, their friends’, or family members’ experiences. Our study suggests the need for community health professionals to encourage residents to perceive the life-threatening events happening around them with a sense of ownership, and to provide new and useful feedback after checkup.

Japan is facing depopulation due to rapid population aging and a declining birthrate. The situation is particularly severe in rural mountain villages. This study aims to understand the impact of socio-cultural characteristics on population migration in rural mountainous local communities and investigated socio-cultural characteristics in regions with slow depopulation progress.

The study location was the Omukai area in Shiiba village, Miyazaki prefecture. In Shiiba village, there is an inherited characteristic of traditional folklore-based sacred Japanese music and dancing that are performed at shrines called Kagura. This qualitative study is based on ethnography and data were collected primarily through participant observation and semi-structured interviews and collection of local materials. Forty-two individuals with an average age of 46.8 years (range: 24-72 years) were included in the study group. Data analysis was based on Spradley’s step-by-step research procedure.

We listened to participants’ stories, coded their words, and repeated classification and unification of those words to select eight cover terms. The four domains that emerged by further integration of these cover terms are as follows: “Mutual aids”, “area where women and immigrants are active”, “inheritance of regional assets”, and “community education from childhood”. These four domains represent the socio-cultural characteristics of a particular region of rural mountainous community in Japan with slow depopulation progress.

Objective: This study aimed to examine the work engagement and its association with work related factors among dairy farmers in Japan.

Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire study was conducted for dairy farmers living in two towns located at Hokkaido Prefecture, and 229 responses with full data were analyzed. Work engagement was assessed using the Japanese version of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale. Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis test were used for comparisons of the work engagement scores between ages, genders, two types of feeding management (tie-stall/free-stall barn) or numbers of milking cows.

Results: Males reported higher work engagement scores than females, but there were no differences between ages, the types of feeding management or numbers of milking cows. The higher-job control group reported significantly higher work engagement scores than the lower-job control group. More work support network was associated with work engagement. For participants under the age of 50s, the higher-job demand group reported more work engagement.

Discussions: Results suggested that higher job control and support network were beneficial for promoting work engagement for dairy farmers. These findings will be helpful for planning strategies to focus on work engagement in the dairy farming community.