Arnold Fine, a Jewish American writer, surely remains unknown in Japan; even in the United States, his name must be unfamiliar to most Americans, though there are fans of his stories. According to his website, which was updated November 1st, 2006, he has been the senior news editor of The Jewish Press for more than 50 years. At the same time he was coordinator of special education at a high school in Brooklyn, teaching handicapped and brain-injured children. Since his retirement from the city school system, he has worked as an adjunct professor at Kingsborough Community College. He was nominated twice as the “Teacher of the Year” in New York State.
It seems, however, Arnold Fine will be remembered as the writer of nostalgia stories rather than the excellent teacher of special education. His short stories published in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series have been attracting some attention in several countries, including the U.S. In fact, I am one of the Chicken Soup readers who have found his literary work quite interesting.
Even though he is an amateur, his charming stories are worth translating and introducing in Japan. Some may think they are too sentimental but others can really enjoy reading them. So just try in my Japanese version. Here in this bulletin I translated three stories from the above-mentioned series: “The High School English Teacher” and “How David and Lily Got Together” from Chicken Soup for the Single’s Soul (Florida: Health Communications, 1999) and “The Wallet” from Chicken Soup for the Woman’s Soul (1998).

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This is a report that investigates the recent trends in the entrance examination for Gunma National College of Technology through an analysis of its official data. An analysis is made of the year-on-year percentage changes of the ratio of applicants to places of each Department. The following three items are graphed: the number of preferred applicants, that of general applicants, and that of total applicants. As compared with the pace of the decrease in the number of junior high graduates, it could be said that Gunma National College of Technology has been making good efforts to attract applicants.

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In Japan, since 1975, union density has declined sharply from 34.4% in 1975 to 20.0% in 2003. To investigate the reasons for the decline in union density, this essay summarizes the main results based upon a sample survey of individual workers and their attitude towards unions and potential unionization. To better understand the nature of "de-unionization" in Japan, it is important to describe the process of declining union density. Two factors have played a critical role in the process: (1) the changing composition of employment in heavily and lightly unionized groups (employment shifts), and (2) the slowdown of organizing activity by unions in the union organizing process. In addition, this paper examines the union's effect on wages using time-series data. The results suggest that the union density might achieve a wage gain and allow for a possible spillover effect to the service industry workers. Although this cannot be given a causal interpretation, it suggests important issues about how unions may affect one part of the labor market.

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Sumiyaki-Tota (炭焼藤太) legend is a type of Sumiyaki-Chojya (炭焼長者) legend which has a nationwide distribution. Sumiyaki-Tota legend has been told in the Tohoku district. The legend has been connected with the history of the temples or the shrines in many cases. Sumiyaki means a charcoal burner.
Oshu Sendai Kuriharagun Hatamura Engi (奥州仙台栗原郡畑村縁記) is a text recording Sumiyaki-Tota legend which has been handed down in the Kannari Town, Miyagi prefecture. Former Hatamura village is a part of the Kannari Town at present. The text was written by Umonbo (右門坊) in 1789. Umonbo was a priest belonged to Haguro Shugen (羽黒修験) sect.
The content in the first half of the text is concerned with the history of Jyofukuji (常福寺) temple. Umonbo explained that Jyofukuji was built by Sumiyaki-Tota and his wife called Okoyonomae (おこよの前) in the later Heian period, and that Tota and Okoyonomae were parents of Kaneuri-Kichiji (金売吉次) who was a legendary hero in the Tohoku district. In 1686, Jyofukuji published Sumuyaki-Tota-shi (炭焼藤太史) which recorded a brief outline of Sumiyaki-Tota legend. By comparing the text with Sumuyaki-Tota-shi, we can know that the text has the specific characteristics of going into the details about how Tota and Okoyonomae became a husband and wife.
The content in the second half of the text is concerned with the history and the geography of Hatamura village. Most of the description was based on Honai Fudoki (封内風土記) and Anei Fudoki (安永風土記). Honai and Anei Fudoki were compiled by the Sendai Clan.
Oshu Sendai Kuriharagun Hatamura Engi is an important material for the legend research, which had not been known until this time. In this paper, the writer has given a bibliographical introduction to the text and reprinted it.

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We reported on the outline of general chemical experiments and technical support by technical staff, and examined the safety on experiments. There are five themes (acid-base titration, Hess's Law (the law of constant heat summation), electrolysis, measurement of molecular weight by the ideal gas equation, and ester synthesis) of general chemical experiments. Until now, the trial of a small scale, resources saving, and improvement in safety on experiments were carried out. Technical staff performs experiment assistance and technical support of general chemical experiments. Moreover, technical staff are engaged also in the safety on experiments, and perform appropriate correspondence in occupational health, safety and environmental. Since the environmental problem attracts attention these days, regardless of a special field of study, the knowledge about chemistry are required for engineers. From such a viewpoint, various measures are required so that general chemical experiments may turn into more substantial significant experiments.

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We report how experimental-type lectures for the local community are carried out in Gunma National College of Technology. While ordinary lectures for the local community have been held since 2002, we started the experimental-type lectures in 2004. In this paper, three experimental-type lectures for elementary schoolchildren are reported. The first theme is liquid nitrogen. Fruit and flowers can be frozen by the liquid nitrogen immediately because the temperature of the liquid is very low (ca.-200℃). An electric battery is the second theme. We let primary schoolchildren make the battery with fruit and charcoal. The familiar battery can turn a propeller. The third theme is rare-earth magnets. A so-called neodymium magnet, which is one of rare-earth magnets, is the strongest one among permanent magnets. With the neodymium magnet, mysterious experiments can be held.

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This is a report on Gendai-GP project activities aimed at developing the contents of class lectures and teaching resources at Gunma National College of Technology (Gunma NCT). This project was maintained by a team of three National Colleges of Technologies; Gunma NCT, Suzuka NCT and Gifu NCT, which was the project leader. It was a three-year-project. In the first two years, classes were conducted by posting videotaped lectures on different aspects of mathematics in the various fields of technology. In the third and final year, multimedia contents for experimental exercises were developed. All the teaching resources developed in this project are tentatively used in order to make it possible to establish a credit transfer system among National Colleges of Technologies.

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