Media coverage of HIV and AIDS in Japan began in the 1980s and was later boosted by the “AIDS panic” of 1987 and the settlement of the court case on drug-induced AIDS in 1996. However, if we check the number of newspaper articles related to HIV and AIDS, we can confirm that in addition to the above events, there was a large increase in the number of reports in 1992. However, there were no notable events related to HIV and AIDS in 1992.

In this paper, we analyzed the headlines of news reports in and around 1992 using KH Coder, and tried to clarify what topics were mainly reported in this period. First, for the data of the first half of the 1990s, each year was set as an external variable, and the topics characteristic of each year were clarified by correspondence analysis and co-occurrence network analysis. Next, we conducted a co-occurrence network analysis on the data of 1992 only, and tried to summarize the words with strong connections as topics. Finally, we checked the results of the analysis against the literature describing the year 1992, and confirmed the differences with the results of the KH Coder analysis.

Semi-professionals’ professional associations in most industries have strived to develop professionalization, aiming to improve work conditions. In this article, I focus on the nursing industry, which is a representative semi-professional occupation, in order to clarify the validity of the professional association’s strategy. Over the past quarter-century, three educational programs have been established: for certified nurse specialists, certified nurses, and for nurses’ designated procedures. The Japan Nurses Association (JNA), whose programs were paid, provided benefits to these: specialized services for certified nurse specialists and certified nurses respectively, and autonomous acts for nurses’ designated procedures. In response to the increasing numbers of nurses with advanced knowledge, the JNA stratified work types by employing nursing assistants who perform miscellaneous tasks for the nurses. My interview research with 28 certified nurses shows the following results. First, these interviewees were rather negative about taking the program for nurses designated procedures, and needed neither the work hierarchy nor the certificates that they currently hold. Second, while the nurses’ initial motive for the certificate was improve their care quality rather than increase their income, they stepped into leadership roles at work after being trained to act as a leader. Semi-professional nurses, who do not aspire to professionalization in itself, should initially improve work conditions. Regarding the improvement of organizational quality, in conclusion, the education program of certified nurses is greatly meaningful as Japanese nursing education has historically preferred quantity to quality.

This study uses the case of the KAIKOSHA, a fellowship organization for ex-army officers, to explore the participation of postwar generations in organizations for former military personnel, along with the rise of “historical revisionism.” Prior research has indicated the difficulty of “passing on” such organizations to postwar generations. However, organizations like the KAIKOSHA have survived. This study examines how the KAIKOSHA overcame its difficulties, focusing on the rise of “historical revisionism” within the organization and the participation of former members of the Self-Defense Forces (SDF).

The KAIKOSHA, developed as a fellowship organization, was required to “reflect on the army.” However, in the late 1990s, opposition to the “historical self-tormenting view” grew stronger and “historical revisionism” emerged within the organization. Simultaneously, there were fierce debates about the organization’s assets and the future. Despite these conflicts, the organization continued functioning by including former members of the SDF as successors to ensure perpetual dedication to the “EIREI.”

Considering this background, the “politicization” of the association was acceptable not only to the generation that had experienced war and wanted to break down the “historical self-tormenting view” under the influence of “historical revisionism” but also to the former members of the SDF who wanted to support the Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) and propose defense policies. The direction of “politicization” was different for each generation but the main goal of becoming a political organization was the same. The politically neutral KAIKOSHA has survived to the present day by accepting the postwar generation and transforming into a political organization.

In April 2020, the Educational Committee of The Japan Sociological Society (JSS) created a devoted section of its website’s homepage titled “Invitation to Sociology.” This was the outcome of a project aimed at drawing high school students into the field of sociology against the backdrop of a declining number of young people choosing to pursue the field and low recognition of sociology among them. The priorities set at the start of the project were as follows: 1) to introduce sociology to high school students in the most comprehensible way possible, 2) to format the content to render easily on smartphones, and 3) to apply a simple construction to the webpage feature to reduce maintenance costs. The author introduces this first trial by JSS and examines what further measures should be taken to convey the appeal of sociology via the internet. Public relations (PR) efforts carried out on the internet may have wider influences but remain shallow in their effects. We should therefore advance a step further with efforts to reach out to high school students in other, more substantial ways. In this paper, the case of “public high school A” participating in the program “Super Science High School” is examined. In this case, every student enrolled in a humanities course is required to choose a research theme from sociological topics such as “work,” “family,” “gender,” or “local society” to be studied over the course of two years. Seemingly, sociologists can cooperate with such a scheme because the teachers in charge do not necessarily have sufficient knowhow or technical skills, though they are highly motivated to produce good results. Besides, considering the present social conditions, more effective and extensive programs should be developed to attract promising high school students toward the future of sociology.

I studied sociology in graduate school, and after obtaining a doctorate, became a teacher in the civics department of an integrated junior high and high school. My experience of teaching classes at this school highlighted to me the relevance and usefulness of sociology within the context of civic education. The school I work for is a private school that focuses on academic results and preparing students for university admission, and it has some unique characteristics that make it different from a mainstream school. Having made this disclaimer, in this report, I would like to describe the positive significance of sociology in civic education, reflecting on my lessons and showing details of those lessons. I will discuss this topic with a sociological approach in terms of theory and in terms of sociological knowledge on social issues such as poverty.

As part of my approach to lessons, I actively incorporate civic issues that are familiar and important to students, such as work–life balance, with the intention of enabling them to link these issues with their future ways of life. I also attempt to introduce students to aspects of my own experiences and problems that I have encountered in tackling civic issues as a citizen and in my experience of raising children, as a father. I believe that talking about my daily way of life as a teacher using a sociological framework enables me to communicate with my students about what makes sociology appealing and interesting.

I want to confirm the relationship between civic education and sociology. In essence, on-site high school teachers teach without being aware of sociology. Other than educational sociology, it is not a topic in teacher training courses, and because of in-class sickness, general liberal arts sociology is only an elective subject with a civilian license. The principles and mechanisms of constitutional law and economics are well represented in the subjects “modern society” (former curriculum) and “public”. Therefore, we examined the points of contact between sociology and high school students in relation to the context of citizenship education, and considered the possibilities of sociology in the high school civil studies “modern society” (old course) and “public” (new course from 2022).

How can we teach sociological imagination to high school students and beginners of sociology? I explain to them that the most important theme of sociology is the understanding of others and the difficulties of understanding others. I have written paperbacks on sociology for beginners: the themes of these paperbacks are self-evidentness, everyday life world, presentness, and otherness. For beginners, these themes are very important to understand sociology and to develop their own sociological imagination. The reason why I continue to write paperbacks is to express the attraction of sociology freely beyond various restrictions of textual style. In order to familiarize high school students with sociology, we should think about the following question, how can we invite them into the world of sociology by plain, intelligible and fascinating style to liberate them from their “radius of several meters everyday world” and to invite them into civil society.