There are increasing number of Vietnamese people living in Japan. Until recently the Chinese occupied the largest number of foreign residents in the country, but the Vietnamese have surpassed them in the past several years. It is not only in large cities, but also in remote areas that we often hear that the number of Vietnamese residents is increasing rapidly. It is problematic, however, to consider the Vietnamese residents in Japan just as one social group, regarding them as homogeneous. To the contrary, just by looking at their backgrounds and reasons behind coming to Japan, we realize the diversity among them. Some arrived as refugees after Vietnam War and during the socialist era, some came to get a job in search of money and better living, and other entered as students and continued to stay as white-collar workers. In Japan, there is tendency to categorize foreigners by their nationality and group together people from the same country, but this paper seeks to explore the diversity among the Vietnamese residents in the country, which is needed in understanding more precisely the social situations that they live under. The current influx of foreign residents in Japan is result of not only transnationalism and globalization, but also social and economic development of so-called developing countries. In Japan, many people think that foreign workers come to the country in search of money from poor countries, but precisely speaking, they are not from “poor” countries, though their home countries may be less wealthy than Japan. Rather, I would argue, they are from rapidly-developing countries where life is getting better, but cost of living is raising quickly and people have to compete with each other so that they will not fall behind the societies that are changing with high speeds.

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In Japan, the gender gap index is used as evidence, and There is a claim that Japan lacks diversity. I am surprised that international standards are easily accepted, but I doubt the view that there is no diversity in Japan. In conclusion, if it is correct to point out that there is no diversity in Japan, it can be said that this is a result of the loss of diversity due to the introduction of Western culture in the Meiji period. As a symbolic event, “Sarugaku” which had been used since the Heian period, was renamed to Noh. This was realized in the process of establishing a national performing art equivalent to Western opera in the process of modernization. In Europe and America, the word 'monkey' is used to discriminate the yellow race and is considered to be a lower creature than human beings, but in Japan, 'monkey' is also the name of a god, worshipped as a god, and has been used as a term indicating a performing art. In this paper, we will show through the “Sarugaku” that diversity has been nurtured in Japan, where organisms coexist in nature without a hierarchy.

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The Decent Society by Avishai Margalit, translated into German under the title The Politics of Dignity (Politik der Würde), introduces a negative approach to the concept of human dignity. This approach focuses on the violations of human dignity, leading to a fundamental change in the way we view human beings. The negative approach presupposes the existence of “dependent human beings”, not “autonomous human beings“ with their practical reason. To respect themselves, human beings must take into account the attitudes of others. The presupposition of “dependent human beings” means to protect the dignity (and rights) of people with disabilities, mutual recognition of their vulnerability and the social institutions that maintain their self-respect are indispensable. Besides, when we regard humans as “autonomous”, the view of human beings as “dependent” is already supposed

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In 1994, South Africa held the first democratic election in which all races participated, and the African National Congress (ANC) headed by Nelson Mandela won the majority. New administration prioritized educational reforms and promoted reforms to achieve equity and justice in every corner of the society. After a quarter of a century from the establishment of a democratic nation, progress is observed in certain areas such as enrollment rate and matric pass rate. However, providing quality learning to all citizens is still an issue. This paper intends to examine how much learning inequality exists among South African learners. Reviewing the recent studies reveals stark differences between the learners from most wealthy families and the poorest learners. Possible strategy to change the classroom teaching is suggested.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the author(s)-constructed practice of Musicking with a special emphasis on the embodiment of kyosei and reflective practice. The study particularly focused on the related philosophies and theories to highlight kyosei including Seisa philosophy by Yasuo Miyazawa and Schön's reflection-in-action to answer the diversified needs of individual students. Followed by drawing the author(s)-constructed practice model of musicking, the practitioner-researcher(s) discussed and drew philosophical and theoretical connections. The study revealed the authors' practices as a model of the embodiment of kyosei and reflective practitioner's thinking. The authors reflected the series of Musicking practice to reveal how the participants understood each other, and made friends without exclusion to build a musical community. This study also illustrated a possibility to apply Musicking practice in Japanese music education context especially in K-12 general music classes.

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Practical trials of ecological researches (tree tree architecture development, adaptive strategies of trees, long-term observation of forest landscapes, reconstruction of landscape theory and landscape management mainly in Satoyama woodland region, etc.) has been carried out. Based on the researches mentioned above, it adjusted about a construction of demographic models which can mathematically describe the Sustainable and Symbiotic Social System. In this article, the outline of the demographic model was shown.

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With two students attending vocational school for childcare workers and four children, we video-taped the process of building relationships with the children, who the students were meeting for the first time. After the activity, we reflected upon the interaction and mannerisms with the children. In this study, I had the students observe their interactions with the children and interviewed the students afterwards. By analyzing, using a “childcare practice evaluation sheet”, the speech and behavior through which the students‚ ideas and thoughts were manifested and considering the details lacking in the students‚ interactions, I aimed to examine the effectiveness and themes that arose. Furthermore, focusing on the field of “human relations” within childcare shown through the essentials of kindergarten childcare and education, I confirmed the importance of considering the development of childcare work while paying particular attention to its connection with the field.

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Volunteer activities are not only to give something to others but also to receive something from the others. Something to give to the others and to receive something from the others in volunteer activities include “learning”. If something to give to the others and to receive from the others go back and forth between volunteer participants and recipients, many learnings also go back and forth between them, and such learnings lead on to circulate. If we have relation to give and receive something each other in our life, not only in volunteer activities, it can be said that circulating learnings also exist in our life. Feeling of accomplishment is needed for many learnings in not only volunteer activities but also our life to circulate. With feeling of accomplishment, volunteer participants can continue their volunteer activities and people can continue their activities in their life. The factor to get feeling of accomplishment is the expansion of blessed self-feeling which is based on the interdependent construal of the self. The blessed self-feeling is to be fostered in virtuous cycle of human relation. Blessed self-feeling spreads and expands like growth rings of tree as one person grows and it enables him or her to receive feeling of accomplishment from relevant others. The spread and expansion of blessed self-feeling make feeling of accomplishment circulate among relevant people. Feeling of accomplishment is mainspring for circulation of learning and the spread and expansion of blessed self-feeling enables feeling of accomplishment to circulate.

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