This study aims to describe the concept of home improvement in prewar and postwar Japan, in which householders maintained, repaired, and decorated their houses without the help of professionals, and how this image evolved over time. In prewar Japan, home improvement was called “Katei Kosaku (home craft)” and was recognized as an activity for women. However, in postwar Japan, given the admiration of the American way of life, it gradually changed to “Nichiyou Daiku (Sunday carpenter),” a masculine hobby based on the division of gender roles. This study examines the discourses of Joichi Kogure, Ryuji Katayama, and Yoshio Akioka, who led the home improvement movement in their respective eras, to show the changes in the subjects, social context, and gender behind home improvement.

China is undergoing a dramatic social transformation, and peasants leaving the agriculture and leaving the rural areas has become a common phenomenon. However, since Chinese peasants are considered embedded in the small peasant economic system, this phenomenon is only one cross-section now. Therefore, based on the life stories of peasants from inland farming villages in China, this study attempts to decipher the stereotyped image of peasants from their own perspective. In addition, it examines the inner struggles and autonomous choices of peasants who have maintained farming as much as possible in response to social transformations. Consequently, current livelihoods exhibit synchronic diversity. In addition, diachronic fluidity is evident, in which peasants adapt to their family’s livelihood situation as they live through constant changes throughout their lives. However, they maintain the unchanging core of farming. This is a characteristic of a period of social transition. Farming is the way of life of the peasants and is inseparable from the lives of Chinese peasants themselves, which differs from agriculture.

This study aimed to elucidate strategies for dealing with stigma employed by physically attacked homeless people, such as how they responded to the attack and practiced self-affirmation, on the basis of the narratives of two homeless persons. Mr. A, who had been homeless for 10 years , was attacked so severely that his finger bones were fully exposed. Other than disclosing that he was homeless and physically attacked in order to receive appropriate treatment, Mr. A distanced himself from the assailant and the incident. Although he considered expressing his dissatisfaction to the assailant, he struggled with self-affirmation as he was resigned to the idea that the attack was “his fate” or “a punishment from heaven.” Mr. B, who had been homeless for over 15 years, was attacked with fireworks. In addition to having the assailants arrested and filing a complaint against them, Mr. B attempted to change society’s negative perception of the homeless by creating opportunities for discussions with the assailants. Mr. B felt resentment against the assailants, who committed mass violence one-sidedly and fled. He fought against “human rights discrimination” experienced by the homeless in a bid to prevent future attacks.