By focusing on individual well-being beyond the scope of economic growth and GDP, this introductory paper evaluates indicators of subjective well-being, including socio-economic conditions, health, and relatedness, as well as the role and significance of these indicators in policy-makings in Japan. The practical importance of well-being indicators particularly highlighted in this paper includes the ability: to identify causes and consequences of social deterioration, which would allow policies to have better focus on improving existing social systems; to reveal the low level of subjective wellbeing amongst the elder population and to suggest policies to reflect the well-being of the upcoming aging population; to evaluate how one's current level of well-being differs from one's expected level of future well-being. The results may help the government identify specific policies that would contribute to establishing a society with more hope. Due to the broad nature of ‶well-being," it would not be feasible for the government to be directly involved in maximizing the level of well-being at all aspects. Nevertheless, this paper emphasizes that the rightful evaluation and the identification of well-being indicators reveal areas in which the government can act and take a lead upon, in particular, the areas of health, employment opportunities, social support for elder population, and support systems for child-rearing.

The Easterlin Paradox, describing the contrast between the happy poor and the unhappy wealthier citizens, was first presented in 1974, and has been mentioned by many scholars on various occasions. We developed a questionnaire to gauge general trust and life-satisfaction in East Asia's eight countries/areas, to be used for Senshu University's research project “Exploring Social Capital towards Sustainable Development in East Asia,” funded by the MEXT-supported Program for the Strategic Research Foundation at Provate Universities, 2009–2013. Fig. 2 shows the relationship between general trust and average/median household income. Fig. 3 shows the relationship between general trust and average GRP. Although neither conveys the causal relationship between general trust and economic factors, Fig. 4 does express a relationship between general trust and life-satisfaction. This indicates that life-satisfaction, or happiness, is increased by social capital in each area.

Measuring the social progress or well-being of society has long been the objective of many international organizations, national and local governments, and NPO's. In 2008, the OECD launched the Global Project on Measuring Progress of Societies, while the Japanese government has been studying social indicators since around 1970. Based on the “New Growth Strategy” decided by the Japanese Cabinet in 2010, the Cabinet Office's Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) strengthened well-being studies in cooperation with the OECD. The ESRI organized the Asia-Pacific Conference on Measuring Well-Being and Fostering the Progress of Societies in cooperation with the OECD (co-host) in 2011. The ESRI also contributed to the OECD Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-Being and the OECD Expert Group to Measure Disparities in a National Accounts Framework. As a product of the Global Project, as well as part of the OECD's 50th Anniversary Forum and Ministerial Council Meeting celebrations, the OECD launched the Your Better Life Index in 2011. The ESRI conducted the Quality of Life Survey to collect data on subjective well-being in 2012, 2013, and 2014. There are still many different types of well-being indicators developed by various international institutes, and studies in this field should continue to accumulate research findings.

本稿は、持続可能な消費と生産（SCP）政策の効率性アプローチから充足性アプローチへの変遷について概説した上で、消費者側の充足性アプローチに基づいた政策評価指標開発とその適用結果について述べるものである。まず、主観的幸福度指標を用いた消費と充足性の関係の分析では、「感情」の意味では消費増大が満足感に結び付きにくい一方で「人生の評価」の意味では消費が増大するほど満足感が得られるということと、物品より社会関係資本に関する消費増大の方がより満足感が得られることが明らかになった。続いて新国富指標（IWI）の理論的枠組みと、GDPとの比較から、IWI が単独で国や地域、個別の政策の持続可能性を評価しうる指標であることを示した。さらに、実際の地方自治体における新国富（IW）を活用した社会関連資本整備に関する政策評価の事例から、 SCP政策評価指標としての可能性を示した。

発達障害児の幾人かの中に、動きのぎこちなさを伴うことがあり、彼らの歩行動作にその特徴が表れているのではないかと考え、今回独自に考案した歩行テストを小学校低学年に実施し、ビデオ撮影記録から分析を試みた。調査対象として、2校の小学校を選出し、計446名（男子231名：女子215名）の歩行を分析した。その中に13名（男子12名：女子1名）の発達障害児が在籍しており、一般児童との比較ができた。その結果、2本のライン上（長さ3 m×幅20 cm、及び長さ3 m×幅15 cm）を歩く歩行テストにおいて、自然歩行した場合は、一般児に比べライン離脱数が有意（P<0.01）に多く、リズム歩行の場合は幅15 cmのラインで離脱数が有意（P<0.05）に多かった。これらは、発達障害児の歩行動作にみられるぎこちなさによると捉えられ、発達障害児を早期発見し早期介入することのできる可能性が示唆された。

Early Childhood Education (ECE) has lately been recognized as important in both developed and developing nations, and references to ECE are found not only in education policies but also in national development plans. Behind this change lies global governance of ECE. Should we welcome such world trend uncritically or be skeptical and pose questions? Moreover, how has it affected ECE policies and practices in developing countries? This paper aims at delineating the trajectory of global governance of ECE, identifying conflicts between the global governance and unique characteristics of ECE, and finally discussing how policy makers in developing countries should plan and implement ECE policies under the circumstances.

The key findings of this paper are as follows. First, depicting the development of global governance of ECE has revealed that ECE underwent a period of major changes in recent years, and that there has been an increasing interest in setting standards and indicators of young children's learning and development. Second, four main conflicts are detected, given discrepancies between the unique features of ECE and the ideas and concepts embedded in the global governance of ECE. They are: 1) a biased perspective that captures ECE solely for preparing children ready for school; 2) a question whether quality assurance of ECE is made possible by standardization of what a child should know and be able to do at a certain age along with the wide use of indicators to monitor their progress; 3) a strong concern that it could lead to neglect or elimination of children's abilities and attitudes that are difficult to measure and/or not in line with global standards; and 4) a worry that the focus on ECE policies and results has kept the learning process of young children in developing countries as a black box. Finally, for ECE policy makers in developing countries, it is of overarching importance to act on its own initiative in consideration of their cultural uniqueness of ECE in each country; to always maintain viewpoints such as the realization of equity and respect for diversity; and to return to the norms guided by international laws whenever necessary, such as the best interests of the child and ECE as fulfilling the child's right to development.