Utility lines are sometime criticized as a prime factor in the unsightly visual impression of Japanese landscapes. This research investigates a cognitive bias leading the landscapes to seem to be wirescapes. Participants evaluated two kinds of landscape pictures: one with electronic lines and another where the lines were digitally eliminated. When evaluated side by side, participants showed clear preference for one picture over the other, typically strong preferences for wire-free landscapes, although when evaluated separately, they showed no preference. The findings suggest that people, at least Japanese people living in Japan, are insensitive to utility lines in their vision and that those who are exposed to wirescapes tend to form a similar impression to those who exposed to wire-free landscapes in a typical real-life situation, where a comparison isn’t readily available.

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The fact that international political theory failed to forecast the collapse of the former Soviet Union shattered the scholars inside and outside of international politics to make doubt that international politics seriously lacks theory. It is a strong blow against the previous effort by theorists of international politics, who are predominantly Americans, to make the body of international political study be more logical-empiricismic and hypothesis-testable.
Two incidents have happened in the midst of the serious debates over the relevance of theoretical contribution of this descipline. They are 1) a new insight of the so-called program-science in contrast to the current scientificlaw-governed science which has made profound impact to help shape the present international politics, and 2) the fast dissemination of the multimedia technology. These two incidents are isomorphically inter-related through one thing, namely information. As is well-known among international political scientists, information has deeply dealt with in the body of this decipline, but today's information age that brings about the new program science and the spreading of multimedia is unpresidentedly over-whelming to completely changes our view of international politics. For this reason, I would like to call it as the Multimedia Turn of the Study of International Politics. This turn would bring new looks of the two key concepts, i. e., the concept of the state and the concept of the way in which international politics moves.
Up to today, we have treated the sate as an analogy of ourselves, i. e., a human being. However, the resent development of molecular biology found that we are a part of the whole living creatures which are totally commanded by genetic programs. Then, we did nothing but regarded the state as a program-governed entity. This fact theoretically emancipates us from an always-man-analogous mindset and gives freedom that the state should be merely a “set of programs.” This is a strong epistemological understanding of the new program science which is advocated by a theoretical sociologist, Professor Tamito Yoshida.
Since the study of international politics has been muich influenced by the modern science which is governed by scientific laws, our causal reasoning of international politics is profoundedly logical-empiricismic. However, as G. Almond once said, what we are describing as international political phenomena is not clock-like but very much clouds-like. A clock works in only one way according to the scientific causal laws, but most social scientific “clouds” move in multiple-ways according to how we perceived clouds. Moreover, what we social scientists deal with are not scientific laws but social institutions which also work in multiple ways. These multiple ways are, according to the program science, exactly the different programs that govern the behavior of ourselves. This is tha same for the behavior of international politics. In my view, the causal structure of the social programs is simple in that: a) the state of social entities is determined by two things, the previous state and a new entries (visual or whatever), and b) the action is soly determined by the current state. I strongly believe that we can reshape the study international politics by folowing this causal reasoning.

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　社会学の他の領域の場合と同じように、階層研究もまた規範的問題を主題化することを避けてきた。それは、今日の格差問題の華々しさの中でもそうである。格差の拡大や存在を指摘する研究は、暗黙のうちに格差を批判しているのだが、その場合、格差が望ましくないことは自明なものと前提されている。また、かつての機能主義的成層理論は、成層の存在を機能主義的に説明することを通じて、実質的に成層を正当化した。しかしどちらも、規範的問題を主題化しないという点で不適切である。他方、階層の規範理論は現代リベラリズムにおいて盛んに展開されているが、ここでは責任―平等主義に代表されるように、「生産局面の等閑視」と「帰結への無配慮」がみられる。これも含めて、望ましい分配ルールに関する議論は、分配されるべき財の存在を所与とする「マナ型原理」に陥っている。本稿は、階層の規範理論をめざす試みの一環として、生産局面と帰結とを考慮した望ましい分配ルールとは何かを考察する。すなわち、いかなる分配ルールが望ましいかは、ルールの内在的性質によってではなく、ある共同生産関数が与えられている社会にあるルールが設けられたとき、人々の生産活動を通じていかなる分配状態が実現するかという問いとして定立される。そして、この理論枠組みのもとで、さらに人々の合理的選択を仮定したとき、分配ルールの望ましさが、ナッシュ均衡として実現する分配状態の望ましさに帰着することを示す。

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　There are still social movements against the commodification of urban space. This paper reconsiders such social movement’s grounds of justice. So far, this research task has been studied through the analytical framework of “publicness”. However, in recent years, this analytical framework has been criticized in that it tends to eliminate values of minorities by assuming single commensurable value. Therefore, “incommensurable publicness”, being composed of incommensurable values, is becoming important analytical framework.

　But, this new analytical framework is followed by troublesome research task: namely, we have to discuss the reason why specific values should be defended, because incommensurability needs to be differentiated from relativism. This paper pays attention to the discussions in thesis of liberalism that try to defend specific values on the grounds of “common values”. These “common values” are presumed as minimum moral bases that apply to incommensurable values.

　Focusing on “common values”, this paper examines the grounds of social movement in the case of landscape conflictin Shimokitazawa district. This conflicthas been caused by urban planning which newly founds road for “safety” and “accessibility” at the cost of lives of some merchants, visitors, and inhabitants. Facing “publicness” of the urban planning, movement has been evolving by respecting various values. In recent years, movement groups are constructing legal discourse of “common right” as norm. Furthermore they have tried to make alternative plans on land use and land management for years.

　Behind the background of these activities, there is cognition that recognizes various stakeholders as “co-owners of space”. In this cognition, we can findout “the considerations for others”, which can be grasped as “common values”. Therefore, this cognition is social movement’s ground of justice. Furthermore, on the basis of this cognition, there is a possibility that “incommensurable publicness” is forming.

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