Objective: This study examined whether the experience of enjoyable mealtimes at home during childhood was related to eating behaviors and subjective diet-related quality of life in adulthood. Methods: The study used data (n = 2,936) obtained from a research program about "Shokuiku" (food and nutrition education) conducted by the Cabinet…

This paper studies the link between school facilities (buildings and grounds) and student achievement in eight countries using data from the TIMSS 2003 database. The results indicate a negative relationship, but the estimated coefficients are mainly insignificant. Interestingly, the coefficients differ heavily across countries. Whereas there seem…

Through a reexamination of the relationship between politeness and femininity in Japanese, this study considers some of the major theoretical issues concerning linguistic politeness in general. While politeness has been regarded as a central feature of Japanese women's speech, recent research has shown that politeness is a speech norm for women,…

In recent years, politeness theory has increasingly focused on speakers' own conceptualizations of polite behavior, viewing politeness concepts as a type of language ideology. This article examines the construction of Japanese politeness concepts in the business etiquette training provided for new employees in Japanese companies. Drawing on…

There is substantial evidence that populations in the Western world exhibit a local bias compared to East Asian populations that is widely ascribed to a difference between individualistic and collectivist societies. However, we report that traditional Himba--a remote interdependent society--exhibit a strong local bias compared to both Japanese and…

We clarify how individuals actively interact with socio-cultural contexts to attain regular employment in Japan. Based on a large sample (N = 3,512) of part-time employed and unemployed college graduates (23-39 years old), we found that: Career decision making self-efficacy predicted job search; a lack of both hope and fulfillment motivated job…

This study examined the correspondence between children's indoor and outdoor play in a preschool environment to investigate whether the children maintained a tendency to engage in a particular type of play irrespective of the environment, or whether they changed the type of play according to the environment. Play behaviours of 18 three-year-old…

This study examines the ways in which college students in Japan overcame sensitivity to external evaluation and increased their willingness to communicate in English. It is not uncommon for university students in Japan, who are otherwise proficient speakers of English and motivated to learn, fail to exhibit English competency in real communication…

As an important symbolic figure and embodiment of the traditions and character of the school, the position of principal in Japan is crucial. Yet societal pressures and an undefined job description are serving to increase pressures of the position. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine school administrative leadership at a private…

This paper explores how referent honorifics contribute to identity construction on a Japanese TV shopping channel program. Drawing on Ochs' twostep model of indexicality (1993, 1996) and Agah's proposal (1993) that honorifics are not directly linked to social status but index a "relative position within events of discursive interaction"…

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) requires learner-centred and interactive teaching strategies such as critical thinking, participatory decision-making, value-based learning, and multi-method approaches, all of which to some degree contrast traditional lecture-based teaching practices. As there is very little evidence providing…

This article considers the impact of the increasing use of the visual mode in texts found in urban landscapes on two 3-year-olds' understanding of communication practices. The data discussed are taken from a study into a group of 3- to 6-year-olds' interaction with and emerging comprehension of the visual mode and its connection to writing in…

We examine the relational model of inequality using samples of employer-employee matched data from manufacturing plants in the United States and Japan. We argue that gender is a salient status characteristic in both the United States and Japan, but because of differences in gender politics, wage inequality will vary more across U.S. workplaces…

The United States does not guarantee families a wide range of supportive workplace policies such as paid maternity and paternity leave or paid leave to care for sick children. Proposals to provide such benefits are invariably met with the complaint that the costs would reduce employment and undermine the international competitiveness of American…

This article presents an instructional model (inclusively responsive instruction) that takes advantage of student diversity in order to differentiate student learning while maintaining high expectations. In the history of U.S. education, diversity and academic rigor were often considered at odds, and educators tried to emphasize one at the expense…