by Loi Chi-ho. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 54-58). / ABSTRACT --- p.iii / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.iv / ACKNOWLEDGMENTS --- p.vi / CHAPTER / Chapter 1. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Lifetime Employment --- p.3 / Chapter 1.2 --- Seniority-Based Promotion System --- p.4 / Chapter 1.3 --- Enterprise Unionism --- p.5 / Chapter 2. --- THE STRUCTURE OF THE LABOUR SYSTEM --- p.7 / Chapter 2.1 --- "The Definition of ""Employee""" --- p.8 / Chapter 2.2 --- The Origin of Shushin Koyo --- p.10 / Chapter 2.3 --- Nenko Joretsu: A Base of Integration --- p.15 / Chapter 2.4 --- Enterprise Union: The Linkage with Kaisha --- p.19 / Chapter 3. --- THE CHANGING ENVIRONMENT --- p.23 / Chapter 3.1 --- Changes in Economic Environment --- p.24 / Chapter 3.2 --- Demographic Changes --- p.26 / Chapter 3.3 --- The Changing Work Ethic --- p.28 / Chapter 3.4 --- Mid-lifetime Employment Crisis --- p.31 / Chapter 4. --- THE FUTURE PATTERN --- p.36 / Chapter 4.1 --- Can Shushin Koyo Be Continued? --- p.37 / Chapter 4.2 --- Nenko Joretsu: The Product of Old Generation? --- p.40 / Chapter 4.3 --- Enterprise Unions: Will the Linkage continue? --- p.43 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- Japanese Labour System in the 21st Century --- p.44 / Chapter 5. --- CONCLUSIONS --- p.48 / APPENDIX --- p.51 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.54

Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Thesis. 1980. Ph.D.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Political Science. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND DEWEY. / Bibliography: leaves 411-431. / by Richard J. Samuels. / Ph.D.

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This exploratory study follows existing theory and analysis of mass media product and its audience analysis. It aims to analyse how audience members utilise a popular anime in Japan for their construction and reconstruction of sense of self, which is referred to as socialisation. Academic research has increasingly shed light on audience members??? socialisation by utilising mass media products in encompassing academic fields such as media studies, communication studies and cultural studies. It is widely agreed that the content of mass media products play a significant role in their socialisation. This study takes up a Japanese anime, Mononoke Hime as a sample case for investigating audience members??? socialization. Through the analysis of reactions of audience members to Mononoke Hime, it will be investigated how audience members interpret the anime reflecting one???s experience in the society relating the experience to the content of Mononoke Hime. It will be clarified that the audience members of the anime construct and reconstruct their sense of self, morals and values in the society, that is, they utilize the anime as a facility for their socialization. The data of this study are collected comments which are compiled in a published magazine and private comments posted on Internet sites. 133 comments in the magazine and 32 comments on Internet sites are selected for the analysis. The data were analysed by two analytical approaches. The first analysis is to see how the consulted viewers established their relationship with the anime, while the second analysis is to see how the viewers depicted and interpreted the content of the anime. This study concluded that the consulted audience members show high level of ideological involvement with the anime; they depict parts of the anime relating to their experience in the real life and talk the anime seriously rather than playfully enjoy it as an entertainment. By analysing the comments of consulted audience members, it is also revealed that the audience members take characters of the anime as a role model both in cross gender and gender based ways.

The rapid ageing of Japan’s population is occurring in the midst of accelerating social change, causing a rethinking about what it means to grow old. Some older Japanese are pioneering new models for ageing through their involvement in groups known as time banks. These are non-profit organisations which trade time, a universal possession, rather than conventional currency for services. Time given in volunteering is banked for future redemption as assistance for the giver, with points paid per hour. This first study of the impact of time banks on the lives of older Japanese members aims to chart how such groups can help both their senior members and society as a whole.¶ Time banks now exist across the globe but the world’s first time bank was established in 1973 by a Japanese woman. She aspired to create a new form of currency that could give people greater control of their lives and foster warmer community links. The benefits that older time bank members derive include formation of new friendship networks to replace those lost by retirement and the chance to use old skills and learn new ones. Time banks can generate a new form of social capital that fosters traditional Japanese reciprocity and has ikigai or ‘sense of meaning in life’ as one of its main pillars.¶ This research is based on both three-months of fieldwork in Japan and an extensive literature review in Japanese, English and Chinese. It has been by aided by accessibility to the thoughts of the founders of four major time banks through their books and also by their group web sites. My study follows on from an MPhil thesis that compared ageing in China and Japan and draws on my experience living in Japan for 10 years between 1979 and 1991 in both Kansai and Kanto.¶ The literature indicates that social participation is a crucial component for maintaining both psychological and physical health in the later years. While this is a qualitative study and there is yet to be a qualitative review of the effects of time banks in Japan, feedback I received from older members of the first time bank shows that time banks can foster a meaningful later life. ¶ The 21st century has been dubbed that of the aged as greater mass longevity boosts their numbers to unprecedented levels. This thesis questions whether organizations such as time banks can make a significant difference to the quality of life that older people enjoy in this new era. The theoretical framework examines whether the social exchange that these groups nurture can enhance the social capital of their communities, creating a positive image for ageing.

<p>I en allt mer globaliserad värld ökar konkurrensen då fler företag ska tävla om de kunder som efterfrågar de produkter som erbjuds. Den ökande globaliseringen medför dock inte enbart negativa effekter för företag. En ny möjlighet ges till att lära sig av andra mer framgångsrika företag och ta del av vad som utmärker dem. Det japanska begreppet <em>kaizen </em>anses vara en del av vad som ligger bakom de japanska företagens framgångar och deras starka position på den internationella marknaden. Men vad är då <em>kaizen</em>? Detta är en av de frågor som vi försöker besvara i denna uppsats där begreppets ursprung, användningsområde samt vilka effekter som kan uppnås genom <em>kaizen </em>undersöks. Vi belyser även hur <em>kaizen </em>kan implementeras inom ett svenskt tillverkningsföretag.</p><p>Denna undersökning har bedrivits genom en kvalitativ metod där ett antal semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts. Uppsatsen har en hermeneutisk utgångspunkt då olika texter har studerats och tolkats. Då det under forskningens gång ständigt tillkommit ny information, som varit av betydelse för oss att undersöka närmare, har vi använt oss av en abduktiv strategi där vi växlat mellan att studera vår referensram och empiri.</p><p>Genom denna undersökning har vi insett att <em>kaizen </em>saknar en klar definition och dess olika benämningar är lika många som de förslag som finns på hur det kan implementeras. En gemensam översättning av ordet <em>kaizen </em>har vi dock funnit i form av ständiga förändringar till det bättre. <em>Kaizen </em>har ett tydligt samband med det produktionssystem som Toyota har utvecklat samt det som i västvärlden benämns som lean production. Divisionen Products inom det trucktillverkande företaget Atlet AB i Mölnlycke genomgår nu ett förändringsarbete där deras tolkning av lean production, vid namn Atlet Operations System, införs. Systemet består av en rad verktyg och metoder som implementeras med syfte att öka företagets effektivitet och där ett av de framtida verktyg som de avser att använda är <em>kaizen</em>.</p><p>Vi har även kommit fram till att <em>kaizen </em>kan ses som en mentalitet eller ett tankesätt som genomsyrar det japanska samhället. De tankar som råder har lett till utvecklandet av en mängd olika metoder och verktyg som kan hjälpa ett företag att bli mer effektivt och minska sitt ickevärdeskapande arbete. Då andra företag började intressera sig för japanernas överlägsenhet inom produktion krävdes en mer konkret bild av <em>kaizen</em>s innebörd. Detta erhölls genom att dokumentera de metoder som utvecklats ur tankesättet. Dessa metoder har därefter exporterats världen runt, bland annat i form av boken the Toyota Way, men även under det mer västerländska namnet lean production. Trots att samma metoder implementeras av de företag som befinner sig utanför Japan ställer vi oss frågande till om <em>kaizen </em>verkligen kan tillämpas fullt ut. Detta då vi anser att <em>kaizen </em>består av så mycket mer än metoder, det är ett tankesätt och en mentalitet som har formats utifrån den kulturella bakgrund som härstammar från Japan.</p>

Based on the author's ethnographic research at the Karakuwa fishing community in Japan, this thesis explains a cultural process of the local people's synthesis of the values they place on nature and their everyday behavior in a modern industrial world. Explicated by ethnographic narrative, this study focuses on a revitalization movement similar to others attempted by fishermen in other parts of Japan. These revitalization movements embody values, held by fishermen for centuries, that nature should be respected. These movements also serve as symbolic activities to resurrect natural resource users' visions of nature, that emphasize the connectedness of all parts of nature including humans. In the specific revitalization movement studied here, the activists insist on the fishermen's knowledge of the connection between reforestation upstream on a coastal river and the coastal fishing ground. This study also demonstrates how significant it is to know the insiders' points of view and their cultural values when we try to understand the relationship between humans and nature. By studying what kind of traditional knowledge the Karakuwa fishermen have utilized to support the fishermen's reforestation activities and what has been dismissed, we can gain insight into the process of value transformation that takes place side by side with the actual environmental degradation and economic changes experienced by the local fishermen. In this study, the conclusion is that local people manage with those contradictions by categorizing events along a continuum between "reality" and "ideal." This study contributes to the local people in the Karakuwa fishing community as a source of cultural information extending their knowledge about their indigenous identity and furthering their understanding of how they revitalize their local traditions yet modernize in this era of globalization. / Graduation date: 2003

Graduation date: 1996