Refleksi Isu Sosial Di Jepang Dalam Empat Karya Fiksi: Hiyama Kentarou No Ninshin, Sanju Mariko, Sensei No Kaban, Dan Death Sweeper

This study examines how Japanese social issues are portrayed in four fiction works in the form of manga and novels:”Hiyama Kentarou no Ninshin”,”Sanju Mariko”, “Sensei no Kaban”, and “Death Sweeper”. Using qualitative methods by conducting descriptive analysis method to describe how social ties and community weakening in Japan in the scope of Shoushikoureika and Kodoku issues are portrayed in the said works. The findings of this study are the followings: 1) Hiyama Kentarou no Ninshin portrayed the dilemma faced by women and men in child-bearing and child-rearing activities. 2) Sanju Mariko portrayed the vigor of Japanese elders and their struggle to find a place in society. 3) Sensei no Kaban portrayed the changes of Japanese narrowing social structure. 4) Death sweeper portrayed lonely death as the effect of Kodoku. As a reflection of reality, fiction works could also serve as a cross-cultural study by examining the phenomenon explained inside the works through the eyes of the writers and characters.

Bridging Ethnic Differences for Cultural Intimacy: Production of Migrant Care Workers in Japan

Unlike other Asian host countries, Japan has been hesitant to open up the employment of migrant domestic helpers or caregivers until very recently. Focusing on the recruitment of migrant nurses and certified care workers through Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), this article examines how the host society and migrant workers negotiate care culture and ethnic differences in the production of “ideal migrant caregivers.” The EPA program associates professionalism with intimate knowledge about Japanese culture, and it emphasizes the capacity to perform bridgework and enhance cultural intimacy for Japanese elders. While migrant care workers are expected to assimilate culturally, the Japanese workplace offers them little cultural intimacy but an eroded sense of value and skills. In response, they highlight their “warm” disposition and “authentic” feelings as a superior alternative to the “cold” professionalism among Japanese coworkers, but such essentialist rhetoric of ethnic differences downgrades their professional abilities to a natural endowment.

Influence of Watching Professional Baseball on Japanese Elders’ Affect and Subjective Happiness

Objective: To determine the effects of watching a professional baseball game on the affect and subjective happiness of elders without a specific team to support. Method: Elderly Japanese ( n = 16) were instructed to watch baseball games at a ballpark. They answered a questionnaire several weeks before (baseline) and, on the day of the game, before and after watching the game. Participants’ affect and happiness were assessed using the General Affect Scale and Subjective Happiness Scale, respectively. Results: Calmness had a tendency to increase from baseline to before watching the game ( p = .052). Furthermore, subjective happiness significantly increased after watching the game, compared with baseline ( p = .017). Discussion: Visiting a ballpark to watch a professional baseball game increased elders’ subjective happiness after they had finished watching it.