Inequality of effort in an egalitarian education system

Ryoji Matsuoka 서울대학교 교육연구소 2017 Asia Pacific Education Review Vol.18 No.3

Japanese compulsory education is considered as relatively egalitarian since poorer regions receive more funding from the central government, which standardizes the quality of education nationwide. Nevertheless, the literature indicates socioeconomic status-based achievement and educational attainment gaps. As parts of explanations of these gaps, previous studies have indicated an association between students’ socioeconomic status and their study efforts, or inequality of effort. This study is the first to assess this phenomenon while the most critical mass education selection in Japan is approaching, building on relevant theoretical frameworks regarding educational expectations, including anticipatory socialization. To investigate inequality of effort among ninth-grade students, the study also examines the differences between students’ neighborhoods on the basis of mechanisms of neighborhood inequalities (i.e., social contagion and collective socialization). Overall, using multilevel modeling with nationally representative data from Japan, this study provides empirical evidence for inequality of effort and the role of post-secondary educational expectations at both the individual and neighborhood levels. This inequality of effort is observed despite the pressure that occurs about three months before the period of selections by high schools. In particular, students from advantaged families and community environments expect to pursue higher education and therefore tend to spend longer hours studying, whereas those from disadvantaged families and communities exert less effort. As Japan is not the only country where the relation between students’ socioeconomic status and efforts is evident, this study’s results may be applied to other societies to better understand mechanisms of intergenerational transmission of inequality.

子どもたちの靖国: 戦後も「少国民」にされた戦争遺児たち

松岡勲 ( Isao¸ Matsuoka ) 한림대학교 일본학연구소 2020 翰林日本學 Vol.0 No.37

「はじめに」で、父を第2次世界大戦で亡くした私と靖国神社との関わりを個人史的に振りかえった。「1950年代の靖国神社遺児参拝」では、日本の独立後、アメリカの占領期には抑制されていた戦没者遺児の靖国神社参拝が公然と行われるようになったこと、当時の大阪府では行政主導で遺族会に委託という形で遺児参拝が中学3年生を対象に1952年から1959年まで行われたことを明らかにした。また同一タイトルの遺児参拝文集靖国の父を訪ねてが全国的に作られていたことから、同様の遺児参拝が全国の都道府県、市町村にわたって行われていたことが分かる。さらに大阪から遺児参拝に参加したひとりの少女が靖国神社遺児参拝を鋭く告発したことを取り上げた。 「大阪府の靖国文集を読む」では、大阪府の遺児参拝文集を読み、父や兄たちの広大な戦場、母子たちの戦後の生活、遺児参拝の様子、静かであるが湧き上がる子どもたちの怒り等を読み解いた。子どもたちの参拝文集から、戦後も「少国民」とされた遺児たちの姿を見つめた。 最後に、「靖国神社の歌」を取り上げ、戦後の遺児参拝には戦前の戦争と結びついた靖国神社の記憶と機能が戦後も生き続け、問題が今も続いていることを提示した。 The introduction is a retrospection of my story, especially my relationship with the Yaskuni Shrine, as a bereaved child who lost my father in the Second World War. “Children of fallen soldiers’ Yaskuni Shrine Worship in the 1950s,” I described that bereaved children’s visit to the Yaskuni Shrine was promoted after Japan’ independence from the occupation by the US-led Allied Forces. In Osaka, for example, the Japan War-Bereaved Families Association, on be-half of the government, encouraged middle school seniors to visit the Yaskuni Shrine from 1952 to 1959. Considering a national campaign for war-bereaved children’s essay writing under the title of “Visiting Fathers in the Yaskuni Shrine,” it is reasonable to say that children of fallen soldiers were persuaded to worship Yaskuni Shrines in prefectures and municipalities across the country. This chapter also covers a case of a girl who made critical comments on the worshipping practice after joining war-bereaved children’s Yaskuni Shrine worship in Osaka. “Reading Osaka Prefecture’s War-Bereaved Children’s Essay Book on Yaskuni Shrine Worshipping,” contains vivid descriptions of the battlefield of their fathers and brothers, post-war life of bereaved mothers and their children, Yaskuni Shrine worshipping of bereaved children and quiet surge of their anger. This chapter also focuses on war-bereaved children who became shoukokumin in the post-war era. In the conclusion, I suggested that war-bereaved children’s post-war worshipping still remains a controversial issue as the memories and function of Yaskuni Shrine have been kept alive through “Yaskuni Shrine Song,” a song about the Asia Pacific War and Japanese fallen sliders. *Shoukokumin: Japanese children from the Sino-Japanese War to the Second World War, or young Japanese nationals

Japanese University Students` Willingness to Communicate in English: The Serendipitous Effect of Oral Presentations

( Rieko Matsuoka ),( Kahoko Matsumoto ),( Gregory Poole ),( Misato Matsuoka ) 범태평양응용언어학회 2014 범태평양응용언어학회지 Vol.18 No.1

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 situations. In interviews with students and teachers we discovered that sociocultural factors impede spontaneous communication, resulting in a reduced level of willingness to communicate in the students` L2, English. The social norms of the language classroom at a Japanese university create a milieu where individual students are sensitized to the social appropriateness of their communication acts. Since these norms are related to both the speech community of college students as well as larger societal expectations, including the concept of ‘seken’ (public eye), we suggest that language educators need to consider carefully the social context of the Japanese student language community when facilitating individuals` development of English language competence. Serendipitously we discovered that communication apprehension decreased when socially appropriate acts of communication were encouraged. The participants for this study read books (graded readers) of their own selection individually as a part of reading classes and gave in-class presentations, an idea self-initiated by the students themselves. Without any explicit attempt at boosting their levels of willingness to communicate, the participants of this study reported that they gained higher self-perceived communicative competence and felt more comfortable in speaking.

The Indigenous Technology and Industrial Development

Matsuoka, Kenji 한양대학교 경제연구소 2003 경제연구 Vol.24 No.1

Vertical and horizontal distributions of ellipsoidal Alexandrium (Dinophyceae) cysts in coastal sediment with special reference to paralytic shellfish poisoning caused by tsunamis -a case study of Osaka Bay(Japan) and the southern coast of the Korean Pen

Matsuoka, Kazumi,Yamamoto, Keigo,Akiyama, Satoshi,Kojima, Natsuhiko,Shin, Hyeon Ho Korean Society of Environmental Biology 2019 환경생물 : 환경생물학회지 Vol.37 No.3

Severe damages will result in human society, when several different critical natural phenomena coincide. One example relates to the resting cysts of Alexandrium species (dinoflagellates that cause paralytic shellfish poisoning), which are preserved in surface sediments throughout Osaka Bay, Japan. These cysts have been found to accumulate particularly densely in shallow areas in the inner parts of Osaka Bay, where a tsunami caused by an earthquake could occur any time. Damage by a tsunami could cause a change of the coastal ecosystems at Osaka Bay including the resuspension of surface sediments containing resting Alexandrium tamarense cysts and the subsequent redistribution of the cysts in newly deposited sediment. Under certain environmental conditions, these cysts could germinate and form dense blooms, leading to paralytic shellfish poisoning. Such a scenario could also affect other coastal areas, including the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula.

Ultrasonic Doppler measurements of blood flow velocity of rabbit retinal vessels using a 45-MHz needle transducer

Matsuoka, Naoki,Paeng, Dong-Guk,Chen, Ruimin,Ameri, Hossein,Abdallah, Walid,Zhou, Qifa,Fawzi, Amani,Shung, K. K.,Humayun, Mark Springer-Verlag 2010 Graefe’s archive for clinical and experimental oph Vol.248 No.5

Isolation of Polyacrylamide-degrading Microorganisms from Soil

Matsuoka, H.,Ishimura, F.,Takeda, T.,Hikuma, M. The Korean Society for Biotechnology and Bioengine 2002 Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering Vol.7 No.5

Two polyacrylamide degrading bacterial strains, No. 2 and No. 11, were isolated from soil, and identified as Bacillus sphaericus No.2 and Acinetobacter sp. No. 11, respectively. Both strains grew on medium containing polyacrylamide as sole carbon and nitrogen sources. B. sphaericus No. 2 and A. sp. No. 11 reduced by 16% and 19%of the initial polyacrylamide concentration, respectively. Optimal pH and temperature in growth of Acinetobacter sp. No. 11 were 8.0 and $37^{\circ}C$, respectively. After 14-day cultivation of A. sp. No. 11, the average molecular weight of polyacrylamide has been shifted from $2.3{\times}10^6\;to\;0.5{\time}106$.

A RELATION BETWEEN ACTIVE BLACK HOLES AND STAR FORMATION OF LOCAL ACTIVE GALAXIES

MATSUOKA, KENTA,WOO, JONG-HAK,BAE, HYUN-JIN The Korean Astronomical Society 2015 天文學論叢 Vol.30 No.2

We present an analysis of the relation between star-formation (SF) and accretion luminosities of local type-2 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at $0.01{\leq}z<0.22$. We match type-2 AGNs found in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to current far-infrared (FIR) survey catalogues based on AKARI and Herschel. Estimating AGN luminosities from [$O{\small{III}}$]${\lambda}5007$ and [$O{\small{I}}$]${\lambda}6300$ emission lines, we find a positive linear trend between FIR and AGN luminosities over a wide dynamical range. This result appears to be inconsistent with recent reports that low-luminosity AGNs show no correlation between FIR and X-ray luminosities; this contradiction is likely due to Malmquist and sample selection biases. Moreover, we also find that pure-AGN candidates, for which the FIR radiation is thought to be AGN-dominated, show significant low-SF activities. These AGNs hosted by low-SF galaxies are rare in our sample. However, it is possible that the low fraction of low-SF AGN is caused by observational limitations, as recent FIR surveys are not sufficient to examine the population of high-luminosity AGNs hosted by low-SF galaxies.

SOME STUDIES ON 2-PRIMAL RINGS, (S,1)-RINGS AND THE CONDITION (KJ)

Matsuoka, Manabu Korean Mathematical Society 2010 대한수학회논문집 Vol.25 No.3

In this paper we study the connection between 2-primal rings, (S,1)-rings and related conditions. And we investigate some condition which is the special case of pseudo symmetric. We also study the condition (KJ) which is given by J. Y. Kim and H. L. Jin. We introduce some condition and we prove that our condition is equivalent to the condition (KJ) when it is an (S,1)-ring.

FAR-IR GALACTIC EMISSION MAP AND COSMIC OPTICAL BACKGROUND

Matsuoka, Y. The Korean Astronomical Society 2012 天文學論叢 Vol.27 No.4

We present new constraints on the cosmic optical background (COB) obtained from an analysis of the Pioneer 10/11 Imaging Photopolarimeter (IPP) data. After careful examination of the data quality, the usable measurements free from the zodiacal light are integrated into sky maps at the blue (${\sim}0.44{\mu}m$) and red (${\sim}0.64{\mu}m$) bands. Accurate starlight subtraction was achieved by referring to all-sky star catalogs and a Galactic stellar population synthesis model down to 32.0 mag. We find that the residual light is separated into two components: one component shows a clear correlation with the thermal $100{\mu}m$ brightness, whilst the other shows a constant level in the lowest $100{\mu}m$ brightness region. The presence of the second component is significant after all the uncertainties and possible residual light in the Galaxy are taken into account, thus it most likely has an extragalactic origin (i.e., the COB). The derived COB brightness is ($(1.8{\pm}0.9){\times}10^{-9}$ and $(1.2{\pm}0.9){\times}10^{-9}\;erg\;s^{-1}\;cm^{-2}\;sr^{-1}\;{\AA}^{-1}$ in the blue and red spectral regions, respectively, or $7.9{\pm}4.0$ and $7.7{\pm}5.8\;nW\;m^{-2}\;sr^{-1}$. Based on a comparison with the integrated brightness of galaxies, we conclude that the bulk of the COB is comprised of normal galaxies which have already been resolved by the current deepest observations. There seems to be little room for contributions from other populations including "first stars" at these wavelengths. On the other hand, the first component of the IPP residual light represents the diffuse Galactic light (DGL)-scattered starlight by the interstellar dust. We derive the mean DGL-to-$100{\mu}m$ brightness ratios of $2.1{\times}10^{-3}$ and $4.6{\times}10^{-3}$ at the two bands, which are roughly consistent with previous observations toward denser dust regions. Extended red emission in the diffuse interstellar medium is also confirmed.