"Art Therapy for Empowerment" has both importance and possibilities in today's society. We have defined it as "Empowerment Arts Therapy (EAT)." For the development of EAT, it needs to be more recognized and assessed fairly by the society. At the same time, it is needed to grow EA-therapists and constantly progress them. To approach these tasks we formulated "Requirements and Evaluation Method for EAT."Our research brought out; (1) to set up an across-the-board evaluation standard for EAT is difficult, for EAT has a wide-ranging fields and their targets and purposes vary, (2) the purpose of the assessment is not "the right judgment" but to help the growth of the therapists. Based on these aspects, we derived “7 Categories/23 Requirements for EAT" such as knowledge, technique, purpose, target, safety, countermeasures and so on. As the most productive evaluation method, we should propose the self-assessment of 23 requirements

Social support for people with developmental disabilities, especially adults with developmental disabilities, is a pressing social issue. In this research, in order to search for various conditions for achieving more desirable social support in Japan, we carried out international comparative research by selecting Sweden, Germany, and the United States from different welfare regimes, and conducting field surveys, etc. . It has become clear that the differences in welfare regimes, while creating different ways of social support, are on the other hand moving towards more emphasis on social inclusion in all welfare regimes as a whole. Social support for people with developmental disabilities is rapidly advancing in Japan, but it has been emphasized that the social inclusion perspective is still weak

People with Autism Spectrum Disorder(ASD) encounter a number of problematic situations. In this study, we have investigated on the people's consciousness about ASD. To this end, we have conducted quantitative and qualitative researches. Based on knowledge obtained by them, we have examined some theoritical considerations.In interview research of parents who have children with ASD, they told that many people blame the behavior of their children with ASD.In public opinion survey of 1000citizens, we have found that many people know the term of Autism, and they do not have fully understood ASD yet

This research project aimed to examine a representational and material process of an idea of "Kyodo(Heimat, homeland)" in the modern Japan. Our particular research interests revolved around three modalities, (1) how the idea was accepted, (2) how the idea became postulated as a stable entity in nations' geographical imagination, and (3) how various practices for the representation of the "Kyodo" took place and were developed. In so doing, we focused on a relationship between an educational system, molded up by the Ministry of Education, that invented teaching programs and materials to teach pupils geography of their own 'homeland', and other various movements such as developments of folklore and folk craft studies, discussions over a museum display of the localness, and promotion of domestic tourism. We also unveiled how the idea of "Kyodo" contributed to an anchoring of coherent local communities. The research leads us to understand various aspects of the development of the representation of "Kyodo"

　学校教育については、発達障害の学童、例えば自閉症の学童の教育実践に大きな困難があることが知られている。とりわけ、道徳を教えるのには独特の難しさを伴う。その原因の一端は、自閉症者が「社会性の障害」や「想像力の障害」と従来呼ばれてきた特性を持つためであると思われる。　だからと言って、そのような学童の「社会性」や「想像力」の＜欠如＞を嘆くだけでは状況は改善しないであろう。根本的な問題は、自閉症者の思考パターンが定型発達者とは質的に異なっているらしいという点にどう向き合うかにある。　以上の問題に対して、ブレイクスルーをもたらす可能性を秘める新説として、カール・フリストンが提唱した「自由エネルギー原理」に基づく「予測誤差最小化メカニズム」という、脳の働きを統一的に説明しようとする理論がある（ヤコブ・ホーヴィ著、佐藤亮司監訳、太田陽・次田瞬・林禅之・三品由紀子訳『予測する心』勁草書房、2021年、参照）。それによれば、脳に基づく知覚や行為は、予測誤差最小化というシンプルで計算可能なメカニズムの階層的組み合わせによって作動している。そして、統合失調症者や自閉症者が示す一見複雑多岐に見える「症状」も、このメカニズムの偏りによって統一的に説明出来るのではないかと期待されている。　従来の社会学的主体観だけでは自閉症者の思考と行動をうまく把握するのは困難である。だが、上記の神経科学的知見の導入によって、この困難を克服出来るかも知れない。上記のメカニズムは難解とは言え、原理的にはシンプルらしいので、心の擬人化説のような曖昧さに頼ることなく、脳の働きを明快に説明出来ると期待されている。そのような可能性に挑戦するためにはまず、主体や教育についての社会学的理解を、神経科学の新知見に対しても柔軟に開くことが求められているように思われる。