The high percentage of shared household in Asian society is often interpreted as a proof that Asian children are good providers of the necessary support for their old parents. However, it is not that simple, as suggested by our research results. It is true that a shared household tends to create various kinds of exchanges between generations, which is one of the reasons that shared household between old parents and their children has played a central role for so long as a family support system in Asian countries.However, it is also true that elderly people can be supported by children or relatives who is not living together, and that those children and relatives can be an important resource in a support system for the elderly. Also, a shared household dose not necessarily imply a satisfactory transfer of resources from a younger generation to elderly people.In terms of intergenerational transfer of resources through shared households. Not only elderly people but also their children could benefit from living together, where both parties give and take support and assistance from each other. As indicated by our surveys on elderly people in Taiwan and Malaysia, elderly people, even when they live with their married children, often help their family members by taking care of grandchildren pr helping with housework.Here, it is important to understand the contribution of elderly people to their family members in order to evaluate the role of elderly people in societies facing rapid socioeconomic changes

It is a well-known fact that Asian society has faced radical upheaval from the second half of the 20th century up to the 21st century. During this time, the living conditions surrounding elderly people in Asia have also changed greatly. We believe that the changes regarding intergenerational living arrangements are having a significant impact on the quality of life of elderly people.The purpose of this study was to conduct an international comparative research on aging and living arrangements in east and south-east Asia (Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, and Japan)."The Survey on Aging and Intergenerational Relationship in Japan" was carried out in Tokorozawa-City (Saitama) from January to February 2004. Profile of respondents were 143 male and 118 female aged 60 years or over. The survey was carried out in November 2004 in Malaysia collaborating with University of Malaya, from February to March 2005 in Singapore collaborating with National University of Singapore using same questionnaire. And we held "The workshop on living arrangements of the elderly in Taiwan and Japan" in Waseda University inviting for 2 scholars December 2-5,2004.From living arrangements of the elderly in Tokorozawa, single were 11.9%, couple 37.5%, married child 17.6%, un-married child 29.1%, other 3.8%. Our study groups are going to carry out analysis of the data in correlation with each country in detail

This research was done to clarify a variety of actors taking certain roles for recycling activities and to recognize how each actor relate with other actors under certain circumstances. We focused especially on the history and the status-quo of the wholesale businesses of recycled resources, and on the activities of citizens' groups which had the intention to promote the recycling of resources in order to make a more sustainable society. We have done the following three types of studies.
1)Field studies on the areas where we could find tremendous concentration of the wholesale businesses of recycled resources (Higashi-Nippori Area of Arakawa-ward in Tokyo and Sekibara-Motoki Areas of Adachi-ward in Tokyo).
2)Surveys on the local self-governing body where the local government and the citizens' organizations had been trying collaboratively to make an advanced local recycle system (Kita-ward in Tokyo, Zentuji-city in Kagawa Prefecture, etc.
3)Field studies on a community which was severely affected by the tragedy of illegal thrown-away of industry wastes (Teshima-Island in Kagawa Prefecture).
Through these field studies, we can identify the political, economic and social processes of the wholesale businesses of recycled resources concentrating into the outskirts of the city. We can grasp the changing processes of their activities, social status, and everyday lives in relation to the economic growth toward high-consumption society, as well. Surveys on the advanced efforts of making local recycle system showed the possibility of the linkage between the solid-waste recycling movement based on the long experience of community activities and the empowerment efforts by the people of the recycling industry in the modernizing reflexive process.
Field studies on a community severely affected by the illegal thrown-away showed that our environment would receive a huge impact if we failed to control the processes of disposing waste. In such a severely damaged community, the strategy to get well their environment should be based on the strategy for reconstructing more sustainable economic system there.

This research was carried out for two years for the following two purposes: (1) to clarify the quality of life of elderly, and the intergenerational co-residence status of people in Japan, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia respectively, and (2) to concretely examine the effects of intergenerational co-residence status as well as intergenerational relationships in a broad sense, on the quality of life of elderly, by analyzing survey data.In October 2001 and December 2001 during the first year of the research, we carried out field surveys in Taiwan and Singapore in order to collect the latest data on the quality of life of elderly and intergenerational co-residence, and to conduct interviews concerning the present situation of research. In the second year of the research, we collected a wide range of documents of basic data on social relationships and quality of life, focusing on intergenerational, especially interfamilial co-residence status, and we prepared bibliography concerning documents, materials and statistical reports.As a conclusion of the research for these two years, we have prepared a research report on the research framework of "Living Arrangements" as well as research report for each of the five targeted countries based on the analysis of the collected documents and materials, and submit them as a combined report of research results with the main report under the following title: Comparative Research on Intergenerational Living Arrangements and Quality of Life of Elderly People in East and Southeast Asia

In this research, the actual conditioner community movements for safe and sustainable community was investigated. Community movements in Tokyo, Kyoto, Kobe, and Yubari-city aiming at disaster-preventive, well-being, sustainabie and vigorous local culture were taken up as targets of field studies. Moreover, investigation was simultaneously done about the conditions and the cultural backgrounds for such local activity being attained.
While the organizing processes and the backgrounds of the collective movements were modeled as several patterns, knowledge was acquired about the thought typically conceived by leaders of these movements.
Moreover, stricken areas, such as the Great Hanshin Earthquake and an eruption- calamity of Mt.Unzen Fugen, were investigated for measuring the potentiality of calamity-response and crisis management of the community. According to those factors listed below, they were patterned as some typical local types.
(1) socioeconomic composition and density of population.
(2) social damage resulted from calamity, and the chain of the social influences.
(3) reaction of local residents and their collective activities.
(4) consciousness of safety culture.
(5) social system, such as crisis management system, etc.
The social process from right after the calamity to restoration and reconstruction stages in each type of local community was depicted in model. Furthermore, investigation at the Mikura-area of Nagata, Kobe-city was done in detail.
As a conclusion, local people were obliged to decide their strategy for family living in a quite early stage of restoration and reconstruction processes with receiving the pressures that vary with each type and position in the social stratification. Without the local collective efforts functionning effectively and successfully in a quite early stage, a local resident's agreement for community reconstruction and future neighbourhood planning was becoming more and more difiicult to make because of loss and disruption of social cohesion.