Category: Japan

Japan is one of the developed countries in the world, it has an unique urban form which is very different from other developed and Asian countries. Japan started its modernization since the Meiji period. At that time, Japan learned a lot of urban design experience from western countries, but it did not use those principles directly. The planners in Japan applied them based on Japanese culture and situations. During the process of the urban development, Japan created its new planning system which was suitable for itself and made Japan’s urban form distinctive from other countries. The term ‘Machi’ helps to illustrate the Japanese style well, it’s a small-scale approach to functional changes. This paper will discuss how Japan imported foreign urban design ideas and applied them on their own modern urban construction then formed a distinctive urban pattern. Finally, the paper will discuss how Japan used its urban planning method to Tokyo urban development.

Imported Foreign Urban Design Ideas

In the Meiji period, the Iwakura Mission headed by Iwakura Tomomi and other three elites presenting almost half of the elite group that controlled the Meiji government. This mission sent many officials and students to the US and European countries to learn advanced technologies and knowledge. It lasted almost 2 years. It was the beginning of the Japan learning from the West. During the process, Japan learned some urban design principles. The most important one is Howard’s Garden City which Japanese showed great interest in it. But they did not use it directly, they adjusted the principle according to Japan’s situation. It was first used in the New Tokyo Plan to deconcentrate Tokyo. In this plan, the city’s size was limited to ten kilometers (a one-hour commute at the time), the subcenters and satellite cities were proposed. It resembled Howard’s diagram number 5 of city growth, but it used the theory for a large metropolis instead of a town and proposed decentralizing commercial areas to the rim of cities.

The German idea of urban landscape which developed from the nineteenth century in conjunction with Anglo-American ideas sought to reform existing cities by small neighborhoods separated by green areas. This idea was coincident with the thought of Japanese planners. They prefer small-scale, machi-like patterns.

The Japanese planners Ishikawa and Nishiyama who were two important planners in Japan’s history focused on aspects of foreign planning that revolved around the idea of small cities and on urban units as the basis for metropolitan planning. They paid attention on works of the American planner Clarence Perry and Thomas Adams. Perry was a strong advocate of the neighborhood unit. He was an early promoter of neighborhood community and recreation centers. Thomas Adams was a pioneer of urban planning; he became a designer of low-density residential developments that were commonly referred to as ‘garden suburbs’. Both of their proposals were close to Japan’s city division into independent units.

The Japanese planners appreciated another German planner, Gottfried Feder. In 1939, he wrote ‘The New City’. He proposed creating agricultural cities of 20,000 people divided into nine autonomous units and surrounded by agricultural areas. Each city was to be fully autonomous and self-sufficient, with detailed plans for daily living and urban amenities provided. Nishiyama appreciated Feder’s ideas very much, his reference to Feder’s book had a lasting influence on the Japanese interpretation. When Japanese used Feder’s theory to their own planning, they just applied the patterns that the notion of adjoining centers catered to all daily needs linked into a larger network of central places, meanwhile, they ignored the esthetic part and the European medieval forms of the theory.

Thus, Japanese planners picked up Western ideas, especially German concepts to develop their own cities. Their selections based on their own needs and understanding of the organization of cities in small units, decentralization and deconcentration. They developed their cities as a conglomerate of neighborhood.

Japan’s Urban Modernization

In the history, European and American planners tried to change Japan’s urban appearances and wanted to give a big influence on its city planning by western urban design principles. While Japanese planners picked up useful foreign planning concepts and transformed the cities from feudal society pattern to modern urban form based on their own needs. During the Meiji restoration, the Meiji government overturned the prohibition of land transaction, and landowners became powerful. At the meanwhile, the government could finance by land taxes because of the private landownership. Private landownership became a major factor in shaping Japanese urban planning which prevented the government expropriation or planning on a large scale.

Because of the society change, many aristocrats left Tokyo and returned to the provinces, leaving vast abandoned spaces in the center of the capital. This change reinforced the existing patchwork character of Japanese cities. The Japanese elite needs more tools for Japan’s modernization. They integrated Western planning concepts into Japanese thinking. There were seldom projects in Japan used European grand design, but one project was inspired by Parisian axis and symmetry, a government district in Hibiya in 1887. It proposed large boulevards connecting major institutions and ministries and wanted to create monumental public places surrounded by large buildings and a new central station. Finally, the project was dropped and the government just took a piecemeal approach to improve the following Tokyo’s roads and parks constructions. Japan did not have monumental urban design and never attempted to change existing landownership structure. They just wanted a planning instrument designed to unify urban landscape and preserve a particular Japanese status.

During the modernization process, Japanese planners used a suitable instrument: land readjustment. Early forms of land readjustment for the urbanization of rural areas divided large areas into tiny building sites to maximize the profits of the land. Because of the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 Japanese planners turned land adjustment as their main instrument of urban planning. This instrument helped Japanese to rebuild their homes and businesses rapidly. Land readjustment let people stay on their former sites which they had already occupied, and introduced minor changes to the site. While creating new thoroughfares, the city’s old land division was not changed a lot by using land readjustment. It reduced the size of the building sites, and irregular and tiny lots were produced which made the buildings further up in height.

Those developments in Japan’s history related to its traditional culture and understanding of urban pattern. The term Machi could explain it well and help to understand Japan’s urban design principles.

Machi Application

The term Machi is used to describe units inside a Japanese city which are various or diverse, such as monofunctional districts for samurai and their retainers or for merchants, and geisha district or a shopping district. The form, size, and definition of urban machi varied over the centuries. The idea of machi roots in many aspects of Japan’s urban design. In Japan’s history, the formal division of the city into units was with strict social hierarchies and control structures. The early Kyoto subdivisions were developed as towns. One block surrounded by larger streets consisted of five or six townships and several such units formed larger township. Money-lenders and sake brewers generally managed the town affairs and security, and the townspeople managed themselves. These neighborhood organizations who administrated their own events and activities have long been the primary partners of local government. Even nowadays, the local government may ask local traditional self-governing neighborhood organizations for advice before making decisions on controversial projects. Such associations based in the neighborhood are also part of strong vertical hierarchies, from neighborhood to district, ward, and prefecture. The term Machi also refers to a small town. Japan traditionally has had a large network of small towns fulfilling different purposes. Since the Meiji period, amalgamations had reduced the number of municipalities. The decline of the traditional small towns and the emergence of large metropolises led to Japan’s beginning of modern city planning.

The idea and practice of machi resonated with the rapid transformation and modernization of Japanese cities since the Meiji restoration and impacted how Japanese imported foreign concepts. When Japanese made comprehensive plans for large urban regions, they included the notion of small units. This method helped Japan’s modernization in a fast speed.

The Beginning of Modern City Planning

Since the early urban patterns were densely built up and populated, and the buildings were constructed in wood, and the streets were narrowly unpaved. In the Meiji period, to avoid incidence of fires in industrial growth became an important issue at the beginning of modern city planning. The urban administration started building broad, straight and paved streets. They also improved the water supply. Because of the centralization of the government, most new institutions and town planning measures designed with a high degree of central control. The city planning started in the capital, Tokyo, most major new ideas were firstly tried out there then extended to other cities. Because of the big fire happened in 1872, the rebuild of Ginza became a significant plan for Tokyo. The government seized the opportunity to redevelop a part of Tokyo into an impressive and fire-resistant district. In this project, the top priorities were road-widening, fireproofing and western style. Roads were widened into four widths and paved with brick and separated vehicles and pedestrians. The buildings were built in brick or stone. The first gas lighting was installed and roadside trees planted. While because of the financial shortfalls and the unpopularity of the brick buildings, this project ended in 1877. Nevertheless, it was still a successful project in the history since it contributed to the formation of Ginza as a place of modern shops, and finally led to Ginza as Tokyo’s prime commercial center.

Conclusion

During the Meiji period the urban design was developed with a high degree of technical sophistication and accompanied by contemporary developments in Europe and America. The differences between Western countries and Japan’s urban development were: Western countries’ development based on a broad coalition of health and hygiene activities, they considered the public welfare and urban quality life as the highest values; Japan’s development was hold by central government, it had limitations of the provision of main infrastructure and the houses and urban amenities were occupied by decisions.

References

1. Hein, Carola. “Machi Neighborhood and Small Town—The Foundation for Urban Transformation in Japan”. Journal of Urban History, vol. 35, no.1, 2007, pp. 75-107.
2. Hein, Carola. “Shaping Tokyo: Land Development and Planning Practice in the Early Modern Japanese Metropolis”. Journal of Urban History, vol. 36, no.4, 2010, pp. 447-484.
3. Sorensen, Andre. The Making of Urban Japan-Cities and Planning from Edo to the Twenty-First Century. Routledge, 2004.

Can the country survive and continue to run by itself? Japan was a country which is ruled by a number of emperors and they did not allow Japanese people to leave the country and do not allow any foreigner to enter in Japan. Sakoku means closed country and Sakoku policy was in use for many decades in Japan. While Sakoku, Japan’s long period of isolation from 1639 to 1853, kept it closed off from much of the world, one upshot was the rise of cultural touchstones that persist to this day. In earlier days Sakoku was beneficial but afterwards the Tokugawa it became a big problem. Sakoku policy was made to benefit the ruling class but at the end of Tokugawa period, it made the country weak economically, politically and socially.

Japan was not doing much trade or any other type of business with other countries especially the western world which was pushing the Japan economy downwards because Japan was missing a huge market. Japanese were only allowed to do trade at Dejima which is constricted port at Nagasaki. This island is separated from the mainland, so no foreigner can enter in Japan and one of the functions of Sakoku policy was this also. In the article, it is mentioned that “Trade continued to grow for several decades to a peak in 1661. On the Japanese side it was imports and not exports that provided the drive” (Louis Cullen, 2017, p.70). Japanese having an import from Dutch people but exports from Japan were very low. Which was also putting pressure on the Japanese economy. This was one of the biggest disadvantages because spending was so high on goods as compared to income.

Japan after the removal of Sakoku policy got some problems with it because Japan was closed country and do not have any political relationship with other countries. The political power was not stable in Japan so they were unable to maintain some control on the disputed lands. Japan lost some of its land to Russia. “The Meiji leadership, with its power base still not established and faced with other pressing issues, while also being fearful of Russia, ultimately sacrificed Sakhalin for the greater goals of national development, stability and demarcation” (Walker, 2015, p. 212). Japan was not in the position to fight with Russia because of Sakoku policy. Japan did not have a good relationship with other countries and also was not stable financially and politically to stand against Russia. The military of Japan was not advanced in technology because they were closed country so they do not get know about the outer world.

Japanese government also do not want any influence of foreigners on the Japanese people to secure their land and culture which was good for Japan. Text related things which were written in other languages were banned in Japan. It is stated by Annette Keogh that foreign merchants were not allowed to carry their books or documents until they are in Japan and all foreign language text was banned by officials. “All communication between merchants is done through interpreters because Japanese government do not want their people get any wrong ideas or influences from foreigners” (Keogh, 2004). Japanese people only know their language and very little number of people also know how to speak Chinese. Which played very significant role in protecting their traditions and beliefs about son God and myths about their Emperors.

Japanese people were separated from world socially because of Sakoku policy. People were not allowed to enter and not allowed to go out. Americans try to communicate with Japanese and it is said by Amir Lowell Abou-Jaoude that “Americans dispatched their naval ships two times but they were not able to communicate with each other and on third time bombardment in sea and near land and forced Japan to open and trade with them and culture is also exchanged and shared between both countries” (Abou-Jaoude, 2016). Japan would start talking with America before the bombardment but they do not know English so Japanese were unable to speak because of Sakoku policy. “After the American incident Japanese start sending the student to abroad to acquire the technological skills so they can be ready from next time” (Beasley, 1999). Japanese were not open socially with other countries and with western cultures because they do not want that their people speaking in other language than Japanese.

Thus, as seen in this essay, it is impossible for a country to survive in isolation, as it will ultimately have devastating consequences, and Sakoku’s policy confirms this.

It was just one of the ordinary days I was sitting on the gentle sofa drinking my cup of freshly brewed americano while preparing for the last exam. It seemed that nothing could disrupt me at this moment as I was too concentrated but suddenly rang out a call with a title: ‘Darling is calling’. I was sure that he is not going to tell me something special and without any foreshadowing, I took a phone. His statement staggered me: “You have to apply for a visa; I have bought tickets to Japan. We will fly out next week».

It was unexpected, and I could not really say nothing and just hung up the phone. After a while, I recognized the whole situation and was filled with the most overwhelming emotions which I first experienced in my life. Japan was my dream country from the childhood, I was fascinated with Japan’s culture and dreamed of visiting and exploring everything there on my own, but fulfilling this fantasy with the person I love is even much better. With great enthusiasm, we immediately prepared all required documents for visa and started thinking which thrilling sites we can travel over. The plan was to have a good break, expand our minds and hopefully spend some time being together while seeing something new. Finally, we received our visa, packed our suitcases and arrived at the ‘Land of the Rising Sun’.

I was full of passion and didn’t want to lose any time at all. After reaching our beautiful hotel in the center of the city with a spacious room and a spectacular view from the balcony, we went to taste the local cuisine. Our chose fell on a small restaurant with a Japanese style authentic interior and scent of fresh salmon at every turn. As a beloved ramen and sushi lover, I was happy as a clam at high tide when I had the opportunity to try them in the original version and honestly saying these dishes met all my expectations. Afterwards, we had a pleasant walk investigating main streets of Tokyo like Shibuya, Akihabara and Shinjuku, which fascinated me with their rhythm and dynamic aura of people hurrying up all the time. The brilliant ending of the day was a visit to Tokyo Skytree – the world’s tallest freestanding tower and enjoying incredible panoramic views from its observation decks.

I deem every little girl had a dream to become one of Disney’s princesses even for a day. I can’t also express my happiness when on the next day early morning my dear showed me our tickets for Tokyo Disneyland. The whole day we have spent at this magical world plunging into childhood and imagining this our fairy tale. We had been all day in the world of Disney films, enthralling attractions and parades with lots of adorable food and Disney characters. And it is not even the end of surprises that I had there, following our magical adventure I found out that we are going to another amusement park, the main theme of which is the world of Harry Potter. It was my favorite story of a real friendship, great support and love. I was so lucky to be a part of wizard universe and fantasize that I was the main hero of this novel and had different adventures with my companion.

After all, I think it’s fair to say that it was an unforgettable trip, where we created our memories that never be forgotten and left a cuddly sign in our hearts. Our motto from this trip: ‘Take only memories, leave only footprints’. I am sure that it is only beginning and more fascinating adventures are waiting for us.

Living and working in Japan is an exciting, valuable opportunity for my personal and professional growth. There are several reasons why people desire living and working in another country but I have chosen three main goals for myself.

First, I want to help the children develop a love for learning and give back to the community. I believe that the path to happiness is by the act of giving. I am the type of person who always help others without expecting anything in return. I know that I am bound to help other people in a much bigger way, and I can do that through teaching abroad. I will encourage these children that learning is fun and it is something that they will always look forward to. I believe that my purpose in life is to serve a higher purpose than myself and make a difference to the people around us. That is happiness.

Next, I would love to immerse myself in Japanese culture and share my own culture as well with others. That is simply because I love Japan. Since childhood, I have always been a huge fan of the Japanese culture, history, art, music, films, language, and of course, their foods. I was inspired and motivated by my family especially my mom since she also loves Japan. Although, other foreign culture interests me a lot too, Japan will always be on my top list. The cultural immersion experience of relocating to Japan will also foster my growth with a newly found appreciation and deeper understanding. I will also have an opportunity to accelerate my learning and practice of the Japanese language, which can be a valuable skill for the future.

Lastly, I want to support my loving family better and explore the natural beauty of Japan. Family is everything to me. They are the reason why I am here today. Why I am better than yesterday. My parents have sacrificed a lot for bringing me up and have been supporting me throughout my whole life without hesitations. And teaching in Japan is one of the decisions I made that they also supported. That is why, I will work hard and do everything that I can for them. And during my time in Japan, I will surely explore its natural beauty. I have a deep love and respect for nature. I would love to visit their national parks, and watch the sky move and just feel the breeze. I would also love to visit their museums (one them is the Ghibli Museum, because I am a fan of Hayao Miyazaki’s works). I would also love to visit their historic old castles, their shrines and temples, the sea and ocean and then watch fireworks at night during festivals while eating takoyaki. What an experience it would be!

To conclude, living and working in Japan will help me achieve one of my goals and that is to teach. I understand that Japan is a unique and sacred place and I would love to be able to explore it while doing what I love. I can even send help to my family in my home country while I’m enjoying my job with the kids. I will get to do all the things I want and need at the same time. Living and working in Japan will be something I will treasure for the rest of my life.

In October 2018 I had the opportunity to travel to Japan, over eight days I gained some understanding of this culture vastly different to my own with its rich history and I was inspired to expand on my passion for photography and film-making so I could share my experiences with others. One of my favourite vloggers is Casey Neistat, who has over 10 million subscribers. I drew on his techniques as inspiration for my own vlog to capture my journey in Japan. Using his artistic skills alongside my own vision I wanted to create a ‘vlog’ style video conveying to my audience key things about Japanese culture and history. The Casey Neistat “vlog” format consists of a personal and relaxed video that invites the audience to share in his journey; this is something I wanted to replicate. I want viewers to feel they are coming with me on my adventure, and learn with me all the things Japan has to offer.

His video ‘HOW TO VLOG LIKE CASEY NEISTAT by CASEY NEISTAT’ was particularly helpful as the tutorial explained basic techniques to use when filming and also conveyed this in a way that was easy to understand especially for a beginner like me. Following Neistat’s videos I also watched ‘MY ALL TIME GREATEST!!!’ and ‘Peter Mckinnon teaches me to VLog (in AMSTERDAM)’ Using these resources, I was able to go to Japan with a vision and understanding of how I wanted my video to be presented, this made coming home and starting the editorial process easy. I realised that it was also important to plan footage ahead of time by looking at my schedule. I also researched into Japanese vlogs discovering one vlog by Marianna Hewitt ‘TRAVEL VLOG: TOKYO, JAPAN’ Having seen the itinerary for my own trip I realised she had visited places I would be going to, so I used this video for inspiration to help me get an idea of filming techniques as well as capturing them in a way that would be interesting to an audience.

Furthermore, I spent the weeks before Japan researching the culture and how it differs to other countries, especially England. I reviewed and read three articles from the website ‘Lonely Planet’. These articles in particular were very useful, especially with understanding in a wider depth about the places we would be soon visiting. One article shared information about Kyoto, it read ‘Kyoto is a walk-in mysterious places’ I was able to expand my knowledge further about the ‘cultural encounters’ as a tourist I would experience. Another article I found when researching was ‘etiquette tips’ for travelling in Japan as a whole. This was particularly important to understand the culture and behaviour before travelling to a country that is so incomparable to anything I had ever experienced before. From reading about the importance of Geisha girls to the Japanese culture I researched the fascination behind the Geisha girls. One article ‘Gion’ clearly conveys the purpose of Geisha girls but also the problems the Geisha girls face due to paparazzi. I had to remember to be careful when trying to capture something that is so clearly valuable to the Japanese culture but also remember that capturing a video or a picture of a geisha girl would be incredibly difficult.

Through research, it became increasingly clear that it is vital to understand the culture of Japan to truly assimilate and appreciate all that Japan has to offer. I came across one article ‘30 Reasons to visit Japan – Why you should visit Japan once in your life’ which emphasized the cultural importance of Japan which was rated number three on their list of reasons to visit this amazing country. I decided this vlog would be the perfect opportunity to elaborate and expand people’s knowledge of Japan. Japan is a country that has a tradition at the core of everyday life and thought I would be able to capture my personal experience by creating a vlog exploring my experience of many different areas of the culture that I was exposed to.

After filming all the footage when I was in Japan, when I got home I had to choose music for the vlog. I started by reading the article ‘How To: Choose the Right Music for Your Video’

I also watched the YouTube video ‘3 TIPS On Choosing THE BEST MUSIC For Videos’ by Matti Haapoja. However, I did not find this video helpful as it recommended a music downloading website ‘epidemicsound’ which required a fee to actually access any of the music, not wanting to do this for a website I had not heard of before I was then back at square one. I had a clear vision of the kind of music I wanted, and how it should link to the video. I wanted to be selective in my choice of music as I wanted it to reflect the feelings of excitement and adventure which I experienced on my journey. I decided to re-watch some of Casey Neistat’s videos to understand the type of music he uses in the background of his videos. He too uses music to help viewers to share in his emotions. After this my next step was to use SoundCloud and I discovered an account ‘Casey Neistat Vlog Music’ this is an account created containing music Neistat uses in his videos. Again, I was not successful in finding something which was right for my own video. But I realised that it was important to spend time on this process as choosing the wrong song would not do the footage justice as it would invite the wrong feelings in my audience. I then went back to YouTube and came across a playlist called ‘Travel Vlog Music’. One of the songs included in this playlist was called ‘Adventure’ by an artist called A Himitsu I realised was a perfect fit to the type of music I wanted for my video. The lively tone, as well as a constant beat, would enable easy editing and capture the feelings I experienced on my travels, ones of excitement and anticipation. The climaxes in the music would also enable the technique used by Neistat to be portrayed in my own video, as he places the most captivating clips of footage right at the climax in music to add to feelings of elation in his audience. One of Casey’s key techniques which I emulated is to edit the vlog around the beats of the music. I used this method in my own editing, as I tried to edit my own vlog around the climaxes and the beat.

After I had found the perfect song to suit my video I used the website SoundCloud to download and transfer the music to iMovie (which is the free editing software that I used). The song luckily was free to download and had no copyright, allowing me and other users to use it freely. I quickly realised that one song would not be enough, as this song was only 3 minutes and 44 seconds, meaning the song would not last for the duration of my video. I had a clearer idea this time of where to look for good ‘vlog’ style music so I turned to SoundCloud again and discovered a track called ‘Summer Vibes’ by Simon More which was recommended by the website after listening to the other song I used. The reason I picked this second track was that the song unlike the first song, ‘Summer Vibes’ had a gradual climax which I thought would draw attention to the video and keep the audience interested due to the delayed climax, creating more anticipation. The music tracks had elements of similarity but had enough differences to add a new depth of excitement instead of boring an audience with a repetitive and unending song. Another issue I was faced with was blending the two tracks together. I wanted a smooth transition to make the change between the songs as subtle as possible. I picked the two songs as they are both upbeat and fit with the theme of the video. I wanted songs that both reached climaxes or beat drops which enabled me to replicate the editing techniques of Neistat.

Despite being the main focus of my EPQ being the progression of the editing and learning how to produce a vlog, it was also my aim to reflect the culture and history of the country of Japan. I was worried that this would not be shown clearly enough in my video. I then spoke to my supervisor about this worry in order to get a second opinion, after this discussion I realised my video needed to be clearer in its portrayal of the culture in order for my audience to get a true understanding of what it was like. I then went beyond my original plan which was simply editing the footage which I took whilst in Japan. I had hoped that the video clips I had filmed whilst travelling would be clear in their explanations, but I wanted to do a thorough job of explaining and this had not been achieved with my existing footage. I therefore decided to re-record speaking clips to make sure the story I was telling was streamlined. I also recorded voiceovers to explain in further depth activities I carried out whilst I was in Japan. I decided to add in the extra dialogue to explain to my audience the activities I participated in and how they portray the culture and history of Japan. I came to the understanding that without the extra explanation, some of the cultures is lost as my audience wouldn’t necessarily understand what I was doing in the video and how the activity actually shows the culture and history of Japan. I felt this was especially important when I explained in depth about Kanji writing and how important it is to portray Japanese culture. I then noticed my knowledge was flawed and I then researched more into the different types of Japanese writing, combining knowledge from research and the knowledge I had gained whilst in Japan through talking to our personal tour guide. I realised I could explain to my audience clearly what Kanji writing actually is. I read the article ‘Is stroke order important in Japanese writing’ Written by Queenie Kawabe. The article helped me understand the importance of Kanji writing and reminded me about the brushstroke techniques we learned whilst in Japan. These questions stemmed to import more audio in other places throughout my video where I explain activities or locations that are crucial to Japan. This train of thought resulted in adding dialogue to three more areas of my video. This was an obstacle I did not expect, but now after gaining more insight into the art of film-making (even on this small scale) not everything goes to plan, and also it was important that I enjoyed my time travelling and was not just seeing a country through a camera lens.

Additionally, after inserting new clips and changing the order of my video I realised that I had a problem with the music. As I had used Neistat’s technique (editing the video clips around the beat of the music) all the music was now out of sync, due to the reordering of clips. This was quite frustrating as it had been a very lengthy process to time clip transitions around music. I had to watch the video multiple times, drawing on my newfound technique of ‘splitting clips’ (meaning literally clips are cut at different points) to time the change of clips to music. I learned this basic technique when I came across a video ‘How to Split a Clip (iMovie 2018) by BTech Reviews. This video had the most updated iMovie software meaning that it was up to date with the latest features. The video was useful as I could follow it step by step making it easier to practise and learn the technique.

Moreover, before adding in the voiceovers, I was worried that my video as a whole was too short as generally when I researched travel vlogs the time frame would range between 6 minutes to 15 minutes. However, with the extra footage added I increased my video from around 4 minutes to nearly 7 minutes, I was happy with this outcome as I wanted my footage to be ‘quality over quantity but I also wanted it to be long enough in order to teach my audience about the culture; the extra detail was necessary to ensure my video portrayed what I wanted it to. However, even when adding extra footage, I ensured I was very selective and only used the best parts of the clips. A high-standard video was something I really valued, and unnecessary clips which added length were not included. In Japan, I purposely filmed longer clips so I could be selective in my editing process. I wanted to have a large selection of footage to choose from so I wasn’t scrambling for clips or missing vital parts of my trip which portrayed the culture.

In order to see if my audience learned anything about this beautiful culture, I produced a questionnaire. My audience has consisted of staff and Sixth form students at my school. I instructed the participants to fill this out throughout the duration of the video. The aim was to see if my audience was able to answer questions about the culture and history of Japan based on my video. The questions created were based on things they saw and heard in the video. I calculated with 21 candidates and 10 questions to answer I had a success rate 95% (success meaning they answered the questions about culture correctly). This, therefore, proves that indeed my video did portray the culture and history of Japan and not only that but I presented the content in a way that my audience was able to understand as they answered the majority of questions correctly. With the questionnaire I did factor in human error, and that misreading the questions or having to leave the presentation early were key reasons why the remaining 5% was wrong.

In conclusion, the aim of my EPQ was to create a video in the style of a vlog using the YouTuber Casey Neistat for inspiration. I felt that overall my video was a success in seeing if creating a video in the style of a ‘vlog’ was possible for someone with no experience of filmmaking and if I could use techniques Neistat uses in my own video. I especially wanted to create a video where my audience felt as if they went on the journey to Japan with me, something Casey Neistat conveys clearly in his vlogs. I feel I achieved this aim with the clips I recorded where I explained the activities I was participating in and how the vlog highlighted the Japanese culture. I also used the vlog to portray the culture and history of Japan to my audience. From having analysed the data retrieved from my questionnaire it can be concluded that in conveying the history and culture of Japan I was successful, this was a result of the majority of the questions about Japanese culture having been answered correctly. For improvement on a video next time I came to the realisation that I missed areas of the culture that I would have wanted to expand on, such as the Geisha girls, Japanese food and Hiroshima are areas I would have liked to develop further. With a restricted amount of footage, I couldn’t elaborate on these areas in depth and this would be something I would focus on next time. However, overall the selected areas I chose to develop further did highlight the culture of Japan and I had enough areas to make my video interesting to my audience. Overall, I developed a video in the style of a vlog that presented my journey in Japan experiencing first-hand the brief overview of the culture and history of Japan.

Executive Summary

Unfortunately, the United States has a mediocre child vaccination rate, especially when compared to Japan, a country which has one of the highest rates of child vaccination in the world. An analysis is required to understand the reasons behind high child vaccination rates in Japan. Once an analysis is done, key methods utilized by the Japanese government in increasing child vaccination rates should be highlighted, then subsequently modified plus adapted in a way that can be implemented within United States health care programs. Thereby aiding the United States in its quest to continue improving the child vaccination rates. One of the key differences between the United States vaccination system and that of Japan, is the volume of vaccines administered per person. Upon researching the topic, it appears that Japan is significantly more reserved when it comes to actually administering vaccines to its child population. This methodology is a stark contrast to the United States, where vaccinations are given through pregnancy, and then throughout the infancy of a child.

Introduction

It is apparent that the United States as a country prides itself in being the number one country in a variety of sectors, however an area that clearly requires growth is child vaccination rates. As previously mentioned, it appears that Japan is in fact one of the leading nations with respect to child vaccination rates. The purpose of this policy brief is to analyze how Japan has achieved the public health feat of being one of the leading countries in regard to vaccination rates, and then use it as an inspiration for new policies for the United States to attempt to implement.

Context and Background

Contextually speaking, it is apparent now that the United States is playing catch up to reach the esteemed honor of having one of the highest vaccination rates globally. According to OECD’s data, it appears that Japan has the third highest rate of vaccinations (for Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis/Measles) whereas United States lags behind at roughly twenty-seventh place (Child vaccination rates – OECD Data, 2019). This begs the question, how is Japan able to achieve such high rates, and what is enabling the country to do so.

Firstly, it important to look at what exactly Japans vaccine policy constitutes. The current policy began in 1994, when the vaccine laws were restructured to incorporate an individual’s consent as a “core conceptual component” (Doshi, P., & Akabayashi, A., 2010). The policy is also fundamentally considered a voluntary vaccination policy, where the population receives vaccinations under recommendations rather than necessity. This system was created due to the distraught brought upon the Japanese government when mandatory vaccination was still in effect. From one of the many studies done by the Japanese one “6-year-long survey tracking over 70,000 children a year failed to find a difference in the size of epidemics between those areas vaccinated and those unvaccinated, prompting the national government to relax the law” (Doshi, P., & Akabayashi, A., 2010). It appears that the Japanese do not see any value in mandating vaccines, thus why the use of a voluntary program.

Now it’s time to dive into what are some of the differences between the Japanese and United States vaccine methodology. From Children’s Health Defense, Japan has 6 unique methods of maintaining such high vaccine rates that should be highlighted. Firstly, Japan has no vaccine mandates. Rather than making vaccines mandatory they are recommended and are either covered by insurance (routine) or self-paid for (voluntary) (Children’s Health Defense, 2019). Secondly, Japan does not vaccinate newborns with the Hep-B vaccines until unless the mother has already been determined to be Hepatitis B positive (Children’s Health Defense, 2019). Thirdly, Japan does not vaccinate pregnant mothers with the Tdap or tetanus-diphtheria acellular pertussis vaccine (Children’s Health Defense, 2019). Fourth, Japan does not give flu shots to pregnant mothers, or to six-month-old infants (Children’s Health Defense, 2019). Fifth, Japan does not give the MMR vaccine, instead the MR vaccine is recommended (Children’s Health Defense, 2019). Last but not least, Japan does not require the Human Papillomavirus vaccine (Children’s Health Defense, 2019). On top of these six differences, Japan also has an extremely “safe” approach to vaccinating children. For instance, “When two infants died within 24 hours of receiving DTwP in the winter of 1974–1975, the government suspended licensure of DTwP. Licensure was reinstated two months later with a change in the minimum recommended age from 3 months to 2 years as a precaution” (Kuwabara, N., & Ching, M. S., 2014). This is indicative of the Japanese vaccine culture, and the mentality to be precautious even when a handful of deaths occur potentially due to vaccines. These methodologies have aided in the success of Japans vaccination status, to an almost enigmatic degree.

The United States vaccine structure in contrast is heavily a proponent for vaccines, recommending routine vaccination through pregnancy, specifically the HepB vaccine within the first day of birth, this occurs even though “99.9% of pregnant women, upon testing, are [HepB] negative” (Children’s Health Defense, 2019). Moreover, the amount of vaccines administered to mothers in the first two years of life is absurd, being roughly between 20 and 22 vaccine doses (Children’s Health Defense, 2019). Not only are mothers heavily vaccinated the United States also administers Flu and Tdap vaccines to pregnant women, even though FDA has not officially licensed any of the administered injections as safe or specifically usable by pregnant women (Children’s Health Defense, 2019). It appears that vaccine the methods utilized by the United States are opposite to that of the Japanese methodology; rather than being precautious in how and when vaccines are administered, the mentality is to give all the vaccinations as soon as possible in order to create resistance early on, yet ironically this same mentality is harming the United States ability to stand on top of the vaccination-rate charts.

To assess and recognize which of these Japanese methods the United States should attempt to implement is no easy feat, yet through there implementation may in fact potentially increase child as well as general vaccination rates.

Policy Implications

The first concern to address, is why should policy makers care about the issue at hand. The response is simple, greater vaccination rates leads to healthier working-class citizens (plus the reduction in spread of disastrous diseases or infections), which leads to greater productivity, which ultimately leads to a stronger, booming economy.

Current vaccination rates in the United States, in particular Texas are not to par with what the Health People 2020 target is. Texas currently has roughly 70% vaccinated population whereas the goal is 80% (Policy and Advocacy., 2019). If Japanese methodologies were implemented, the current vaccination rate number could in fact see a serious increase, thus enable the country to increase its national rate of vaccinations. This statistic is representative of the Texan population; however, it is also clear that the nation as a whole is not at its target percentage of 80%, thus making it an imperative to try and adapt or create new policies to help advance the vaccine rates.

On top this, it is apparent that current vaccine methods are not preventing diseases of the past, for instance measles. Unfortunately, through current United States vaccine policies, it appears that the amount of measle cases has increased by almost 256% (Kluberg, S. A., Mcginnis, D. P., Hswen, Y., Majumder, M. S., Santillana, M., & Brownstein, J. S., 2017).

Overall it is clear that United States vaccination policies are not up to par with the goals in mind, the implications of attempting new policy methods could be astronomical for national vaccination efficacy.

Recommendations

With these concerns addressed, it important to look at what actions are in fact available for us to take. At a fundamental level, Japanese vaccination procedures need to be analyzed and then used to create new more profound policies in the United States. As mentioned in the background, it is apparent Japan already does utilize some radical methods that are surprisingly effective.

One area that could be seen as a weakness within the United States policy is the concept of mandatory vaccines. It is apparent that “all 50 states require children to receive…vaccinations before attending… school” (Barraza, L., Schmit, C., & Hoss, A., 2017). Not only are vaccines mandatory in schools, they have also become mandatory in the healthcare workforce (Barraza, L., Schmit, C., & Hoss, A., 2017). The concept of mandatory vaccines is controversial in nature, but more than its controversial nature is the reality that it does not achieve rates of vaccination like Japan, with its voluntary vaccination program.

This leads to the first recommendation, which is to transform the current policies from mandatory to a more voluntary style of administering vaccines. This would a challenge, however if successfully implemented could transform the vaccine rate outcome of the United States.

The next area of improvement is the quantity of vaccines being administered to child population. In Japan it is clear that the amount of vaccines being administered are to a minimum and the age vaccines are given are 6 months to 2 years after a child’s birth. This methodology of vaccination is very passive and should be adopted for the United States, thus being the second recommendation. If the United States can begin to reduce the sheer volume of vaccines given to children and also reduce vaccine doses “from three to two…may sever to increase vaccination rates by reducing costs and logistical barriers…by providing a motivation for initiating vaccination at younger” age (Hirth, J. M., Berenson, A. B., Cofie, L. E., Matsushita, L., Kuo, Y.-F., & Rupp, R. E., 2019).

These two recommendations combined have the potential to make a significant impact on the child vaccine efficacy rates.

Conclusion

Through changing mandatory vaccine mentality to a more voluntary one, and by changing the amount of vaccines given to children, it is possible to increase vaccine rates within the United States. All in all, through an analysis on the Japanese health care system, the United States should implement these recommendations influenced by the Japanese system in order to attempt to increase the child vaccination rates.

Bibliography

1. Barraza, L., Schmit, C., & Hoss, A. (2017, 03). The Latest in Vaccine Policies: Selected Issues in School Vaccinations, Healthcare Worker Vaccinations, and Pharmacist Vaccination Authority Laws. The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 45(1_suppl), 16-19. doi:10.1177/1073110517703307
2. Berenson, A. B., Rupp, R., Dinehart, E. E., Cofie, L. E., Kuo, Y., & Hirth, J. M. (2018, 10). Achieving high HPV vaccine completion rates in a pediatric clinic population. Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics, 15(7-8), 1562-1569. doi:10.1080/21645515.2018.1533778
3. Doshi, P., & Akabayashi, A. (2010, 05). Japanese Childhood Vaccination Policy. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 19(3), 283-289. doi:10.1017/s0963180110000058
4. Health care use – Child vaccination rates – OECD Data. (n.d.). Retrieved October 24, 2019, from https://data.oecd.org/healthcare/child-vaccination-rates.htm
5. Hirth, J. M., Berenson, A. B., Cofie, L. E., Matsushita, L., Kuo, Y.-F., & Rupp, R. E. (2019). Caregiver acceptance of a patient navigation program to increase human papillomavirus vaccination in pediatric clinics: a qualitative program evaluation. Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics, 15(7-8), 1585–1591. doi: 10.1080/21645515.2019.1587276
6. Japan Leads the Way: No Vaccine Mandates and No MMR Vaccine = Healthier Children • Children’s Health Defense. (2019, April 23). Retrieved October 24, 2019, from https://childrenshealthdefense.org/news/vaccines/japan-leads-the-way-no-vaccine-mandates-and-no-mmr-vaccine-healthier-children/
7. Kluberg, S. A., Mcginnis, D. P., Hswen, Y., Majumder, M. S., Santillana, M., & Brownstein, J. S. (2017, 11). County-level assessment of United States kindergarten vaccination rates for measles mumps rubella (MMR) for the 2014–2015 school year. Vaccine, 35(47), 6444-6450. doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2017.09.080
8. Kuwabara, N., & Ching, M. S. (2014, December). A review of factors affecting vaccine preventable disease in Japan. Retrieved October 24, 2019, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4300546/
9. Policy and Advocacy. (n.d.). Retrieved October 24, 2019, from https://www.aap.org/en-us/advocacy-and-policy/aap-health-initiatives/immunizations/Pages/Policy-and-Advocacy.aspx

The Second World War was unlike the First World War in that it was not seen as a European war. World War II was a clearly defined world war in that it was a war fought in two spheres and involved several countries across the globe. The first sphere was the European sphere where Germany and Italy tried to ravage Europe, and the second sphere was the Pacific sphere, a newcomer to the fore. Japan, a rising power, was threatening the peace in the Pacific. Japan rose to prominence in World War II largely through the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The question arises, why did Japan still attack Pearl Harbor? In this essay, I will try to answer it.

Japan’s motivation for attacking Pearl Harbor was largely driven by its political self-interests, its scarcity of economic resources and perceived opportunity costs, as well as the embargo policy of America. Japan’s economic interest forced dramatic changes in its domestic and foreign affairs as it suffered greatly from the Great Depression. Japan was inspired by the rise of nationalism and the ultra-nationalist movement, as well as the military-led authoritarian governments of Germany and Italy. Hackler posits that Japan assessed its comparative costs, decided that China and Russia were inferior to Japan’s might, and set out on a path of military conquest rather than peaceful trade. Considering its very survival under threat, Japan intensified the search for a permanent alternative. The most obvious target was Southeast Asia, rich in minerals and oil. The success of Germany in Europe in 1940 had orphaned French and Dutch colonies in the region, and they became the focus of Japanese attention. Japan was very calculative in her move, and it knew that France could not defend her colony as she was busily fighting for her survival in Europe, so Japan, as the saying goes, struck while the iron was still hot. While occupying French Indochina in July 1941, Japan knew that a full-scale invasion of Southeast Asia would prompt war with America. It needed a mechanism to buy itself sufficient time and space to conquer successfully crucial targets like the Philippines, Burma, and Malaya. The attack on Pearl Harbor was that mechanism, merely a means to an end.

David Berganini argued that Japan had planned a war from the early 1930s and that the emperor had been very much involved. Therefore, one can argue that Japan because of this preconceived plan can be seen as the aggressor in Asia. Other historians suggest that Japan was simply pursuing a traditional European-style imperialist policy similar to what was done by England and France. The argument is that Japan did not plan the war, however, the war occurred because Japan took too many risks. It was a big gamble that did not end well. One can also argue that the USA was to be blamed for the war in the Pacific. The argument is that Japan wanted to free Asia from the domination of the West by its actions, and primarily the attack on Pearl Harbor. Japan wanted to cure Western domination because they thought the West was corrupting their people with Western values.

World War II was a war fought between the Axis Powers and the Allies. Japan, part of the Axis Powers, bombed Pearl Harbor where the United States war ships were sanctioned which led to America joining the Allies. With the fear of another attack from the Japanese, Americans demanded action to be taken against the Japanese-Americans to ensure their safety.

Throughout World War II, Japanese internment camps was considered unjust because of the conditions of the relocation and the aftermath that followed. The process of relocating people of Japanese descent was unmerited. For example, Japanese-Americans had twenty-four hours to sell their homes and businesses in 1942 (‘Japanese Internment in America’, 269). Due to the short time slot, neighbors took advantage of the Japanese dilemma and bought their possessions underpriced. Only what they could carry, as well as a list dictating items acceptable, could be brought to camp. In addition, the Japanese-Americans, more than 120,000, living west of the Rocky Mountains, not including Hawaii, were incarcerated in a series of camps in the west and Arkansas (Adachi, 164). Hawaii had a large population of Japanese-Americans and the order was not executed due to their significant involvement in the economy. While some Japanese-Americans who were relocated were not an American citizen, two-thirds were. Furthermore, people of German and Italian nationals were given hearings before internment to determine their loyalty (Showalter, 188). After their internment were when the interned Japanese received hearings on their allegiance to America.

All three of these people’s nationals opposed the United States during the war, but only two were given fair individual hearings. The Japanese internment camps were inexcusable and groundless.

It took years for justice on the events of Japanese internment camps. Moreover, during the civil rights movement in the 1960s the internees started to speak up (Stock, 3-4). While the Cold War was happening, the Japanese-Americans did not protest their unfair treatment due to the fear of being challenged on their loyalties again. With other people fighting for the end of racism, spurred on the Internees march for justice. For instance, a 1983 report called the Ringle Report, suppressed by the U.S. government, was found decades later concluded that the Executive Order 9066 was not justified by military necessity (‘Japanese Internment Camps’, 274).

This report was found that there was only three percent suspected Japanese-Americans enemy spies who were already detained. The Ringle Report firmly believed that each case should be handled individually and not judged by race. Further, the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, also called the House of Resolution 442, was passed by congress apologizing and issuing twenty-thousand dollars to the surviving internees as well as ensuring this would not happen again (‘Japanese Internment in America’, 277). A Nisei battalion was the reason why the act was symbolically named to honor the soldiers still willing to fight for country mistreating their people and to prove their loyalty. With the terror of ISIS, the United States were only allowed to deport those who were not an American citizen and if an American citizen with due process of law because of the Civil Liberties Act. Although it took a long time, recognition on these injustices did come to light.

World War II and the Allies victory are events studied today by students. Japanese internment camps are not as widely known and should be included in lessons and history books. There must not be a repeat of the removal of people and the after-effects because of fear and racism.

Japan and Switzerland are two sovereign nation – states that greatly differ between each other from their sovereignty, government, population, and territory. Japan has both a larger territory and population size than Switzerland and their timelines of sovereignty are quite different, but their government systems share some similarities. These two nation states are prime examples of the similarities and differences between the variety of different groups on this planet.

Japan was always a sovereign state for it was never colonized but rather colonized other countries. However, the country experienced many conflicts over who was in control of the country across its history. The two main components that affected Japan’s ruling were powerful Japanese families/clans and Japan’s involvement in World War II. Japan’s participation in World War II is the main component that affected its sovereignty. Up until 1868, Japan was ruled under the Tokugawa clan since 1603. The country was run under a feudal system and was operated by the Tokugawa Shogunate (‘shogunate’ meaning ‘military regime’). The shogun, supreme military general, had ultimate power has the head of state, government, and commander of the military. For the next 265 years, the Tokugawa clan implements a policy of isolation from other nations and also eliminating trade with other nations, allowing Japan to develop its culture but also setting Japan back technologically. During this time period, the emperor served as only a figurehead. In 1868, a group of samurai overpowered the Tokugawa shogunate and restored the power of the emperor as the head of government (Hong et al., 2015). This kickstarted the Meiji Restoration period, which was aimed after the new emperor, Emperor Meiji. The now imperial (ruled by an emperor) government opened the country to other nations and foreign relations. The goal of the new government was to modernize Japan by incorporating Western influence and adopting a parliamentary government in 1889 accompanied with a constitution that gave the emperor executive power (‘Japan’, 2009). The Meiji Restoration period continued until the death of Emperor Meiji in 1912. After the Meiji period, Japan greatly expanded its empire westward into China and imperializing other Asian countries such as Vietnam and Korea (‘Japan’, 2009). During World War II (1839-1945), Japan formed an alliance with Germany and Italy known as the Axis powers. In 1941, Japan attacked the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; this event brought the United States into World War II, joining the Allied forces against the Axis powers. In August of 1945, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on two Japanese cities: Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan, in order to prevent further destruction to its country, surrendered in the following days. In the following years, Japan was occupied by the Allied forces until they could once again be trusted. In 1947, Japan was forced to create a new constitution where the emperor no longer had executive power but now only served as a symbol for Japan; the power was shifted to the prime minister (‘Japan’, 2019). This constitution is still in effect today. Japan has a unitary form of government, specifically a parliamentary constitutional monarchy meaning that the country’s actual form of government is determined by its constitution and includes a parliament (legislative body of government). The prime minister is the executive power and leads the country while the emperor is the symbol for Japan. The national legislature is called the Diet, consisting of the House of Representatives, which consist of 465 members who serve four-year terms, and the House of Councillors, which consists of 242 members who serve six-year terms (Allinson, 2019). The prime minister, who must be a civilian (a person who is not in the armed forces) and member of the Diet, is elected by the Diet. The prime minister then chooses the members of his Cabinet, half of which must be members of the Diet. Japan’s highest court is the Supreme Court, which consists of one chief justice, who is appointed by the emperor, and fourteen associate justices, who are appointed by the Cabinet (Allinson, 2019). In Japan, the minimum age to vote is eighteen. The majority of the members of the House of Representatives are determined by the voters. The majority of the members of the House of Councillors are also determined by voters. However, for the remaining members of both houses, Japan practices proportional representation, which is where political parties gain seats in the Diet in proportion to the number of votes cast for them (Allinson, 2019). Japan is an island chain located in the Pacific and east of the Korean Peninsula (‘Japan’, 2009). Japan possesses no land boundaries since it is an island; however, its coastline, which is the total length of the islands boundary between the land and water) is 29,751 kilometers (‘East’, n.d.). Japan’s total area is 377,915 square kilometers with land being 364,485 square kilometers and water being 13,430 square kilometers. Japan’s climate ranges from cool temperature towards the north and more tropical temperature towards the south; Japan’s land is also mainly mountainous (‘East’, n.d.). Japan also has 47 divisions called prefectures in which residents elect a governor, mayor, and local council (Allinson, 2019). Japan has a population of 126,698,000 where the majority of people practice both Shintoism and Buddhism. The percentages overlap with 70.4% of the Japanese practicing Shintoism and 69.8% of the Japanese practicing Buddhism (‘East’, n.d.). Japan is a developed country with a life expectancy at birth of 85.5 years, which makes them the second highest life expectancy in the world. The country’s gross domestic product is 5.443 trillion dollars while its gross domestic product per capita of 42,900 dollars. Japan is also the fourth largest economy in the world (‘East’, n.d.). The Japanese greatly value education and define success by what college a student goes to rather than the student’s career path. School in Japan runs from Monday to Friday; students also attend school for half a day on Saturdays two weeks per month (Allinson, 2019). High school in Japan lasts for three years rather than four.

Switzerland, originally referred to as Helvetia by the Romans, started off as a group of Celtic people called Helvetians who later were conquered by the Holy Roman Empire in 58 B.C. and also became part of the Kingdom of Burgundy in 962, which was a collection of Western European countries during the Middle Ages (Ireland, 2019). During the1200s, the Habsburg family, also known as the House of Austria, had taken control of most Switzerland; the remaining free cantons (subdivisions of Switzerland) – Schwyz, Uri, and Unterwalden – joined together in order to defend their freedom against the Habsburg family. In August 1291, the three cantons met and signed the Perpetual Covenant, a defense agreement where the three cantons promised to aid each other against foreign powers (Ireland, 2019). This covenant began the confederation know as Switzerland. The Swiss Confederation had no central government, so each canton governed itself. Over the next century, Switzerland fought a number of wars against Austria for freedom. Leading into the 1400s, became a strong military force that won several wars; in 1477, Switzerland defeated the Duke of Burgundy and in 1499, defeated the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, thus winning complete independence (Ireland, 2019). However, their independence from the Roman Empire was not recognized by other nations until 1648. 150 years later during the French Revolution, France gained control of Switzerland and established the Helvetic Republic in 1798, which became Switzerland’s central government leaving the cantons with little governing power. After Napoleon Bonaparte’s, the French military leader, downfall in 1815, the Congress of Vienna, a series of meetings which took place between 1814 and 1815 to settle the problems that arose from war between France and other European nations, restored the Swiss Confederation with the central government having little governing power and guaranteed Switzerland’s power of neutrality, the state of supporting neither side of a conflict such as war (Stearns, 2019). In 1848, the nation adopted a new constitution which established a federal government that guaranteed individual rights, such as freedom of religion. Switzerland declared its neutrality during both World War I and World War II, but during World War II, Switzerland helped more than 100,000 refugees from other countries (Ireland, 2019). Switzerland’s government is a federal republic where political power is separated between the central government and the cantonal governments. Switzerland’s national legislature is called the Federal Assembly, consisting of the Council of States, which has 46 members who serve a four-year term, and the National Council, which has 200 members who serve a four-year term.

Rather than having a chief executive, the Swiss government has a Federal Council. The Federal Council consists of a seven-member Cabinet in which one member is elected by the Federal Assembly to serve as president for a one-year term, a position that is mainly for ceremonial purposes; the president cannot serve two terms (Ireland, 2019). Switzerland’s national court is the Federal Tribunal which consists of 38 judges who serve six-year terms and are elected by the Federal Assembly. The Swiss government practices the right of referendum, which allows the citizens to request a popular vote on a law within 100 days of the law’s passage, and the right of initiative, which allows the citizens to bring specific issues to light for a vote (Ireland, 2019). The minimum age to vote in Switzerland is eighteen. Switzerland is a landlocked nation located south of Germany and west of Austria. The nation shares its borders with 5 countries: Austria (158 kilometers), France (525 kilometers), Italy (698 kilometers), Liechtenstein (41 kilometers), and Germany (348 kilometers) making the country’s total boundary length 1,770 kilometers. Its total area is 41,277 square kilometers, with land being 39,997 square kilometers and water being 1,280 square kilometers (‘Europe’, n.d.). Switzerland’s climate is relatively temperate, however, it varies greatly from region to region due to the country’s variety of altitudes; the land is also mainly mountainous (Ireland, 2019). The nation is divided into cantons in which residents elect executive councils and legislatures. Switzerland has a population of 8,304,000 where the majority of its people practice Roman Catholicism (36.5% of the population) or Protestantism (24.5% of the population). Switzerland is a developed country with a life expectancy of 82.7 years, which gives it the title of twelfth highest life expectancy in the world. The country’s gross domestic product is 523.1 billion dollars while its gross domestic product per capita of 62,100 dollars, making its gross domestic product per capita the sixteenth highest in the world (‘Europe’, n.d.). Most of the cantons in Switzerland require students to attend school from age six to age fourteen. If a student plans to go to college, the student must go to one of three types of high schools: one that specializes in Greek and Latin, one that specializes in modern languages, or one that specializes in mathematics and science (Ireland, 2019). Since all the universities in Switzerland are public, students do not pay for tuition.

The two nation-states of Japan and Switzerland vary greatly in their sovereignty. Japan began as a state which grew to conquer other nations while Switzerland began as a state conquered by other nations but later gaining their sovereignty through war. Japan and Switzerland have fairly similar government structures except for the fact that Switzerland does not have a single person as the chief executive. Japan and Switzerland greatly differ in territory size and population size with Switzerland’s territory being only about 11 percent of Japan’s territory and its population being only 6.6 percent of Japan’s population. These two nation-states emphasize the similarities and differences between the variety of groups upon the world.

Introduction to Healthcare Systems

When people think of the United States of America, they think of a country that strives for perfection among other things, but is the U.S. really the best at what counts? Healthcare is one of the most important systems within the United States and should be the most important system in most countries. There are 195 countries in the world, but today I have chosen to compare the United States healthcare system to Japan’s healthcare system to see how they not only differ, but the similarities they have as well.

Overview of the United States Healthcare System

To begin, I will outline each country’s healthcare system so that way we can get an overview of just how exactly things work in each country. The United States Healthcare system works through both public and private insurance that are funded in many ways, one of the main ones being government funding. Private providers take up the majority of the U.S. healthcare system, offering healthcare insurance through employers. The quality of these insurance policies depends on what types of coverage the insurer has selected and decided to offer to their employees. Public healthcare policies that are offered cover a wider variety of individuals and the qualifications for each one are different. There are 3 primary public healthcare insurance: Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. We will start with Medicare that in 2015 alone covered 55 million American citizens. Medicare there are 4 different parts to this type of health insurance. Medicare Part A covers hospital taxes and is funded through taxes taken from people’s payroll. Part B of Medicare is what people pay the most attention to, this part covers regular doctors’ visits, outpatient services, and things like diagnostic screenings and any other outpatient services a patient requires. Part C is an alternative plan to receive your benefits, this means you simply go to the doctor or hospital when needed and do not need any prior authorization before deciding to make a trip either to the doctor or the hospital. Part D of the Medicare plan is a prescription drug section of the medical insurance plan, helping people to be able to afford perceptions they may need after surgery or for an illness or even a common cold! Medicaid is similar to Medicare, but it has different qualifications within the plan, this plan alone covered a mix of 70.5 million American adults and children. The government only partially funds this health insurance plan. Each individual’s needs are taken into account whenever applying for this program, each state requires that each applicant is “mean-tested” to see if they qualify for Medicaid in that certain state. For this specific health insurance, the state has complete and total control over who is allowed to have this coverage and who is not allowed to have it. The final type of public U.S. health insurance is the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which is also known as CHIP, this program is regulated by the federal government, but it is still decided whether or not someone qualifies for this insurance or not at a state level. This program is limited to children and is sometimes open to expectant mothers as well. ACA (Affordable Care Act) is an expansion of CHIP and some people who reside in low-income states can get their children’s insurance if the parents are employed under ACA. In the United States, there is still about 13.4 percent of Americans are uninsured and turn to non-profit community health centers or even hospital emergency rooms to tend to their general healthcare needs. The percentage of people covered by the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act of 1986 (EMTALA) simply allows uninsured Americans to have access to emergency rooms even though they do not have a healthcare policy. The outline of the American government is not the simplest, but it is verily easy to understand from a topical perspective. Most of the public American health insurance policies require the insured to go to a doctor who is within their coverage and if they chose to go elsewhere, they may have to pay out of pocket for the services they are seeking.

Understanding Japan’s Universal Healthcare System

Moving forward, I will give a brief overview of the Japanese Healthcare system so it will be easier to understand and follow the similarities and differences once I get into those. The healthcare system in Japan is a Universal Healthcare system that requires all residents and citizens of Japan by law to have health insurance coverage. Japanese healthcare system offers more types of healthcare insurance than the United States does. In total there are 8 health insurance systems and over 3,500 health insurers. Health insurance systems in Japan are broken down into the following systems: Union Managed Health Insurance, Seaman’s Insurance, National Public Workers Mutual Aid Association Insurance, Government Managed Health Insurance, Local Public Workers Mutual Aid Association Insurance, and also Private School Teachers Employee’s mutual aid associated insurance. The other two health insurance systems are typically reserved for anyone who is self-employed and also students as well, National Health Insurance is grouped into two categories: National Health Insurance for each city, town, or village and the National Health Insurance Union. People without insurance from employers such as people who are unemployed can participate in a national health insurance program that has been set in place and administered by the local government. Unlike American Healthcare Insurance, patients in Japan do not have to go to a specific doctor that is within their network. Patients in Japan are free to select which facilities they go to and the coverage they have cannot be denied when going to said facility. Hospitals are required by law to run as a non-profit hospitals and they are all managed by physicians. Any type of corporations that are “For-profit” are NOT allowed to own and or operate hospitals at all, as well as all clinics MUST be owned and also operated by physicians just like hospitals are. Patients in Japan only accept about 30% responsibility for any of these costs and the government then picks up the other 70% of the cost that is left. Even though hospitals and clinics are operated by physicians, the government sets the medical fees so that way costs are affordable for the patients. This cost is calculated based on their family income and also on the age of the patient that is insured. Depending on what treatments they receive, patients are responsible for anywhere from 10% to 30% of their medical fees. Even though this is a good deal, patients cannot just go to the doctor as much as they please, a monthly threshold is set for each household. Any fees that go over or exceed this threshold are then waived by the government or they can also be reimbursed by the government as well. To determine a family’s threshold, they also take into account the income and age of the people within the household before setting the monthly threshold for a family. With this being said, fees are also waived for low-income households that are receiving any type of subsidy from the government.

Comparative Statistics: US vs. Japan

Next, we will look at some statistics to help us really compare and contrast the United States Healthcare system vs Japan’s healthcare system. In 2008, Japan only spent about 8.2% of the whole nation’s GDP or gross domestic product whereas in 2008 the United States spent a whopping 16.6%. The rising cost of healthcare started way before this, for example in 1980 spending on healthcare rose rapidly within the U.S. as well as other nations, but Japan chose to tightly regulate the health industry during this time which led to the reining in of costs, saving them more money in the end. In the United States, American citizens are not required to have health insurance but they will be liable for all of the costs associated with going to the doctor’s office or even a hospital without insurance whereas in Japan every resident is required to have some type of medical health insurance. Health insurance policies take care of some of the cost in the United States but the amount that is taken care of varies between health insurance plans and is not very stable, in Japan, patients who are insured are only required to pay 30% at the MAXIMUM for the treatment they received while the government foots the rest of the bill. The average life expectancy in Japan in 2009 was 83 years old, with men expected to live until they are 79.6 years old and women expected to live until they are 86.4 years old. In 2009 people in the United States had an average life expectancy of 75.7 years, which is 7.3 years less than the average life expectancy in Japan. Males in the U.S were expected to live 75.7 years and women 80.6 years. How did Japan achieve such a high life expectancy? They focused on reducing the mortality rate as well as reducing communicable diseases from around the 1950s into the early 1960s. This is when they saw a very large reduction in things such as stroke mortality rates decreasing a bit after the mid-1960s. Besides the shocking differences in life expectancy, we can also look at the difference between the United States and Japan when it comes to how easy it is to access medical needs.

Accessibility and Efficiency in Healthcare Services

Moreover, access to health services is both different and similar in Japan just as they are in the United States. In both countries, anyone can go and seek medical attention when it is needed, but in the United States people are responsible for more of the cost if they go to the emergency room frequently versus in Japan where patients will only have to pay a maximum of 30% of the cost. Most doctors’ offices in Japan do not require any prior reservations before going, doctors’ offices in the United States do offer walk-ins but it is more typical for someone to schedule an appointment before going and visiting the doctor unless it is very urgent. Most patients in Japan prefer to use fancier equipment for a minimal visit such as a CT scan or even MRI and this has led to patients taking advantage of visiting physicians and the easy access to these facilities. Patients in the United States also abuse easy access to healthcare facilities but not as often as patients in Japan, since patients in the United States have to pay more for these services. If a patient in the United States went and got an MRI it is not guaranteed exactly what percentage of their insurance will cover the cost of that testing. In Japan, the abuse of medical facilities can be seen clearly when patients with mild illnesses choose to go to the emergency rooms and hospitals they have there, instead of going to a more appropriate primary care doctor. Once a patient seeks out medical help in Japan, they cannot be turned away either, so a physician is required to treat someone in a hospital even if they simply have a common cold. To try and counteract this Japan has set a threshold for each household when it comes to the fees they acquire when going and seeking medical attention. This threshold would seem to stop people from abusing their access to health facilities, right? Incorrect. Even though it’s a good idea, the patient does not assume responsibility for any expenses that surpass this threshold. If they surpass the threshold the government assumes responsibility for the amount that surpasses the threshold and sometimes, they even waive the extensive fees that pass the threshold altogether. In contrast, the United States does not have a threshold for households but as I stated before patients within the United States do assume more responsibility for the costs of these services, seemingly it deters people from going very frequently especially to hospitals when it is not an emergency situation. Besides the access to healthcare facilities, there are many comparisons and contrasting features when it comes to spending in Japan and the United States when it comes to healthcare.

Healthcare Spending: A Comparative Analysis

To continue, in more recent years the United States has spent significantly more than Japan on administrative costs. In 2018 the United States’ administrative costs per capita (in dollars) were $843 compared to Japan’s only spending of $75, the average of these costs that were created between the U.S., Japan, and 10 other countries was $175. The U.S. is lacking in the upper hand when it comes to how much they spend on Long-Term care per capita (in dollars) as well, they spend around $511 whereas Japan spends $839. The average again including the 10 other countries is $940, comparatively putting them both below average on spending when it comes to Long-Term care per capita. What we must also look at is if higher spending leads to better health outcomes for insured patients. The data provided by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation in 2017 shows that Japan had the best health status when it came to life expectancy at birth whereas the United States was nearly the country with the worst health status. The U.S. also found itself at the “worst” end of the spectrum when it came to infant mortality rates, unmanaged asthma, and also unmanaged diabetes. The biggest contrast in spending between the United States and Japan comes when we look at the healthcare costs per capita (in dollars). In 2019 the United States spent $10,589 in healthcare costs per capita whereas Japan only spent $4,766 leaving a huge difference of $5,823 between the United States and Japan.

Conclusion: Evaluating Healthcare Efficiency

As you can see, the United States is not as efficient as people believe when it comes to healthcare as compared to other countries. The United States has fewer policies, spends more per capita in many areas, and is lacking when it comes to life expectancy. Japan has the high ground in most subjects when it comes to healthcare and seems to keep their patients in mind more than how much money they can make from someone’s illness.