Okinawa Womens Junior College

Problem statement and approach: Martial arts such as Judo are incorporated into sports education in Japan only from junior high school. Thus, unlike the other sports such as ball games or swimming, no systematic curriculum from the elementary to the high school level exists for Judo. To ensure the safe implementation of Judo lessons, it is also vital to ascertain the views of health and physical education teachers about the degrees to which Judo lessons and the sports skills developed at the elementary school level are correlated. Purpose: This study surveyed health and physical education teachers in Japanese junior high schools to understand the safety and skill-building considerations of in Judo lessons. It also surveyed the opinions of teachers on the connection between junior high school Judo lessons and sports skills acquired at the elementary school level. Method: The survey was administered to health and physical education teachers between July and August 2017. The questionnaire was sent by post to all 186 schools at which a health and physical education teacher was employed in Kagoshima, a prefecture in which many schools selects Judo from martial arts. The questionnaire encompassed 44 items requiring responses on a 4-point scale. It probed three aspects: (1) safety in Judo classes, (2) skill instruction in Judo, (3) introducing Judo at the elementary school stage. Findings: The analysis results revealed that: (1) around 70% of the respondents stated that the fear of potential danger or injury to students prevented them from introducing students to the unique features of Judo. Teachers also tended to consider differences in the physical sizes of paired participants rather than physical fitness in practice sessions involving throwing and bracing techniques; (2) according to most of the teachers, it is more difficult to teach throwing techniques to the tori (the person executing the technique) than to the uke (the person receiving the attack). Conversely, it is more difficult to teach bracing techniques to the uke than to the tori; and (3) many teachers, especially those who were younger, responded positively to the idea of introducing Judo in elementary schools. Conclusion: In sum, it was found that Judo instructors in school physical education were more distracted by the risks and dangers associated with their activity than other sports teachers. Many teachers believe that the introduction of Judo in primary school will make it easier for them to teach Judo at the junior high level.

The aim of this study was to examine the validity of a Japanese version of the physical activity (PA) question of the Patient-Centered Assessment and Counseling for Exercise Plus Nutrition (PACE+), which is globally used to assess compliance with the WHO PA recommendation for youth. Analyses included 80 Japanese upper elementary students and 44 Japanese junior high students. Consistency of the classification of achieving/not achieving the PA recommendation between the two methods (PACE+ and ActiGraph accelerometry) was assessed by calculating percentage agreement rate, sensitivity, and specificity. Spearman rank correlation (𝜌) was applied to assess the correlation between the two methods. The percentage agreement in upper elementary students and junior high students was 83.8% and 65.9%, respectively. While the sensitivity and specificity of the scale in assessing the compliance of upper elementary students with PA recommendation were 8.3% and 97.1%, respectively, and for junior high school students 42.9% and 76.7%, respectively. The correlation coefficients between PACE+ and accelerometry for elementary and junior high school students were 0.13 and 0.50, respectively. The validity of PACE+ among Japanese adolescents was confirmed similarly to previous studies conducted in other countries. However, it should be viewed with caution that PACE+ may underestimate the proportion of children achieving PA recommendations.

A composition analysis of Okinawan sugar cane rind materials was conducted, and it was found that the main components were lipids, crude fiber and water indicating about 27%, 19.6% and 14.6%, respectively. The lipids were effectively extracted from rind materials by benzene. Wax (18%) and fatty alcohol (8%) were found to be the main components, totaling up to 96% of the lipids. Separation and partial purification of wax and fatty alcohol were attempted by means of silica gel column chromatography, thin-layer chromatography (TLC), infrared (IR) absorption spectra and gas-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The major components of the wax were considered to be two compounds with the molecular weights of 408 (C-26) and 436 (C-28), and those of fatty alcohol were di-ol with molecular weights of 440 (C-29) and 468 (C-31). Both wax and fatty alcohol were purified by rechromatography on a silica gel column and the samples obtained seemed to be satisfactory for use in experimental rats' diets.