How Can We Ensure Accessibility of Cultural Heritage? Toward Better Utilization of Existing Assets in Japanese Context.

How can we ensure accessibility of historical buildings that were built before the idea was ever dreamt of? Important historic monuments such as World Heritage have come to be made to some extent accessible with due consideration of their historical value (in extreme case, no accessibility is available, and replicated models or virtual reality is alternatively in place). Many buildings that are currently in use pose problems because they have to be usable by everyone. To what extent the historical values can be sacrificed for accessibility and usability? This paper tries to propose some ideas to meet both needs of historical significance and accessibility/usability through examination of several Japanese examples.

Housing Design for the Ageing: Struggle Toward Supporting Age-in-Place Instead of Special Housing for Seniors.

With the global trend of population ageing, efforts are in progress in many countries to cope with the problems associated with it. As one grows older, his/her capabilities gradually deteriorate. What need to be done to mitigate mismatch of dwelling design, and to enable age-in-place? A comparative study of design guidelines in Japan, UK and USA is conducted to find out challenges and opportunities we are faced with.

Children's Knowledge of Cancer Prevention and Perceptions of Cancer Patients: Comparison Before and After Cancer Education with the Presence of Visiting Lecturer -Guided Class.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the presence of visiting lecturer-guided class on children's knowledge of cancer prevention and perceptions of cancer patients, conducting surveys before and after the cancer education classes at local elementary schools that are pioneering cancer education. We implemented self-administered questionnaire surveys with 571 sixth-grade children at nine elementary schools receiving cancer education in the Tokyo metropolitan area from September 2013 to February 2014. The surveys were conducted twice in each classroom: 1 week before the cancer education class and 1 week after.

The effects of the load mass and load position on body sway in supporting a load on the back.

We examined the effects of a load's mass and position on body sway during standing with a load on the back. Three healthy male subjects participated in this experiment. The subjects supported loads of 23kg, 33kg, and 43kg on their backs using a carrier frame.