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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the cooling effect of these features. Japanese traditional buildings have many features, which are effective for cooling the interior of the building. Design/methodology/approach – This paper first of all describes the characteristics of indoor thermal environment and the cooling effect of four traditional buildings, located in the Miyagi Prefecture in the northern area in Japan. The investigated buildings include traditional farmhouses and renovated farmhouses for the improvement of indoor thermal environment. Second, the cooling effect of traditional technologies was studied by the means of computer simulation using a model house, which takes the multi‐zone effects of heat transfer and air flow distribution into consideration. Findings – The paper finds that the cooling technologies of traditional buildings, such as solar shading by thatched roof decreases indoor temperature. The computer simulation revealed that natural ventilation, solar shading by thatched roof and the thermal mass by earthen floor are effective for interior cooling. Practical implications – This paper reveals the cooling effect of traditional technologies quantitatively. From the points of view of energy saving and environment symbiosis based on the understanding of physical principle, it is important to apply these traditional technologies to modern buildings. Originality/value – From the viewpoint of solution of global environmental problems, we can learn a lot from these vernacular technologies inherited from the past. This paper provides valuable information about building based on environmental design methodologies, which promote awareness about sustainable construction.

Content analyses of US and Japanese magazine advertisements featuring products and services in a home setting reveal several significant differences over time and support hypotheses based on comparative cultural values and economic conditions. As expected, recent Japanese advertising has increasingly emphasised status to a much greater degree than recent US advertising, and recent US advertising has continued to emphasise personal efficacy to a much greater degree than does Japanese advertising. Both cultures are found to use materialistic themes in their advertisements.

This study examines fisheries affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in 2011 to explore how the collectivism appears during the recovery process.

The author questions the context of collaboration after the disaster among independent small-scale fishers in Miyagi by conducting semistructured interviews with more than 50 local fishers with anthropological observations of boat fishing operations and using local documents and statistics.

The corresponding collaboration among the fishers after the disaster is not a mere “disaster utopia,” but is embedded in the socioecological context of fishing. Fishers have developed individual and group fishing. They have institutionalized competitive distribution for sedentary fish with low resource fluctuation, while outcome-equal distribution is adopted for migratory fish with high resource fluctuation. This forms a fishing continuum that connects competitive individualism with collectivism in the community, which has contributed to resilience for disaster recovery.

The balance between individualism and collectivism is decisively coordinated in socioecological contexts. The multifaceted resource strategy for maritime biodiversity that features family-based occupational differentiation in a community is crucial for disaster recovery of small-scale fishers.