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The ubiquitous information society gave birth to quasi‐explicit, or formative, knowledge. Formative knowledge is like explicit knowledge in that it can be copied, but unlike explicit knowledge because it is not fixed. Some manufacturers are beginning to adopt approaches to knowledge management that rely on formative knowledge. Such an approach enabled Honda to start production of its newest Civic model almost simultaneously at 12 plants around the globe in 2000. Strong fear of formative knowledge “consumption” by lead consumers made Honda use CAD/CAE networks to nurture a worldwide community of engineers to design the Civic. This innovation reduced Honda’s average model transfer time to about a half that of Toyota. Honda’s achievement suggests that a new approach to knowledge management is possible, one that lies between Japanese‐style knowledge management centered on human mediation and tacit knowledge and Western‐style knowledge management based on information technology and explicit knowledge.

The aim of this article is to explore how young children (five year olds) collectively construct pretend identities with peers in play while using and negotiating consumer knowledge and experiences. Particular attention is given to children’s collaborative transformation of objects, ideas, places and persons, as they occur in the context of pretend play.

Data were gathered from ethnographic fieldwork in a local preschool in Japan. Two classes of five-year-old children (both boys and girls) were observed over four months. The theoretical framework highlights the dynamic and fluid interactional sphere and conversational exchanges through which pretend identities are created, negotiated and expanded.

In the findings, children’s construction of pretend identities is identified in terms of three characteristic forms of interaction in play: children’s reciprocal immediacy; maintaining and challenging participation; and willingness and collaboration to expand a play theme. Children’s collective construction of pretend identities indicates that playing roles means playing rules.

Through participant observation focusing of children’s perspectives and practices, this study contributes both to childhood studies and consumption studies. It also contributes to insight into how young children in the Japanese preschool experience consumer culture in a specific socio-cultural environment and how they construct peer relationships.

The authors aim to determine the effects of Global Lesson Study (GLS) – a two-year, one-cycle program defined as “international cooperative lesson study through international exchange among teachers using ICT” – on intercultural competence for lesson study based on pre- and post-survey conducted for Japanese teachers.

In accordance with the GLS program, mathematics lesson studies on mathematics between Japanese and Singaporean elementary school teachers were conducted over a two-year period. Questionnaire surveys on intercultural competence for lesson study was conducted using 7-point Likert scale and descriptive questions with Japanese teachers (N = 5). Analysis of Wilcoxon's signed rank test and correlation analysis were conducted.

Followings are identified as the effects of GLS for Japanese teachers: (1) Japanese participants felt improvement of their competence in areas of attitude, internal outcomes and outward impact. (2) Participating in a GLS led to the improvement of Japanese teachers' qualities and abilities for subject teaching related to mathematics education. (3) Improvement of intercultural competence for lesson study was related to each other, and GLS led to improvement of these competences. (4) It was meaningful to have a two-year period to assimilate and adjust to independent experience of the host and guest.

The GLS led to teacher empowerment among this sample, not only as cooperative research, but also at the individual level of teachers where participants continued to develop lessons based on the GLS learning after study completion. This has important implications for the implementation and dissemination of the GLS.

It is argued that COVID-19 patients show various neuropsychiatric symptoms, including fatigue, depression and anxiety. On the other hand, epidemiological and experimental evidence indicated that green tea could potentially have antiviral effects and ameliorate psychiatric disorders. However, there is a lack of clinical evidence. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether drinking green tea can clinically improve psychiatric complications of COVID-19 infection.

This study included 40 patients with laboratory confirmed mild-to-moderate COVID-19 disorder in the current randomized open-label controlled trial. Patients were instructed to include three cups/day of green tea (intervention) or black tea (control) to their usual diet for four weeks immediately after diagnosis of the disease. At the study baseline and after the intervention, the enrolled patients’ fatigue, depression and anxiety were assessed by the Chalder Fatigue Scale, Beck Depression Inventory-Fast Screen and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory questionnaires.

A total of 19 COVID-19 cases in the intervention group (mean age = 52 years) and 14 cases (mean age = 50 years) in the control group completed the study. Analysis of covariance adjusted for baseline levels, and confounders revealed that those who consumed three cups/day of green tea compared to the patients who received black tea experienced significantly lower fatigue, depression and state and trait anxiety levels (adjusted means for fatigue = 12.3 vs 16.2 (P = 0.03), depression = 0.53 vs 1.8 (P = 0.01), 37.4 vs 45.5 (P < 0.01) and 37.9 vs 45.2 (P < 0.01)).

The open-label design may bias the evaluation of the self-reported status of fatigue, depression or anxiety as the main outcomes assessed. Moreover, as this study did not include patients with severe COVID-19, this might affect the generalizability of the present results. Thus, the recommendation of daily drinking green tea may be limited to the subjects diagnosed with mild-to-moderate type of infection or those with long-term neuropsychiatric complications owing to COVID-19. Besides, considering the ethical issues, this study could not exclude the drug therapy’s confounding effects; thereby, this point should be considered when interpreting the current results. Besides, it is worth noting that Guilan province in the north of Iran is recognized as a tea (and particularly green tea) producing region; thereby, it is an available and relatively inexpensive product. Considering this issue, the recommendation to consume this medicinal plant in adjunct to the routine treatment approach among patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 based on its beneficial effects may be widely accepted.

Green tea consumption could be considered an option to combat COVID-19 associated psychological complications, including fatigue, depression and anxiety among patients suffering from mild-to-moderate type of this viral infection.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, in this study, for the first time, the effects of green tea compared to black tea on COVID-19 associated fatigue, depression and anxiety status within an open-label controlled trial have been investigated.