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We discuss the concept of social capital, which has received much attention recently. Social capital is important for the following 2 key reasons:(1) a highly democratic polity and a strong economic performance that attaches great importance to the public good can be achieved on the basis of high social capital;and (2) social capital can effect health status in the human population, and widening of income inequality harms human health through the erosion of social capital. In addition, there are 3 political implications of social capital for Japanese society:(1) social capital has implications for the political decision of whether Japanese society should adopt a “medium burden for medium welfare” or a “low burden for small welfare” model together with the concept of social overhead capital;(2) reciprocity, which is one of the primary components of social capital, is similar to the philosophy underlying the health care system of Japan;(3) Japanese society needs to change from a society that emphasizes the relationships between its members to a society that is open to outsiders and has sufficient opportunities.

Posthumous reproduction has been performed in Japan several times, without sufficient civic discussion on its appropriateness or legislative regulation. There have even been several lawsuits on posthumous acknowledgment (in which a baby born to a deceased father has the same birthright as a baby born to a living father), and some judgments have proposed the need to develop societal agreement on posthumous reproduction and suggested legislative settlement. With this background, this study aims to clarify the views of the Japanese people regarding posthumous reproduction. In December 2007, we distributed a questionnaire on posthumous reproduction in relation to beliefs about family and religion to 32 universities across the country, and received 3,719 replies. It was found that about 60ｵ of respondents agreed with posthumous reproduction. Statistical analysis was applied to the relationship between this overall position on posthumous reproduction and views on assisted reproduction technologies, family, religion, and so on. The degree of support for posthumous reproduction was strongly correlated with the degree of affirmation of assisted reproduction technologies and a liberal worldview with emphasis on self-determination. On the other hand, there was also a strong correlation with having a traditional view of family, such as family succession. The degree of support for posthumous reproduction was also highly correlated with the intimacy among family members, underlying which was a strong connection to the traditional religious belief in Japan that deceased family members watch the living ones. The view on posthumous reproduction is culturally complex and cannot be explained by a simple dichotomy between traditional conservatives and liberals.

We examined whether selected circulatory diseases (heart disease, stroke, diabetes and hypertension) were associated with an increased risk of major depression in the Japanese community population. Face-to-face household surveys were carried out in 7 areas, and a total of 2,436 persons participated (overall response rate: 58.4%) from 2002 to 2004. The WHO Composite International Diagnostic Interview 3.0 was used to diagnose major depression according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, and additional interviews assessed the presence of circulatory diseases. Using data from a random subsample of the respondents (n=832), we conducted Cox proportional hazards models to calculate hazard ratios for the onset of major depression with comorbid circulatory diseases as a time-dependent covariate. Heart attack was significantly associated with the onset of major depression (hazard ratio [HR], 7.51 [95%Confidential Interval (CI), 1.36-41.45]) after adjusting for sex, birth cohort, smoking, alcohol intake, and education. Heart disease (HR, 2.12 [95% CI, 0.79-5.70]), diabetes (HR, 2.36 [95% CI, 0.42-13.34]) and hypertension (HR, 0.97 [95% CI, 0.37, 2.50]) were not significantly associated. There were no subjects who developed major depression after stroke. These results suggest that heart attack, and maybe also heart disease and diabetes, affect the onset of major depression.