A note on Beheiren

Abstract

It might be useful for Concerned Asian Scholars to be aware of what is probably the most active independent peace group in Japan — a country of peace groups. Like National Mobilization in this country, which it resembles in style and outlook, Beheiren (Japan “Peace for Vietnam!” Committee) emerged as a direct response to the American bombing of North Vietnam. Since its foundation on April 24, 1965, it has remained the only major group in Japan to focus its main energies on opposing the Vietnam War. This has meant publications (books, articles, newsletters — mostly in Japanese, but two fine booklets of translations of an Asahi series: Vietnam — A Voice from the Villages and The National Liberation Front by Honda Katsuichi), demonstrations, teachins, emissaries to Vietnam, international gatherings in Japan (among its guests have been David Dellinger, Ralph Featherstone, Jean-Paul Sartre, Howard Zinn, Joan Baez), anti-war ads in American newspapers, medicine to Hanoi, and, attracting the most international attention, assistance to American military men in Japan desiring to desert.     

Excellence in Psychological Injury and Law: Book Review of Motor Vehicle Collisions by Duckworth, Iezzi, and O’Donohue (2008)

In several ways, the book on motor vehicle collisions by Duckworth, Iezzi, and O’Donohue (2008) breaks new ground and should be considered a must-read for workers in the area of psychological injury and law. The editors have assembled a team of expert authors who have cogently analyzed the scientific evidence in the area of motor vehicle collisions and their aftermath, while calling for more research. The book is replete with information that will help practitioners understand and deal with cases involving conditions such as chronic pain, posttraumatic stress, and traumatic brain injury. Practitioners will learn about complications in such cases, including threats to validity and legal aspects. The inclusion of chapters from a medical perspective is a welcome innovation. The book is only lacking in that, although assessment is considered throughout, chapters specifically addressing this topic are not included. The book review concludes that the Motor vehicle collisions book by Duckworth et al. should be included as part of the growing list of excellent resources in the area of psychological injury and law.     

Psychotherapy for Psychological Injury: A Biopsychosocial and Forensic Perspective

This article reviews the predominant psychological approaches to therapy and other treatments in the field of psychological injury. Mostly, they concern cognitive behavior therapy and its variants. However, because of the simultaneous physical injuries or physiological effects that accompany these types of injury, practitioners should adopt an integrated biopsychosocial approach in treatment (Sperry, L., Treatment of chronic medical conditions: Cognitive-behavioral therapy strategies and integrative treatment protocols. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2006; Treatment of chronic medical conditions: Cognitive-behavioral therapy strategies and integrative treatment protocols. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2009). The paper presents a componential model of therapy that integrates the cognitive-behavioral, biopsychosocial, and forensic approaches. More research needs to be undertaken that takes into account the difficulties of conducting therapy with individuals who are expressing psychological injury. This will help in the quest to formulate evidence-based but flexible practice guidelines. The paper concludes with a model that may serve to scaffold the numerous psychotherapies that are available into a more coherent framework.     

Sudden death in a neonate as a result of herpes simplex infection

This paper describes a case of a neonate with disseminated herpes simplex born to a 14-year-old asymptomatic mother. The infant's physical examination was normal at birth, and subsequent abnormalities were so subtle that infection was not recognized during life. Postmortem cultures of liver and spleen grew herpes simplex virus, and immunofluorescent direct antibody typing revealed Type 2. A cervical culture of the mother obtained after the infant's death was negative.     

Ambassador David Bruce and “LBJ's War”: Vietnam Viewed from London, 1963–1968

Recent decades have seen growing historical interest in “second rank” officials who, whilst they do not play a leading role in government or political movements, can influence the way decisions are shaped and executed. At the same time, the interest of scholars in American policy during the Vietnam War shows no signs of abating. This article investigates the experience of one second rank official during the war, David Bruce, who was Ambassador to London during 1961–1969. Making particular use of Bruce's extensive diaries, it traces his shifting views on the war, looks at the extent to which he shared the outlook of other official,s and asks what influence, if any, he had on events. It argues that, whilst he always remained loyal to his own government and often mirrored the outlook of the Johnson Administration, Bruce had his own perspective on events, was consistently critical of American tactics on the ground, and, in Spring 1967, influenced by Robert McNamara, became an early advocate of retrenchment.     

Autonomy and Egalitarianism

In this article I consider the alleged incompatibility between individual autonomy and the achievement and subsequent maintenance of an egalitarian society. I argue that not only is there no incompatibility, but that it is only where an egalitarian society is in place that a like autonomy can be exercised by each citizen. To make out my case I discuss the three main grounds that have been advanced to show there is such an incompatibility. Opponents of egalitarianism contend that egalitarian goals can only be achieved with losses in autonomy; in particular, losses through infringements on the civil liberties of individual citizens, losses in the scope individuals have to exercise and exploit their own talents and losses in control over the income and wealth to which individuals are entitled as a result of the exercise of their talents. The first of these contentions is dealt with quite briefly but the second and third go to the heart of the matter and accordingly are given fuller discussion. None of the three can be convincingly made out because it is precisely where there are significant inequalities in income and wealth that significant differences exist in the scope individuals have to fulfil their life-plans and thus to exercise their individual autonomy.