Researcher Database

（Last updated : 2025-05-07 13:47:31）　

SAKURAI Masanari

Department / Course College of Policy Science Department of Policy Science

Title / Position Professor

Other Affiliations
1.	Graduate School of Policy Science
2.	Research Organization of Open Innovation & Collaboration The Research and Development Institute of Regional Information
3.	Kinugasa Research Organization Institute of Disaster Mitigation for Urban Cultural Heritage

Academic background
1.	2000/04/01～2003/03/31	Doctorial Course │ Graduate School of Policy Science │ Ritsumeikan University │ Completed PhD

Business career
1.	2015/04/01	Professor │ college of Policy science. │ Ritsumeikan University
2.	2013/09/01 ～ 2014/07/31	Visiting professor │ Department of Geography │ University of Toronto
3.	2008/04/01 ～ 2015/03/31	Associate professor │ college of Policy science. │ Ritsumeikan University
4.	2006/04/01 ～ 2007/03/31	Associate professor │ Volunteer Center │ Ritsumeikan University

Research activities
1.	2022/09 ～	The Japan Reading Association
2.	2019/12/01 ～	Japan Academic Association of Socio-education and Service Learning
3.	2008 ～	the International Society for Third-Sector Research
4.	2019 ～ 2019	∟ 2019 Asia-Pacific Regional Conference International Academic Committee
5.	2008 ～	Japan Welfare Sociology Association (a member)
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Subject of research
1.	Apprying of Asset based community development method to Japan's situation.
2.	Community Wellbeing as a Resist to Neoliberalism
3.	Service Learning and community based research in Higher Education

Research summary
1. community wellbeing as a counter to neoliberalism (1) "Social Prescription" as a countermeasure against loneliness in the United Kingdom 　In the United Kingdom, the Minister for Loneliness has been appointed and "social prescribing" has been implemented as a countermeasure against loneliness, which is a major health hazard. This is a system whereby medical institutions can "prescribe" group activities, counseling, and other social services in the local community as needed. Several previous studies have shown that this policy has been successful; however, they have also concluded that its effectiveness has not been empirically demonstrated. In particular, disparities are created because local resources tend to be scarce in poor areas. In addition, because it is a medical initiative, it ultimately cannot avoid the "medicalization" that Ilyich described. Measures for living happily in the community need to be a counterbalance to neoliberalism. (2) Volunteerism and the Transformation of Community 　At the same time, it is widely believed that volunteer activities in developed countries are also becoming more individualized, as societies become more individualized in the post-modern era. What is expected in individualized volunteer activities is that people will move away from daily volunteer activities that address community welfare issues and support the community, and tend to gather around transient, event-like volunteer activities (episodic volunteer activities). For example, disaster relief volunteers who support disaster-stricken areas are typical of episodic volunteers, since many of them come from outside the local community. Other examples include volunteer activities at sporting events and volunteer tourism, which combines volunteer activities with overseas travel. Such transient volunteer activities make it difficult to establish a relationship of mutual help in the community, which may cause problems and lead to community empowerment. 　On the other hand, sociological studies in Japan and abroad have shown that people's "helping each other" has been spreading beyond the local community in a network-like manner (community liberation theory). In addition, online virtual communities have come to occupy an important position in the aspect of people helping each other. It can be said that there is a current need to examine people's difficulties in living and their ability to help and be helped. (3) Emphasis on self-care 　In recent years, there has been an increasing emphasis on "self-care" when it comes to issues of loneliness and stress. The idea that one's own mental attitude, ingenuity, and efforts can eliminate these problems, as well as coping strategies, are gaining popularity. Deckx et al. (2018) found that "problem-focused coping" is more effective than "emotion-focused coping," according to the results of a multi-study review by Deckx et al. Problem-focused coping" refers to feeling positive and directly addressing the problem, seeking help, or talking to someone about it, while "emotion-focused coping" refers to trying to over-adapt, pretending not to see the problem, and immersing oneself in something else or escaping. Such coping, however, can contribute to the "psychologizing" of the problem. In this regard, Frayne (2019) states Stanley S. (2019) notes that in the U.K., "the problem is not with society outside, but within the mind, and conventional therapies follow up with the idea that it is individual self-work, not collective social change, that promises solutions. "Stanley S. (2019) notes that mindfulness (meditation) is popular, and it is actively promoted by companies to their employees as a form of self-care in a stressful corporate society. The same is true in the university workplace, and yet, when pension cuts were proposed, the irony of the story is that the university's upper management contacted them to calm them down through mindfulness. Needless to say, these mindfulness and other trainings are commercialized, and in this sense, mental self-care is commercialized (Stanley, 2019). In other words, the reasons for the need for community wellbeing as a counter to neoliberalism are also present here.

Present specialized field
Sociology, Social welfare and social work studies (Keyword：Sociologist. Research interests are; volunteering, community and well-being, reading, service learning, anti-work, third places, and loneliness.)

Books
1.	2021/02/15	Social Economy in Asia: Realities and Perspectives │ ,pp.113-125
2.	2019/09	Globalizing Welfare: An Evolving Asian-european Dialogue │ ,pp.125-141
3.	2008/07	Social Capital │ ,pp.3/38-52, 4/53-70, 7/127-158
4.	2007/04	Volunteer Management
5.	2005/11	Strategic Management for Nonprofit Organizations │ ,pp.89-105,169-180

Papers
1.	2024/08/12	Preference for solitude paradox: The psychological influence of social isolation despite preference │ Journal of Affective Disorders │ 365,pp.466-473
2.	2024/02/29	Contradictions and Challenges in Promoting "Reading for Pleasure" in Junior High Schools and High Schools : Analysis and discussion of the Morning Reading and the National Youth Book Report Contest │ ,pp.85-93
3.	2019/11	Why did the new NPO corporations diffuse? Reason for the increasing social economy organizations in Japan │ 7th EMES Selected Conference Papers │ ESCP-7EMES-15
4.	2018/11	Who are disaster volunteers? – The tendency of their participation and social class - │ 26 (1),pp.1-12
5.	2016/03	The development process of social enterprises in Ontario : Can earned NPOs overcome transforming for-profits' behaviors? │ 23 (3),pp.173-188
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Academic conference presentation
1.	2021/06/15	Top-Down and Bottom-Up in Policy Advocacy? COVID-19 Pandemic and Intermediary Organisations of the Social Economy in Japan and South Korea
2.	2019/10/31	Comments for Petersen presentation
3.	2019/07/26	Why did the new NPO corporations diffuse? Reason for the increasing social economy organizations in Japan
4.	2019/07/16	Are disaster volunteers insufficient? An analysis of the volunteer coordination cases of flood disaster affected areas in Japan
5.	2018/07/10	Who is disaster volunteer? Activity principles and the individual characters in Japan.
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Works
1.	2019/01/18	Why Did the New NPO Corporations Diffuse? Reason for the Increasing Social Economy Organizations in Japan (Seoul National University Asia Center International Conference Room Seoul, South Korea)
2.	2016/04/28	Did Japanese social welfare NPOs fail? Some evaluation about emerging social enterprises and major transformation (Seoul National University)
3.	2012/12/08	Innovation and Practice of Social Enterprise in Japan: Philanthropy and Society (Tianjin, China)
4.	2011/11/03	Social Enterprise and Rural Community Revitalization in Japan (Seoul, Korea)

Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research -KAKENHI-
1.	2018/06 ～ 2021/03	A comprehensive study on the concept of an capacity of receiving aid in community │ Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
2.	2004 ～ 2006	A clinical research on challenging cases at volunteer coordination │ Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) (Keyword：Japan National Council of Social Welfare, volunteer management, volunteer, after school activities of children with disabilities, challenging cases, volunteer coordinator, volunteer center, community)

Activity in society
1.	2019	International academic commitee for ISTR 2019 Asia-Pacific Regional Conference
2.	2018/09/21 ～ 2018/09/23	Chair of Conference Organizing Committee
3.	2011/11/03	Social Enterprise and Rural Community Revitalization in Japan

Message
1.	Profile

researchmap Researcher code
6000004666