Japan Society of Physiological Anthropology

Aim of JSPA

The objectives of the Society are the general advancement and promotion of research in physiological anthropology, including environmental adaptability, functional potentiality, physiological polymorphisms, technological adaptability and whole body coordination. The Society holds biannual meetings and other academic meetings to advance its objectives. The Society has around 1000 members.

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Officers (2021-2022)

President

Yasukouchi A. (Kyushu University)

Vice-President

Iwanaga K. (Chiba University)

Kudo S. (Kyushu University)

Executives

Aoyagi K. (Nagasaki University)

Fukuoka Y. (Doshisha University)

Hayano J. (Nayoya City University)

Higuchi S. (Kyushu University)

Ishibashi K. (Chiba University)

Kitamura S. (National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry)

Kobayashi H. (Ishikawa Prefectural Nursing University)

Kouda K. (Kansai Medical University)

Kozaki T. (Fukuoka Women’s University)

Kusano Y. (Nishikyushu University)

Maeda A. (Kyoritsu Women’s University)

Maeda T. (Kyushu University)

Motomura Y. (Kyushu University)

Mukae H. (Toyota Central R&D Labs., Inc.)

Nakamura H. (Kobe University)

Nakamura M. (Kyoto University)

Nishimura T. (Nagasaki University)

Oota H. (The University of Tokyo)

Sato K. (Tohto University)

Shimomura Y. (Chiba University)

Takao M. (Tokai University)

Takakura J. (National Institute for Environmental Studies)

Tsunetsugu Y. (The University of Tokyo)

Wakabayashi H. (Hokkaido University)

Wakamura T. (Kyushu University)

Yamauchi T. (Hokkaido University)

Audits

Katsuura T. (Chiba University)

Yamasaki K. (Jissen Women’s University)

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About Physiological Anthropology

Amidst currently rapid developments in science, technology and lifestyle, just what is it that mankind seeks? What sorts of selective pressures are being exerted upon modern humans, and what sorts of responses do these pressures elicit? We seek a discipline in science – or physiological anthropology – that addresses such current issues. One of the main aims of Physiological Anthropology is to conduct research into humans in modern society from both a physiological and a cultural standpoint, in an effort to create a truly healthy and comfortable living environment, because rapid advances in Science and Technology are having a profound effect on the human community, in terms of not only lifestyle and culture, but the physiological capabilities of the human body as well. Physiological anthropology focuses primarily upon humans as the subject existing in our modern technological society of today. For more than 99.8% of its history, mankind has lived and adapted itself to a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. As such, it cannot necessarily be said that humans have established and thus possessed the appropriate nature to cope with the sudden appearance of a technological civilization today. It is therefore important to aspire objectively to the creation of living environments and lifestyle systems based on research which attaches importance to human characteristics evaluated from a viewpoint encompassing the past, present, and future. A major goal of this research field is the creation of an environment which will enable us and our descendants to live a better lifestyle. Physiological anthropology overlaps in many ways with research fields involving Ergonomics (or Human Engineering), Occupational Health, and other such kinds of studies. For example, in attempting to optimize a man – working environment system, importance is generally attached to variables like physical load, fatigue, productivity, efficiency, and so on. However, in order to devise favorable conditions of the various surrounding factors related to humanity, such an approach seems inadequate. As mentioned above, human history is composed entirely of a hunter-gatherer mode of living except for the last ten thousand years or so, and our physical resources are thus naturally well established by such a lifestyle, and have not changed biologically since those times. If we consider that our modern civilization has been but an instant in the larger scale of human history, a major discrepancy thus prevails between the environment to which we have adapted and the environment to which we are now struggling to adapt; a discrepancy which must surely result in untold invisible stress. The causes of physical load and fatigue in a living system as described above should be considered within the time-axis of the adaptation history of homo sapiens; i.e., assessment of the present modern period of time as a single point in the time perspective may therefore be inadequate and biased. As such, postulating an extension to the axis of the future in a human society by inducing an organic relationship between humans and the environment through addition of time to the space dimension is indeed the most markedly special feature of physiological anthropology. One may be considering the differences between Physiological Anthropology and Human Biology as well. Both fields deal with human biological variation and its adaptability to the environment; however, an approach to their goals might be different as follows; (1) the subject of our investigation is apparently humans who are healthy at the moment, but who are exposed to a highly technological environment which might cause untold invisible stresses and result in maladaptation in the near future, and (2) we try to evaluate the potential maladaptation mentioned above mainly from physiological responses, because stresses, including untold invisible ones, might cause the imbalance of homeostasis, which should be reflected on the constrained physiological adjustments and functions: the central nervous system, autonomic and motor nervous systems, and hormonal excretions.

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Journal of Physiological Anthropology (JPA)

Editors-in-Chief

Shigekazu Higuchi (Kyushu University)

2021 Impact Factor

2.867

Transfer to BioMed Central

Since Vol. 31 (2012), the Journal of PHYSIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY (JPA) has been provided by BioMed Central as an open access journal. Please access the new JPA web page hear to submit a manuscript or view articles published in the Journal’s after Vol. 31. All articles before Vol. 30 are available at no cost on J-STAGE.

Database

Web of Science, BIOSIS Previews, Biological Abstracts, MEDLINE, PubMed, Scopus, Google-Scholar, Ergonomics Abstract, J-STAGE, JDream-II

Article-processing Charges (APC)

The member of JSPA receive discount of Article-processing Charges (APC). If you want to become the member, please contact the administration office.

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Administration Office

Japan Society of Physiological Anthropology, International Academic Publishing, Co. Ltd. 358-5 Yamabuki-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-0801, Japan Fax: +81-3-5227-8631 E-mail: jspa-post[at]as.bunken.co.jp (when you send e-mail, please change the letters “[at]” to “@”)

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