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School curricula are virtually everywhere developed nationally and intranationally—by national or local curriculum committees. Ironically, even the portion of the curriculum that involves world study (e.g., courses in world history, world geography, world problems) is developed within nations. Has the time not come to create some portions of the school curriculum multinationally? A multinational research team from nine nations used Cultural Futures Delphi procedures to interview then survey iteratively a multinational panel drawn from an array of fields in the same nine nations. The panelists reached consensus on (a) complex global crises that humans will face in the next 25years, (b) human characteristics needed for dealing with these crises, and (c) education strategies needed for developing these characteristics. Interpreting these findings, the research team developed a curriculum geared to the development of world citizens capable of dealing with the crises.

ObjectiveDementia has become a global critical issue. It is estimated that the global cost of dementia was 818 billion USD in 2015. The situation in Japan, which is the most aged country in the world, should be critical. However, the societal cost of dementia in Japan has not yet been estimated. This study was designed to estimate cost of dementia from societal perspective.DesignWe estimated the cost from societal perspective with prevalence based approach.Setting, participants and measuresMain data sources for the parameters to estimate the costs are the National Data Base, a nationwide representative individual-level database for healthcare utilization, the Survey of Long-Term Care Benefit Expenditures, a nationwide survey based on individual-level secondary data for formal long-term care utilization, and the results of an informal care time survey for informal care cost. We conducted the analyses with ‘probabilistic modeling’ using the parameters obtained to estimate the costs of dementia. We also projected future costs.ResultsThe societal costs of dementia in Japan in 2014 were estimated at JPY 14.5 trillion (se 66.0 billion). Of these, the costs for healthcare, long-term care, and informal care are JPY 1.91 trillion (se 4.91 billion), JPY 6.44 trillion (se 63.2 billion), and JPY 6.16 trillion (se 12.5 billion) respectively. The cost per person with dementia appeared to be JPY5.95 million (se 27 thousand). The total costs would reach JPY 24.3 trillion by 2060, which is 1.6 times higher than that in 2014.ConclusionsThe societal cost of dementia in Japan appeared to be considerable. Interventions to mitigate this impact should be considered.

The purpose of this special volume containing five articles dedicated to the internationalization of higher education in Japan is to provide information, analysis, and insight on the current goals, rationales, policies, and challenges facing internationalization's role as way to increase research excellence, profile, and competitiveness within Asia and the world beyond. Collectively, they paint a picture of a country that is supporting the higher education sector to be a key actor in helping Japan become the “Asian Gateway” to the rest of the world. To understand the nature of internationalization of higher education in Japan, it is important to review the changes in the international dimension of higher education during the past decades. Given the pivotal role that foreign students have played in the history of Japan's international academic relations, this topic is at the centre of a review of what could be called the “three primary phases” of internationalization from 1950 to the present day.

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