Stature, body weight, left foot length and breadth were measured on East Javanese, Filipinas in Northern Luzon, and Japanese in Tokyo. No footwear is used by the Javanese, rubber sandals are used by the Filipinas, and sneakers or leather shoes by the Japanese group. Regression lines regardless of age were obtained among these four measurements, body mass index (BMI), and relative foot breadth to foot length. The relationships between general body size and foot size/shape were examined with regard to footwear. The results can be summarized as follows: (1) in either sex, compared with the Japanese, the East Javanese have a longer foot for the same stature and body weight, and a wider foot for the same BMI and the same foot length; (2) the relationship between BMI and foot shape (breadth/length) is nearly the same in the Filipinas and the Japanese females, (3) sexual dimorphism of the foot is greater among the East Javanese than among the Japanese; (4) as body size/weight increases sexual dimorphism diminishes among the East Javanese, whereas it is more emphasized among the Japanese; (5) the appropriateness of the regression equation obtained from measurements of present-day barefoot peoples for estimation of the stature of prehistoric humans is supported.

The RUS maturity of the Beijing children was comparable with that of Tokyo children, except for the boys between 11 and 13 years. Variability of the RUS maturation among the Chinese children was greater than that found among the TW3, Tokyo and Beijing children.

•ôGS•ô Stature, body weight, and the body mass index (BMI) in cross-sec tionalsample of Philippine children aged 7-17 were studied in a rural region, Isabela Province (531 boys and 571 girls), and in an urban region, Metro Manila (984 girls and 1003 boys). Each region consisted of a poorly-off group and a well-off group. Children of well-off families were taller and heavier than those of poorly-off families in both rural and urban regions, and growth of the rural well-off group coincided with that of the urban poorly-off group. Compared with average Japanese children, Quezon City (QC) children (the well-off group in Ma nila)were taller and heavier up to ages 7-9 in both sexes, whereas at ages 12-14, average Japanese children exceeded QC children. This Japan-QC difference seems to be widened through the post-pubertal period. Sensitivity to environmen

In order to investigate the shape and size differences in feet caused by daily footwear, a comparative study was conducted on foot morphology in two populations. The data from six measurements in general physique and 18 measurements in the feet and their contours were obtained from 34 Filipino women in Isabela Province and 40 Japanese women in Tokyo. Despite the fact that the Tokyo women had larger physique than the Isabela women, there were no significant differences in foot size between two groups. Both relative size of foot for general physique and intragroup deviation of foot proportion were larger in the Isabela women than those in the Tokyo women. In comparing foot contour, many measurements relating particularly to foot proportion, represented by angles, showed significant differences between the two groups. In gross observation some of the Isabela women showed marked deformity of the grand toe to the lateral side, "like a hallux valgus' without any complaints. In principal-component analysis (PCA), CP1 was interpreted as size factor, CP2 was considered as position of foot axis, CP3 and CP4 were estimated as degree of angle between foot axis and ball axis. Means of individual score by PCA showed a completely inverse pattern between Isabela and Tokyo women. The differences in foot morphology recognized in these two groups were considered from the point of view of differences of daily footwear, which have not changed in the Philippines but have changed dramatically in Japan since World War II. We concluded that the deformity like a hallux valgus, frequently found in previous generations of Japanese who used to wear traditional footwear, geta and zori, must have been a healthy deformity, however, the pathological deformity hallux valgus is observed only in the Isabela women of today.

A number of papers on the growth of Chinese children have been published in local journals in China in the Chinese language. However, we noticed that height and weight are the main focus of these studies. Because leg length relative to height is of interest in human biology, the current study focuses on the growth of this proportion. Two groups of Chinese children were investigated: 587 boys and 625 girls in Beijing in 1997 aged 6-18 years, and 579 boys and 615 girls in Xilinhot, Inner Mongolia, in 2005 aged 7-18 years. Height and leg length (iliospinal height) were measured, and the ratio of leg length to height was calculated for each child. Mean distance curves and spline-smoothed yearly increment curves were obtained. In order to clarify the difference between the two groups of Chinese children, data from Japanese children were adopted as a control. The Beijing children were taller than the Xilinhot children, but no difference was detected in leg length between them. The ages at 'takeoff' and 'peak' obtained on the yearly increment spline-smoothed curve of height in the Xilinhot children boys were 1.2-1.8 years earlier, respectively, than those of the Beijing boys. In the girls, these two ages were almost the same in the two cities, although the 'peak' was 1.8 cm greater in the Xilinhot girls. Leg length in the boys was almost the same in both Beijing and Xilinhot. In the girls of the Xilinhot group, leg length was greater after puberty. Consequently, the ratio of leg length to height was greater in the Xilinhot children than the Beijing children. It is suggested, in China, that socioeconomic factors influence growth of height to a greater extent than growth of leg length, and that leg length and leg length relative to height might be controlled by a genetic factor.