Human brain organoids (HBOs) are three-dimensional structures derived from human stem cells that model aspects of brain development and function, offering potentially unprecedented opportunities for studying neurological disorders and for developing treatments. This consensus paper presents recommendations from the Asia Pacific Neuroethics Working Group, developed through interdisciplinary collaboration among scientists, bioethicists, philosophers, and legal scholars who convened in Singapore in November 2024. We provide a comprehensive analysis of the ethical, legal, and sociocultural dimensions of HBO research, addressing both current realities and future possibilities. The paper examines key ethical considerations, including the potential moral status of HBOs, particularly regarding sentience and consciousness, while identifying and dispelling common misconceptions and “ethical red herrings” arising from sensationalized portrayals. We analyze consent frameworks for cell donation, privacy concerns, dual-use risks, and questions of distributive justice. Legal challenges are explored, including the categorical ambiguity of HBOs within existing regulatory frameworks, intellectual property issues, and cross-border inconsistencies in standards. Sociocultural perspectives emphasize the importance of public understanding, cross-cultural engagement, and empirical research on diverse community attitudes toward HBO research. In our recommendations, we advocate for evidence-based ethical discussions, anticipatory frameworks addressing potential future developments, contextualized analysis comparing HBOs to related experimental models, robust informed consent processes, proportionate responses to consciousness concerns, development of adaptive regulatory frameworks, responsible science communication to manage public expectations, and sustained interdisciplinary collaboration. We emphasize a balanced approach that promotes scientific innovation while maintaining rigorous ethical oversight, recognizing HBOs’ significant potential for advancing neuroscience and medicine. This represents the first comprehensive ethical framework for HBO research from the Asia Pacific region, helping to establish foundational principles for responsible development of this rapidly advancing field.
Individuals who have done good deeds sometimes try to conceal them. However, it has been understudied what factors shape individuals' concealment of prosociality. We address this question by adopting a socio-ecological perspective to investigate what societal factors may facilitate or hinder concealment of prosociality. We hypothesize that lower relational mobility, or less freedom of relational choice in society, will be associated with less positive and more negative expected reputations when one's prosociality is publicized, which, in turn, will predict a higher tendency among individuals to conceal prosociality. Across a cross-sectional survey (Study 1) and an experiment (Study 2) (N = 531), although the total effect of relational mobility was not significant, mediation analyses consistently showed that lower relational mobility was associated with a more negative expected reputation and, in turn, a higher likelihood of concealing prosociality. These findings underscore the significant role of social ecology in shaping individuals' decisions to actively hide their prosocial acts via the expected cost of its publicity, offering insights into the complexities of reputation management and human behaviour.
Examining the skilled migration of IT workers from South Korea to Japan, this study illuminates the critical role of the sending country government in steering migration intermediaries and migrants towards less-than-ideal employment outcomes in the destination country. By analysing the three phases of pre- and post-migration mediation - attraction, allocation and integration - and examining the interactions among multiple actors in each phase, the study uncovers how the continuous flow of IT skilled migration from South Korea to Japan since around 2000 has produced skilled yet flexible migrant labour in Japan's expanding IT industry. This study advances theoretical discussions on the nexus between migrant labour and the flexible labour market structures of the host country by shedding light on the role of sending states in constructing 'supply-driven' skilled yet flexible labour mobility.
This study addresses the role of monetary and fiscal policy stances in inflation dynamics in Japan. We estimate a Markov-switching dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with changes in the monetary-fiscal policy interaction. Focusing on the prolonged deflation observed in Japan, we find that Japan's policy regime was characterized by a combination of passive monetary and fiscal policies. We quantitatively clarify that this plays a substantial role in propagating negative demand shocks. However, after the introduction of unconventional monetary policy, it switched from a passive to an active regime. We show that policy regime changes have helped push up inflation.
Haslam and Tse (2026) proposed that harm-related concepts have expanded in recent decades, partly due to the rise of harm-based morality in Western cultures. Inspired by their theory, this commentary examines concept creep in interdependent Japanese cultural contexts, where morality may be undergoing changes. By analyzing moral language in Japanese popular song lyrics from 1968 to 2015, we first demonstrate that while harm-based morality has increased in Japan, binding moral foundations (purity, ingroup, and authority) have persisted or increased. Consistent with the premise that rising harm-based morality underlies concept creep, we then show that this phenomenon has occurred in Japan, drawing on cases of harassment, depression, and trauma. Concurrently, we argue that interdependence and binding moral foundations may influence the extent to which and how harm-related concepts expand. These observations suggest that while concept creep is not exclusive to Western cultures, it is shaped by sociocultural contexts.
