Our third speaker was Koichi Negayama, who presented with an associate Kaoru Shinozawa.  Koichi is a Professor of Developmental Psychology at the Waseda University, Tokyo.  He is currently observing infant massage classes in both the UK and Japan, as part of a cross-cultural research project focusing on the biological and cultural sides of massage.  Kaoru presented on her longitudinal study of infant massage in Japan, where once the infants started crawling, which was around 9 months, massage stopped.  She looked at the pleasure reactions exhibited by the infant at different ages and which parts of the body produced which behaviours.  At age 1-4 months, infants showed immaturity in being able to communicate their pleasure and were mainly passive, with some smiling and cooing.  At 5-8 months, infants become more expressive, which may indicate their understanding of their parent’s interaction, and there was active mother-infant communication.  There was more laughing and signs of relaxation.  Once the infant reached the age of 9-10 months, massage was more difficult, as the infant became mobile and showed more interest in exploring their surroundings.

Koichi looked at a comparison between Japanese and Scottish practices around the way they interact with their babies.  In both cases, massage of the head was not popular with the baby, but other massage practices were similar.  In play, there were differences in behaviour, which continued throughout the first 12 months.  In Japan, limb exercise play was dominant at the age of four months, but reduced greatly by 12 months, whereas in Scotland this remained low key at all ages up to 12 months.  Skin stimulation play was the most prominent in Scotland.  When it came to putting the baby to bed, Scottish mothers were found to leave their babies to cry, whereas Japanese mothers stayed with them until they were asleep, or would take them out of the cot until they were asleep.  Similarly at day nurseries, the practice in Scotland was to put the baby in the cot and rock the cot, whereas the Japanese were more tactile and lay on the floor and stroked the baby until they were asleep.  Koichi is planning to continue his research in England.