1492: The discovery of Japan

Columbus and the Discovery of Japan, by Richard Nelson. Royal Shakespeare Company, the Barbican Theatre, London, July 1992.     

The Pro-Life Movement in Japan

The birth rate in Japan is among the lowest in the world. But what about the abortion rate? This essay examines changes in abortion practice in Japan over time, and especially after WWII and the passage of the 1948 Eugenic Protection Law, comparing the influence of Buddhism, Protestantism, and Catholicism on the practice of abortion in Japan. This essay takes a particular look at the career of Dr. Kikuta Noboru, who helped revolutionize Japanese adoption laws after his conversion to Christianity.     

The Political-Economic Dimension of Pensions: The Case of Japan

This article examines how pensions are interwoven with the public and private financial system in Japan and the consequences for pension reform. A growing literature focuses on the multifaceted ways in which pensions are interwoven with the larger political economy. This study builds on this literature and finds that (a) public and private pensions have been integrated deeply into Japan's system of developmental finance, (b) this integration has created new economic and political problems as governments have attempted to shift away from its developmental model through deregulation, liberalization, and administrative reform, and (c) because pension reform is intimately linked with these reforms, it involves addressing fundamental issues regarding the role of the state, finance, and firms. These findings collectively illustrate that pension reform is not only driven by issues of fiscal viability and benefit levels, but also by the nature of the way in which pensions are integrated into a country's system of finance.     

显微日本近代公民教育的形成

日本社会于近代自上而下发生了质变,朝资本主义方向全面西化,其公民教育方面也不例外。从分析日本公民教育的历史背景、展开历程以及存在的问题,来深入了解日本的公民教育发展状况。     

The debates on public investments in Japan

Since the economic bubble burst, Japan has been in a long-term recession. To stimulate the economy, improve the infrastructure and increase employment, the Japanese Government injected a substantial amount of money into public works in the 1990s. However, these public investments had limited utility but incurred huge debts. These public investments have become a controversial issue. The Japanese Government could not but promote many reforms concerning public investments. This paper focuses on Japan＇s case and introduces the debates on public investments.     

An analysis of the Latin Americanization of race in the United States: a reconnaissance of color stratification among Mexicans

Eduardo Bonilla-Silva has painted with broad strokes a portrait of the future of racial relations in the United States in his paper entitled, “We are all Americans: Toward a New System of Racial Stratification in the U.S.A.” [Race and Society (forthcoming)]. In essence, he sees the United States moving from a two-tier, black-white racial system toward a three-tier racial system where persons will be categorized as “white”, “honorary white”, or “collective black”. Additionally, Bonilla-Silva believes that we are moving from a system in which race is commonly taken into account, toward a system of “color-blind” racism. In this article, we closely examine Bonilla-Silva’s ideas, and although we appreciate the broad scale of his work and its challenge to traditional race relations, we make adjustments to his work, particularly concerning the location of Latinos in the U.S. racial hierarchy, which lead both to a better understanding of the current and future racial situation in the United States, and toward policy recommendations which could ameliorate the bleak situation in which we find ourselves concerning life chances of people of color.     

The introduction of a proportional representation system in Japan

In 1982 Japan broke with all precedent and enacted a proportional representation system for the election of part of the Upper House. The motives of the parties were mixed and the new arrangements raised many practical and constitutional problems. Essentially the new law confused the concepts of equality and fairness. However, in the first election under the new system on 26 June 1983 party strengths were very little changed.     

Japan

European Journal of Political Research -     

Japan

European Journal of Political Research -