Dulles’s second visit to Japan: The Tokyo talks of 1951

In January–February 1951, intensive negotiations were conducted in Tokyo between the Japanese and American governments about Japan’s roles in American strategy in Asia. The United States expected Japan to play two vital roles in the cold war. The first was that Japan could act as a potential offensive base from which to mount warfare against Soviet Russia and communist. China. the second was that Japan would serve as a supplementary balancer in the maintenance of the balance of power in Northeast Asia through the reactivation of her defense forces. This article, examining the Japanese government’s preparations for the Tokyo talks, discusses Japanese-American negotiations on a bilateral base arrangement and rearmament. It is argued that, although the United States succeeded in securing Japan as a major strategic base in the cold war by obtaining Japanese agreement to the U.S. proposal for stationing requirements for post-treaty American bases and troops, it failed in having Japan accept a U.S. plan for the revitalization of Japanese power because of the Japanese government’s reservation about rearmament.     

My visit to the living Buddha

There has been a catastrophic decline in the numbers of India's vultures, on which the Parsis once depended for the disposal of their dead. Parsi numbers are falling too. Their community represents only 0.0005 per cent of the population of the Indian subcontinent, yet they have made such a mark in so many walks of life. Could Zoroastrian culture explain their disproportionate success? Parsi shipbuilders built frigates of Malabar teak for the British Navy and the EIC, Parsis provided the brains behind India's nuclear programme, the backbone of India's manufacturing industry and such international musical icons as Zubin Mehta and Freddie Mercury, as well as the first Asian MPs at Westminster and the first Indian cricket team to tour England,. Parsi merchant-princes made fortunes in the opium trade yet rivalled Andrew Carnegie in their philanthropy.     

A third world view of Japan

This article investigates the impact of direct foreign investment (DFI) on the foreign trade of China. It firstly presents a theoretical discussion of the impact of DFI on foreign trade from both macro and micro-economic views, and then provides an empirical study of the role of foreign-invested enterprises in the foreign trade of China. In particular, this article explores transfer pricing by multinational corporations (MNCs), probing their motivations and latitude to practice transfer pricing in the Chinese particular circumstances and examining empirical evidence.     

韩日FTA之研究

世界经济正处于地区合作的时代.为了能动地应对世界经济环境的变化,缔结地区贸易协定并同主要贸易国建立更加亲密无间的关系已成为推进全球化和本国经济制度现代化的一种手段.本文以现在韩国政府正在全方位推进的韩日FTA为研究对象,探讨韩国政府有关的政策方向和战略,研究韩日两国间FTA的推进方向.     

On Jon Halliday's Contribution to Understanding Japan

Abstract

The smashing of the Gang of Four and resurrection of Deng Xiaoping produced a sense of euphoria and gave rise to unrealistic expectations in many areas of Chinese life. In the economic realm, visionary planners drew up blueprints based upon resources that simply were not there. In the political realm, young men and women dared to act upon the conviction that the Gang's downfall would open the way to an overall democratization of Chinese politics.     

Challenges to Intergovernmental Relations in Switzerland and Japan

In comparing Switzerland and Japan with respect to intergovernmental relations, differences are more obvious than similarities. Switzerland is a strongly federalist country. In contrast, Japan was clearly centralist in the past, and despite continuing decentralization reforms, it is usually still considered to be so today. The influence of the lower levels of government on the national legislative process remains comparatively low in Japan. Its centralized political structure seems to fit Japan's homogeneous culture, while on the other hand Swiss federalism has proven to be apt for the integration of minorities and for respect of cultural diversity. In spite of obvious basic differences, intergovernmental relations in these two countries face similar challenges: the concentration of human and economic resources in urban areas, the weakening of sub‐national parliaments, and financial strain.     

How Japan Can Contribute to a Peaceful World

This article discusses Japan's contribution to world peace both in the past and in the future. Japan's domestic, historical, and strategic circumstances shaped its concept of comprehensive security focused on international economic cooperation since the 1970s. Three decades of constructive relations with neighbors, including reconciliation with Southeast Asia built a strong foundation for Japan's new security role, one driven by new domestic and external imperatives. The article also documents the evolution of Japan's security policy and role in international peacekeeping, and concludes by arguing that Japan–ASEAN partnership is a key component of Japan's new security role, including permanent membership in the United Nations Security Council. In developing this new role, it is critically important that Japan engages its neighbors in ASEAN (and elsewhere) to gain their support for this new role.     

Yeltsin’s visit and the outlook for Japanese-Russian relations

The article clarifies a major misunderstanding prevalent among Americans, who tend to regard Japan’s request for the return of the Northern Territories as a narrow-minded, national-egoistic demand. Instead, the issue has become a global one. The author evaluates Yeltsin’s December 1992 visit to Tokyo, which has set a basic framework for further negotiation over the territorial disputes. Predicting optimistically the possible resolution of the dispute in the future, the author proposes concretely what may be done by the Japanese and the Russians. serves as first vice president of the International Council for Central and East European Studies (ICSEES). Dr. Kimura’s publications includeBeyond Cold War to Trilateral Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific Region: Scenarios for New Relationships Between Japan, Russia, and the United States (Cambridge, MA, 1992).     

A New Asian Order and the Role of Japan

China is changing the international order in East Asia. It is not only a matter of a power transition, but also a matter of a change in the international system. Chinese people tend to see the world order in hierarchical terms as they did for centuries; nationalism is used as a tool of national integration; and government control of the military is weakening. These are the factors behind the rise of China. If these trends continue, a hierarchical order with China as hegemon might be established in East Asia. It seems as if we are returning to the period before the nineteenth century when China led the world. However, the international order in the twenty-first century has to be based upon such principles as the rule of law, peaceful solution of conflict, democracy, and human rights. In order to establish such an order, Japan and other countries that have committed to those values should unite firmly. China also would benefit very much from that order in the long run.     

当今日本社会离婚现象透视

日本作为一个东方国家,深受儒家思想影响,有着一套传统的家族制度体系。但是自20世纪90年代以来,日本社会的离婚率持续攀高,甚至超过某些发达的资本主义国家,成为离婚大国。当今日本社会的离婚,呈现出数量多、年龄段偏高、女性占主导地位等一些新的特点。离婚热的出现,不再只是一个孤立的社会现象,它对个人、家庭乃至整个社会都有着直接的影响,由此引发出一系列的家庭和社会问题。针对这一现象,日本政府和民间组织纷纷行动起来,期望人们能够慎重对待婚姻,降低离婚率,从而稳定家庭与社会。     

日本的语言政策演变路径研究

日本是目前世界上少有的民族、国民和语言的构成相对单一的国家。然而,一百多年前,处于幕藩体制下的日本列岛还是一个由68个藩国组成的语言(口语)不通的列岛。日本的语言政策在这一百多年间经历了怎样的演变过程是值得研究和深思的。通过从(1)"国语"的出现和确立;(2)国语(标准语)的推广和普及;(3)战后的国语改革;(4)日语的国际化这四个方面梳理这一百多年来日本语言政策的演变路径,有助于了解日本的社会变革以及语言文化变迁,并从中获得历史启迪。     

US‐Japan joint workshop to avoid nuclear anarchy

Since 1992, experts and officials from the United States and Japan have been meeting regularly to discuss a wide range of ongoing, emerging, or unresolved issues relating to nuclear weapons, nuclear proliferation, and nuclear power. Steven Miller of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University and Ryukichi Imai, Distinguished Research Fellow of the Institute for International Policy Studies, Tokyo, provide an account of this collaboration, a central focus of which has been concern about what would happen with the Soviet nuclear arsenal.     

Education Reform in Japan: A Course for Lifelong Learning

Japan's current education system has its origins in postwar reform, overemphasizing individualism and underemphasizing on Japan's history, traditions, and culture, resulting in the continuing decline in scholastic, physical, and socializing ability to date. This essay reviews the IIPS proposal on educational reform, which was supervised by former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, with the addition of the author's personal views. The IIPS proposal set the ultimate goal of education in Japan to be raising healthy people who have self-confidence and pride as Japanese who can thrive in the era of globalization. Then, the proposal presents what a Japanese should learn and how he should serve at each life stage beginning with early childhood education through the compulsory education period, adolescence and young adulthood, maturity, and into the elderly period. Moreover, the organizational reform on administrating education policy is presented, with a focus on abandoning the current board of education system.