Japan and China: A Fresh Start in a Difficult Era

No relationship is more important to the future of Asia than the one between Japan and China. PM Abe’s visit to Beijing last month put the relationship back on a firmer footing. Yet diplomacy alone will not stabilize Sino-Japanese relations. Popular attitudes in both countries also matter, and will be shaped by the success or failure of leaders to manage the growing complexity of this relationship from food security to fisheries management to national defense and new solutions to China’s growing influence over the daily lives of Japanese. Across Asia too, Japan and China will need to coexist without impeding each other’s influence. Next year’s visit to Japan by President Xi offers ample opportunity for expanding the foundation of this latest round of diplomatic “fresh starts” in the Japan-China relationship. Uncertainty over the US role in Asia, however, has made this a more difficult task.     

Japan and The East China Sea Dispute

This article offers a closer examination of the way in which the 2010 crisis emerged between Japan and China. The debate that it sponsored within Japan suggests that a crisis management initiative between Beijing and Tokyo rather than an overall reconciliation agenda may be what is now needed. The author contents that greater predictability and transparency in these maritime interactions will go a long way to developing confidence in what has to date been a very uneasy and publicly sensitive aspect of the bilateral relationship.     

Happiness and Toska: An Essay in the History of Emotions in Pre-war Soviet Russia

This article examines the question of what can be gained from an investigation of people's emotions in Stalin's Russia. Such an investigation is inevitably limited by the type of sources available. However, the available sources on Soviet subjectivity provide some evidence of both "official" Soviet emotions (such as enthusiasm and righteous anger against enemies) and less officially prescribed, but widespread, emotions, such as fear, melancholy ( toska ), malice ( zlost' ) and personal happiness. This article focusses on accounts of happiness ( schast'e) and the yearning sadness known as toska , a frequently encountered counterpart of the former. The civic obligation to express public, collective happiness impinged on the capacity to express private happiness: grief and melancholy could be expressed, as long as they were not connected to complaints about the régime.     

Paan and Gutka Use in the United States: A Pilot Study in Bangladeshi and Indian-Gujarati Immigrants in New York City

Smokeless tobacco and areca nut are popular with South Asians and South Asian immigrants, most commonly used as paan and gutka. Their regular use leads to oral cancer. The South Asian community in the U.S. is rapidly growing, where paan and gutka are readily available. The study was the first exploration of the migration of the paan and gutka habits, and their use in the U.S.A 108-item questionnaire on paan and gutka usage and beliefs was administered to 138 first-generation Bangladeshi and Indian-Gujarati immigrant adults at community sites in the New York metropolitan area. Forty-five percent Indian-Gujaratis reported ever-regular paan use; of which 5% are current users. Thirty-one percent reported ever-regular gutka use; of which 77% are current users. Thirty-five percent Bangladeshis reported ever-regular paan use; of which 70% arc current users. Nine percent reported ever-regular gutka use; of which 67% are current users. Bangladeshis are more likely to identify paan as causing oral cancer. Indian-Gujaratis are more likely to identify gutka as causing oral cancer.Between the two communities, there were significant differences in paan and gutfca usage, migration effects, and oral career risk perception. There is a need for comprehensive migration studies on the determinants of usage, and for community-specific interventions for these carcinogenic products.     

Just Evidence: The Limits of Science in the Legal Process

Both opponents and proponents of the death penalty express faith in science and in DNA evidence to justify their positions. This article examines the production of forensic evidence as a social activity and suggests that tendencies toward bias and error may not apply symmetrically in inculpation and exoneration contexts.