Download or read book Is Japan Really Changing Its Ways written by Lonny E. Carlile and published by Brookings Inst Press. This book was released on 1998 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Deregulation has been at the top of Japan's economic policy agenda for many years. Now, in the midst of a financial crisis that engulfs all of Asia, pressures on the Japanese government for substantial reform--coming from both inside and outside forces--are stronger than ever. But is Japan actually making the changes necessary to reduce market controls, encourage competition, and create new opportunities for imports? To most outside observers, regulatory reform in Japan is an incomprehensible blur of grandiose proposals and byzantine political maneuvering, which masks developments that could be of tremendous significance to the world at large. In this book, experts from the United States and Japan cut through the fog that surrounds Japanese regulatory reform. They review the characteristics of Japanese regulation and analyze the content of regulatory reforms proposed to date as well as the political dynamics that shaped them. The book also examines the nuts-and-bolts issues of reforms in major economic sectors and the implications of deregulation for access to Japanese markets for foreign imports. By focusing on both the larger political, economic, and strategic contexts and on the way in which the micro and macro aspects of regulatory reform are interconnected, this volume makes comprehensible the tidal wave of proposals and posturing coming out of Japan. In addition to the editors, the contributors are Miyajima Hideaki, Elizabeth Norville, Kosuke Oyama, and Yul Sohn. Lonny E. Carlile is an assistant professor of Japanese Studies in the Center for Japanese Studies/Department of Asian Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Mark C. Tilton is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at Purdue University.
Download or read book Is Japan Really Changing Its Ways written by Lonny E. Carlile and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 1998-10-01 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Deregulation has been at the top of Japan's economic policy agenda for many years. Now, in the midst of a financial crisis that engulfs all of Asia, pressures on the Japanese government for substantial reform--coming from both inside and outside forces--are stronger than ever. But is Japan actually making the changes necessary to reduce market controls, encourage competition, and create new opportunities for imports? To most outside observers, regulatory reform in Japan is an incomprehensible blur of grandiose proposals and byzantine political maneuvering, which masks developments that could be of tremendous significance to the world at large. In this book, experts from the United States and Japan cut through the fog that surrounds Japanese regulatory reform. They review the characteristics of Japanese regulation and analyze the content of regulatory reforms proposed to date as well as the political dynamics that shaped them. The book also examines the nuts-and-bolts issues of reforms in major economic sectors and the implications of deregulation for access to Japanese markets for foreign imports. By focusing on both the larger political, economic, and strategic contexts and on the way in which the micro and macro aspects of regulatory reform are interconnected, this volume makes comprehensible the tidal wave of proposals and posturing coming out of Japan. In addition to the editors, the contributors are Miyajima Hideaki, Elizabeth Norville, Kosuke Oyama, and Yul Sohn. Lonny E. Carlile is an assistant professor of Japanese Studies in the Center for Japanese Studies/Department of Asian Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Mark C. Tilton is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at Purdue University.
Download or read book Tokyo Geek s Guide written by Gianni Simone and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2017-07-11 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tokyo is ground zero for Japan's famous "geek" or otaku culture--a phenomenon that has now swept across the globe. This is the most comprehensive Japan travel guide ever produced which features Tokyo's geeky underworld. It provides a comprehensive run-down of each major Tokyo district where geeks congregate, shop, play and hang out--from hi-tech Akihabara and trendy Harajuku to newer and lesser-known haunts like chic Shimo-Kita and working-class Ikebukuro. Dozens of iconic shops, restaurants, cafes and clubs in each area are described in loving detail with precise directions to get to each location. Maps, URLs, opening hours and over 400 fascinating color photographs bring you around Tokyo on an unforgettable trip to the centers of Japanese manga, anime and geek culture. Interviews with local otaku experts and people on the street let you see the world from their perspective and provide insights into Tokyo and Japanese culture, which will only continue to spread around the globe. Japanese pop culture, in its myriad forms, is more widespread today than ever before--with J-Pop artists playing through speakers everywhere, Japanese manga filling every bookstore; anime cartoons on TV; and toys and video games, like Pokemon Go, played by tens of millions of people. Swarms of visitors come to Tokyo each year on a personal quest to soak in all the otaku-related sights and enjoy Japanese manga, anime, gaming and idol culture at its very source. This is the go-to resource for those planning a trip, or simply dreaming of visiting one day!
Download or read book Strong Towns written by Charles L. Marohn, Jr. and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2019-10-01 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new way forward for sustainable quality of life in cities of all sizes Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Build American Prosperity is a book of forward-thinking ideas that breaks with modern wisdom to present a new vision of urban development in the United States. Presenting the foundational ideas of the Strong Towns movement he co-founded, Charles Marohn explains why cities of all sizes continue to struggle to meet their basic needs, and reveals the new paradigm that can solve this longstanding problem. Inside, you’ll learn why inducing growth and development has been the conventional response to urban financial struggles—and why it just doesn’t work. New development and high-risk investing don’t generate enough wealth to support itself, and cities continue to struggle. Read this book to find out how cities large and small can focus on bottom-up investments to minimize risk and maximize their ability to strengthen the community financially and improve citizens’ quality of life. Develop in-depth knowledge of the underlying logic behind the “traditional” search for never-ending urban growth Learn practical solutions for ameliorating financial struggles through low-risk investment and a grassroots focus Gain insights and tools that can stop the vicious cycle of budget shortfalls and unexpected downturns Become a part of the Strong Towns revolution by shifting the focus away from top-down growth toward rebuilding American prosperity Strong Towns acknowledges that there is a problem with the American approach to growth and shows community leaders a new way forward. The Strong Towns response is a revolution in how we assemble the places we live.
Download or read book Peak Japan written by Brad Glosserman and published by Georgetown University Press. This book was released on 2019-04-01 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The post-Cold War era has been difficult for Japan. A country once heralded for evolving a superior form of capitalism and seemingly ready to surpass the United States as the world’s largest economy lost its way in the early 1990s. The bursting of the bubble in 1991 ushered in a period of political and economic uncertainty that has lasted for over two decades. There were hopes that the triple catastrophe of March 11, 2011—a massive earthquake, tsunami, and accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant—would break Japan out of its torpor and spur the country to embrace change that would restart the growth and optimism of the go-go years. But several years later, Japan is still waiting for needed transformation, and Brad Glosserman concludes that the fact that even disaster has not spurred radical enough reform reveals something about Japan's political system and Japanese society. Glosserman explains why Japan has not and will not change, concluding that Japanese horizons are shrinking and that the Japanese public has given up the bold ambitions of previous generations and its current leadership. This is a critical insight into contemporary Japan and one that should shape our thinking about this vital country.
Download or read book Japan Change and Continuity written by Jeff Graham and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2003-09-02 with total page 409 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Japan is currently undergoing many interesting changes, which the Japanese government trumpets as fundamental reform, but which some observers suspect will turn out to be superficial, part of a long sequence of changes which have been much less far-reaching than at first anticipated. This book provides a survey of the many changes currently in progress in Japan, including political reform, economic deregulation and liberalisation, and reforms to environmental policy, science and technology, education, and immigration policy. The essays in this volume explore the reform process in Japan overall, and provides a thorough overview of major current developments in Japan.
Download or read book Institutional Change in Japan written by Magnus Blomström and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2006-08-21 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a new analysis of recent changes in important Japanese institutions. It addresses the origin, development, and recent adaptation of core institutions, including financial institutions, corporate governance, lifetime employment, and the amakudari system. After four decades of rapid economic growth in Japan, the 1990s saw the country enter a prolonged period of economic stagnation. Policy reforms were initially half-hearted, and businesses were slow to restructure as the global economy changed. The lagging economy has been impervious to aggressive fiscal stimulus measures and has been plagued by ongoing price deflation for years. Japan’s struggle has called into question the ability of the country’s economic institutions, originally designed to support factor accumulation and rapid development, to adapt to the new economic environment of the twenty-first century. This book discusses both historical and international comparisons including Meiji Japan, and recent economic and financial reforms in Korea, Scandinavia, Switzerland, and New Zealand, placing the current institutional changes in perspective. The contributors argue that, contrary to conventional wisdom that Japanese institutions have remained relatively rigid, there has been significant institutional change over the last decade.
Download or read book Japan s Changing Generations written by Gordon Mathews and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-10-02 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book argues that 'the generation gap' in Japan is something more than young people resisting the adult social order before entering and conforming to that order. Rather, it signifies something more fundamental: the emergence of a new Japan, which may be quite different from the Japan of postwar decades. It argues that while young people in Japan in their teens, twenties and early thirties are not engaged in overt social or political resistance, they are turning against the existing Japanese social order, whose legitimacy has been undermined by the past decade of economic downturn. The book shows how young people in Japan are thinking about their bodies and identities, their social relationships, and their employment and parenting, in new and generationally contextual ways, that may help to create a future Japan quite different from Japan of the recent past.
Download or read book Changing Politics in Japan written by Ikuo Kabashima and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2012-08-17 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Changing Politics in Japan is a fresh and insightful account of the profound changes that have shaken up the Japanese political system and transformed it almost beyond recognition in the last couple of decades. Ikuo Kabashima-a former professor who is now Governor of Kumamoto Prefecture-and Gill Steel outline the basic features of politics in postwar Japan in an accessible and engaging manner. They focus on the dynamic relationship between voters and elected or nonelected officials and describe the shifts that have occurred in how voters respond to or control political elites and how officials both respond to, and attempt to influence, voters. The authors return time and again to the theme of changes in representation and accountability. Kabashima and Steel set out to demolish the still prevalent myth that Japanese politics are a stagnant set of entrenched systems and interests that are fundamentally undemocratic. In its place, they reveal a lively and dynamic democracy, in which politicians and parties are increasingly listening to and responding to citizens' needs and interests and the media and other actors play a substantial role in keeping democratic accountability alive and healthy. Kabashima and Steel describe how all the political parties in Japan have adapted the ways in which they attempt to organize and channel votes and argue that contrary to many journalistic stereotypes the government is increasingly acting in the "the interests of citizens"-the median voter's preferences.
Download or read book Dogs and Demons written by Alex Kerr and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2002-02-10 with total page 479 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The crises--and failures--of modernization in Japan, as seen up close by a resident expert Japan is a nation in crisis, and the crisis goes far beyond its well-known economic plight. In Dogs and Demons, Alex Kerr chronicles the crisis on a broad scale, from the failure of Japan's banks and pension funds to the decline of its once magnificent modern cinema. The book takes up for the first time in the Western press subjects such as the nation's endangered environment--its seashores lined with concrete, its roads leading to nowhere in the mountains. It describes Japan's "monument frenzy," the destruction of old cities such as Kyoto and construction of drab new cities, and the attendant collapse of the tourist industry. All these unhealthy developments are, Kerr argues, the devastating boomerang effect of an educational and bureaucratic system designed to produce manufactured goods--and little else. A mere upturn in economic growth will not quickly remedy these severe internal problems, which Kerr calls a "failure of modernism." He assails the foreign experts who, often dependent on Japanese government and business support, fail to address these issues. Meanwhile, what of the Japanese people themselves? Kerr, a resident of Japan for thirty-five years, writes of them with humor and passion, for "passion," he says, "is part of the story. Millions of Japanese feel as heartbroken at what is going on as I do. My Japanese friends tell me, 'Please write this--for us.'"
Download or read book Japanese Telecommunications written by Ruth Taplin and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2006-02-01 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presenting a comprehensive survey of the telecommunications industry in Japan, Taplin and Wakui cover the different sectors of the industry – including mobile, broadband and satellite, whilst considering key questions such as the structure and economics of the industry, government policy, and international relations issues connected to the industry. The volume brings together unique analysis by renowned experts in the telecommunications field. One major overall problem is that, unlike many other industries, Japan has lagged behind other countries in telecommunications. Japanese Telecommunications considers why this should be so, showing how far this is attributable to an unmodernized industry structure, and assessing the measures being taken to address the problem. After over a decade of struggle, Japan has recorded rapid uptake of broadband, and Japanese advanced mobile services have become increasingly successful on a global scale. Japan has also undergone regulatory reform, and competition policy is now given top priority by government. Taplin and Wakui examine the most recent developments and provide signposts for the future.
Download or read book The Changing Japanese Family written by Marcus Rebick and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2006-04-18 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Japanese family is shifting in fundamental ways, specifically in terms of attitudes towards family and societal relationships, and also the role of the family in society. Changing Japanese Family explores these significant changes which include an ageing population, delayed marriages, a fallen birth rate, which has fallen below the level needed for replacement, and a decline in three-generational households and family businesses. The authors investigate these changes and the effects of them on Japanese society, whilst also setting the study in the context of wider economic and social changes in Japan. They offer interesting comparisons with international societies, especially with Southern Europe, where similar changes to the family and its role are occuring. This fascinating text is essential reading for those with an enthusiasm in Japanese studies but will also engage those with a concern in Japanese culture and society, as well as appealing to a readership with a wider interest in the sociology of the family.
Download or read book Urban Migrants in Rural Japan written by Susanne Klien and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 2020-02-01 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offers an in-depth ethnography of paradigm shifts in the lifestyles and values of youth in post-growth Japan. Urban Migrants in Rural Japan provides a fresh perspective on theoretical notions of rurality and emerging modes of working and living in post-growth Japan. By exploring narratives and trajectories of individuals who relocate from urban to rural areas and seek new modes of working and living, this multisited ethnography reveals the changing role of rurality, from postwar notions of a stagnant backwater to contemporary sites of experimentation. The individual cases presented in the book vividly illustrate changing lifestyles and perceptions of work. What emerges from Urban Migrants in Rural Japan is the emotionally fraught quest of many individuals for a personally fulfilling lifestyle and the conflicting neoliberal constraints many settlers face. In fact, flexibility often coincides with precarity and self-exploitation. Susanne Klien shows how mobility serves as a strategic mechanism for neophytes in rural Japan who hedge their bets; gain time; and seek assurance, inspiration, and courage to do (or further postpone doing) what they ultimately feel makes sense to them. “This book is a valuable contribution to knowledge about diversifying rural Japan and evokes reflection about the future of post-growth Japan. Klien’s study benefits from assiduous and long-term field research and insightful analysis. She excels at locating the specifics of the study in theoretical observations and concepts, thereby setting the work into a larger consideration of Japan’s paradigm shifts in lifestyle and values.” — Nancy Rosenberger, author of Gambling with Virtue: Japanese Women and the Search for Self in a Changing Nation
Download or read book Japan Transformed written by Frances Rosenbluth and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2010-04-12 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With little domestic fanfare and even less attention internationally, Japan has been reinventing itself since the 1990s, dramatically changing its political economy, from one managed by regulations to one with a neoliberal orientation. Rebuilding from the economic misfortunes of its recent past, the country retains a formidable economy and its political system is healthier than at any time in its history. Japan Transformed explores the historical, political, and economic forces that led to the country's recent evolution, and looks at the consequences for Japan's citizens and global neighbors. The book examines Japanese history, illustrating the country's multiple transformations over the centuries, and then focuses on the critical and inexorable advance of economic globalization. It describes how global economic integration and urbanization destabilized Japan's postwar policy coalition, undercut the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's ability to buy votes, and paved the way for new electoral rules that emphasized competing visions of the public good. In contrast to the previous system that pitted candidates from the same party against each other, the new rules tether policymaking to the vast swath of voters in the middle of the political spectrum. Regardless of ruling party, Japan's politics, economics, and foreign policy are on a neoliberal path. Japan Transformed combines broad context and comparative analysis to provide an accurate understanding of Japan's past, present, and future.
Download or read book Modern Passings written by Andrew Bernstein and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2006-01-31 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What to do with the dead? In Imperial Japan, as elsewhere in the modernizing world, answering this perennial question meant relying on age-old solutions. Funerals, burials, and other mortuary rites had developed over the centuries with the aim of building continuity in the face of loss. As Japanese coped with the economic, political, and social changes that radically remade their lives in the decades after the Meiji Restoration (1868), they clung to local customs and Buddhist rituals such as sutra readings and incense offerings that for generations had given meaning to death. Yet death, as this highly original study shows, was not impervious to nationalism, capitalism, and the other isms that constituted and still constitute modernity. As Japan changed, so did its handling of the inevitable. Following an overview of the early development of funerary rituals in Japan,Andrew Bernstein demonstrates how diverse premodern practices from different regions and social strata were homogenized with those generated by middle-class city dwellers to create the form of funerary practice dominant today. He describes the controversy over cremation, explaining how and why it became the accepted manner of disposing of the dead. He also explores the conflict-filled process of remaking burial practices, which gave rise, in part, to the suburban "soul parks" now prevalent throughout Japan; the (largely failed) attempt by nativists to replace Buddhist death rites with Shinto ones; and the rise and fall of the funeral procession. In the process, Bernstein shows how today’s "traditional" funeral is in fact an early twentieth-century invention and traces the social and political factors that led to this development. These include a government wanting to separate itself from religion even while propagating State Shinto, the appearance of a new middle class, and new forms of transportation. As these and other developments created new contexts for old rituals, Japanese faced the problem of how to fit them all together. What to do with the dead? is thus a question tied to a still broader one that haunts all societies experiencing rapid change: What to do with the past? Modern Passings is an impressive and far-reaching exploration of Japan’s efforts to solve this puzzle, one that is at the heart of the modern experience.
Download or read book Changing Japan written by Edward Norbeck and published by Holt McDougal. This book was released on 1976 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As Dr. Norbeck points out, internal contrasts within Japanese society have always been sharp, & they have grown rather than diminished as time has passed. There are many ways of life in Japan, & in their variety they reflect the unevenness of change in a dynamic society that has moved from feudalism since 1868 to industrial urbanization, & that has recovered since 1945 from a crushing military defeat to attain now its greatest period of prosperity.
Download or read book Institutional and Technological Change in Japan s Economy written by Janet Hunter and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2006-06-28 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Institutional and technological change is a highly topical subject. At the theoretical level, there is much debate in the field of institutional economics about the role of technological change in endogenous growth theory. At a practical policy level, arguments rage about how Japan and the Japanese economy should plan for the future. In this book, leading economists and economic historians of Japan examine a range of key issues concerning institutional and technological change in Japan, rigorously using discipline-based tools of analysis, and drawing important conclusions as to how the process of change in these areas actually works. In applying these ideas to Japan, the writers in this volume are focusing on an issue which is currently being much debated in the country itself, and are helping our understanding of the world’s second-largest economy.
