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Japan In Space: Past, Present and Future (Springer Praxis Books)
by Brian HarveyGuided by genius engineer Hideo Itokawa, Japan’s space program began with small scientific satellites more than 50 years ago. Since then, its space probes have travelled to the Moon, Venus, the asteroids and even a comet. The country launched weathersatellites to warn of typhoons, communications satellites to connect the Japanese archipelago and remote sensing technology to observe the Earth and warn of climate change. Engineering technology satellites became the basis of Japan’s electronic industry as Japanese astronauts flew into space, working on their Kibo module on the International Space Station.Now, Japan is one of Asia’s leading space powers, alongside China and India, vying for influence in the region. Its solid and liquid-fueled rockets are estimated to be among the most advanced and reliable in the world, its technology among the best. This bookexamines the history of Japan’s space program, the country’s current state of development and its future. It describes the extensive infrastructure that has gone into the forging of Japan’s picturesque oceanside launch sites, training centers, testing facilities and tracking stations. This book also outlines the politics of space in Japan, financial difficulties, its space industry, the symbiotic relationship with the United States and the recent sharp change-of-course to invest in military satellites.From the role of influential personalities, such as Hideo Shima and Shinichi Nakasuka, to political leaders, such as Yasuhiro Nakasone and Takeo Kawamura, you will read about how Japan has paved its own star-lit path to space. The future may expect tosend Japanese probes to Mercury and the moons of Mars, all while the first Japanese astronauts set foot on our own Moon and drive innovative rovers across its surface.
Japan in the 1960s: Ten Years of Turning Points (Inside East Asia)
by Robert D. Eldridge Jason M. MorganEldridge and Morgan set a new paradigm for East Asian contemporary historiography by viewing the decade of the 1960s as hermeneutically powerful. From street battles over Japan’s security treaty with the United States, to a peace treaty with the former Japanese territory of South Korea, to Japan’s hosting the 1964 Summer Olympics, the 1960s in Japan was a decade of turning points. This book is the first to see the 1960s as a historical subject in its own right and argues that the specificity and internal complexity rooted in East Asia during this period showed how East Asians were dynamic agents in shaping the decade. In this volume, contributors consider Japanese responses to a 1961 coup in the Republic of Korea; the Satō Eisaku administration’s approach to nuclear deterrence and to the question of Okinawa’s return from American control; U.S.-Japan intellectual exchange during the Cold War; support by Japanese businesspeople for the Self-Defense Forces; the “soft power” of Japanese cinema in the 1960s; Japan’s understanding of 1960s United Nations peacekeeping operations; changes in “national polity” discourse in the 1960s; the Dalai Lama’s 1967 visit to Japan; economic development in and cultural exchange between 1960s Japan and Spain; Japan’s science and technology interactions with the United States; and the earliest known, and suspected, cases of North Korean abduction of Japanese citizens. Much of the information in this volume has never appeared in English before.This is an important volume for historians, political scientists, sociologists, and other scholars specializing in the twentieth century and those interested in cutting-edge history-writing about a transformative 10-year period in East Asia.
Japan in the American Century
by Kenneth B. PyleNo nation was more deeply affected by America’s rise to power than Japan. The price paid to end the most intrusive reconstruction of a nation in modern history was a cold war alliance with the U.S. that ensured American dominance in the region. Kenneth Pyle offers a thoughtful history of this relationship at a time when the alliance is changing.
Japan in the Heisei Era (1989–2019): Multidisciplinary Perspectives
by Jeff Kingston Tina Burrett Noriko MuraiJapan in the Heisei Era (1989–2019) provides a retrospective and multidisciplinary account of a society in flux. Featuring analyses from leading scholars around the globe, this textbook examines the evolving contexts of Japan throughout the Heisei era and how longstanding verities and values have been called into question. Asking what this holds for Japan’s future relations with the world and within its own communities, chapters delve beneath the layers of a complex and increasingly diverse society, exploring topics including simmering ethnonationalism, economic torpor, political stagnation, and cultural dynamics. Features of this textbook include:• Analysis of key social issues ranging from immigration, civil society, press freedom, politics, labour and the economy, to diversity, the marginalisation of women, Shinto, and Aum Shinrikyo• Evaluation of the legacy of Emperor Akihito on war memory, the imperial institution, art, regional relations, and constitutional revision• Multidisciplinary insights from both the social sciences and humanities• Rich illustrations for visual analysis of developments in contemporary Japanese literature, film, art, and pop culture Providing students with dynamic analyses of how contemporary Japanese society continues to transform, this textbook is essential reading for students of Japanese Studies, including Japanese culture, society, history, and politics.
Japan in the Heisei Era (1989–2019): Multidisciplinary Perspectives
by Jeff Kingston Tina Burrett Noriko MuraiJapan in the Heisei Era (1989–2019)provides a retrospective and multidisciplinary account of a society in flux. Featuring analyses from leading scholars around the globe, this textbook examines the evolving contexts of Japan throughout the Heisei era and how longstanding verities and values have been called into question. Asking what this holds for Japan’s future relations with the world and within its own communities, chapters delve beneath the layers of a complex and increasingly diverse society, exploring topics including simmering ethnonationalism, economic torpor, political stagnation, and cultural dynamics.Features of this textbook include: Analysis of key social issues ranging from immigration, civil society, press freedom, politics, labour and the economy, to diversity, the marginalisation of women, Shinto, and Aum Shinrikyo Evaluation of the legacy of Emperor Akihito on war memory, the imperial institution, art, regional relations, and constitutional revision Multidisciplinary insights from both the social sciences and humanities Rich illustrations for visual analysis of developments in contemporary Japanese literature, film, art, and pop culture Providing students with dynamic analyses of how contemporary Japanese society continues to transform, this textbook is essential reading for students of Japanese Studies, including Japanese culture, society, history, and politics.The Introduction and Chapter 19 of this book are freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.
Japan in the Posthegemonic World
by Tsuneo Akaha Frank LangdonThe diversity of views on the causes and consequences of U.S. hegemonic decline notwithstanding, there is an almost unanimous worldwide opinion that the management of global and regional problems in the post-Cold War era requires, at a minimum, effective and timely policy coordination and efficacious burden- and power-sharing among the United States, Japan, and the European Community. The editors of this volume believe that collective management of post-Cold War problems is both desirable and possible, but that it would require hitherto unprecedented levels of cooperation among the three power centers. Particularly crucial, we believe, will be Japan's ability and willingness to define clearly its role in the emerging new world order and to translate that definition into effective policy. Equally important will be the expectations of others regarding Japan's role and behavior in the posthegemonic world and how any discrepancies between the Japanese and non-Japanese views can be eliminated--or at least reduced-- through political dialogue and policy coordination.
Japan in the World
by Masao Miyoshi H. D. HarootunianSince the end of World War II, Japan has determinately remained outside the current of world events and uninvolved in the processes determining global history and politics. In Japan and the World, distinguished scholars, novelists, and intellectuals articulate how Japan--despite unprecedented economic prowess in securing dominance in the world's market--is caught in a complex dependency with the United States. Drawing on critical and postmodernist theory, this timely volume situates this dependency in a broader historical context and assesses Japan's current dealings in international politics, society, and culture. Among the many topics covered are: racism in U. S. -Japanese relations; productivity and workplace discourse; Western cultural hegemony; the constructing of a Japanese cultural history; and the place of the novelist in today's world. Originally published as a special issue of boundary 2 (Fall 1991), this edition includes four new essays on Japanese industrial revolution; the place of English studies in Japan; how American cultural, historical, and political discourse represented Japan and in turn how America's version of Japan became Japan's version of itself; and an "archaeology" of hegemonic relationships between Japan and America and Britain in the first half of the twentieth century. Contributors. Eqbal Ahmad, Perry Anderson, Bruce Cumings, Arif Dirlik, H. D. Harootunian, Kazuo Ishuro, Fredric Jameson, Kojin Karatani, Oe Kenzaburo, Masao Miyoshi, Tetsuo Najita, Leslie Pincus, Naoki Sakai, Miriam Silverberg, Christena Turner, Rob Wilson, Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto
Japan Inc. on the Brink
by Susan CarpenterThis book contends that structural reforms, the essential third arrow in Abe's 'Abenomics', will not happen. As a result, Abenomics is merely a combination of reckless monetary policy and ambiguous fiscal policies which will fail to regenerate Japan's fragile economy and cut sovereign debt.
Japan, Internationalism and the UN (Nissan Institute/Routledge Japanese Studies)
by R. P. DoreJapan has enormous economic power and yet is a minor player in international politics. In part this has been due to the partnership with US, but now with the end of cold war there is a fierce debate going on in Japan regarding the international political role for the nation. This book is a response to the issues raised and was originally published in Japanese for a Japanese audience. Ronald Dore provides a full analysis of Japan's post war international position and in particular its role within the UN, the use of armed force and constitution. Japan, Internationalism and the UN provides a unique insight into Japan's foreign policy and its related domestic politics. It is the product of nearly half a century of study and discussion with the Japanese themselves about their place in the world.
Japan, Italy and the Road to the Tripartite Alliance (Security, Conflict And Cooperation In The Contemporary World Ser.)
by Ken IshidaThis book employs a comparative approach to explore the decision-making processes behind the Japanese and Italian foreign policies concerned with East Asia, Africa, Europe and the Mediterranean. It explores these policies in relation to the Axis powers and Britain in the 1930s. Both Japan and Italy shared significant similarities in their decision-making processes, which help to illustrate the workings of ultra-nationalist and fascist foreign policy. The work examines the mechanism of decision-making in the foreign ministries, rather than the personalities of leaders, in order to understand why and how both countries finally chose unexpected partners. The Tripartite Alliance has often been perceived through the diplomatic motives and arbitrary manners of dictatorial leadership in Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and ultra-nationalist Japan individually. This book compares the foreign policies of Italy and Japan and looks outwards to their diplomatic relations with Britain, a key imperial factor in their expansions into East Asia and Africa, contrasting these Axis powers with Germany, usually thought to typify fascist diplomacy.
Japan Prepares for Total War
by Michael A. BarnhartThe roots of Japan's aggressive, expansionist foreign policy have often been traced to its concern over acute economic vulnerability. Michael A. Barnhart tests this assumption by examining the events leading up to World War II in the context of Japan's quest for economic security, drawing on a wide array of Japanese and American sources. Barnhart focuses on the critical years from 1938 to 1941 as he investigates the development of Japan's drive for national economic self-sufficiency and independence and the way in which this drive shaped its internal and external policies. He also explores American economic pressure on Tokyo and assesses its impact on Japan's foreign policy and domestic economy. He concludes that Japan's internal political dynamics, especially the bitter rivalry between its army and navy, played a far greater role in propelling the nation into war with the United States than did its economic condition or even pressure from Washington. Japan Prepares for Total War sheds new light on prewar Japan and confirms the opinions of those in Washington who advocated economic pressure against Japan.
Japan Rearmed: The Politics of Military Power
by Sheila A. SmithModern Japan is not only responding to threats from North Korea and China but is also reevaluating its dependence on the United States, Sheila Smith shows. No longer convinced they can rely on Americans to defend their country, Tokyo’s political leaders are now confronting the possibility that they may need to prepare the nation’s military for war.
Japan Remodeled: How Government and Industry are Reforming Japanese Capitalism
by Steven K. VogelAs the Japanese economy languished in the 1990s Japanese government officials, business executives, and opinion leaders concluded that their economic model had gone terribly wrong. They questioned the very institutions that had been credited with Japan's past success: a powerful bureaucracy guiding the economy, close government-industry ties, "lifetime" employment, the main bank system, and dense interfirm networks. Many of these leaders turned to the U. S. model for lessons, urging the government to liberate the economy and companies to sever long-term ties with workers, banks, suppliers, and other firms. Despite popular perceptions to the contrary, Japanese government and industry have in fact enacted substantial reforms. Yet Japan never emulated the American model. As government officials and industry leaders scrutinized their options, they selected reforms to modify or reinforce preexisting institutions rather than to abandon them. In Japan Remodeled, Steven Vogel explains the nature and extent of these reforms and why they were enacted. Vogel demonstrates how government and industry have devised innovative solutions. The cumulative result of many small adjustments is, he argues, an emerging Japan that has a substantially redesigned economic model characterized by more selectivity in business partnerships, more differentiation across sectors and companies, and more openness to foreign players.
Japan Restored
by Clyde PrestowitzHow Japan Can Reinvent Itself and Why This Is Important for America and the World. In 1979, the bookJapan as Number One: Lessons for America by Harvard University professor Ezra Vogel caused a sensation in the United States by pointing out that Japan was surpassing America as world economic leader; the book remains to this day the all-time bestseller in Japan of non-fiction by a Western author. The book was timely: Japan's subsequent "bubble era" of the 1980s saw the country booming. But since the economic bubble burst at the start of the 1990s, Japan has been in decline. Japan Restored by Clyde Prestowitz, taking up Vogel's baton, is written as a vision of Japan in the year 2050, when the country's economic recovery has made it a world leader in every area of human endeavor. Prestowitz looks back to the year 2014 as such a low point for Japan that a special reform commission was set up that helped the country regain its former position as a leader in technology, in business, and geopolitically. Looking at education, innovation, the role of women, corporate organization, energy, infrastructure, domestic government, and international alliances Prestowitz draws up a fascinating and controversial blueprint for the future success of Japan. As the eyes of the world turn towards Japan in the run-up to the 2020 Olympics,Japan Restored is as timely as the 1979 Vogel book that inspired it.
Japan Rising: The Resurgence of Japanese Power and Purpose
by Kenneth B. PyleJapan is on the verge of a sea change. After more than fifty years of national pacifism and isolation including the "lost decade" of the 1990s, Japan is quietly, stealthily awakening. <P><P> As Japan prepares to become a major player in the strategic struggles of the 21st century, critical questions arise about its motivations. What are the driving forces that influence how Japan will act in the international system? Are there recurrent patterns that will help explain how Japan will respond to the emerging environment of world politics? American understanding of Japanese character and purpose has been tenuous at best. We have repeatedly underestimated Japan in the realm of foreign policy. Now as Japan shows signs of vitality and international engagement, it is more important than ever that we understand the forces that drive Japan. In Japan Rising, renowned expert Kenneth Pyle identities the common threads that bind the divergent strategies of modern Japan, providing essential reading for anyone seeking to understand how Japan arrived at this moment-and what to expect in the future.
Japan, Russia and their Territorial Dispute: The Northern Delusion (Routledge Contemporary Japan Series)
by James D. BrownThe territorial dispute between Japan and Russia over four islands off the northeast coast of Hokkaidō has been an enduring obstacle to closer relations between the two powers and therefore an important determinant of geopolitics in North-East Asia. Having emerged at the end of World War II, this conflict has now existed for more than seven decades. And yet, despite the passage of so much time, within Japan there remains a resilience of belief that the islands will eventually be returned. This book provides a comprehensive analysis of Japan’s prospects of ever recovering these "Northern Territories". Offering an in-depth account of why the Japanese side believe they still have a chance of securing the return of the four islands, it also provides an objective and methodical evaluation of the prospects of these expectations being realised. The key finding is that Japanese policymakers and scholars have consistently overestimated the extent of Japan’s leverage with regard to Russia, and that there is, in fact, already no possibility whatsoever of sovereignty over the four islands being restored to Japan. This has major implications for Japanese decision makers who must balance their principled commitment not to compromise on territorial issues with more pragmatic considerations of energy security and how to contain the rise of Chinese regional power. Presenting a unique analysis and a strikingly different perspective on this territorial dispute, the findings of this book are of considerable importance for international relations within the Asia-Pacific region. It will be of interest to students and scholars of Japanese Politics, Russian Politics and International Relations.
Japan, South Korea, and the United States Nuclear Umbrella: Deterrence After the Cold War (Contemporary Asia in the World)
by Terence RoehrigFor close to sixty years, the United States has maintained alliances with Japan and South Korea that have included a nuclear umbrella, guaranteeing their security as part of a strategy of extended deterrence. Yet questions about the credibility of deterrence commitments have always been an issue, especially when nuclear weapons are concerned. Would the United States truly be willing to use these weapons to defend an ally?In this book, Terence Roehrig provides a detailed and comprehensive look at the nuclear umbrella in northeast Asia in the broader context of deterrence theory and U.S. strategy. He examines the role of the nuclear umbrella in Japanese and South Korean defense planning and security calculations, including the likelihood that either will develop its own nuclear weapons. Roehrig argues that the nuclear umbrella is most important as a political signal demonstrating commitment to the defense of allies and as a tool to prevent further nuclear proliferation in the region. While the role of the nuclear umbrella is often discussed in military terms, this book provides an important glimpse into the political dimensions of the nuclear security guarantee. As the security environment in East Asia changes with the growth of North Korea's capabilities and China's military modernization, as well as Donald Trump's early pronouncements that cast doubt on traditional commitments to allies, the credibility and resolve of U.S. alliances will take on renewed importance for the region and the world.
The Japan That Can Say No
by Shintaro IshiharaAuthor describes the causes of friction between his country and the U.S., claiming that dropping the A-bomb on Japan rather than on Germany conveyed American racism.
Japan, the System That Soured: The Rise And Fall Of The Japanese Economic Miracle
by Richard KatzAfter seven long years of economic malaise, it is clear that something has gone awry in Japan. Unless Japan undertakes sweeping reform, official forecasts now warn, growth will steadily dwindle. How could the world's most acclaimed economic miracle have stumbled so badly? As this important book explains, the root of the problem is that Japan is still mired in the structures, policies, and mental habits of the 1950s-1960s. Four decades ago while in the "catch-up" phase of its economic evolution, policies that gave rise to "Japan, Inc". made a lot of sense. By the 1970s and 1980s, when Japan had become a more mature economy, "catch-up economics" had become passe, even counterproductive. Even worse, in response to the oil shocks, Japan increasingly used its industrial policy tools. not to promote "winners", but to shield "losers" from competition at home and abroad. Japan's well-known aversion to imports is part and parcel of this politically understandable, but economically self-defeating, pattern. The end result is a deformed "dual economy" unique in the industrial world. Now this "dualism" is sapping the strength of the entire economy. The protection of the weak is driving Japan's most inefficient companies to invest offshore instead of at home. Without sweeping reform, real recovery will prove elusive. The challenging thesis articulated in this book is receiving widespread media attention in the United States and Japan and is sure to provoke continuing debate and controversy.
Japan, the Toothless Tiger
by Declan HayesJapan's precarious position on the World Stage: a thoughtful analysis of one of the most relevant and controversial questions of our day.Once a political and economic powerhouse, Japan now finds herself severely weakened and in a very troubling situation with a belligerent and expansionist China on one side and a still-influential but distant and waning America on the other. Declan Hayes draws on his experiences teaching in Japan for over a decade at Tokyo's Sophia University to give an insider's perspective on this topic, placing the Pacific situation in a political context. Hemmed in by mounting tensions with China over the Senkaku / Diaoyu Islands and facing nuclear threats from North Korea, what should Japan do? Should she rearm? Should she get the bomb? What are the consequences of rearming, or not rearming?In this second edition, Professor Hayes includes a preface with updates about recent developments in Asia. As the permanent interests of China and Japan, East Asia's main protagonists, do not and cannot change, Japan: The Toothless Tiger is even more relevant now than when it was first published.
Japan Through American Eyes: The Journal Of Francis Hall, 1859-1866
by Fred G NotehelferThis abridgement of the unique journal of Francis Hall, America's leading business pioneer in nineteenth-century Japan, offers a remarkable view of the period leading to the Meiji Restoration. An upstate New York book dealer, Hall went to Japan in 1859 to collect material for a book on the country and to serve as correspondent for Horace Greely's New York Tribune. Seeing the opportunities for commerce in Yokohama, he helped found Walsh, Hall, and Co., an institution that became one of the most important American trading houses in Japan. Hall was a shrewd businessman, but also a perceptive recorder of life around him. Privately preserved for more than a hundred years, this document shows Hall to have been an astute observer and story-teller as well as an influential opinion-maker in the United States during the crucial decade of the American Civil War and the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate. While contemporary American and British diplomatic accounts have focused on the official record, Hall reveals the private side of life in the treaty port. The publication of his journal, now in abridged form for the student and general reader, furnishes us with an insightful and sensitive portrayal of Japan on the eve of modernity.
Japan Transformed: Political Change and Economic Restructuring
by Frances Rosenbluth Michael F. ThiesWith 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.
Japan, The Us , And Regional Institution-building In The New Asia
by Kuniko AshizawaProviding a thorough and novel account of US and Japanese foreign policymaking toward regional institution-building in post-Cold War Asia, this study serves as the first comparative analysis of these two major actors in this realm of regional cooperation and demonstrates not only how but also when state identity shapes a state's foreign policy.
The Japan-US Trade Friction Dilemma: The Role of Perception (Routledge Revivals)
by Karen M HolgersonFirst published in 1998, this study of Japan-U.S. trade friction and the role perceptual differences have played in its evolution differs from its predecessors in key ways. First, it is interdisciplinary, drawing on the research of anthropologists, area specialists, intercultural communication specialists, linguists, sociologists, and social psychologists as well as that of political scientists and economists. Second, it both identifies and quantifies perceptual differences between Japanese and American opinion leaders regarding the large bilateral trade imbalances, the bilateral relationship, and national negotiating styles. Third, original data were collected from completed questionnaires sent to 230 American and 230 Japanese opinion leaders from business, government, academia, and the media, who had been involved in some way with the rice, automotive, or semiconductor sectors. Fourth, the three case studies of trade friction are representative of three differing mixes of trade friction are representative of three differing mixes of trade friction causal factors and perceptual dynamics. Finally, based on the findings of this study, modest suggestions are offered on how the bilateral perceptual gap might be narrowed and trade friction diminished so that the structural and sectoral problems might more effectively be addressed. This book should be of interest to scholars, government officials, and business leaders in Japan, the United States, and other countries in the global community who are interested in bilateral relations, international economic and political affairs, and trade friction. It should also be of special interest to social psychologists and cross-cultural scholars and researchers.
Japan–China Relations in the Modern Era
by Ryosei Kokubun Yoshihide Soeya Akio Takahara Shin KawashimaFrom before the dawn of recorded history, there has been a rich flow of interaction between Japan and China. Japan has long learned many things from Chinese civilization, and since the modern era China began to learn from Japan. In the twenty-first century, however, China surpassed Japan in terms of GDP in 2010 to become the world’s second largest economy. Amid this rapid rise of China and what has been called a power-shift in Japan–China relations, there are signs that bilateral tensions are rising and that the image each country has of the other is worsening. This volume provides a cogent analysis of the politics of the bilateral relationship in the modern era, explaining the past, present, and future of Japan–China relations during a time of massive political, social, and economic changes. Written by a team of internationally renowned Japanese scholars and based on sources not available in English, this book is essential reading for students and scholars of Japan–China relations, Japanese international relations, and the politics and international relations of East Asia