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This paper provides a systematic account of simultaneous recruitment of new graduates (SRoNG), the predominant hiring practice of big companies in Japan. The authors characterise SRoNG as macro-level coordination in the process of new graduate recruitment between companies and universities, along with homogeneous hiring conditions offered by individual firms, consisting of same initial salaries, initial internal vocational training, and absence of job specification. The paper further provides a historical account of SRoNG's emergence, tracing it back to early-modern government structures, education expansion, wage control efforts, and the system's expansion and establishment as a predominant institution. Finally the paper focuses on SRoNG's more recent empirical evolution. The main business association, Keidanren, proposed to abandon the practice in the wake of intensified competition with foreign multinationals in the recruitment of new graduates. While there are noteworthy ongoing changes, the authors suggest that SRoNG is unlikely to suffer more than a partial and minor abandonment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Japanese genkan provides a space where one can take off and put on one's shoes; yet this practical function is also accompanied by a social/symbolic one. As a transitional area, it embodies the Japanese concept of uchi/soto (inside/outside). In this article, the Japanese genkan was analysed to identify (1) what types of interaction take place in a genkan ; and (2) what cultural concepts can be used to identify and classify those types of interaction. The current article suggests that (1) a visitor is identified as either an uchi (inside) or soto (outside) person, and (2) any tension or conflict in this person's uchi/soto identity grants the visitor an ambiguous status, which unless it is resolved ensures that the interaction between visitor and householder is conducted within a genkan. The paper analyses sixteen possible situations in a genkan and takes examples of each from Shōwa-era films by the Japanese director Yasujirō Ozu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Postwar Kobe prides itself on being a "progressive" city. It attracted nation-wide attention in the Fifties and Sixties for bold and innovative infrastructure construction. Since the Seventies, without slowing down the pace of construction, it has acquired the reputation for being "environmentally enlightened." The city therefore appears to have achieved a balance between the imperatives of the "construction nation" and "green nation." This paper examines the thinking of two Kobe mayors and two governors of Hyōgo prefecture, wherein the city is located, to shed light on an aspect of environmental change in modern Japan that has been overlooked by scholars. By showing how the four heads of local government, by their own account, have tried to resolve the conflicting demands of development and conservation, this paper argues that local political leaders, in contrary to the conventional view of Japanese government, do contribute—sometimes even taking the lead—to the physical and cultural transformation of the territory under their charge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the strategic framework of action of Subhas Chandra Bose for the liberation of India and how his ideas about international collaboration for the overthrow of British imperialism took shape despite the constraints and limitations imposed by the existing framework of the national moment as conceived by Gandhi and the restrictions imposed by the colonial rulers. An attempt is made in this paper to analyse how his collaboration with Japan directly or indirectly accelerated the pace of nationalism during and after the Second World War. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The link between development and migration has been termed the 'new development mantra'. Studies on the subject have so far mostly focused on economic remittances, and the potential consequences of return migration on democratisation have been rarely touched upon. This article attests the potential of the migration experience to affect migrants' attitudes towards democracy, thus playing an important role in the diffuse support needed for democracies in the stage of consolidation. Based on a survey among 1,000 Philippine return migrants from six destinations, the paper suggests that the migration experience may not only lead to a more critical stance towards the political system of the home country; there are also indicators of lesser support for the principles of democracy when compared to migrants about to leave the country for the first time. The political system of the destination as such seems to be a less decisive factor than the specific freedoms and restrictions experienced by migrants and a potential bias when selecting the destination. The article focuses on return migrants from Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong and Japan, which showed the most distinctive numbers in support of democracy or changes therein when compared to first-time migrants heading for that destination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the mid 1930s, as southward advancement thought was on the rise in Japan, there was a rapidly emerging sense shared by the Taiwan Colonial Government, the military authorities, and Japanese residents in Taiwan that colonised Taiwan should play a more positive role in Japan's southward advance. This paper examines the background of the emergence of this advocacy of southward advance in Taiwan during the 1930s and its development during the ten years preceding the Japanese defeat in the Pacific War. In this examination, I draw attention not only to the predilections of the Taiwan Colonial Government, the Taiwan Army, and Japanese residents but also to the mechanism through which the colonised Taiwanese were integrated into the southward advance, and finally I compare the relationships of those three actors and the southern region (nanpo). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The northernmost border of Japan's informal empire were the Mongol lands and Manchuria. For nearly a century this region lay on the borders between an expanding Russia and a retreating China and was a major area for Japanese ambitions on the Asian mainland. Japan's interest in the Mongol lands (including Manchuria) was spurred by general strategic, economic and ideological factors, and was justified by an academic discourse on geopolitics. Geo-political socialisation was carried out in respective areas and Mongol nationalism was drawn into these affairs. This paper examines the reasons for Japan's interest in these areas, and the arguments used to justify this expansionism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of economic issues, in a comprehensive multilateral and bilateral context, has been receiving increased attention in writings about the Korean Peninsula lately. This article adds to this debate by analysing Japan's relations with North Korea from an economic diplomacy perspective. The concept of 'negative economic diplomacy' is introduced to understand actions of the Japanese government, which had tried economic engagement in various ways until the early 1990s, but hardened its stance thereafter. Tokyo seems to have come to the conclusion that North Korean rulers are more willing to preserve the status quo than some wish to believe and, consequently, started to use the North Korean threat to justify Japan's controversial military enhancement in a context of uncertainty about the United States' commitment and an increasingly stronger China. is strategy was practised through a negative approach to economic diplomacy of withholding economic benefits-in policy fields ranging from the abductees and normalisation of diplomatic relations, to trade relations, sanctions and the six-way process. Japan's policy was most outspoken from late 2002 until at least mid-2007. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sino-Japanese War of 1937–1947 has not been sufficiently understood as a narrative in its own right, but rather, as a transitional conflict between Nationalist and Communist rule. The examination of the visual imagery of warfare disseminated through newsprint and books is one way to reinterpret the history of this period. Through a close reading of images printed in a Shanghai newspaper, Zhonghua ribao, during the final days of the battle for the city in 1937, we see how the news was shaped to impose a narrative of order with a positive teleology at a time when China was plunged into chaos with no guarantee of the eventual outcome of the war. The nature of this narrative is explored through examination of images of the body, as well as the positioning of images in the context of the printed page. The conclusion then contrasts these images with a pictorial history of the Sino-Japanese War published during the Civil War, in 1947. It suggests that although this book is able to bring narrative closure to the earlier conflict, its own narrative is imbued with an unease caused by the reality of the new war that had broken out within months of the ending of the war against Japan, and suggests that narrative closure is never truly obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In November 1931, Japanese-hired Chinese 'plainclothesmen' attacked strategic locations in the Chinese portions of Tianjin leading to the eruption of a mini war for most of the month. At the time the Chinese and Japanese sides engaged in a bitter dispute about the basic facts of the events. The use of photographs in the service of these conflicting narratives shows that on the Chinese side coverage emphasised the link between the plainclothesmen and Japan by contrasting Japanese aggression with Chinese victimhood. Photographs in Japanese sources portrayed an enclosed and claustrophobic Japanese concession surrounded by threats from Chinese agitators goaded on by the Nationalist government. In all versions, photographic content and political narrative often fit awkwardly. Captions, juxtaposition and accompanying news stories placed otherwise cryptic photographs in larger political narratives. The ubiquitous use of photographs indicates a belief in their power which derived from both their claim on veracity and their ability to create an emotional conenction with the viewer. As a political tool, the photograph functioned in public mass media where readers hungered for the poignant and sensational. In the end, veracity and emotional charge, political narrative and sensationalist photo, militarism and wartime reporting were all inextricably linked. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Depopulation of urban areas is a serious issue in twenty-first century Japan, as shown by the recent large-scale amalgamation of municipalities and programmes to combat declining central city areas. However, this is not the first time depopulation has had a significant effect on urban development: the decline in castle towns after the Meiji Restoration of 1868 had profound effects on both urban form and development concepts. Kanazawa, once one of the largest cities in Japan, suffered from an initial and long-lasting drop and then a more insidious decline as its Japan Sea coast location cut it off from the bulk of industrial and trade development. This article uses a two-fold approach to examine depopulation: first, an examination of the physical effects of depopulation based on statistical analysis of pre-war land registers shows the patterns of decline and regrowth throughout the modern period. Second, the impact of depopulation on the city's image of itself is examined through period documents such as council records and local newspapers. The need to regain status through population rank became an overarching goal of the urban leaders, and formed the basis of Kanazawa's reactions to the modern era and eventually towards imperialism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea that Japan is playing an 'alternative role' in its foreign policy—that it is keeping a 'conspicuously low profile' and that its stance is in some sense 'unique'—has been a recurring theme of analysis of Japanese foreign policy. This article aims to critique this idea of Japanese exceptionalism, epitomised for instance in the 'aikido state' metaphor. By analysing Japan's role in the Six-Party Talks—arguably a suitable case for testing this metaphor—the article concludes that, far from keeping a low profile, Tokyo has exercised obstructive power over other actors involved in the talks. This conclusion is substantiated by comparison with Tokyo's role in other important instances of North Korea policy coordination over the period 1993–2002. By comparing Japanese behaviour with that of the USA, China, Russia and North Korea, the article concludes, furthermore, that the concepts of 'obstructionism' and 'power' facilitate understanding of their behaviour as well—with the implication that Japan's foreign policy is not so unique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is an assessment of the bosei hogo ronsō (the controversy over the protection of motherhood) which developed between 1916 and 1919 among four female protagonists—Hiratsuka Raichō, Yosano Akiko, Yamakawa Kikue and Yamada Waka. It describes the origin and development of the controversy in the light of international and domestic social and political changes affecting women in Japan in the 1910s. It examines each protagonist's views on the rights and wrongs of the state protecting motherhood, and compares their positions. It also discusses the influence which Western feminists such as Olive Schreiner and Ellen Key had on the debate, and the conclusion which the debate reached. The article finally reviews the achievements and limitations of this key debate, and assesses the impact the controversy had on the Japanese women's movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At first sight, the East Asian financial crisis represents an instance of Japan failing the test of regional leadership - as evidenced by its abandonment of initial proposals for an Asian Monetary Fund (AMF) in the face of US and Chinese opposition in 1997. However, if a second look is taken, and one which is sensitised to the fundamental characteristics of its diplomacy, then Japan can be seen as far more effective in augmenting its regional leadership role than previously imagined. Indeed, this article demonstrates that Japanese policy-makers have resurrected, over the longer term and in different guises, AMF-like frameworks which provide a potential springboard for further regional cooperation. Hence, the aims of this article are twofold. The first is to demonstrate the overall efficacy of Japanese regional economic diplomacy, and its ability to control outcomes through steering East Asia towards enhanced monetary cooperation. The second is to explain the reasons behind Japan's distinctive policy approach towards the financial crisis and general lessons for understanding its foreign policy. The article seeks to do so by asking three fundamental questions about the 'what', 'why' and 'how' of Japan's regional role: 'what' in terms of the dominant behavioural patterns of Japan's economic diplomacy; 'why' in terms of the motivations for this behaviour; and 'how' in terms of Japan's instrumentalisation of its regional policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]