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Most Asian countries are regarded as Confucian countries although each has its own historical and cultural background. Little is known about how people in different Asian countries perceive their family boundaries. This study is an attempt to compare the perception of the family in China, Japan, and Korea. We examined the family perception and found substantial differences among the three. Chinese people showed the widest and paternally extended perception of family. Data from people in Korea nearly matched data from China, but family perception developed bilaterally. People in Japan, however, perceived only blood‐tied, intimate relations as family members. In addition, the perception of the family was not substantially different between the genders in Japan and China, but in South Korea, men perceived family boundaries more widely than women, implying that women have a greater family burden than men in Korea. Considering the heterogeneity in family perceptions in these countries, this paper tries to explain how social institutions interact with individuals and impact the perception of family. Finally, this paper concludes that it is inappropriate to tie the three East Asian countries as 'Confucian civilizations' in terms of family perception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I present a framework for GVC‐oriented industrial policy that merges the so‐called GVC perspective and the so‐called developmentalist perspective—the latter of which is a perspective that industrial policy is most often analysed through, but has been somewhat neglected by the GVC perspective. I argue that the GVC perspective too quickly dismisses the relevance of industrial policy in the East Asian development experience, particularly those in South Korea and Taiwan between roughly 1960 and 1990. By drawing on the industrialisation experiences of these two countries, my framework for industrial policy suggests that the GVC perspective's ideas for industrial policy would be strengthened by more clearly acknowledging the continued importance of three observations by the developmentalist perspective: (a) the need for governments in developing countries to bargain with foreign investors for the purpose of domestic industrialisation; (b) policy design should not only focus on increasing exports, but also focus on replacing some imports with domestic production; and (c) linking up to the value chains of transnational corporations based in high‐income countries can bring about some benefits, but ultimately, successful industrialisation necessitates a degree of competing with transnational corporations. State‐owned enterprises have historically played an important role in this respect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Family Therapy is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Like other islands of the Cold War frontier in East Asia, such as Okinawa, Jinmen, and Matsu, the Five West Sea Islands (FWI) of South Korea have been a highly contested frontier of both domestic and inter‐Korean politics. This study views the FWI as a geopolitical imaginary that was constructed during the Cold War and has been sustained throughout the post‐Cold War era. Specifically, we focus on how the South Korean government has constructed the islands in the Yellow Sea into a powerful geopolitical imaginary and linked them with the inter‐Korean border conflicts around the Northern Limit Line (NLL), from the mid‐1970s onwards. We hope that this study will deepen our understanding of how particular geopolitical imaginaries are produced and consolidated. Furthermore, it should help us better grasp how the Cold War order has been sustained, both discursively and materially, in inter‐Korean and East Asian geopolitics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Korea's rising status in regional and global affairs has received significant attention in recent years. In academic, media, and policy debates, though, South Korea is usually regarded as a mere middle power that, due to its geopolitical situation, has only limited leeway in its foreign policy choices. Accordingly, it must constantly maneuver between its larger neighbors: China, Japan, and Russia. However, this perspective negates the fact that the same geopolitical constraints also apply to other states in the region. Thus no country can easily project its power onto others. We use the concept of 'regional power' as a template for investigating South Korea's rising stature in regional and global politics, and argue that Seoul appears quite capable of keeping up with other assumed regional powers. Hence, we not only provide a novel account of South Korea's foreign policy options but also go beyond current approaches by asking about the (undetermined) possibilities that exist for Seoul's regional relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atmospheric rivers (ARs) are an important concern in regional water management; however, little is known about the AR impacts on hydrology in East Asia (EA). This study analyzes the characteristics of storms, precipitation (P), streamflow (Q), and runoff coefficient (R) in the Namgang‐dam basin in Korea related to ARs for 2000–2013, as well as the sensitivity of the analysis results to AR detection methods, using observed P, Q, and three different AR inventories. The basin experiences 37.3 storms annually, of which 54% are AR storms that provide over 60% of the annual P and Q. The AR (non‐AR) storms are dominant in storm frequency and the storm‐total P and Q for January–July (August–December) with peaks in July (August). The monthly AR frequency varies closely with the seasonal variations in the EA monsoon and the North Pacific storm track which modulate the number of extratropical cyclones. The AR storms produce most of the extreme events; they also generate larger storm‐mean P and Q than the non‐AR storms for all months. The seasonal variations in R are related to the total (AR‐ and non‐AR storms combined) P through the seasonal soil water variations, making the AR effects on R unclear. Considering 95% confidence intervals, the AR storms are distinguished well from the non‐AR storms in storm frequency and the storm‐total and storm‐mean P and Q. The sensitivity to AR inventories is not critical in quantifying the AR‐storm characteristics and their impacts on hydrologic variables except for R. Key Points: Atmospheric river storms provide over 60% of the annual rainfall/runoff to become the primary source of water resources and extreme hydrologic events for the basinThe seasonal cycles of runoff/runoff coefficients are primarily shaped by the seasonal cycle of soil water content in response to seasonal precipitationDifferences among multiple atmospheric rivers (ARs) inventories are a minor concern for the uncertainties in assessing the AR effects on the hydrology in the basin [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last two decades East Asian countries have demonstrated the simultaneous developments of state welfare provision, immigration control and immigrant integration policy. Despite significant growth in related interest and research, studies on immigrants and their social inclusion are still relatively scarce, especially in terms of the intersection of East Asian welfare and immigration regimes. This study thus examined and compared, from a historical perspective, the development of welfare and immigration regimes and their impact on the social rights of low‐skilled labour migrants in Japan and South Korea. These two countries have taken somewhat divergent paths, which has resulted in the persistent ethnic differentiation of low‐skilled labour migrants in Japan and their ethnically hierarchical inclusion in Korea. This article argues that the two policy legacies of East Asian welfare and immigration regimes, namely, productivism and ethnic nationalism, still significantly matter in policy making related to low‐skilled labour migrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Asian Politics & Policy is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The purpose of this study is to test key social capital indicators in a disaster context by considering the bonding and bridging types of social capital. Using the East Asian Social Survey, this study chooses three behavioural/cognitive elements of social capital—social trust, voluntary association membership, and personal networks—and divides them into bonding and bridging social capital, in‐group and out‐group trust, homogeneous and heterogeneous membership, and strong and weak ties to test their effects on self‐evaluated community resilience to natural hazards. The results showed that social trust and personal networks had strong positive effects, but the effect of voluntary association membership was positive in societies with high rates of membership (Japan and South Korea) and negative in a society with a low rate of membership (Taiwan). Furthermore, while bonding social capital generally showed a stronger effect than bridging social capital in East Asia, a society with more frequent and intense disasters (Japan) showed a strong effect of heterogenous membership on self‐evaluated community resilience. This study connects two aspects of social capital studies—the elements and the types of social capital—and the findings imply that the relationship between social capital and community resilience may have some mediator variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Redistributive land reforms implemented in post-WWII Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan have often been considered a substantial stimulus for these countries' subsequent economic growth. Before the reforms, there were a small number of large landlords and many small tenant cultivators, but after the reforms, tenancy effectively disappeared. This article assesses the impact of reforms on structural change and income per capita, and shows that reforms were responsible for at least half of the actual reallocation of labor out of agriculture in each of these countries in the aftermath of the reforms. By contrast, their impact on income per capita was small. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective This study aims to synthesise evidence on time trends of dementia prevalence in East Asian countries including Japan, China, South Korea and Taiwan and assess the impact of the societal changes on future prevalence. Method Relevant reviews and recent nationwide studies in East Asia were identified to investigate changes in prevalence of dementia over time taking into account the potential impact of methodological factors and study designs. Results The robust evidence that has been interpreted to suggest a substantial increasing trend over time is less compelling once fundamental differences in study methods and populations across individual surveys are considered. In Japan, longitudinal studies in small areas suggest the potential increase of prevalence after 2000. Increasing trends in China, South Korea and Taiwan over the last 20-30 years are based on the literature review without adjustment for methodological differences. Economic development and huge societal changes alongside the rise of non-communicable disease in East Asia could lead to increasing prevalence of dementia in the future once those cohorts with high risk of dementia reached their older age. Conclusion Current evidence is not sufficient to suggest increasing trends of dementia prevalence in East Asia. Longitudinal studies with representative samples and stable methodology are needed to provide fundamental information of the epidemiology of dementia and identify important risk factors in East Asian societies. © 2015 The Authors. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim To describe the main vegetation types of the Korean zonal forests and explore their relationship with the main environmental and geographic gradients. Location Korean Peninsula. Methods A data set of 3847 relevés of zonal (semi)natural forest stands, together with environmental factors recorded in the field or derived from interpolated climatic data was collected. Using the hierarchical ISOPAM method, the relevés were classified into main forest types and their species composition, diversity and distribution were described. Their differentiation along main environmental gradients was analysed with classification and regression trees. Results Eleven vegetation types of forests were distinguished and assigned to five vegetation classes: Quercetea mongolicae (representing the core of the Korean temperate forests), Vaccinio-Piceetea (subalpine coniferous forest), Fagetea crenatae (rare beech-dominated forest included within a sub-montane and sub-oceanic type of oak-dominated forest), Querco mongolicae- Betuletea davuricae (sub-continental drought- and fire-tolerant forest, differentiated along elevational gradient) and Camellietea japonicae (oceanic evergreen forest). At a higher hierarchical level, these 11 vegetation types were grouped into three clusters, which most probably reflect different vegetation development in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. Within the three major vegetation clusters, each forest type occupies a distinct environment. The forest types are especially well separated along elevational and temperature gradients. The distribution of individual forest types is joinly driven by total amount of incoming energy and thermal extremes, both affecting water supply to plant communities. Conclusions All distinguished vegetation types can be assigned to the recent syntaxonomic classification system. However, three main vegetation clusters do not correspond to traditionally distinguished syntaxonomic units. Nevertheless, the forest types within these clusters share common species with similar ecology and, especially, migration histories during the late glacial and post-glacial periods. Therefore, we interpret these clusters as biogeographic patterns reflecting vegetation history rather than the current environmental conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]