Search

Previous studies of East Asian welfare regimes focus on similarities between social security schemes. In contrast, this paper explores cross-national variations in public–private pension mixes in six welfare states: China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. Our research echoes the pension policy analysis of international organisations but takes a step forward with emphasis on the historical and institutional characteristics of the respective pension systems. The analysis identifies three institutional patterns. First, the statist pension system (Taiwan and China) primarily relies on public pensions to provide old-age security, with private pensions playing a rather minor role. Second, in the dualist pension system (Japan and Korea) both public and private pensions work in parallel to ensure retirement income, though a clear security gap exists between workers in the formal and informal economies. Finally, the individualist pension system (Hong Kong and Singapore) is characterised by genuine fully funded individual accounts, emphasising citizens' own responsibilities for ensuring old-age security. These three types of pension systems demonstrate distinct institutional characteristics and policy outcomes, illustrated by the juxtaposition of their institutional structures as well as by the comparison of key indicators collected from government reports and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development statistics. The paper concludes with a theoretical reflection of East Asian pension policies and a diagnosis of the distinct challenges confronted by each of the various pension patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discipline of marriage and family therapy (MFT) has been established around the world. Inspired by theories and models developed in Western countries, professionals in East Asian countries over the last two decades have been dedicated to introducing the concepts of MFT to local mental health professionals. This paper presents an overview of the cultural background of East Asian cultures, a summary of MFT development in East Asia, and a discussion of key challenges to advancing MFT in East Asia. We provide recommendations to overcome these obstacles, including bridging the gap between MFTs in the West and East Asia, developing country‐specific MFT development plans, establishing accreditation and licensing regulation, increasing the public awareness of MFT, increasing collaboration among training institutes and the number of qualified MFT trainers and training locations, and developing culturally attuned MFT training and practices. Practitioner points: Direct application of Western approaches to the East Asian context can be detrimental if therapists do not carefully examine the cultural differences and adapt accordinglyA critical step in developing MFT in East Asia is to develop country/region‐specific plans including the recognition of the history, values, and distinctive features of Asian families [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the location choice of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in China, shedding special light on the role of agglomeration of same-nationality firms. We examine how this role differs according to firms' productivity. Furthermore, we compare the location choice of Japanese and Taiwanese MNEs in China, taking into consideration that Taiwanese MNEs experience less uncertainty in investing in China due to Taiwan's linguistic and cultural advantages. When considering firms' productivity, we find that less productive Japanese firms prefer to locate close to larger same-nationality agglomerations while there are no differences in location choices in the case of Taiwanese firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role that veterans played in the construction of historical memory narratives in mainland China, Taiwan, and Japan. I argue that veterans, who had long established a ‘language community’ with a particular way to speak about the war, found it difficult to communicate with post-war audiences that did not share that experience. The paper analyses six categories of ‘memory writing’ that veterans used to engage with memory debates: post-war diaries, ‘testimonial literature’, articles and literary works, surveys and oral histories, memoirs, and paratext. This study thus proposes that veterans do not avoid discussion of war, but can only be ‘heard’ by members of their language community, or by a post-war society that is prepared to ‘listen’ to their message with little mediation. This is a direct consequence of their experience of the war, and how they crafted their language community at that time. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In Hong Kong, from 28 March 1946 to 20 December 1948, four British military tribunals tried war crimes cases from across the British colonial territories of Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories, and also from Formosa (Taiwan), China (Waichow and Shanghai), Japan and from the high seas. The author has made the process and the cases publicly accessible online through the Hong Kong's War Crimes Trials Collection website at hkwctc.lib.hku.hk. This paper is a window into the rediscovered Hong Kong war crimes trials and the key issues in international law that they raised. Further advanced research by international experts is currently underway for a book commissioned by Oxford University Press, due for publication in 2013. As such, this article will provide a 'taster' of what is emerging from the research that is currently in progress. The author's intention is to present the Hong Kong war crimes cases on their own merits, to allow them to be understood in their own right. The author does not engage in a comparative study of what was done elsewhere then or in recent years; that would be a major project for another occasion. The author instead seeks to draw out some of the richness and diversity of these cases as they are, and to enlighten our contemporary understanding through a look back at a process that was part of the making of modern international criminal law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the cultural dimensions of production networks between Japanese and Taiwanese firms. Conceptually, we argue that, due to historical and cultural ties between the two countries, as well as long-standing associations with Taiwanese suppliers, Japanese lead firms have deepened their relationships as Taiwan has entered a more technologically based stage of develop-ment. Taiwan has also been pivotal in Japan - Taiwan - China relations because of its cultural as well as geographic proximity to the two economic giants. Empirically, the analysis draws on interviews with sixteen Japanese electronics companies in Taipei and Hsinchu Science City, as well as secondary data concerning Japanese trade and investment in Taiwan. We contend that Japanese lead firms have moved to a position of insiders and partners with their Taiwanese suppliers in the information, technology, and communications sector. In addition, Japanese electronics firms now see Taiwan as a viable bridge to production and markets in China, while corporate relations are moving towards heterarchical or matrix arrangements, away from the hierarchical flying geese model. The study notes that there are challenges and limits to these new forms of relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The creation of painting in Taiwan in the early twentieth century was first inspired by Japanese art teachers. The new idea of "realistic painting" introduced at the time allowed the discovery of "local colors." However, the Taiwanese painters who employed the artistic ideal of "painting one's intent" were able to escape the limitation imposed by the concept of "local colors." How did the painters explore the artistic styles offered by the new global contexts through the colonization of Japan is an important issue that requires in-depth investigation. This issue is further complicated by painters who were not only influenced by the Japanese arts but also the traditional Chinese arts, as some of the Taiwanese painters moved to China after their training in Japan in order to search for a new style that conflates the Eastern and the Western arts. Taking several painters, Liu Jintang, Chen Chengpo, and Guo Bochuan as examples, this paper explores issues of identity, cultural impacts, and stylistic developments of the arts in the early twentieth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines generalized trust and trust in institutions in Confucian Asia, covering six countries namely, China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam, and one dependent region, Hong Kong. Using data from the 2006 AsiaBarometer Survey, our study affirms the reliability and validity of using a two-item scale to measure generalized trust. Our analysis suggests that due to demographic differences, there are variations in the level of generalized trust of countries in Confucian Asia, despite the fact that these societies share a similar background in Confucian philosophy. The relationships between generalized trust and political trust, and between generalized trust and trust in public institutions, are weak but positive. The positive relationship between generalized trust and trust in economic institutions is only significant for some of the economies, while trust in international institutions has the weakest relationship with generalized trust for all societies. We conclude the paper with research implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reviewed studies about total gaseous mercury, atmospheric particulate of mercury and average dry deposition fluxes of mercury in Korea, Japan, China and Taiwan. This study compared sample collection and analytical methods for mercury in Asian countries. Analytical results indicated that the primary mercury sources are anthropogenic source (for example coal burning) and high temperature processes. This study also elucidates the sources, analytical tools, and the average concentrations for atmospheric mercury (Hg) for these Asian countries during 2000–2008. This study indicated that the total gaseous mercury concentrations were higher in urban area than that in suburban area in Asian countries (Korea, Japan, China and Taiwan). As for the seasonal variations, in general, the average total gaseous mercury concentrations were higher in winter than that in summer especially in China. In addition, the average total gaseous mercury concentrations were higher in mining areas than that in the rest of the other areas. And the total gaseous mercury concentrations were decreasing as this distance increasing. These phenomena revealed that the total gaseous mercury concentrations are reduced by long-distance transportation especially in the main land of China. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]