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Dream Super-Express: A Cultural History of the World's First Bullet Train By Jessamyn R. Abel. While the prospect of a superconducting maglev train running between Tokyo and Osaka has been relegated to the distant future (conclusion), the Japanese people continue to embrace high-speed rail for the many reasons that Abel outlines. [Extracted from the article]

This article examines photographs taken by the American anthropologist John W. Bennett during the Allied Occupation of Japan. Bennett was Chief of the Public Opinion and Social Research Division of the Civil Information and Education Section of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers. In his photographs, Japanese women can be seen fraternising with GIs, working as prostitutes, and enjoying everyday life with their children. We see the occasional man farming the land, building a house, collecting human waste, or begging in Ueno Park in Tokyo but the new Japan and its future seems to be in the hands of women. For an Occupation that was initially intent on destroying Japan’s war-making capabilities, the welfare of veterans was not a priority. Depicting women and children was a palatable way of representing Japan as a friend and ally. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper I examine the quest by physical anthropologists in Japan for the origins of the Japanese. A major focus of this research has been the Ainu people of the northern island of Hokkaidō, who have recently been declared an indigenous people of Japan. The relationship between mainstream Japanese and the very much living community of the Ainu has been the subject of over 100 years of research. Integral to research has been the collection of Ainu skulls, skeletons, and artefacts that have provided a critical if controversial resource for physical anthropologists. This has all been against the backdrop of changing political ideologies about the so-called purity of the Japanese. In the post-World War II period, with the loss of empire, the idea of Japan as a homogeneous nation took hold, and it was only in the last two decades that this notion has been discredited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The destruction of Japan's cyclotrons by Occupation Forces after the Pacific War resulted in a major setback for experimental physics in that country. Key figures such as Yoshio Nishina, Sin-itirô Tomonaga, and Ryôkichi Sagane strived to help Japan rebuild its scientific infrastructure and regain some of its former eminence in the field, but in the wake of the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the atom had new meaning. Local residents objected to the establishment of the Institute for Nuclear Study in Tanashi, Tokyo. Despite their protests, construction went ahead and the Institute of Nuclear Study (INS) opened in 1955. Within a few years, physicists sought to establish a second major accelerator facility. Sectionalism among physicists and shortage of funds plagued attempts to establish the National Laboratory for High Energy Physics (KEK) which eventually came into being in 1970. This paper reveals some of the problems that physicists faced and how they sought to overcome them within the context of a defeated Japan, wary of military research, and desperately seeking to rebuild its economy. Physicists sought to influence the direction of science policy and to deal with the concerns of citizens in a newly democratic Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There have been two Japanese Nobel laureates in chemistry, three in physics, and one in the category of medicine or physiology. This relatively small number has been attributed to shortcomings in Japanese science. The award of the Physics Prize in 1949 to Hideki Yukawa and to his colleague Sin'itirô Tomonaga in 1965 gave public evidence of how Japanese could make outstanding individual contributions to science. Paradoxically, the Prize also reinforced a belief that such men formed part of a traditional hierarchical system. This essay examines how the Nobel Prize has been represented in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the evolution of the Japanese nation as of 1999. Attitude of William Elliot Griffis regarding the origins and history of the Japanese people; Role of foreign employees; Information provided by the book 'The Japanese Nation in Evolution,' by Griffis; Discussion on hybridity and the Japanese race.

Stresses the political dimensions of deploying Western knowledge in Asia and the Pacific. Developments in Darwinian science; Stages in the representations of indigenous Hawaiians from the early nineteenth century; Analysis of colonialism in terms of cultural processes imagined through narratives; Interplay between nineteenth-century medicine and the colonizing project in Papua New Guinea.

Examines the relationship between culture and consumerism, with emphasis on factors which influenced the cause of the Asian economic crisis. Information on methods used to aid Asian countries in time of need; Details on the increase of consumerism in Asia; Description of the construction of local cultures in Asian countries.

Examines American physicist Karl T. Compton's report on his scientific intelligence mission to Japan after World War II to assess the country's mobilization of science and technology for war. Compton's establishment of a Pacific Branch of the Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) in Manila, Philippines; Interviews of organizations and individuals; Military laboratories and research institutes; More.

Japan has long led the trend towards privatization of Research and Development (R&D). With the recent establishment of corporate R&D facilities overseas, this has become more international in character. The relative impoverishment of Japanese academic science has only recently begun to be addressed by the government. Despite the neglect, there appears to be a gradual increase in Japanese academic research, but international research collaborations are still quite limited in number. There are growing ties with industry, but industry has been slow to recognize the value of graduate school training. Stronger links may promote greater research activity, but without reforms to the structure of the education system and Ministry of Education policies, Japan will not be prepared to meet the challenge of the 21st century, and the need for a highly-skilled, innovative workforce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates the introduction of European human anatomy to Japan via translated medical texts in the eighteenth century. Changes in the medical discourse; Exhibition of the diverse representations of the female bodies; Role of medical technicians and support personnel in the production of scientific knowledge.

This paper provides a detailed account of the prehistory of the KEK National Laboratory for High Energy Physics at Tsukuba in Japan. Attempts to establish Japan's first truly national laboratory marked the beginning of ‘big science’ in Japan. An examination of the debate anal decision-making processes, which spanned over a decade, provide insight into the political aspects of policy making in the post-war period. History shows that even in Japan, self-interest has taken precedence over group interests in lobbying for research funds for science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the success of Japan on testing atomic weapons. Lack of scientific expertise on nuclear physics; Impact of inadequate knowledge on atomic bomb development; Reluctance of scientists on engaging in atomic bomb project.

In recent years there has been a vast amount of commentary on the state of Japanese science, little of which has added to our understanding of its social role. This paper explores some of the models which have helped to structure the manner in which the growth of Japanese science has been depicted. While some of the models which are employed may be European by origin, their subsequent use has often been by the Japanese themselves. Models have served to constrain science studies in Japan, and the lack of institutional support has acted to further inhibit activity in the area. It is argued that, despite some exceptions, much of the stimulating work on Japanese science has come from outside the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An obituary for Miriam R. Silverberg, a member of the journal's editorial board, is presented.

Introduces a series of articles on the social and political influence of the Internet on several East Asian countries.

Focuses on pathways to human experimentation in Germany, Japan and the U.S. from 1933 to 1945. Indifference to human life and suffering; Research conducted on concentration camps; Human experimentation in laboratories.

China ANGELA ZITO. Of Body and Brush: grand Sacrifice as Text/Performance in Eighteenth‐Century China. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998. xix, 311 pp. US$17.95, paper. JAMES D. SEYMOUR and RICHARD ANDERSON. New Ghosts Old Ghosts: prisons and Labor Reform Camps in China. Armonk: M. E. Sharpe, 1998. xvii, 313 pp. Bibliography, tables, charts, maps, index. No price given, hardcover. ANDREW NATHAN. China's Transition. New York: Columbia University Press, 1998. xiv, 313 pp. US$27.50, paper. Y. M. YEUNG and DAVID K. Y. CHU (eds). Guangdong: survey of a Province Undergoing Rapid Change, 2nd ed. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1998. xviii, 536 pp. HK$310.00, hardcover. Japan and Korea STEVEN D. CARTER (ed & trans). Unforgotten Dreams: poems by the Zen Monk Shotetsu. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997. xxx, 232 pp. US$19.00, paper. LAURA HEIN and MARK SELDEN (eds). Living with the Bomb: American and Japanese Cultural Conflicts in the Nuclear Age. Armonk: M. E. Sharpe, 1997. 300 pp. US$19.95, paper. ROY STARRS. An Artless Art: the Zen Aesthetic of Shiga Naoya. Surrey: Curzon Press, 1998. 261 pp. US$47.00, hardcover. VICTOR ARGY and LESLIE STEIN. The Japanese Economy. London: Macmillan, 1997. 379 pp. £47.50, hardcover; £17.50, paper. MARISAKO and HIROKI SATO (eds). Japanese Labour and Management in Transition: diversity, Flexibility and Participation. London: Routledge, 1997. 344 pp. £50.00, hardcover; £14.99, paper. KEVIN WATKINS. Economic Growth with Equity: lessons from East Asia. Oxford: Oxfam, 1998. 160 pp. £6.95, paper. South Asia S. W. R. DE A. SAMARASINGHE and VIDYAMALI SAMARASINGHE. Historical Dictionary of Sri Lanka (Asian/Oceanian Historical Dictionaries, no. 26) Lanham, Md. and London: Scarecrow Press, 1998. xliii, 214 pp. Chronology, appendices, bibliography. US$38.50, hardcover. Southeast Asia HERMAN C. KEMP. Bibliographies on Southeast Asia. Leiden: KITLV Press, 1998. Bibliographical Series no 22. xix, 1128 pp. NLG 175, paper. 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SIDHU. Historical Dictionary of Brunei Darussalam. Lanham, MD and London: Scarecrow Press, 1997. xliv, 179 pp. Asian/ Oceanian Historical Dictionaries no. 25. 9 maps. US$64.00, hardcover. C. VAN DIJK and J. LEEMBURG‐DEN HOLLANDER. European Directory of South‐East Asian Studies, x, 618 pp. NLG 40. JORGE MANUEL DOS SANTOS ALVES. O Dominio do Norte de Sumatra. A historia dos sultanatos de Samudera‐Pacem e de Achem e das suas relacoes com os Portugueses (1500–1580). Lisbon: Sociedade Historica da Independencia de Portugal, 1999. General Asia TON OTTO and AD BORSBOOM (eds). Cultural Dynamics of Religious Change in Oceania. Verhandelingen 176. Leiden: KITLV Press, 1997. viii, 144 pp. NLG 40, paper. RONG‐I WU and YUN‐PENG CHU (eds). Business, Markets and Government in the Asia Pacific: competition Policy, Convergence and Pluralism. London: Routledge, 1998. x, 348 pp. Bibliography, figures, tables, index. £19.99, paper. DARRELL Y. HAMAMOTO and RODOLFO D. TORRES (ed). New American Destinies: a Reader in Contemporary Asian and Latino Immigration. London: Routledge, 1997. 350 pp. £16.99, paper. RUTH HAYHOE and JULIA PAN (eds). East‐West Dialogue in Knowledge and Higher Education. Armonk: M. E. Sharpe, 1996. xvii, 316 pp. US$72.95, hardcover. EVA‐MARIE KROLLER, ALLAN SMITH, JOSUA MOSTOW, ROBERT KRAMER (eds). Pacific Encounters: the Production of Self and Others. Vancouver: Institute of Asian Research, 1997. 217 pp. CAN$19.95, paper. INSTITUTE OF ASIAN RESEARCH, UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. The Empowerment of Asia: reshaping Global Society. Vancouver: The Institute, University of British Columbia, c. 1998. 137 pp. CAN$10.00, paper. ROBERT ALDRICH and JOHN CONNELL. The Last Colonies. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998. xiv, 335 pp. A$59.95, hardcover. R. F. WAITERS and T. G. McGEE, with GINNY SULLIVAN (eds). Asia‐Pacific: new Geographies of the Pacific Rim. Bathurst, NSW: Crawford House Publishing, 1997. xxi, 362 pp. No price given, paper. HAIDER A. KHAN. Technology, Development and Democracy: limits of National Innovation Systems in the Age of Postmodernism. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 1998. x, 198 pp. £49.95, hardcover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]