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Reindustrialization problems in the United States (U.S.) include unemployment, low productivity, inflation, and inadequate economic growth. To determine how to improve economic performance, a careful, rational evaluation must be made of such factors as tax policy, spirit of risk, managerial effectiveness, rates of innovation, research and development, and human resource training and education as they apply to industry. Unlike Japan and countries in Western Europe, the U.S. does not understand the need to invest in major training and education efforts to service the skill needs of private and public sectors. Neither is there evidence of an awareness of the key relationship between the inadequate investment in human resources and problems of inflation and productivity. The Japanese human resource investment approach--life-long employment with continuous retraining of all employees--has major implications for some U.S. labor force problems. To move toward a really modern labor force, the U.S. should rethink the decision to change the definition of acceptable levels of unemployment and consider the experiences of other major industrial countries. Vocational education researchers should evaluate the human resources-capital investment programs in Japan and West Germany and determine how such approaches can be adapted in U.S. industry. (YLB)

A comparison of the vocational education and training (VET) offered in Japan, the Federal Republic of Germany, and the United States revealed that programs in all three nations emphasized the following aims: competence at work, commitment of all to achieve excellence, and capacity to contribute to change. Organizations in all three nations were increasingly looking for, and prepared to help develop, people with the ability to use acquired knowledge and skills effectively in changing circumstances and in an integrated system. Although the United States appeared to be well tuned to a climate of moderate change, it appeared much less reflective about the future and appeared to lack an educational strategy, especially at the secondary level. Germany had systems that work well and in a stable environment; however, change appeared to be slow. Although Japan's VET strategies have given the country a highly educated working population, the downside of its success in corporate organization and individual service for the greater good is probably an underdevelopment in the kind of creativity that flourishes with wayward individual opportunities. Great Britain's imperial past, on the other hand, appears to continue to hamper the country's progress in the area of VET. (MN)

International knowledge and economic competitiveness are linked from three perspectives because appropriate connections are currently not being made between global economic change, the competitiveness of the American economy, and the international aspects of American higher education. Sections provide discussions of the following: an introductory metaphor; international knowledge defined; competitiveness defined; the problem of American competitiveness; New England in the pattern; strategies for competitiveness; lessons from Japan (international knowledge as business strategy); New England leaders' confirmation that international knowledge is a strength; eight linkages of competitiveness and international knowledge (e.g., the need for knowledge to compensate for a weak tradition, linkage of productivity lag and parochialism, increased export activity requiring international knowledge, and global perspective as essential); other studies and reports; and the New England leadership survey. New England leaders perceive a need to refocus what higher education is doing, so there is a challenge ahead for educational leadership and creativity with regard to both business preparation and citizenship education for the global economy. Tables are included. (SM)

Sixteen papers are presented. Topics covered include language teaching, discourse analysis, code switching, phonetics, language and cultural identity, and descriptive and comparative studies. All presenters were from the Asia-Pacific area of the world. Papers include: "The Baba Malay Lexicon: Hokkien Loanwords in Baba Malay" (Anne Pakir); "Pronouns in Japanese: Their Functions and Meaning" (Yasukata Yano); "Code Switching and Code Mixing as a Communicative Strategy in Multilingual Discourse" (Mary W. J. Tay); "Teaching English as a Foreign Language in India: A Socio-Functional View" (Shivendra K. Verma); "Language Education and Literary Creativity in English: a Tale of Two Cities" (Agnes Shun-Ling Lam); "A Study of Scientific Palatography: A Comparison of English and Japanese Palatal Consonants by Dynamic Electropalatography" (Tsutomu Oyabu, Richard L. Dusek, Mitsuaki Yoshinaga, and Sadahiko Ikeura); "A Study in the Adequacy of Data for Strategy Analyses in Spoken Discourse" (E. Berendt and H. Takahashi); "The Use of Aspect in Papua New Guinea English" (Anne-Marie Smith); "Language Attitudes and the Social Order in Hong Kong after 1997" (Gail Schaefer Fu and Pui-to Lu); "A Proposed Descriptive Framework for the Pragmatic Meanings of the Particle "la" in Colloquial Singaporean English" (Loke Kit-Ker and Johna Low Mei-Yin); "Working for an English Syllabus for Senior English Majors in China's Tertiary Institutions" (Hu Zhuanglin); "Interpretation of Anaphora in English and Japanese in Sentences with Prepositional Phrases" (Shuzo Yamanaka); "On Japanese Onomatopoeia: A Functional Approach" (Hisao Kakehi); "English-Chinese Code Switching of Primary School Children in Singapore" (Kay Cheng Soh); "A Comparative Discourse Analysis of English and Japanese" (Makoto Oshima); and "On the Acquisitional Strategies of Complex Sentence Formation: Examples from Japanese and English Speaking Children" (Katsutoshi Ito). (Each chapter contains references.) (NAV)

This paper describes the development of a proposed Japanese Science Information System (SIS), a nationwide network of research and academic libraries, large-scale computer centers, national research institutes, and other organizations, to be formed for the purpose of sharing information and resources in the natural sciences, technology, the humanities, and the social sciences. It is noted that SIS will include sharing of primary documents, secondary information retrieval, provision of library holdings information, machine-readable library cataloging, and production of specialized databases. The paper is divided into nine sections covering: (1) background information; (2) SIS basic concepts; (3) SIS functions; (4) the structure of SIS, which is to include a Science Information Center (SIC) with planning, coordinating, service, research and development, and educational/training functions; (5) proposed SIC activities, service provision methods, and users, with a chart outlining an SIC development schedule; (6) the SIC database system, with a list of general, information retrieval, cataloging, and other system requirements; (7) the performance design of the SIC database system, with an outline of hardware, capacity, and access requirements in three stages of SIC development; (8) the SIS network system, which will include information retrieval, library cataloging and holdings information, and document delivery networks; and (9) the significance of SIS in information transfer in Japan. (ESR)

Papers on hospital and health libraries and library services to the blind and deaf which were presented at the 1982 International Federation of Library Associations conference include: (1) "Leisure Pursuits of the Blind" by Antun Lastric (Yugoslavia); (2) "Library Services for the Handicapped in Canada: An Overview" by Francoise Hebert (Canada); (3) "International Exchange," a description by Peter Ditz (South Africa) of a proposed international library cooperative acquisition and exchange program for talking books; (4) "The Deaf Patron and the Library" by Karen Ann Hopkins (United States); (5) "Public Library Services for the Blind and Weak-Sighted from a Central Library Point of View" by Winnie Vitzansky (Denmark); (6) "Work on Bio-Bibliographical Index 'The Blind in Life and Work'," a progress report by D. S. Zharkov (USSR) on the production of an international reference work; (7) "Recent Advances in Library Service for the Print-Handicapped in Japan" by Hiroshi Kawamura (Japan); (8) "Patient Education and Health Outcomes: Implications for Library Service" by J. G. Marshall and R. B. Haynes (Canada); (9) "Hospital Library Networks in Paris: Organisation and Future Prospects" by Mme Rappaport (France); and (10) "From Hospital to Home: Perspectives in Healthy Living," a discussion by M. A. Flower (Canada) of the role of health libraries in health education. (ESR)

Papers on library network activities in Canada, the Third World, Japan, Malaysia, Brazil, and Sweden which were presented at the 1982 International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) conference include: (1) "Canada: A Voluntary and Flexible Network," a review by Guy Sylvestre of the political, social, and economic structures affecting library network development; (2) "Regional and Sub-Regional Clearing Houses for Library Activities in the Third World," a discussion by S. P. C. N'Jie and J. A. Dosunmu of the benefits, functions, organization, and management of proposed clearinghouses for library activities in the developing countries; (3) "(The) Present Status and Problems of Library Service Networks in Japan," a description by Madoko Kon of Japanese public, school, academic, special and medical library network activities; (4) "A Preliminary Approach to Library Networking in Malaysia," a report by D. E. K. Wijasuriya and A. Leong on the communications infrastructure of Malaysia and its library network organization and services; (5) "Information in Brazil: Diagnosis" by Aristeu Goncalves de Melo, which discusses information as an instrument of development and describes information services in the Brazilian House of Representatives; and (6) "Library Associations on the Move: Some Ideas from the Swedish Library Association (SAB)" by Margareta Torngren, which proposes the formation of an IFLA Round Table for Library Associations. (ESR)

The seven essays in this booklet are summaries of presentations made at the Way of Japan Workshop Series. Topics range from traditional Japanese history and culture to modern Japanese society and U.S.-Japanese relations. A welcome from Yoshi Okawara, Japanese ambassador to the United States, delineates how American and Japanese may think in different ways because of language, culture, and tradition but how both are forced to deal with the same types of questions and problems. In "Tokuigawa Japan and the Coming of the West," Gail Lee Bernstein discusses the history, exploits, and evolution of Japan's warrior elite, the Samurai. Chisato Kitagawa gives examples of the phonology, morphology and word formation, syntax, and four types of writing systems found in Japanese in "The Japanese Language: An Outline." The history, content, and characteristics of Japanese literature are the topic of Edward Putzar in "Japanese Literature: Discovery of the Inner and Outer Worlds." In "Seeing Japanese Art at A Distance," Joshua Goldberg considers what is "Japanese" about traditional Japanese art. A discussion of postindustrial society of Japan--its population, economy, problems, and prospects--is the focus of Minoru Yanagihashi in "Japanese Society and Politics: A Summary View." Finally, Frank Gibney offers five salient features of Japan's Confucian capitalism and discusses how it differs from American free enterprise. Selected Readings and Bibliography are included. (NE)

Unique economic, social, and cultural conditions explain why Japan, as one of the leading industrialized nations, has no organization which specializes in or is concerned with development education. Contributing factors are: (1) economic success is so recent (late 1960's) that people are involved internally enjoying hard won affluence; (2) geographical isolation and homogeneous culture have prevented an international outlook; (3) with no immigrant workers, Japan, itself, has no development education problems; (4) monolingualism has insulated the country from international change; (5) no Japanese language translation exists for the term, development education; (6) the diminished social role of religion has reduced voluntary charitable organizations concerned with the poor; (7) the"vertical" nature of social relations does not cultivate respect and compassion towards others; (8) no specialized government department administers development cooperation; (9) the educational system does not foster compassionate concern for others. Phenomena that may favorably affect development education in Japan include: availability, since 1974, of booklets (list appended) describing Japan's development cooperation; overseas 16-30 day teacher education trips that will influence potential development education leaders; mass media efforts exposing problems of developing nations; and organizations (list appended) now engaged in international education that could encompass development education activites. (NEC)