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An interview is presented with historian and associate professor Pierre-Yves Donzé, former representative for the National Center for Space Studies in Japan Mathieu Grialou, and economist and associate professor Sébastien Lechevalier. Also included are Didier Roux, the director of research and development and of innovation at the French company Saint-Gobain, and Thomas Veyrenc, the Market Departments Director for the French Electricity Transmission Network (RTE). Focus is given to Japan's economy, commercial relations, and politics.

The article focuses on Japanese watch manufacturer Seiko and analyzes the evolution of the territories in which it produced watches since 1895 in response to evolving business markets, production technology, and competitiveness. The company's founding by Kintaro Hattori and its beginnings are mentioned. Its factory located in the city of Tokyo, Japan, from 1895 to 1940, its Japanese network of industrial districts from 1940 to 1985, and its manufacturing system in Asia since 1985 are discussed.

In the canton of Vaud (Switzerland), hospitals were originally created within a local philanthropic framework which aimed as much at healing as at controlling the working classes. The practice of medicine was still not very effective, and the generosity of a few well-known people was enough at that time to ensure the viability of small infirmaries, run by deaconesses with just one or two doctors working part-time. Towards the end of the 19th century progress in medicine, particularly in surgery, and the beginning of a greatly improved technical environment following the introduction of X-rays, threatened the operation of these infirmaries. It became necessary to build new hospitals, to engage trained personnel in large numbers, to professionalize the management and to re-examine the organisation of these larger and more complex hospitals in order to meet the increasing demand for hospital treatment. This change of scale put an intolerable strain on the philanthropic framework and eventually led to the increasing intervention of public authorities. In the canton of Vaud after 1945 there was a widespread network of regional hospitals, which were heavily dependent on government funding. From being the principal supporter of a hospital network which had arisen from locally-based groups of infirmaries, the state intervened at the end of the 1970s with the aim of rationalizing the system.