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In this paper, we attempt to identify the reasons behind the differences in environmental policy between Japan and other developed countries, particularly the US. Japan's environmental policy is unique in that voluntary approaches have been taken to reduce total emissions. This strategy is quite different from the traditional approach of heavy-handed regulation. In Japan, voluntary approaches are conducted through negotiations with polluters. The idea behind this type of voluntary approaches is that the government can induce polluters to abate emissions voluntarily by using light-handed regulations and the threat of heavy-handed regulations. The light-handed regulation is quite effective especially when it is costly to introduce heavy-handed regulations, although the negotiations are difficult to conduct when the number of stakeholders is large. To strengthen our analysis, we provide some examples of Japanese environmental policies which are successful and the ones that are not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Impervious surfaces are the most significant feature of human settlements. Timely, accurate, and frequent information on impervious surfaces is critical in both social-economic and natural environment applications. Over the past 40 years, impervious surface areas in China have grown rapidly. However, annual maps of impervious areas in China with high spatial details do not exist during this period. In this paper, we made use of reliable impervious surface mapping algorithms that we published before and the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform to address this data gap. With available data in GEE, we were able to map impervious surfaces over the entire country circa 1978, and during 1985–2017 at an annual frequency. The 1978 data were at 60-m resolution, while the 1985–2017 data were in 30-m resolution. For the 30-m resolution data, we evaluated the accuracies for 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015. Overall accuracies reached more than 90%. Our results indicate that the growth of impervious surface in China was not only fast but also considerably exceeding the per capita impervious surface area in developed countries like Japan. The 40-year continuous and consistent impervious surface distribution data in China would generate widespread interests in the research and policy-making community. The impervious surface data can be freely downloaded from http://data.ess.tsinghua.edu.cn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Labor productivity growth in major advanced countries has been experiencing a slowdown in recent years. This paper examines the background of recent low labor productivity growth in Japan. There are two reasons behind the productivity slowdown in Japan. First, technology and ideas accumulated by research and development (R&D) as well as management resources such as capital and labor are not utilized efficiently. Second, these resources are not efficiently reallocated across corporations. In order to improve Japan's productivity in the medium to long-term, it is desirable to encourage the flexible reallocation of management resources such as capital and labor by changing working process at the corporate level in accordance with changes in the socio-economic environment and the advent of new technologies, as well as by improving efficiency in the labor and capital markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: To date, developed countries can only tap mitigation opportunities in developing countries by investing in projects under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). Yet CDM investments have so far failed to reach all of the high-potential sectors identified in IPCC reports. This raises doubts about whether the CDM will be able to generate an adequate supply of credits from the limited areas where it has proved successful. Our paper examines the current trajectory of potential mitigation entering the CDM pipeline and projects it forward under the assumption that the diffusion of the CDM will follow a path similar to other kinds of innovations. Projections are then compared to pre-CDM predictions of the mechanism''s potential market size used to assess Kyoto''s cost, in order to discern whether limits on the types of project entering the pipeline will also limit the eventual supply of certified emission reductions (CERs). The main finding of the paper is that the mechanism is on track to deliver an average annual flow of roughly 700 million CERs by the close of 2012 and nearly to 1100 million tons by 2020. Parameter tests suggest that currently identified CDM investments will exceed early model predictions of the potential market for CDM projects. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: This paper investigates whether and how foreign aid facilitates foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into less developed countries. We employ a large data set of source-recipient country pairs and conduct gravity equation-type estimation. Our empirical methodology enables us to examine an effect through which aid from a donor country promotes FDI from the same donor in particular, which we call a “vanguard effect.” We find that foreign aid in general does not have any significant effect on FDI. However, when we allow for differences in the size of aid effects across donor countries, we find robust evidence that foreign aid from Japan in particular has a vanguard effect, i.e., Japanese aid promotes FDI from Japan but does not attract FDI from other countries. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper analyzes the existence of flights from stocks to bonds and vice versa. We propose a definition and a test for flight-to-quality, flight-from-quality and cross-asset contagion and examine their characteristics and effects for the financial system. The empirical analysis for eight developed countries including the US, the UK, Germany and Japan shows that flights exist and are a common feature in many crises episodes. Our findings also reveal that flights are not merely country-specific events but occur simultaneously across countries. This indicates that there is a link between the occurrence of flights and cross-country contagion. Moreover, we show that flights enhance the resiliency of the financial markets by providing diversification benefits in times when they are needed most. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Objective: The paper aims to explore effective measures and strategies for the promotion of ICT-enabled innovations for the elderly and people with special needs. Methods: The paper begins by reviewing current government initiatives in the field of e-health and accessibility that are addressing challenges faced by Japan''s rapidly ageing society. It then evaluates the results of Japanese government efforts in the promotion of ICT solutions for its older population against the availability of special infrastructure, device interfaces, and services and applications that meet five essential needs of the elderly with regard to quality of life in highly developed countries. Results and conclusion: The results of the study suggest that more efforts are needed to exploit ICT to transform all domains of society in order to meet the challenges produced by a rapidly ageing population. For that purpose the paper proposes 12 main areas in which to facilitate ICT innovations for an ageing population. It then outlines a number of strategic directions for the formulation of specific measures that will place Japan in the forefront of societal transformation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objective: This paper describes the mortality rates and trends from childhood cancer at the population level over a 37-year period in Japan and other developed countries. Materials and methods: Age-standardized mortality rates were calculated by the direct method using age-specific mortality rates at 5-year age intervals and weights based on the age distribution of the standard world population. The joinpoint regression model was used to describe changes in trends. Results: For all cancers combined, the mortality rate during 2000–2006 was 2.20 per 100 000 population for boys and 1.89 for girls. Mortality for all cancers combined decreased since 1970s in Japan. A stable trend was observed in recent 5 years for girls. For leukemia, a declining trend was observed in the whole period for girls and in 1976–2006 for boys. Mortality rates for childhood central nervous system tumors have remained stable at a low level during 1980–2006. Conclusions: The present study provides updated figures and trends in childhood cancer mortality in Japan and other developed countries. This will help to estimate care needs and to plan intervention and the quantity of appropriate childhood cancer treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]