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The purpose of this paper is to re-examine the impact of exchange rate changes on the trade balance of China and its major trading partners. In the past, many studies have been focussed on the linear effect of exchange rate change, but in this paper, a non-linear Autoregressive Distribution Lag (NARDL) model is proposed. Empirical results show that there are nonlinear and asymmetric effects on the trade balance of exchange rate. In particular, the effect of exchange rate appreciation on Sino-US trade balance is more significant than that of depreciation. A genuine devaluation of the domestic currency would improve the balance of the domestic trade. However, the opposite effect is found in the case of Sino-Japan and the Euro, and the depreciation of the currency will make the trade balance worse. These results provide a solid basis for understanding the relation of exchange rate variation and trade balance. In terms of economic reality, it is also a useful reference for adjusting exchange rate and commercial policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 'China threat' has been identified as an important driver of Japan's security agenda and discourse. The threat posed by China has been discussed either as a given factor determining the trajectory of Tokyo's security approach, as a product of identity construction, or as an expression of securitizing processes that facilitate institutional and policy change. This paper contributes to this debate by offering an alternative explanation of the process through which the Abe government constructed China as a threat. Building on securitization theory, the paper examines the modes and strategies employed by the Abe Administration to successfully securitize China. The paper argues that, while Beijing was labeled a 'concern' rather than an 'existential threat,' it was still securitized through a process of securitization that involves an association with those domains in which China engages assertively, namely the maritime commons. The paper suggests calling this type of securitizing pattern 'transversal securitization' and explores how this indirect strategy allowed the Abe government to pragmatically pursue its objectives both domestically and at the international level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The bio-medical model of 'mental health' and 'mental illness' that relates to the relationship between wellbeing and distress informs psychopathology and dominates conceptualisation in many Western Educated Industrialised Rich Democratic (WEIRD) populations. This paper aims to critique the model, questioning the appropriateness of psychopathology as a conceptual framework when working as a Western trained clinician with populations such as in China, Japan, Asia, the Middle-East and Africa. The paper also considers the cultural appropriateness of western notions of psychopathology when working inter-culturally in relation to the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings, and the Review of the Implementation of the IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rubus chingii Hu 1925 is an important medicinal vine shrub in the Rosaceae family, widely distributed in China and Japan. In this study, the complete chloroplast genome of R. chingii was sequenced and identified. The chloroplast genome was 155,563 bp in size with a total GC content of 37.06%. Two 25,749-bp inverted repeat (IRA and IRB) regions divided the genome as four sections, with the remainder forming a large single-copy (LSC, 85,322 bp) and a small single-copy (SSC, 18,743 bp) regions. This genome contained a total of 131 genes, of which 86 were protein-coding genes, 37 tRNA genes, and eight rRNA genes. The phylogenetic analysis showed that R. chingii, along with several other R. longisepalus, R. tsangii, R. hirsutus, R. taiwanicola, R. rubroangustifolius, and R. glandulosopunctatus, formed the monophylic group. Interestingly, the chloroplast genome structure we reported was different from the previously reported structure and provided richer phylogenetic analysis information in the Rubus genus compared to previous studies. The genome information reported in this paper will provide some useful information for further investigation on the evolution of the family Rosaceae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to establish a new statistical framework for measuring global flow of funds (GFF) based on its inherent mechanisms. It advances a previous theoretical discussion and develops a practical operational statistical matrix. Based on theoretical and practical possibilities the paper gets existing data from the International Investment Position, the Coordinated Direct Investment Survey, the Coordinated Portfolio Investment Survey, and International Banking Statistics are integrated for measuring GFF. The main outcome is a prototype GFF matrix that includes stock data geographically disaggregated by country/region and selected financial instruments. The paper presents a GFF Matrix compiled with the pattern of 'Country vis-à-vis Country' matrix, and through using the GFF matrix to analyze the basic status, mutual relationship and existing problems between China, Japan, and the United States in the external financial positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on Chinese football fans' reactions to the Japanese national team and their fans' behaviour during the World Cup 2022. Despite the historical and contemporary problems that make friendly relations with Japan difficult to achieve, football fans in China largely welcomed the good performance of the Japanese national team. This attitude may be described as 'thin cosmopolitanism' because Chinese fans' major frame of reference was still nationalistic. For them, the impressive performance of the Japanese national team means that Asians and the 'yellow race people' can also play good football. However, the Japanese fans, whose cleaning up of stadia received wide coverage during the World Cup, were criticized by the Chinese fans who interpreted the Japanese fans' action as reinforcing the existing global racial order. The findings of this paper help reveal the limits regarding football's role in contributing to a more cosmopolitan worldview. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper empirically examines the role of USD, EUR, and CNY as international payment currencies in Korea, China, and Japan. Our survey of business people in those countries finds that higher convertibility and stability of these currencies in the SDR enhance their acceptability and usability for international payments. However, even during times of instability, USD remains highly accepted and usable as a trade payment currency unlike the cases of EUR and CNY. Therefore, maintaining exchange rate stability is essential for improving the acceptability and usability of EUR and CNY as international payment currencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japan's threat perceptions toward China have hardened over the post-Cold War period. This led Tokyo to rely more on overt balancing strategies compared with engagement and hedging strategies. While hard balancing measures are widely discussed in the literature, little or no attention is paid to soft balancing. Though concerned about China's strategic rise, Japan's strategic options are limited by the entrenched normative constraints within the security policymaking structure. These conditions make soft balancing a critical and viable strategy for Japan. The prominence of soft balancing is illustrated by analyzing Japan's response to China's widening influence in Southeast Asia, primarily focusing on two areas – East Asian multilateralism and the South China Sea territorial disputes. Empirically, this paper offers a more nuanced analysis of Japan's response to China's strategic rise; and theoretically, explains the way Japan's case strengthens the conceptual utility of soft balancing through the incorporation of a normative perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bamboo shoot (Phyllostachys pubescens) is mainly cultivated in China and Japan. It represents a reservoir of micro and macronutrients and contains a high amount of proteins, essential amino acids, phenolic acids, sterols, and fibers. Thank to these compounds, several beneficial health effects have been attributed to the bamboo shoot. This review is aimed at discussing a collection of research papers on Bamboo shoot in pharmaceutical and food fields. A particular focus is addressed to the chemical profile, the different biological activities, the different uses, the traditional recipes, the methods of conservation and the treatments of the shoot. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first example of a comprehensive review that is focused exclusively on the applications of the shoot of bamboo Phyllostachys pubescens in different fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To identify the prognostic value of the pretreatment geriatric nutritional risk index (GNRI) in colorectal cancer. Several electronic databases were searched up to March 15, 2022, for relevant studies. The primary and secondary outcomes were overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS), respectively. The hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were combined. Bess's funnel plot and Egger's test were conducted to detect publication bias, and the trim-and-fill method was performed to identify potentially unpublished papers and their impacts on the overall results. Nine studies from Japan and China involving 3440 participants were enrolled in the current meta-analysis. The pooled results indicated that a low pretreatment GNRI was significantly associated with poorer OS (HR = 2.28, 95% CI: 1.69–3.07, P < 0.001; I2=63.5%, Pheterogeneity=0.005) and DFS (HR = 1.62, 95% CI: 1.35–1.96, P < 0.001; I2=46.4%, Pheterogeneity=0.114). Subgroup analysis stratified by country and treatment showed similar results. Significant publication bias was manifested by the asymmetric Begg's funnel plot and P = 0.012 of Egger's test, but three potentially unpublished studies did not have a significant impact on the overall results. A lower pretreatment GNRI was a novel prognostic risk factor for Japanese and Chinese colorectal cancer patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Belt and Road Initiative" (BRI) is a Chinese initiative to promote multinational economic cooperation and enhance worldwide prosperity. This Initiative's impact on other countries' maritime law and policy is worth exploring. This paper discusses the BRI and its impact on Japanese shipping laws, emphasizing the importance of Sino-Japanese economic cooperation. It is observed that Japanese private enterprises appear to have a more open attitude than that of the Japanese government toward the BRI. By participating in the BRI, Japanese companies can be more involved in international multimodal transport, not only as shippers utilizing the improved rail and sea carriage network to ship their products but also as multimodal transport operators providing logistical services. This may further trigger the development of Japanese shipping law, so that Japan can better benefit from the connectivity brought by the BRI and address new geopolitical challenges created by it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented which discusses the articles in this issue that focus on research misconduct cases in East Asia, including political interests in research in South Korea, the STAP Cell research case in Japan, and postproduction misconduct in China.

This paper argues that Mr. Science and the May 4th Movement was a significant chapter in the global history of science. To contextualize the story better, I will adopt three broad interpretive frames. First, I shall place Mr. Science and May Fourth in a longer view than the particular events in the 1910s–1920s. This will allow us to trace the historical changes and the evolving institutions, discourses, and practitioners of science over a few generations. Second, I shall highlight the most relevant global conditions. Western imperialism was of course a crucial setting, but there were more specific historical moments that also deserve attention. Finally, comparisons and connections; it is necessary to examine the transmutations of ideas, knowledge, and institutions across political and cultural borders. In other words, we should study Mr. Science and May Fourth in the mode of global intellectual history. Other than China, my main comparative cases are India and Japan, though I will also refer to Ottoman Turkey. Taken together, these examples provide a range of comparisons central to our inquiry into Mr. Science and the global history of science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article takes a critical look at the sovereignty claims surrounding the Senkaku / Diaoyu Islands. The dispute has long plagued Sino-Japanese relations and is considered one of the key regional security hotspots, with the People's Republic of China mounting an active challenge to Japanese administrative control. This article reviews the case for sovereignty under both the discovery and the prescription principles. However, the article concludes that one cannot find a compelling case for sovereignty under either principle in favour of either claimants. The paper argues that this is due to the traditional insignificance of the islands prior to UNCLOS establishing exclusive economic zones. Rather, the article suggests that to facilitate a resolution to the disputes, the islands should not be classified as islands under UNCLOS as they do not meet the legal threshold for such a classification, either today or historically. If anything, the weakness of claims that contributes to the intractability of the dispute today shows that traditionally neither China nor Japan has considered these territories as islands in a manner that would be in the spirit of UNCLOS. While such a reclassification would not immediately resolve the dispute, it would be a significant step to remove incentives for the further pursuit of conflicting sovereignty over the islands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, Teaching Expertise in Three Countries project is used as an example to show the significance and contribution of international comparative research and to think about the possible implications for policy in early childhood education. The project studied the development of expertise in preschool teaching in Japan, China, and the United States by employing 'video-cued multivocal ethnography' to explore how teaching expertise is defined in each of these countries and what processes help teachers acquire advanced teaching skills. This project has shown similarities and culturally specific notions, in what the participants have to say about characteristics of less and more experienced teachers. These research findings raise issues and challenges in early childhood education that resonate with the situation not only in the three countries but also possibly in other countries, such as problematizing the role of remembering and reflection in professional practice and the value of experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws upon transitivity and Appraisal within Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) to study the traumatic discourse of Nanjing Massacre in Chinese Mainland's and Japan's history textbooks. Through corpus analysis, this research finds that the Chinese discourse mainly uses effective process, relational process, verbal process to construe Japan's victimizering experience and China's victimhood, and employs negative Affect, opposite values of Judgment, negative Appreciation, Expand, Raise and Sharpen to construct a critical voice for the Japanese army and a sympathic tone for the Chinese. By contrast, the Japanese discourse largely uses pseudo-effective and middle processes, mental and existential processes to cover up Japan's victimizering experience, and employs negative Judgment, positive Appreciation, Contract and Raise to construct an almost uncritical voice for the Japanese army and the massacre. The difference in the representation and evaluation of Nanjing Massacre results from the politics of official memories in both countries. As China endeavors to strengthen its patriotic education by using Nanjing Massacre as an ideological weapon for national solidarity, Japan expedites its nationalist historiography move to recreate its normal national image by marginalizing the massacre. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper was to investigate the current status of read-across approaches in the Republic of Korea, Japan, and China in terms of applications and regulatory acceptance. In the Republic of Korea, over the last 6 years, approximately 8% of safety data records used for chemical registrations were based upon read-across, and a guideline published on the use of read-across results in 2017. In Japan, read-across is generally accepted for screening hazard classification of toxicological endpoints according to the Chemical Substances Control Law (CSCL). In China, read-across data, along with data from other animal alternatives are accepted as a data source for chemical registrations, but could be only considered when testing is not technically feasible. At present, read-across is not widely used for chemical registrations and regulatory acceptance of read-across may differ among countries in Asia. With consideration of the advantages and limitations of read-across, it is expected that read-across may soon gradually be employed in Asian countries. Thus, regulatory agencies need to prepare for this progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In table tennis, many different approaches to scientific founded match analysis have been developed since the first ones in the 1960s. The aim of this paper is to give a review on some of the most acknowledged methods of match analysis in table tennis. The first chapter presents a historical overview of match analysis from all over the world. The second part reviews different approaches to match analysis in more detail, using the performance analysis classification of theoretical and practical performance analysis. The review includes the most actual theoretical performance analysis techniques in table tennis: performance indices, simulative approaches, momentum analysis, footwork analysis, and finally an approach which uses top expert knowledge for a comprehensive technical-tactical analysis. In the section of practical performance analysis, the paper presents two “best practice” examples describing performance analysis procedures of the two most successful countries of the last Olympics: China and Japan. The paper ends with a summary on the impact of the different approaches and gives an outlook on promising new developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is the first study to examine the financial contagion from the U.S., Japanese and Chinese markets to Asian markets during the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and Covid-19 Pandemic Crisis. We employ the DCC-EGARCH methodology and daily data of stock returns from 2005 to 2021 to estimate the time-varying correlations and the volatilities of stock markets. Our results show that the correlation between the U.S. and Japanese markets with emerging Asian ones is quite high, implying the interdependence between these markets. Furthermore, we find significant contagion effects from the U.S. equity market to markets in both advanced and emerging economies during the GFC. Nonetheless, during the Covid-19 pandemic, only 3 out of 10 Asian emerging markets had experienced the contagion from the U.S. Our findings also suggest that contagion effects are not strongly related to the level of global integration and Asian markets seem to be more affected by the contagion from Japan and China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to explore the connections between expanding female education and the participation of women in paid employment in Japan, China and India, three of Asia's largest economies. Analysis based on existing data and literature shows that despite the large expansion in educational access in these countries in the last half century, women have lacked egalitarian labour market opportunities. A combination of social discouragement and individual choice largely explains the withdrawal, non-participation or intermittent female presence in the labour force, notwithstanding increased educational access. In taking stock of these issues and debates across these countries, it is argued that the parallel experiences of women in these countries can be traced back to persistent gender norms which, amongst other things, imply the centrality of marriage and non-market unpaid labour for women. The paper argues that there is a need for gender-sensitive public policy in order for increased education to translate to labour market gains for women, leading to sustainable development outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The politics of international finance for coal power plants have intensified since the 2015 Paris climate agreement was negotiated. Over the past few years, Japan and South Korea have signaled their intent not to fund new coal projects overseas, leaving China and its Belt and Road Initiative as the 'financier of last resort.' In September 2021, China too announced its intent to stop providing finance for overseas coal projects. What accounts for their decision to cease financing overseas coal projects despite prominent differences in political systems, degree of internationalization of their financial systems, and economic size? Drawing on datasets of coal projects and financing supplemented by case material and interviews, this paper explores the dynamics of coal export finance and how the combination of international reputational pressures and declining demand for coal finance diminished the domestic support for incumbent coal exporters in all three countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars tend to overlook the overseas Chinese press as a communicative tool for Chinese nationalism. This paper takes media history as its focal point to demonstrate the contextual influences that shaped the operations of Chinese print media and gave rise to the manifestation of the overseas Chinese (huaqiao) identity in Japan. In particular, it emphasises that the mobilisation of the modern Chinese nationalism movement of the time was not the sole determinant of Chinese identity. It was also influenced by the way in which Chinese ethnic boundaries came to be shaped and reshaped in different historical periods through the dynamics between overseas Chinese communities and Japanese society. I use two overseas Chinese publications from different periods to illustrate the impacts of modern Chinese nationalism and the changing social and political context of Japan on the Chinese press. Finally, I present a synthetic narrative to account for the history of the overseas Chinese press in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China and Japan have engaged in fierce competition over infrastructure lending in East Asia, particularly since the 2010s. Under the intense focus on the geopolitical roots of this competition, the political-economic effects of this competitive statecraft on the smaller Asian countries are less discussed. At first glance, lending competition seems to benefit borrowing countries through access to more financial resources. This paper argues, however, that competitive statecraft leads to an 'easy money' conundrum where overeager creditor countries, in pursuit of geostrategic goals, perpetuate political opportunism in borrowing countries. To support this claim, we examine China–Japan competition over two high-speed rail projects in Indonesia and Malaysia. Our process tracing analysis explains how push factors (easy money from China and Japan) and pull factors (the host government's desire to exploit easy money for political gain) interacted to advance two troubled projects at the cost of borrowing countries' fiscal discipline and government accountability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mr Chiang Kai-shek is a key historical figure of twentieth century China. The studies of his life and thought have attracted many scholars' attention during his lifetime as well as after his death in 1975. In recent years, along with the opening of the archives of Academia Historica, the Chronological Events (Shilue gaoben), and the Diary of Chiang Kai-shek, once again the topic of Chiang has become a focus among China scholars who study the Republican period. Besides numerous conferences and workshops recently held in Taipei, Beijing, Hangzhou, and other cities in both mainland China and Taiwan, academic circles in America, Europe, and Japan have also held some seminars regarding Chiang Kai-shek. The current overseas studies on Chiang Kai-shek can be divided into two groupings geographically: the Euro–American group and the Japanese group. These two groups, plus those from Taiwan and Mainland China, have formed the four most important academic traditions. In spite of their different views and ideologies, these four are able to influence each other and even to come to similar conclusions. These can be summarized as a more positive image of Chiang whose major achievements include fighting the Japanese in WWII and building a modern China in various ways. This paper, relying on overseas research results, will try to help researchers understand the current situation of studies on Chiang Kai-shek in the world so as to lay a better academic foundation for their own further studies. However, because of all kinds of limitations, this paper will rely mostly on the research achievements of English and Japanese works. Research works in other languages and from other regions will have to wait for later efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper provides the first systematic analysis of China's conduct in its offshore territorial conflict with Japan to contend that Beijing has adopted a wedging strategy aimed at weakening the U.S.-Japan alliance. Building on previous scholarship, the article demonstrates that over the post-Cold War era China has consistently subordinated its territorial interests in the Senkaku/Diaoyu dispute to help advance broader political and strategic goals. Drawing on Chinese writings, I argue that since 2010 Beijing has viewed U.S. and Japanese strategy in the conflict to be intended to contain it and that the empirical record suggests China's conduct has, in turn, sought to counter this perceived threat by weakening the alliance at its core. Beijing, it is argued, has aimed to sow discord in the U.S.-Japan alliance by "making use of contradictions" perceived to afflict U.S. strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper measures nine indicators of profitability for the Chinese industrial firms during the period 1978-2006. In light of the results, it examines the issues such as the trend change of the Chinese profitability, difference of profitability between various categories of firms, impacts of inflation on the profitability calculated using the corporate accounting data, and comparison of profitability among China, Japan and US. Evidence found by the paper indicates the micro-economic underpinnings for the Chinese economic boom in recent years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the qualitative differences in dissociative experiences among normal college-age subjects in China and Japan. The paper first describes the process used to prepare the Mandarin version of the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES). Baseline statistics comparing the two populations of interest are then presented. These results show fundamental differences across these two Asian cultures in terms of the mean DES scores obtained as well as the shape of the overall distribution of these scores. The results of a factor analysis of the DES responses corroborate both gender and cultural differences across the Japanese and Chinese data. Interestingly, the structure of the factors derived shows little relationship to factors from analyses of normal college-age subjects in North America. These contrasting results suggest that the DES can be a useful addition to other instruments and methods for exploring cross-cultural psychological differences, and that prior to clinical use baseline DES norms for each culture need to be established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the time-varying relationship between the stock and the foreign exchange markets for China, Japan and Korea for the period July 2005 to November 2013. The cross-market relationship within each country differs among the three countries and varies over time. There is no evidence of a significant and consistent pattern of causality between the two market segments in China for the whole sample. However, there is some evidence of causality, mostly from the foreign exchange to the stock market during major crisis periods. For Japan, we find a significant causality from the foreign exchange to the stock market for most of the sample period. During the periods of stock market turmoil (2007 and 2011) in Japan, however, the stock market drives the foreign exchange market. In contrast, there is a strong and consistent causality from the stock to the foreign exchange market in Korea throughout the sample except for 2009. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to explore the relationship among the large declines in China’s stock market and stock markets in the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Hong Kong, and to forecast future large declines in China’s stock market. We apply mutually exciting marked Hawkes processes—where the occurrences of large declines are regarded as events whose magnitudes follow generalized Pareto distributions—to study the interaction between the different stock markets. We find that these interactions are asymmetric. The occurrences of large declines in the Chinese stock market will stimulate declines in the United States and the United Kingdom, and especially in Japan’s and Hong Kong’s stock markets. However, only large declines in Hong Kong’s market have a substantial influence on the occurrence of big declines in China’s market. Finally, we try to predict the time of occurrence of the next major decline in China’s stock market using information from our empirical results. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses several papers published within the issue including one on the challenges for higher education in Japan of global neoliberalism, another regarding the issues surrounding Chinese higher education and a paper on the relationship between neoliberal globalisation and New Zealand universities.

Breaking with discriminatory views and segregated education for children with disabilities, regions often referred to as Confucian Heritage Regions (CHRs) have been moving towards inclusive education. Although some of these regions have been at the centre of attention in global education recently, there is a lack of research and information about how they 'do' inclusive education. Considering that reinforcing legislative foundations is of foremost importance for its fulfillment, this study examines legislation on the education of children with disabilities in four neighbouring CHRs: the Chinese Mainland , Japan, South Korea and China's Taiwan. The core principles that frame such legislation were analyzed and cross-compared. The findings show that despite the common Confucian heritage that is attributed to them systematically in studies of inclusive education – which is often said to influence the way disability is perceived and dealt with – the four Regions treat inclusion differently in terms of legislation. While some CHRs are clearly influenced by e.g. the USA, others are trying to design a specific perspective on inclusive education. The authors argue that the complex example of these CHRs can serve as an important template for studies on both inclusive and comparative education. The article also calls for the careful treatment of inclusive education beyond an essentialist and somewhat simplistic perspective that could reduce certain regions to a monolith. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pursuit of Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) by numerous countries, aimed at promoting trade among member nations, is widely acknowledged. Nonetheless, policymakers often voice concerns regarding the potentially short-lived nature of PTAs' trade-promoting effects. In light of this concern, we present empirical evidence that substantiates the transient nature of the trade-enhancing impacts associated with PTAs. We identify the expanding economic influence of China in the global trade sphere as a primary driver for this trend. These findings are reinforced by a compelling illustration within the context of the PTAs involving Korea and Japan with Latin American countries. Our case study suggests that the attenuation of the export-promoting effects of Korea and Japan's PTAs with their Latin American counterparts can be attributed to the penetration of Chinese goods, the sustained reduction of Most Favored Nation (MFN) tariffs, and the proliferation of comprehensive PTAs within regional contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International input–output (IO) tables are among the most useful tools for economic analysis. Since these tables provide detailed information about international production networks, they have recently attracted considerable attention in research on spatial economics, global value chains, and issues relating to trade in value added. The Institute of Developing Economies at the Japan External Trade Organization (IDE-JETRO) has more than 40 years of experience in the construction and analysis of international IO tables. This paper explains the development of IDE-JETRO's multi-regional IO projects including the construction of the Asian International Input–Output table and the Transnational Interregional Input–Output table between China and Japan. To help users understand the features of the tables, this paper also gives examples of their application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the cultural attraction, ‘soft power’, and importance of cultural proximity to the popularity of the Japanese language in Hong Kong over the last three decades. Exploration of both primary and secondary sources constitutes the main research methodology employed. Email surveys and face-to-face interviews were undertaken to ascertain the nature and degree of the cultural attraction that stimulates local people's interest in learning Japanese language and culture. The paper concludes that Japan's ‘soft power’, i.e., popular culture and cultural products, are the most influential driving forces behind the popularity of Japanese language in Hong Kong. Also, the Japanese cultural proximity to the Chinese is another factor that excites local people's interest in learning Japanese as a foreign language. In the Hong Kong context, geopolitical and national identity factors do not seem to detract from the popularity of the Japanese language. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Japan has been the largest source country of foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, excluding overseas Chinese territories and tax havens. However, Japan's large-scale but relatively closed production networks have received little discussion in previous research. Two peaks in Japanese investment can be distinguished: the first led by the electronics industry in the mid-1990s and the second by the automotive industry after 2003. Cross-border production network building in the electronics industry is quite different from the scenarios of conventional global production networks (GPN) theory, where leading firms dominate the building of global production networks. In this paper, I demonstrate that in the development of the electronics industry, the institutional advantage small and medium enterprises have of knowing how to operate production bases in Southern China has enabled them to guide leading firms in building cross-border production networks. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the determinants of Hong Kong tourism demand for the top-three major tourist arrival countries, namely Mainland China, Taiwan, and Japan, with an error correction model. Specifically, this paper will examine the effects of relaxing the visa requirement, the launch of the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS), for Mainland Chinese tourists in 2003. Empirical results show that tourists are income-elastic and consider international tourism to be a luxury good. Tourists are more sensitive to changes in the nominal exchange rate than to changes in the foreign pricing level. The positive effect of the launch of the IVS for Mainland Chinese tourists outweighs the adverse impact of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) on tourism demand for Hong Kong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines defense industrialization in three leading arms-producing states in Asia - India, Japan, and South Korea - and how their experiences compare to China's recent defense industrial developments. It argues that despite decades of considerable effort and investments in pursuit of a techno-nationalist self-arming strategy, these countries have experienced only modest success when it comes to achieving such self-reliance. Most regional defense industrial bases lack the necessary design skills and technological expertise in order to truly innovate, and at best these countries act as 'late innovators' when it comes to armaments production. The experiences of these countries have lessons for China as it attempts to move into the first tier of arms-producing states. China has over the past 15 years made significant progress in modernizing its defense technological and industrial base. At the same time, China faces the same long-term challenges that currently confront other regional arms industries - that is, making techno-nationalism work at the later stages of innovation. This is particularly critical as China's defense industry strives to move from a basically platform-centric to an increasingly network-centric technological-industrial process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the author presents information about the creation of the joint Japanese-Chinese historical research project and attempts to identify and clarify some of the misconceptions that have arisen as a result of this joint effort. The article notes that differences arose between the two nations in 2005 after Japan requested a reform of the United Nations Security Council. China protested the reform and suggested Japan should reflect on history. The author discusses the media's portrayal that the teams from the two countries were unable to agree on anything and that little was accomplished.

This article reexamines the conventional wisdom that characterizes Sino-Japanese energy relations as predominantly competitive, but views Sino-Japanese environmental relations as essentially cooperative. Using sociological theories of risk, it is argued that Sino-Japanese cooperation is more likely in both the energy and environmental areas when common risks are perceived and relative gains are minimized. Despite their many conflicting strategic, political, and economic interests, as energy importers who are vulnerable to supply interruptions in the Middle East and competitors for global energy supplies, China and Japan share common risks to their energy security. Consequently, there actually may be increasing opportunities for China and Japan to address their common concerns through bilateral and multilateral cooperative practices, such as common positions on pricing or energy conservation initiatives. Although one would expect China and Japan to highlight their mutual interests in tackling environmental problems such as air pollution, in fact relative gains often impede cooperation. Japan increasingly views China as an economic competitor and is reducing environmental aid, while China continues to set a priority on economic growth, which sets limits on the use of costlier Japanese green technologies. By examining a selection of scholarly articles, reports and newspaper articles by Chinese and Japanese analysts, as well as material from interviews in Beijing and Tokyo in May-June 2007, the paper shows how environmental and energy issues in Sino-Japanese relations may be framed as threats, requiring counter-measures, or common risks, which can be addressed through cooperative practices. Lastly, the paper discusses the possibility of the development of an energy security 'risk community' as cooperative practices develop between China and Japan. Nonetheless, conflicting political interests, strategies, and self-images, accentuating relative gains, may provide obstacles to their cooperation in both energy security and environmental protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of 'the rise of China' on the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and its implications for Japan. Japan has traditionally enjoyed a dominant position in the Bank, as it has enjoyed a dominant position in Asia. However, with the balance of power in the region tipping in China's favour, one might expect that this would be reflected in the ADB as well. This paper argues that despite the worsening Sino-Japanese relationship, the ADB has facilitated the development and maintenance of shared expectations between the two parties over the future direction of development assistance, representing an oasis of liberal institutionalism in a relationship increasingly characterised in realist terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decade, essentially since the Asian crisis of 1997-98, the economic integration of Northeast Asia has been marked by three overarching trends. Economic relations have become: 1) more institutionalized; 2) more "Asian;" and 3) more China-centric. These macro-trends are demonstrated and analyzed in the paper. But by way of anticipation, numerous counter-cutting facts need also to be kept in mind. In essence, recent trends, notable as they are, have by no means reversed three counter-realities: 1) economic ties are still largely driven, less by governments and formal arrangements, than by corporations in search of profits and production efficiencies; 2) despite growing economic interdependence across Northeast Asia and between that sub-region and Southeast Asia, Japan, China and South Korea remain heavily linked to global, and particularly US, markets; and 3) though China is an ever important hub in Northeast Asian trade and investment, Japan remains by far the most powerful economic player in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines US, Japanese, and European political economy approaches to China, and their effect on US-Japan and US-EU relationships. Great powers with a greater security concern in dealing with another major country care more about power while those with less of a concern are preoccupied with calculations for wealth. China's rise and its actions have posed a far greater security challenge to the United States and Japan and are driving the two countries closer together. The political economy game involving China reveals a dominant welfare motive among the advanced market economies. The ambition to transform China politically has diminished. China's integration into the global market makes a relative gains approach difficult to implement. Globalization simply limits the ability of a state to follow a politics-in-command approach in the absence of actual military conflict, which explains why the political economy approaches of the United States, Europe, and Japan are not that different in the scheme of things. China's own grand strategy to reach out to the world to outflank the US-Japan alliance has also contributed to a divergent European policy toward China although there are severe limitations to Beijing's ability to drive a wedge between the United States and Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines if the ‘economic centre’ of Asia is likely to shift over the next 20 years. In this context, it addresses the widely held notion that a deterioration of Southeast Asia's geographic centrality within the Asia Pacific region is likely to occur due to the rise of China. GNP-weighted centrality indices are calculated for major Asian cities, and it is shown that the changing economic map of Asia is unlikely to lead to geographic marginalization of Southeast Asia: even if the economic importance of China increases significantly, this will be more than offset by the corresponding decline of Japan. As a consequence, the total economic weight of Northeast Asia is likely to decrease slightly compared to Southeast Asia and Greater India over the next 20 years, with the economic centre of Asia moving further to the southwest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is rising as the fastest growing largest economy and thereby leading a market-driven economic integration in East Asia. At the same time, nationalism is also rising and constraining East Asian countries from forming a state-driven regional community. This paper examines the political economy of interdependence and nationalism that is taking place in East Asia. Simply put, its central theme is that the degree of interdependence, especially between China and other countries, is deepening, and as a result, is pulling East Asia toward regional integration, but due to the rising tide of nationalism, it is far short of forming an actual community. In order to build a community, therefore, such economic trend must be propelled by political leadership and will. In elaborating on this thesis, the paper analyzes the trade and production networks centered on China, the efforts to promote regional integration in ASEAN + 3, the nationalist rivalry between Japan and China in negotiating FTAs, and the difficulties in achieving Sino-Japanese reconciliation. Finally, the paper proposes a Northeast Asian Forum among Japan, South Korea and China while the US remains as a stabilizing force in East Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper concerns ways to further professional development of multinational managers. It describes how cognitive modeling tools drawn from knowledge engineering (an Artificial Intelligence discipline in which they are used in developing expert systems) can be used effectively to assist these managers both to make decisions and to grow professionally. The experiences described involve Motorola and other firms operating in China and Japan, and concern the decisions involved in selecting which method of entry/operation to use. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The content of Japanese history textbooks became the focus of much media and academic attention after the internationalization of the issue in 1982 when Japan was accused by the Chinese government of attempting to re-write its wartime invasion of China in school textbooks. The issue threatened to disrupt the celebrations for the tenth anniversary of Sino-lapanese normalization and, according to some observers, set back Sino-Japanese relations by ten years. In recent years Japanese textbooks have been seen in a more positive light, with progress being made on the inclusion of references to the comfort women and, more recently, Ienaga Saburō's partial victory in his long-standing legal battle with the government. Some have argued that it was the events of 1982 which sparked off the movement to 'liberalize' Japanese textbooks, and that after that date descriptions of Japanese wartime activities in Asia became more 'truthful'. This paper examines the events of the 1982 textbook issue, focusing on the response of the Japanese government to Chinese (and Korean) protests and assessing Japan's foreign policy making vis-à-vis China. Japanese governments are often considered to adopt a 'grovelling' foreign policy with respect to China, giving in to Chinese demands whenever the issue of 'history' is raised. This paper assesses the validity of this claim, using the textbook issue as a case study, and questions whether the textbooks really were radically altered as a result of this diplomatic controversy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the intrinsic relationships between Japanese historiography and the three great historiographical trends of New Historiography, Debates on Ancient History, and Marxist historiography, from the macroscopic perspective of the transformation, development, and early modern growth of modern and early modern Chinese historiography, exploring how Chinese historical researchers selected, deviated from, and assimilated Japanese historiography, while also particularly focusing on how the recipients utilized Japanese historiographical methods and concepts as well as the achievements of Japanese scholars in researching Chinese history to construct their own interpretation of Chinese historiography, in a study of the academic trend of indigenization. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes a vortex-induced vibration (VIV) reliability analysis method based on the maximum entropy (MaxEnt) principle in which constraints are specified in terms of fractional moments involving uncertain wind characteristics, structural properties, and bluff-body aerodynamics. The multiplicative dimensional reduction method (M-DRM) is used to calculate the fractional moments. A new threshold is obtained based on the stopping sight distance in the highway engineering technique standard, which is less strict than the China–Japan standard and the British code and thus better-suited to VIV reliability evaluation. A long-span cable-stayed bridge model is used to illustrate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method in comparison to Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) on three performance functions of VIV reliability. The results indicate that VIV maximum amplitude and wind speed failure probability are not sensitive to the selected performance function, but the effect of the wind attack angle on probability is significant. The M-DRM provides a workable alternative approach to analyzing the highly complex VIV reliability of long-span bridges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is obvious that the security environment in East Asia is more unstable and unpredictable. In the South China Sea, tensions over disputed islands initiate a more severe Sino–American rivalry. In the East China Sea, China disputes the control over the Senkaku Islands, and is escalating military activities around those islands. North Korea continues provocative activities including launching of ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons tests. This naturally leads to the idea that Japan needs to play a larger role to restore stability in the international order. This paper explores the challenges facing East Asian security in the face of the passage of Japan's new security bills in 2015 and how they impact the future of Japanese security policy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Context: Gout is a chronic disease that imposes a huge financial and health burden on patients, which might diminish quality of life. Qin Jiao, a perennial herb found in northwestern China and Japan, is commonly used for treating various ailments. Objective: This study investigates the effects of Qin Jiao on gout and joint inflammation and elucidates its potential mechanism for gouty arthritis. Materials and methods: Study 1, a literature review was conducted using PubMed, Web of Science, and CNKI to assess the applications of Qin Jiao in arthritis treatment. Study 2 was performed to discover the component targets and gouty disease targets via TCMSP, OMIM, GeneCards and DRUGBANK, and network pharmacology analysis. Study 3, male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were divided into normal, model, colchicine, Qin Jiao low-dose (QJL), and Qin Jiao high-dose group (QJH), oral gavage for 40 d. Serum, synovial fluid, and synovial membrane tissue were collected to measure the expression levels of IL-1β, IL-6, and STAT3. Results: The research also identified potential targets and pharmacological pathways of Qin Jiao for gout treatment. In vivo study demonstrated Qin Jiao can reduce IL-1β levels in serum and ankle flushing fluid. ELISA analysis confirmed that Qin Jiao significantly reduces the protein expression of IL-6 and STAT3. Discussion and conclusion: Qin Jiao exerts anti-inflammatory effects on gouty arthritis by modulating the IL-6/STAT3 pathway. This study provides a biological basis for the use of Qin Jiao in treating arthritis-related diseases and offers experimental evidence for potential future drug development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]