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This paper contrasts agricultural protection of Japan and Korea with the West and identifies major differences between them. It characterizes agricultural protection of Japan and Korea (net heavy food importers) as "tariff-based and scarcity-sensitive" aimed at promoting survival and the West (net food exporters) as "subsidy-based and surplus-inducing" aimed at enhancing farm income. We then identify factors underlying the coevolution and divergence in the extent of agricultural trade liberalization between Japan and Korea since the launch of the Uruguay Round in 1986. Korea accepted deep cuts in agricultural tariffs in bilateral FTAs with the US and EU during the 2000s while Japan continued to protect farm interests by concluding low levels of FTAs with politically sensitive products excluded from tariff concessions. The two countries' stances reversed since 2013 with Japan becoming proactive in pursuing high levels of FTAs with major agricultural exporting countries and Korea decelerating its opening of agricultural markets. To explain such divergences, this paper develops a political economy framework in which the incumbent political leadership would consider both national interests and sectoral (farm as import competing industries and business/manufacturing as exporting industries) special interests. Our analysis shows that President Roh (2002–2007)'s embracing of neoliberal paradigm in formulating foreign trade policies that would promote national interests underlies the unprecedented level of agricultural trade liberalization in Korea during the 2000s, while Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's determination not to be outcompeted by the rising China and Korea's ambitious FTA strategies underlies Japan's proactive bilateral and mega-FTA drives since 2013. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of foreign direct investment (FDI) on host country's economic growth is a widely explored issues in the existing economic literature. This study attempts to examine the role of foreign direct investment, capital formation, and expansion of female education on economic growth of Japan during the period 1971–2014, using time series observations. The study further makes a comparison regarding the association with FDI and economic growth with South Korea, another major OECD economy of Asia The study utilises the auto-regressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds approach to cointegration to examine the long run causality association among the variables. Today, for sustainable economic development the social and institutional policy issues are important. The paper explores one such social issue, namely gender and economic prosperity. This paper has novel contributions in the current research on time series, econometric analysis for the following reasons: (1) it has investigated the relationship between economic growth, foreign direct investment and capital formation in a gendered differential framework (utilising the role of human capital formation among men versus women; (2) the study covers a long period and more recent time period (till 2014), which concurs with the upsurge of world FDI movements and (3) the study also explores the major structural breaks of the two economies and how economic growth is impacted thereof. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the recent Russian invasion, China's rise, and North Korean missile launches, there is an increased importance for the United States to strengthen its East Asian allies, South Korea and Japan. These two countries, however, have a long history of disputes that resulted from the legacy of the Second World War. One of them is the comfort women issue. More than 200,000 teenage Korean girls were taken by Japanese soldiers as sex slaves during the 1930s and 1940s. They are called comfort women. In December 2015, the South Korean and Japanese governments reached an agreement to resolve the issue of comfort women, getting an apology from the Japanese government. However, the surviving comfort women showed resentment toward this agreement and condemned the Korean government for reaching the agreement with the Japanese government. Why do the comfort women and many South Koreans reject this agreement? Also, two different understandings of the identically written accord have brought social conflict in South Korea. Where do these discrepancies in understanding the same accord come from? Applying the three conceptual frameworks—emic and etic approaches in cultural anthropology, the inclusive and restricted models of conflict resolution, and different levels of reconciliation—this paper analyzes the discrepancies in how people analyze and approach conflict resolution and highlights the importance of the cultural anthropological approaches in conflict resolution and reconciliation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues the perceptions of relations between two nations involve not only the institutionalized national-boundary but also the perspectives of multiple symbolic boundaries. Based on a qualitative study, this paper aims to explain how different symbolic boundaries impact Japanese experts' perception of interrelations between Japan and the Republic of Korea (South Korea). The paper includes an analysis of opinion surveys, 20 semi-structured interviews with experts, and three focus group interviews with university students of Peace Studies Departments conducted throughout June and July of 2018 in Tokyo, Japan. These results advance existing scholarship by showing that Japanese experts use the following four symbolic boundaries to comprehend relations between Japan and South Korea: boundaries between (1) victims and perpetrators; (2) 'the West' and the Asian cultural and political space; (3) nationalistic and peaceful countries; and (4) a state and people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the striking similarities in strategic environment of Japan and South Korea, US deterrence through nonproliferation policy toward the two allies varied in terms of its measures applied: reward-based deterrence and threat-based deterrence. Using the critical junctures framework, this paper argues that 1) domestic structural circumstances of divided with idealist bias or unified with realist bias in two allies led to different local responses to US policy that signalled the level of credibility of US security guarantee; 2) intermediaries that played a critical role in promoting mutual trust and confidence have influenced the credibility and confidence on intra-alliance level; 3) this credibility and confidence had shaped the direction of the US deterrence strategy of reward-based deterrence for Japan and threat-based deterrence for South Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

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]

This study investigated the perception of media report regarding bilateral tourism between Republic of Korea and Japan. Tourism flow between two countries had gradually broadened since 2000s in the complexity of economic, international relations and cultural factors. Especially, media influence on travel has been reinforced because of the expansion of using mobile and the Internet. Among various channels, news delivers a variety of information in relation to bilateral tourism. To examine a recent phenomenon, news data in South Korea regarding Japan trip were examined by applying text-mining. This paper provides the changing and complex phenomenon based on the quantitative method using media data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper joins the debate on Japan's territorial dispute with South Korea over the Dokdo/Takeshima islets. Informed by the ontological security framework of analysis, this paper seeks to explain the decision to adopt the ‘Takeshima Day’ ordinance by the Shimane Prefectural Assembly and the subsequent ascendance of ‘Takeshima’ to the fore of Japan's identity construction vis-à-vis the Korean ‘other’. In this paper, I distinguish between two processes: one that led to the adoption of the ordinance and another that resulted in the entrenchment of ‘Takeshima’ in Japan's identity construction vis-à-vis the Korean ‘other’. The paper argues that the former process should be understood within the context of Shimane Prefecture's distinct identity construction vis-à-vis Tokyo, while the latter can be attributed to recent changes in Japan–Korea relations unrelated to the territorial dispute per se. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, we examine the economic impact of information and communication technology (ICT) innovation, within a general equilibrium framework of empirically estimated constant-elasticity-of-substitution (CES) production frontiers. Such innovation generates not only productivity growth and price changes, but it also triggers changes in the economic structure of production and trade patterns. This process ostensibly increases the social welfare. To study the impact of ICT innovation, we construct a bilateral general-equilibrium model that spans 350 commodities and sectors of trade between Japan and the Republic of Korea. We estimate all CES parameters from published statistics, including linked input–output tables and Comtrade databases. A small exogenous productivity shock in the ICT is examined in terms of potential price reductions of all commodities in both countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-regional free trade agreements (FTAs) have flourished in East Asia since the late 1990s. Japan and Korea were at the forefront of this trend. Nevertheless, most policymakers' preferences orbited around region-oriented FTAs out of reluctance to make a sudden policy shift away from their conventional emphasis on World Trade Organization-based multilateral negotiations. The trend continued in Japan throughout the 2000s. In contrast, Korea took a sharp turn toward a cross-regional strategy in 2003. By the mid-2010s, this had created a significant gap in the two countries' overall FTA partner choices. What caused policymakers' ideas in the two countries to diverge from their initial focus on region-oriented FTAs? This paper focuses on the conditions that enabled policymakers' ideas to explain the divergence by developing the contextual‒dynamic framework of FTA policies. At the dynamic level, individuals are more likely to emerge with new ideas when their expertise comes from outside the decision-making body, accompanied by their social qualities and power. Contextual conditions should also be met: the trade policy environment should reciprocate agent-level qualities to create a supportive atmosphere for policy change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rising anthropogenic CO2 emissions and global temperatures are a technological, social, and political challenge. These necessitate deep decarbonization through carbon management strategies for sustained climate action. Cost-effective transportation of CO2 from point sources to utilization and storage sites is a significant bottleneck for at-scale carbon management. A new mechanism to achieve international cooperation on carbon management through effective CO2-source and CO2-use or sequestration matching is addressed in this paper. The mechanism is founded on utilizing the growth of global LNG trade to transport CO2 over long distances via dual-use vessels that carry CO2 on their return journey following LNG delivery. A foundational carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS)-based economic model for the utilization of CO2 originating in South Korea and Japan via enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in the offshore U.S. is explored. The model sets forth the objectives, scale, costs, and implications for the international trade and commoditization of CO2, as against its current status of a waste product. Further, policy frameworks that can accelerate the international trade of CO2via this dual-use shipping model are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Despite different pathways and approaches to housing and public provision, considerations of East Asian developmental regimes have tended to categorise Japan and South Korea as different versions of a similar type of welfare regime. This paper addresses the roles housing systems and policies have played in these two societies in both the global context of neo-liberalisation and the regional context of developmental states. In the last decade Japanese and Korean governments have reacted strongly to shifts in global conditions, but ostensibly in contradictory ways. While Japan has deregulated or dissolved housing subsidy frameworks and marketised housing practices, Korea has embarked on a programme of public housing construction and increasingly applied market adjustment measures. This paper evaluates these transformations, and the implications for understanding divergence and the developing role of housing in East Asian contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first public botanical garden of Korea, the Changgyeongwon Botanical Garden, was established for the purpose of promoting ‘taste’ in 1909 during the Japanese colonial period. This paper examines the concept of ‘taste’—‘shumi’ and ‘chwimi’—in order to show how the Changgyeongwon Botanical Garden played a role as a colonial botanical garden in Korea during the early twentieth century. At the end of the Meiji period, the concept of ‘shumi’ to acquire cultural improvement justified the Japanese authorities’ proposal to establish the botanical garden for the purpose of promoting ‘shumi’ and developing Japanese taste in Korea. In early twentieth-century Korea, the concept of ‘chwimi’ to develop knowledge, refinement and virtues, and the discussion on the roles of botanical gardens in improving ‘chwimi’, provided the foundation for the Changgyeongwon Botanical Garden to be acknowledged as a symbol of good taste or popular culture despite its Japanese colonial origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explains one of the central roles of alliance contracts, the prevention of undesirable military entanglement. The existing literature on alliances argues that entrapment is a major concern for potential and actual alliance partners, but it is difficult to point out clear cases of entrapment. I provide two answers to this puzzle: First, entrapment is a narrower concept than others have realized, and it is rarer than the literature suggests. Second, leaders anticipate entrapment and carefully design alliance agreements before and after states form alliances. I examine the second argument through case studies of us alliance agreements with South Korea, Japan, and Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How is a policy initiated and implemented toward a newly arising industrial sector? This paper addresses that question by looking at the way the Japanese and the South Korean governments respond to the massive production and export of pop culture. The investigation focuses on the emergence of the local cultural industries, the policy issues they raise, and the domestic discourse they initiate. The central argument of this paper is that these governments no longer perceive the cultural industries in only ideological terms, but following the success of the private sector, they have recently shifted their attention to the economic benefits derived from the commodification of culture. However, their efforts to foster the pop culture sector heavily emphasize investment in infrastructure as a part of a developmental-state strategy. This attitude is too rigid to accommodate the dynamism of the cultural industries and should be supplemented with a more nuanced approach that considers the distinctive structure and the organization of the cultural industries. [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]

There is intense competition to host sports mega-events as cities and countries perceive that doing so will enhance their global image and make the destination more attractive to future tourists. Is there empirical evidence to prove that hosting a mega sport event really does stimulate international visitation and enhance the destination's image? In this paper we investigate this question in relation to the 2002 FIFA World Cup, co-hosted by South Korea and Japan. To this end, 412 foreign tourists were surveyed during the World Cup about their image of South Korea. Differences in demographics, motive and perceptions between tourists travelling specifically for the World Cup, and those coming to South Korea for non-World Cup-related reasons, are noted. The study provides a baseline dataset from which future research on mega-sport events can build. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores how the Japanese and Korean governments use multi-bi aid to complement their bilateral aid and compares their allocation behaviors. As opposed to traditional multilateral aid, multi-bi aid is earmarked for a specific country, project, region, sector, or theme. Japan—a traditional leading donor—and Korea—a small but growing donor—are considerably different in terms of their ODA history and size; although, they are comparable in meaningful manners in terms of their level of cooperation with multilateral organizations. Over the past 10 years, both countries used the multilateral system to a significantly lesser extent yet showed a higher proportion of earmarked funding within multilateral aid compared to the average DAC donor. This study identified more similarities than differences between Japan and South Korea—both countries commit a large proportion of their multi-bi to fragile and conflict-affected states, countries under-represented in their bilateral aid programs. Accordingly, a large proportion of their aid has been channeled through multilateral organizations leading the sectors that are not prioritized with their bilateral aid. Overall, this study identified strong complementarities between the composition of Japan's and Korea's bilateral and multi-bi aid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores challenges and opportunities for Japanese Studies during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea. From March 2014 to February 2022, after receiving a US PhD, I taught Japanese history in English at an international college for Korean and international students. The pandemic's initial effect was isolation: online courses reduced interactions with students and scholars in Japan cancelled our joint research project activity in Korea. Eventually, however, there emerged solidarity peculiar to where I taught, both with my students and with the Japanese, Korean, and American researchers. In my Japanese history courses, email exchanges with individual students in lieu of class discussion often generated academically valuable yet potentially sensitive inquiries, which could have upset some Korean students if raised in the classroom. For the research, some primary materials turned out to be available online on Korean national libraries' websites. Our further research indicated the richness of sources produced in colonial Korea, including police records documenting lives of Korean workers in wartime Japan. The students' critical inquiries and collaborative research suggest vast possibilities for Japanese Studies, yet illuminate the constraints of national boundaries, reemphasized by the pandemic, in a world that we had hitherto imagined to be moving toward the global and borderless. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the internationalization of multinational corporations (MNCs) is mostly built on studies of North American and European firms. East Asian MNCs have been studied less, and commonly with reference to theories developed in Western countries. In this paper, we query the validity of these ‘Western’ internationalization models for East Asian firms through comparative case studies of representative Japanese and South Korean MNCs’ expansion into China. We find that the internationalization processes of leading East Asian MNCs match the predictions made by Western theories only partially. Furthermore, we find considerable differences between the internationalization of Japanese and South Korean firms, indicating both that East Asian MNCs follow diverse patterns of internationalization and that established Western models of internationalization evince limitations or weaknesses when applied to East Asian firms. Overall, the findings of this exploratory study illustrate the need for further, in-depth studies on the internationalization of East Asian MNCs which may result in the extensions of existing theories or even new theoretical frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extended deterrence relationships between the United States and its allies in Europe and East Asia have been critical to regional and global security and stability, as well as to nonproliferation efforts, since the late 1950s. These relationships developed in different regional contexts, and reflect differing cultural, political and military realities in the US allies and their relations with the United States. Although extended deterrence and assurance relations have very different histories, and have to some extent been controversial through the years, there has been a rethinking of these relations in recent years. Many Europeans face a diminished threat situation as well as economic and political pressures on the maintenance of extended deterrence, and are looking at the East Asian relationships, which do not involve forward deployed forces as more attractive than NATO’s risk-and-burden-sharing concepts involving the US nuclear forces deployed in Europe. On the other hand, the East Asian allies are looking favorably at NATO nuclear consultations, and in the case of South Korea, renewed US nuclear deployments (which were ended in 1991), to meet increased security concerns posed by a nuclear North Korea and more assertive China. This paper explores the history of current relationships and the changes that have led the allies to view those of others as more suitable for meeting their current needs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Japanese military's history of wanton rape during war continues to dog its diplomacy and economic relations, particularly with South Korea. Although Japan is not alone in its military having committed such war crimes, it does stand out as a developed nation that denies full accountability and seeks to diminish the import of its actions. Japan has an opportunity to make amends and help reduce the likelihood of such heinous crimes in the future worldwide. It should seize the chance to lead rather than obfuscate, to promote healing rather than deny the magnitude of pain that it caused. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid rise of competitive space activities within Asia, this study examines the prospects for increasing international cooperation. After discussing relevant conceptual issues, it surveys the space policies particularly of China, India, Japan, and South Korea and examines the skewed patterns of cooperation seen at the international, regional, and bilateral levels. It then analyzes the historical, technology, and political factors that have impeded, especially regional, space cooperation in Asia to date. The study concludes that expanded regional space cooperation is an unlikely near-term outcome, but the paper also argues that the risks entailed in the current situation are growing and that US policy initiatives could make a difference in helping to lead countries out of this dead-end. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ubiquitous robotics has recently been proposed and many methods have been suggested to implement this concept. In many cases, software modularization and middleware technology are adopted. However, different middlewares are used for each case since there is no standard for such a technology. Thus, the implemented robot space keeps a ubiquitous concept only under its own standard. To remedy this problem, this paper presents a connection method of two middlewares for securing the compatibility between two ubiquitous robot spaces. In the proposed method, the target middlewares are RT-Middleware of Japan and CAMUS of South Korea. By making a bridge between two middlewares, the service provided by the RT-Middleware side can be available to the CAMUS side and also the service provided by the CAMUS side can be used by the RT-Middleware side. Experimental results using a Pioneer robot equipped with the NAV200 positioning system are included to verify the performance of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores South Korean women's postcolonial and ethnic identities. In particular, it investigates their postcolonial consciousness by examining their perspectives of, and relations to, Japan. The discussion expands to include the women's ethnic identity with respect to North Korea in order to interrogate the intersection of their postcolonial and ethnic identities. The research data have been collected from two phases of interviews: seven focus group interviews during the 2004 Athens Olympics and ten follow-up individual interviews during the final qualifying stage of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The research findings revealed that sport was a site in which the women's postcolonial consciousness was demonstrated most powerfully and intensely, compared to other fields such as film, music or fashions and that their ethnicity-bound identification with North Korea became foregrounded with great zeal when North Korea's opponent was Japan, thus constructing or reinforcing their pan-Korean identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wireless telecommunications markets of both Japan and South Korea developed rapidly, offering extremely sophisticated and advanced wireless services. Yet, their fortunes in international markets diverged significantly: while Japanese handset manufacturers retreated to become virtual nonplayers. Korean firms gained global prominence. This paper argues that the politics of standard-setting and liberalization, set in motion by differences in initial conditions that created distinct domestic market dynamics, are critical in explaining this divergence. The Korean government, seeking independence from foreign equipment, actively sought to build domestic technological capacities through a standard that would advantage domestic firms in international markets. In contrast, the Japanese government, independent from foreign technology, was not initially focused on international markets, making it difficult later on to shift the terms of market competition away from an exclusive focus on the domestic market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scale of development and deployment of open source software (OSS) in the three Northeast Asian countries-China, Japan, and South Korea-is large enough to be noticed at the global level. OSS has redefined the dynamics of software markets in the three countries and has brought significant structural changes in their software industries. Governments have played a pivotal role in the development of OSS industry in the region. Governments in the three countries have also created impetus for continental collaborations in OSS projects. This paper examines the roles and contributions of governments to the OSS initiative in the three countries in terms of a number of technology visions and goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the development of the Six-Party process through to the joint statement by the parties on September 19, 2005, considers the subsequent decision by North Korea to stage a nuclear test in the context of the apparent stasis of the process, and then reviews the international condemnation that was the result of those tests. North Korea's decision to return to the talks is then discussed in light of the policy issues that must be solved if the September 19 principles can be realized in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines Japanese and South Korean host-nation support (HNS) policies toward American forces deployed in those two countries from a comparative perspective. It finds that both countries provide substantial support for US forces, contrary to the expectations of collective action theory and the assumptions of many international relations theorists about free-riding. Northeast Asian HNS support tends to be both quantitatively substantial and to involve an unusually elaborate range of common support programs, thus constituting a distinctive Northeast Asian model of “burden-sharing.” The specific programs supporting US forces in these two countries were generally designed by local politicians and bureaucrats, with only minimal input from the US, albeit under American pressure. They were implemented in discontinuous fashion, at critical junctures, as during the Gulf War and the first Korean nuclear crisis. These results thus provide useful elaboration of “reactive state” and “critical juncture” interpretations of how East Asian policymaking relates to domestic and international politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented which discusses the contents within the issue, including articles on topics such as misconduct in research and the role of social and institutional culture in it; stem cell science in South Korea; and Japanese government's prioritization of specific scientific fields.

Organized economic cooperation among China, South Korea (Republic of Korea) and Japan has been difficult due to the "Asia Paradox" and different interests. However, the digital age is fostering cooperation and interdependence among the three countries. As a result, it is time to explore new areas and methods of cooperation. Therefore, this study focuses on and analyzes the possibility and impacts of digital trade cooperation among the three countries in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Applying a tripartite cooperation model, this study analyzes the relative advantages of the three countries in digital trade and the "benefits" and "costs" of establishing a Digital Trade Agreement (DTA). The research indicates that the power basis for establishing an equal relationship exists. However, the "cost" of establishing a trilateral DTA is higher than the short-term "benefit," providing insufficient motivation to develop a trilateral DTA in the short-term. Nevertheless, this study suggests that in the long run, due to new opportunities and crises, the three countries will still seek to pursue a DTA in different ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzes the degree of similarity of the structures of production of Japan, the Republic of Korea and the United States. Similarity between Japanese and Korean economies as opposed to Japanese and U.S. or Korean and U.S.; Factors contributing to similarity; Effect of industrial policies of Japan and Korea on their results; Detailed information on process of analysis.

Daphne pseudomezereum A. Gray var. koreana (Nakai) Hamaya is a shrub distributed in high mountains in Japan and Korea and is used as a medicinal plant. The complete chloroplast genome of D. pseudomezereum var. koreana is 171,152 bp long with four subregions consisting of a large single-copy region (84,963 bp), a small single-copy region (41,725 bp), and a pair of inverted repeats (2739 bp). The genome includes 139 genes (93 protein-coding genes, eight rRNAs, and 38 tRNAs). Phylogenetic analyses show that D. pseudomezereum var. koreana is nested within the Daphne clade in the narrow sense and that it forms a distinct lineage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transboundary particulate matter (PM) pollution in Northeast Asia has raised tremendous concerns in China, South Korea, and Japan, leading to a proliferation of publications in recent years. This article summarizes the existing knowledge on the source-receptor relationship (SRR) of transboundary PM pollution between China, South Korea, and Japan with a focus on approaches, current understanding, and limitations. We found that eastern-, northern- and northeastern China are the most contributing source areas within China to PM pollution in both South Korea and Japan, but it remains debatable whether China contributes more PM pollution to South Korea or Japan than those countries themselves. Considerable differences have been reported in the estimations of China's relative contributions to receptor countries, and higher estimations were usually obtained from studies that focused on short time periods, used outdated emission inventories, and had few or no international collaboration. China's contributions range from 26% to 56% for South Korea and from 13.6% to 53.9% for Japan if the analysis periods are limited to one or several years and the receptors are limited to an entire country. We attributed these differences to the discrepancies in the analysis periods, analytical approaches, modeling settings, definitions of source and receptors, and international collaboration. We also demonstrated that current SRR studies face the challenges from data quality issues in PM measurement data and emission inventories, limited temporal and spatial scales in modeling, and limited analytical perspectives concerning the allocation of environmental responsibilities. Suggestions for future research are provided to address these challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the varying intensity of political clash that South Korea has got involved in with Japan regarding the territorial dispute, Dokdo/Takeshima. Existing works are limited to acknowledging the role of nationalism as a key obstacle to the negotiation or settlement of the territorial dispute. However, democratically elected Korean leaders at times remained low key in the territorial problem and even sought collaboration with Japan despite the existence of nationalism. Specifically, South Korea employed both calm and hardline diplomatic choices in the territorial dispute. Why did South Korea choose disparate territorial policies despite the population's anti-Japanese sentiments? Under what circumstances did leaders in Korea employ dovish diplomacy that might cause a strong backlash from the public? Introducing the vulnerability-restraint theory, I argue that top decision makers' political vulnerability in domestic politics and the restraining pressure from the United States have impact on the final choice of foreign policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The collective memory inscribed in Korean history books recalls when the Japanese colonial state requisitioned brassware from Korean households during World War II. This study explores the complex mechanism behind these campaigns. Copper was a scarce commodity in the Japanese empire. The colonial brassware industry expanded but struggled due to fluctuating copper prices before the war. To overcome the reluctance of Koreans to part with their brassware, the colonial state had to coordinate various actors across multiple organisations, provide ceramic replacements, and establish a system of financial payments. The Japanese also ultimately created a 'brass bureaucracy' capable of carrying out the sensitive task of removing copper from Korean households. The Korean case reminds us that institutional frameworks are necessary for wartime salvage. Finally, brassware collections also resulted in fundamental changes in Korean society and everyday material culture that require careful analysis. (141 words) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the asymmetric and symmetric impacts of appreciation and depreciation in the Korean won on Korea's commodity trade balance with Japan. To this aim, the linear and nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) models are applied. However, this study methodologically differs from previous empirical studies in the related literature applying the NARDL model. These previous studies are constructed based on only short-run and long-run symmetry (denoted by SS) and short-run and long-run asymmetry (denoted by AA). This study, however, also considers two other alternative cases as short-run asymmetry-long-run symmetry (denoted by AS) and short-run symmetry-long-run asymmetry (denoted by SA). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the trajectories of capital tax policies in Japan and South Korea over recent decades. Historically, the two countries present an ideal case for studying fiscal developmentalism in East Asia. Total taxation was low, although capital owners assumed higher tax burdens than workers and consumers. From the 1990s to 2010s, both countries underwent a series of market-oriented tax reforms. A large body of political economy literature contends that the tax structures of these countries became increasingly neo-liberal during this period. Cuts in capital taxes were the primary focus of such changes. This article seeks to review this interpretation of the capital tax policies of Japan and South Korea. Through an examination of statutory and effective tax rate data, it confirms that no "race-to-the-bottom" cutbacks happened to capital taxation in these countries. Despite sharing this common ground, however, Japan's approach constitutes a more regressive case of capital tax adjustment than South Korea's. The author elucidates the reasons behind this difference by employing a revised partisan theory of capital taxation. The empirical analysis demonstrates the validity of this claim by examining eight cases of partisan governments in Japan and South Korea from the 1990s to the 2010s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In May 2019, Taiwan became the first country in Asia to introduce same-sex marriage. This article compares the path to same-sex marriage in Taiwan with the situation in three of its neighbours – Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea – where similar debates have proceeded without yet achieving marriage equality. Advocates for marriage equality in Taiwan's neighbours can learn some lessons from the experience of the island democracy. First, the struggle for marriage equality is a long-term effort that is built on progress in LGBTQ rights in general and on a broad coalition of supporters from civil society and political parties. Taiwan was already home to Asia's most vibrant LGBTQ community and movement, and has enacted anti-discrimination legislation. Second, the island has introduced gender education in schools, and this shaped the younger generation's positive attitude towards marriage equality. Third, discourses on rights need to be adapted to a country's culture and values. Taiwanese advocates for marriage equality not only talked about marriage equality as a fundamental human right but also stressed values such as mutual respect and a stable partnership and family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the early 1990s, a pair of Korean reunification-themed art exhibitions in Japan took up the question of art's capacity to contribute to national reconciliation, an issue that appeared crucial in light of the contemporaneous surge of rhetoric celebrating the end of the Cold War. The first of these events, which opened in 1992, brought together Minjung (literally 'People's') artists from South Korea and artists with official ties to North Korea living in Japan. The second exhibition, which took place the following year, featured Minjung artists and North Korean artists. In failing to congeal as expressions of national homogeneity, the works on view prompted audiences to question what an aesthetics of reunification would or should look like. In contrast to spectacles of national unity, as state-sponsored reunification events often strive to project, these exhibitions suggested that engaging an aesthetics of reunification would entail vexatious encounters with artworks forged from within an enduring Cold War impasse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider Korea and Japan in East Asia as the representative country of each of the two groups: high- versus low-depreciation economies during the 2008 global financial crisis. Although the two countries have geographical and industrial similarities, their exchange rate change during the crisis was notably opposite, and so were the macro-economic performances. Particularly, exchange rate and trade flows turned out to have played a major role in creating such differences. Exporting firms significantly outperformed the stock market in Korea, while underperforming in the Japanese stock market during the crisis. However, we could not find this pattern prior to the crisis. The difference caused by the exchange rate change, particularly in time of turmoil of the substantial economic recession and depreciation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the study which examines the ethnic nationalism and political community in Japan and Korea. The study reveals a substantial assymmetry in the sense that both Japanese and South Korean state authorities react to the issue of voting rights. Japan respond to the said challenge by resorting to arguments grounded in the ethnic perspective of political belonging. Despite occasional references to ethno-cultural questions, the reluctance of the state to enfranchise its overseas citizens is greater in South Korea. It is suggested that even in modern democracies characterised, it is noted in the study that there may be an overlap between the manner national and political communities are delineated.

Ageism, socially constructed discrimination against seniors, influences the quality of life of older adults. This study aimed to compare ageism in 15 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries using the scientifically developed Comparative Macro-Level Ageism Index (CMAI). We developed the CMAI by reviewing previous index research on the life of older people and conducting expert interviews using a Delphi method. We identified five domains, economic status, health, employment, environment, and social participation, and 17 indicators of ageism. Standardized ageism scores were compared across 15 OECD countries. The results indicated that the overall ageism score was highest in Turkey and lowest in Japan. Turkey was the most likely while South Korea was the least likely to practice age discrimination in the workplace. Yet, South Korea had the highest score for discriminating against seniors based on economic status while Spain had the lowest score in this domain. Japan had favorable conditions for economic status, health status, and social participation for older adults. Implications of this study and suggestions for further studies on developing an objective indicator of structural age discrimination are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collecting and reporting national data has become a routine practice for assisted reproductive technology (ART) governance. This article compares the building of national registries, the making of health statistics, and the utilization of these data in Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea. Instead of viewing data registries as tools for health surveillance or monitoring, we approach them in terms of their effectiveness in generating care. Conceptualizing ART data reporting as care infrastructure, built on Maria Puig de la Bellacasa's "matters of care," allows us to compare the extent to which data are collected for strengthening a community's ethical obligation, presented as indicators that could reflect quality of care and inform evidence-based policy making that promotes clinical practices for healthy outcomes. We find that sociotechnical imaginaries for ARTwere shaped by the fact that, in its early stages, in vitro fertilization was considered controversial in Japan, a source of nationalist glory in Taiwan, and a marginal procedure in South Korea. This in turn led to different trajectories of designing national registries in these countries, resulting in different care outcomes. We also point to the importance of mediators, including reflexive medical practitioners, care-centered state bureaucrats, and activists, in translating registry data into better ART health care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aimed to analyze the Austrian health care system using the ecology of care model. Our secondary aim was to compare data from Austria with those available from other countries. Design: 3508 interviews employing a 30-item questionnaire related to the utilization of the health care system including demographic factors were conducted. Participants were chosen by a Random Digital Dialing procedure. Further, a literature review of studies of other countries use of the ecology of care model was conducted. Main outcome measures: Austria has one of the highest utilization of health care services in any of the assessed categories. The comparison with the literature review shows that Austria has the highest utilization of specialists working in the outpatient sector as well as the highest hospitalization rates. Taiwan and Korea have comparable utilization patterns. Canada, Sweden, and Norway are countries with lower utilization patterns, and the U.S. and Japan are intermediate. Conclusion: In Austria and similarly organized countries, high utilization of all health care services can be observed, in particular, the utilization of specialists and hospitalizations. The over-utilization of all levels of health care in Austria may be due to the lack of a clear demarcation line between the primary and secondary levels of care, and the presence of universal health coverage, which also allows for unrestricted and undirected access to all levels of care. Previous studies have shown that comparable countries lack the health benefits of a strong primary care system with its coordination function. In Austria and similarly organized countries, there appears to be high utilization of health care in general, as well as with particular utilization of specialists and hospitalizations. The high utilization of all levels of care in Austria may be the result of competition, lack of a clear demarcation line between the primary and secondary level of care, and the presence of universal health coverage. Pathways between primary and secondary care should be strengthened as previous studies have shown that comparable countries lack the health benefits of strong primary care and its function for health care coordination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For more than a century, ionizing radiation has been indispensable mainly in medicine and industry. Radiation research is a multidisciplinary field that investigates radiation effects. Radiation research was very active in the mid- to late 20th century, but has then faced challenges, during which time funding has fluctuated widely. Here we review historical changes in funding situations in the field of radiation research, particularly in Canada, European Union countries, Japan, South Korea, and the US. We also provide a brief overview of the current situations in education and training in this field. A better understanding of the biological consequences of radiation exposure is becoming more important with increasing public concerns on radiation risks and other radiation literacy. Continued funding for radiation research is needed, and education and training in this field are also important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2010, there were more nuclear power units under construction worldwide than in any year since 1988. Even before Fukushima, however, status indicators for the international nuclear industry were showing a negative trend. Fewer countries are operating nuclear fission reactors for energy purposes than in previous years, and many countries are now past their nuclear peak. Worldwide nuclear production is generally declining, and many new projects are experiencing construction delays. Even if reactors can be operated for an average of 40 years, 74 new plants would have to come on line by 2015 to maintain the status quo, which is impossible given current constraints on fabricating reactor components. Developments in Asia, particularly in China, do not fundamentally change the global picture. The dramatic post-Fukushima decisions in two of the four largest economies, Japan and Germany, and in several other nuclear countries could accelerate the decline of a rapidly aging industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is a cross-cultural examination of interactivity on U.S., U.K., Japanese, and South Korean corporate Web sites. Each Web site was content-analyzed for use of various interactivity functions. Using cultural difference criteria of high versus low context, power distance, and individualism-collectivism, this study compares three dimensions of interactivity on the Web sites of each country's top 50 advertisers. Twenty-five interactivity functions/indicators, classified into three interactivity dimensions, were used in the final data analysis to test three research hypotheses, Our findings indicate that Western Web sites tend to emphasize consumer-message (HI) and consumer-marketer interactivity (H2), whereas Eastern Web sites highlight consumer-consumer interactivity (H3). Implications of the findings and suggestions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]