Japan's Rule Research Articles

KyungSung(京城) in the 1910s shown in the periodical 『Joseon and Manchuria』

KyungSung was a city with a population of 170 thousand Japanese inhabitants in the year of 1910 under the rule of Japan. As you can see in the number, many Japanese lived in KyungSung at that time with Korean. The study about the lives in the city is the theme in the spotlight these days, but that of using documents left by Japanese is not that active.<BR> In this situation, I would like to direct our notice to the Japanese magazine『 Joseon and Manchuria』. That periodical was founded in 1908 by Shakuo Ikuo(釋尾旭邦). a Japanese who had been living in Korea, and had been published until January in 1941. In total, 398 volumes had been published. Considering the duration, though it was written from the point of Japanese, it is a noticeable and essential material to understand the process of the changes of living conditions and peoples’ values, and daily lives under the rule of Japanese.<BR> As the first step in the study of 『Joseon and Manchurian』, I have researched what the scene of KyungSung was like and the lives of Korean and Japanese in KyungSung, focusing on the articles of the magazine in the 1910s. The result is as follows.<BR> By contrasting the uncivilizedness of Korea and the prosperity of the Japanese settlements, the record of travel written by a Japanese, an article of the magazine in those days, took pride in Japan being a civilized imperialist power which colonized Korea.<BR> What is noticeable from the point of the periodical is continuously bringing up the inequality between the classes, that of the ruling class against the general citizens. In this context the magazine gave a full account of the lives of the lower-class Japanese living in KyungSung in the 1910s It introduced the lives of unemployed vegabonds, Joseon Nyoubo(Japanese women who had relations with Japanese man, while staying in Joseon), singing and dancing girls, licensed prostitutes, taking pity upon them. On the other hand the periodical criticized the privileges of Japanese government officials, Japanese millionaires, and their vanity with luxurious habits.<BR> 『Joseon and Manchuria』charged, first of all, evil practices and misconducts of the nobility of Joseon. Besides that the magazine called Korean ‘Yobo’ meaning slyness, laziness, cold-heartedness, arrogance, self-interest, lack of public spirit. The word included all the uncivilizedness. It showed one side of the period with biased imperialistic views. Thirdly the magazine tried to suggest blueprints of ‘assimilation’, by introducing the examples of marriages by the peoples from the two countries, and showing the exchange of popculture and mixed use of the two languages.<BR> Thus 『Joseon and Manchuria』shows that KyungSung in the 1910s appeared to be modern, but had a growing conflicts by the two peoples and classes. It means that Japan was discharging its contradictions at KyungSung in those days. Though the Japanese officials thought ‘the principle of assimilation’ impossible at that time, Shakuo’s belief in western civilization and his hope for making Korean Japanese shows one side of the utopia which Japanese in Korea dreamed in modern times.

The Idea of Budgetary Control under Political Party Rule in Japan

The Idea of Budgetary Control under Political Party Rule in Japan

Fiscal Rules and Fiscal Performance in Europe and Japan

Fiscal rules specify quantitative targets for key budgetary aggregates. In this paper, we review the experience with such rules in Japan and in the EU. Comparing the performance of fiscal policy in the 1980s and 1990s until 2003, we find that the fiscal rule of the 1980s exerted some but not much disciplinary influence on Japanese fiscal policy. The fiscal rule of the Maastricht Treaty had a significant impact on political budget cycles in the EU, but did little to constrain fiscal policy in the large member states. Since the start of the European Monetary Union, the disciplinary effect of the fiscal rule in the EU has vanished. Next, we discuss the importance of budgetary institutions for the effectiveness of fiscal rules. In Europe, a number of countries adopted strong fiscal rules, i.e., a fiscal rule combined with a design of the budget process enabling governments to commit to the rule. We find that strong fiscal rules have been effective. We conclude with some suggestions for the design of a strong fiscal rule in Japan.

Illusion of Homogeneity in Claims: Discourse on School Rules in Japan

School rules in Japan are consequential in prescribing socially accepted patterns of students' lifestyles both within and outside schools. This article discusses how school rules were interpreted as a social problem in the 1980s and the 1990s. Social constructionist perspectives of social problems call for sensitivity to the plurality of people's interpretations of a given condition. Current understanding of Japanese school rule controversy concentrates on the constitutionality of rules, thus neglecting less reported interpretations. Drawing on the verbal and written accounts of individuals who are involved in Japanese education, this article identifies diverse claims in which school rules are problematized and counter-claims that defend the legitimacy of rules. Identification of diversity in claims and counter-claims contributes to a more-balanced understanding of school rule controversy in Japan. Also, the findings of this article provide a framework for comparative analysis of claims and counter-claims about school rules in different societies.

The First WAKATSUKI Reijiro Cabinet and the Kenkyukai : Party Rule in Japan and the House of Peers

The First WAKATSUKI Reijiro Cabinet and the Kenkyukai : Party Rule in Japan and the House of Peers

Japan's Political Leadership Deficit

Analysts have long pondered the question: 'Who rules in Japan?'. Prime Ministers who have exercised strong leadership have been the exception rather than the rule. Despite the widespread acknowledgment that Japan's political leadership deficit undermines the ability of the government to act swiftly in a crisis and to exercise international leadership in trade and foreign policy, a systematic explanation for Japan's weak political executive is yet to be advanced. While historical and cultural factors cannot be ignored, more relevant in a contemporary context are institutional factors that restrict the power of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet. A parliamentary Cabinet system is not incompatible with strong leadership but, in Japan's case, the inability of the political executive to exercise indisputable authority, or indeed, merely to exercise the legitimate prerogatives of Prime Ministerial and Cabinet Office, is directly attributable to the constraints imposed by a collection of informal power structures within the ruling conservative party and by an autonomous central bureaucracy, all of which have held power away from the political executive. Various institutional remedies are currently being pursued to enhance the leadership of the executive branch. They are part of a deliberately engineered shift in power from non-elected bureaucrats to elected politicians. The reforms will also help to diminish the influence of ruling party factions over personnel selections to executive office and the ascendancy of internal policy cliques within party policymaking.

The WTO dispute settlement mechanism and Japanese traders

The first issue of Journal of International Economic Law examined how private parties in the USA and the EU convince their governments to act on their behalf by bringing a case about foreign trade barriers to the WTO Dispute Settlement Body. In the USA, S. 301 of the Trade Ace offers such an avenue and grants the USTR authority to implement sanctions authorized by the WTO. In the EU, the Trade Barriers Regulation was instituted primarily to provide the Community with a procedure to respond to complaints by private parties alleging 'obstacles to trade', i.e. 'any trade practice adopted or maintained by a third country in respect of which international trade rules establish a right of action'. In order to gain another perspective, this article will examine private enforcement of international trade rules in Japan. Copyright 1998 by Oxford University Press.

Warrior rule in Japan. Edited by Marius B. Jansen. pp. xviii, 280. Cambridge etc., Cambridge University Press, 1995. £40.00 (cloth), £14.95 (paperback).

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Providing Clear Cues

The 1993 election brought to an end the 39-year rule of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). The major issue in that election campaign was the `political reform' that the government had twice promised and twice failed to deliver. Using data aggregated at the candidate level, the paper examines the question of whether the electorate were attracted to those candidates who participated in the reform movement. Candidates running for political parties standing for reform and leaders of reform groups were handsomely rewarded. LDP candidates who voted for or abstained from voting against the no-confidence motion that forced the election also gained votes. Candidates tainted with scandal and LDP incumbents lost votes. Yet the rank and file of the reform movement were treated no differently than other candidates. Though Japanese voters could not make fine distinctions among candidates, they proved perfectly capable of rewarding those clearly identified with reform.

A proposal of no cash dividend rule in Japan

Financial economists have long been puzzled by the essential features of dividend. After reviewing the two important hypotheses to explain the corporate dividend behaviour in the literature of finance, the no cash dividend rule that solves some controversial issues related to dividend is proposed. Especially in Japan, it will contribute to clear the confusion over dividend that has been attributed to the lack of consistent policy concerning dividend. The new rule increases the economic welfare of the market participants to a considerable extent, and consequently it could improve the market efficiency significantly. For example, financial managers are released from ambiguous effects of dividend policy, and shareholders become free from disadvantageous tax burden and transaction costs.

Judicial Development of a Business Judgment Rule in Japan

This article examines the application of a business judgment rule in Japan, a civil law jurisdiction with a statutory scheme that is different from that of either the United States of America or Australia. As will be seen, in spite of these differences, a business judgment rule similar to that in the United States of America appears to be developing.

ECONOMIC STRUCTURE OF TAIWAN AS A NIES

As a result of the Sino-Japanese War, Taiwan became a colony of Japan in 1895. However, when Japan came out on the losing side at the end of World War II, Taiwan was returned to the Republic of China (ROC). In the second half of the 1960's Taiwan was experiencing great economic growth. Unfortunately for Taiwan, the 1970's brought political isolation as America, Japan and many other countries officially recognized the People's Republic of China. This political setback did not stop Taiwan as its economy continued to expand, turning Taiwan into one of the stronger Newly Industrializing Economies (NIES), an economic success story. What are some of the factors that made this possible?While Taiwan was under Japan's rule, rice and sugar were the main products in the agriculturally driven economy. As Japan was pulled further into the Second World War, industrialization, to a certain degree, was encouraged. At the end of the war, the ROC government introduced agrarian reform laws in which landowners had to distribute their land to their former tenants. In return, the government handed over ownership of the factories previously owned by small to medium-sized Japanese companies to the landowner class. In addition, such strategic fields as iron, electricity, communications and steel were taken over by the government. Up until 1960 agriculture and processed foods were the main components of the Taiwanese economy, but from the end of the 1960's industrialization and exports fueled rapid growth. From about 1965 to 1975 the average annual growth rate of the Taiwanese economy exceeded 10%. In the 1980's, home electronics and other manufactured goods made up 90% of the goods Taiwan exported, making the rate of trade dependence of island country nearly 100%. Even compared with Korea, another exporting giant, Taiwan is the more dependent upon trade of the two. Upon further investigation of the Taiwanese export structure, it is understood that Taiwan imports machines and strategic parts from Japan, makes finished products with cheap labor, and then ships the finished goods to America to be sold. This results in a trade deficit with Japan and a trade surplus with America that exceeds $10, 000, 000, 000 annually.In Korea, huge corporate conglomerates, or“zaibatsu”take responsibility for fueling the country's export economy. In Taiwan, there are a few mid-size “zaibatsu, ”but it is mainly the small to medium-sized corporations that take care of most of Taiwan's exports. One cannot ignore the foreign capital and technology, mainly from Japan and the U.S., that flows into Taiwan. However, the foreign capital and technology that enters Taiwan is not considered to be on a large scale, much of it diluted in the form of joint ventures with Taiwan companies. On the whole, Taiwan's export economy is driven by small and medium-sized Taiwan companies.It is said that one reason why Taiwan's export economy is so strong is due to the cheap labor available. Taiwan's per capita GNP is higher than Korea's but the average wages are lower. A high concentration of young women in the work force who receive very low wages drops the average quite low. In addition, Taiwan does not employ a seniority wage system as is done in Korea and Japan. Wages in Taiwan do not seem to increase once one turns 40. In addition, the make-up of the Taiwanese house keeping is quite varied. Income generated by those other than the householder is great, allowing for relatively comfortable family budgets. It can't be said that there is no labor-management strife in Taiwan, but class conflict is on the most part avoided as the class distinction between labor and management is not so clearly defined in Taiwan.The Taiwanese economy has the characteristics of commercial capitalism. It is the family unit enterprise that powers Taiwanese economy.

Les funérailles des souverains japonais

Emperor Hirohito of the Shōwa era died on January 7, 1989. The state funeral took place on February 24, the forty-ninth day after death, as it is prescribed by Buddhist funeral ritual. However, the religious last rites are performed according to strangely archaic Shinto -traditions that were "revived", i.e. fabricated, in the Meiji period. There was no hope that the Palace administration would permit a close observation and study of the obsequies performed for Emperor Shōwa. Our understanding of whatever will transpire can be considerably enhanced by the following study: François Macé, the foremost specialist on the subject (and author of La mort et les funérailles dans le Japon ancien, Publications orientalistes de France, Paris, 1986; reviewed in this issue, cf. below, p. .239) examines the historical background and the modern significance of the curious mixture of rites that were observed for the preceding Emperors Meiji and Taishō. The modern aspects of the Meiji funeral, such as the funeral train and the gun salute, appear secondary next to the apparently very ancient features : nightly torch procession, chariot drawn by oxen, provisional interment of one month, funerary mound, suicide of a loyal subject, change of era name and burial instead of the Buddhist cremation which had been the rule in Japan since the eighth century. The Meiji funeral is a perfect illustration of the Meiji restauration, which combined an accelerated modernisation with a "restauration" of a mythical imperial rule of pre- Buddhist antiquity which was, in fact, a cover for a complete break with tradition in the name of an older fictitious past. The archaic rituals of the Meiji and Taishō funerals derived from hazy traditions dead since the early eighth century and reconstituted in order to give Japan proper state funerals which are an entirely modern concept. Macé also gives an overview of what little can still be glimpsed of archaic mogari funeral rites, describes the transition to Buddhist cremation in the seventh century and the gradual return, under Shinto influence, to imperial inhumation in the late Edo period. In the rites adopted for the funeral of Shōwa, the emperor who met General Mac Arthur and renounced his divinity, we were presented with the image present-day Japan wants to project of itself as well as what understanding it has of its past.

Sea Law - Marine Traffic Rules in Japan. Navigation Safety Division, Guard and Rescue Department, Maritime Safety Agency, 263+vii pages, paper, 8·0 × 5·75 in., Tokyo, 1973. - Safety at Sea. John Butcher and Arie de Boo, 34 pp., paper, 8·7 × 5·5 in. Conservative Political Centre, 1973, 30p.

Sea Law - Marine Traffic Rules in Japan. Navigation Safety Division, Guard and Rescue Department, Maritime Safety Agency, 263+vii pages, paper, 8·0 × 5·75 in., Tokyo, 1973. - Safety at Sea. John Butcher and Arie de Boo, 34 pp., paper, 8·7 × 5·5 in. Conservative Political Centre, 1973, 30p.

The Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, 1967

The Anglo-American Cataloging Rules are studied by means of tracing their historical background and examining their structure, principles and differences from the old codes. Then the American and British attitudes toward the new rules are compared. In conclusion a suggestion is made for immediate and widespread adoption of the Rules in Japan.

Army Rule in Japan

Army Rule in Japan