Japan's Success Research Articles

Value Appropriation between the Platform Provider and App Developers in Mobile Platform Mediated Networks

The mobile ecosystem has recently experienced a transition in platform leadership from network operators to mobile operating system providers. In each system the platform provider exerts effort in order to attract other firms for generativity and profitability. In this paper, we identify and analyze the working mechanism of one business practice that significantly influences the ecosystem's generativity and platform provider's profitability via value appropriation. Revenue sharing has become a common practice in the mobile ecosystem following NTT DoCoMo's radical revenue-sharing model contributing toward mobile service success in Japan. Studies further argue that offering a wide portfolio of services through an attractive or innovative revenue-sharing model is one of key success factors in the mobile ecosystem. However, app developers have continuously claimed that they do not receive their fair share and the press reports a substantial number of disputes concerning revenue sharing between the platform provider and app developers. We propose a new bargaining model, the modified apex game, that investigates how value is likely to be appropriated between the platform provider and app developers within a given mobile platform mediated network. We support our theoretical predictions using data collected from the early mobile ecosystem by a network operator as well as the iOS and Android mediated networks.

Japan, the First Quest of Modernization in East Asia

In 1868, Japan embarked on its unique journey to become a modern country that was deemed successful and advanced by Western standards. But what characterized Japanese civilization at the outset of this quest and how did the makers of modern Japan conceptualize their goals? To answer this question, we will look at the long tradition of the Mito School, with special attention for the works of the Later Mito School, and to the thinkers and practitioners of the Bakumatsu and Meiji periods. This shall enable us to determine the aim, the nature and the success of Japan’s quest for its own path to modernization. The dissemination of the paradigm of modernization thereby attained to Korea and China shall be followed through and evaluated.

Does Chinese entrepreneurs' guanxi networking matter to business success in Japan?

Does Chinese entrepreneurs' guanxi networking matter to business success in Japan?

Neutering the Monster, Pruning the Green: The Ecological Evolutions of <em>Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind</em>

The postapocalyptic anime Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984) is one of Hayao Miyazaki’s most important films. Based on the first two parts of a longrunning manga series published in Animage magazine, the film was a critical and commercial success in Japan, resulting in the formation of Studio Ghibli in 1985. In the film, Miyazaki establishes many of the important tropes appearing in later Ghibli features, such as the metaphor of flight, the critique of rampant industrialism tied to imperialism and warfare, the condemnation of atomic power, and the relationship between man and nature. It also begins a long line of films featuring strong female lead characters. Nausicaa is one of the most notable animated films to take up environmental and ecological concerns, having generated quite a bit of scholarly attention because of its green message, and its power remains undiminished thirtyone years after its initial release.1 The film follows the exploits of Princess Nausicaa, a pacifist and environmentally conscious character, as she navigates her small nation’s future between the warring kingdom of Pejite and the militaristic Tolmekian Empire. The film is set a thousand years after a catastrophic (presumably atomic) global event called the Seven Days of Fire, which was caused by living bioweapons named God Warriors. The Days of Fire ruined much of the planet’s soil and water and gave rise to the Toxic Jungle, a deadly fungal environment whose only denizens

A Judicial Response to the Call of National Reconstruction: Revisiting the Supreme Court of Japan's Adjudication of the Cabinet Order No. 325

Most states in East Asia had undergone foreign interference, invasion, or colonization under the West Powers before they finally embraced modern constitutionalism. While nowadays modern constitutionalism seems to have enjoyed universal acceptance and worldwide practice, what relatively tends to be ignored is the struggle of the recipient states to embrace, adapt, and accommodate the modern constitutionalism they inherited to their local political and social-economic context. The very issue which especially attracts legal scholars’ attention is how the constitutional court, usually assigned the significant role as the guardian of constitution in modern constitutionalism, manages to safeguard constitutionalism while also attends to the needs of social-political transition.In East Asia, Japan was the case that always appeal to the curiosity of legal scholars. History proves the astounding miracle of Japan’s notable success in how it managed to seek national identity, reconstructed its society, and achieved economic prosperity after foreign occupation. Interestingly, however, as if serving as the comparison to the booming development of the post-war Japan, the Supreme Court of Japan has always been known as a typical of a conservative court with unequivocal deferent tendency to the Government. It makes one wonders if the Court could have had to do with the success of Japan’s national reconstruction, and ever played any significant role contributing to Japan’s remarkable experience. This Article analyzes the Supreme Court of Japan’s ruling upon the constitutionality of Cabinet Order No. 325 in 1952. It was a landmark case in the history of the Court, in which the status of the occupation was reviewed for the first time, with the Orders of the SACP called into question as contravene the Constitution. This Article attempts to, through a contextual analysis in light of its social-political background, revisit this case and explore the Court’s contribution by rendering this decision in response to the Nation’s need of national reconstruction. This Article concludes that the Court played a significant role in this adjudication. In contrast to the general assumption of the Court’s conservative tendency, the Court in this case was conscious and strategic to attend to the needs of national reconstruction, including consolidating sovereignty and national identity, upholding the rule of law and human rights protection, and empowering the burgeoning civil society.

The Japanese approach to productivity and quality – a European's view

Japan's motor industry success of the 1970s has caused a variety of responses from western companies. In many cases Japan–conscious strategies have been adopted without a complete understanding of their significance or the importance of their content. Although Japan's cultural base is undergoing some transitions, the deep–rooted capability to adopt, assimilate and use ideas remains an important creative technique. By understanding the generic thinking behind industry management improvements which Japan has made, western companies can assimilate, adopt and use from Japan as a complement to drawing upon other sources and building their own skills. Austin Rover has done this over a number of years, and although relatively few techniques directly reflect Japanese equivalents, the underlying thinking does. In looking to the future there is no reason why Europe should not be able to compete. Learning from Japan will remain an important addition to building on Europe's own strengths.

Mobilizing Mothers: The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Catastrophe and Environmental Activism in Japan

The citizens’ and environmental movements of the 1960s and 70s hadgreat political success in Japan, culminating in the Special Session of the Diet in1970 that enacted 14 anti-pollution laws. These activist groups fought denials ofresponsibility on the part of industry and unresponsiveness on the part of localgovernments. Women were at the forefront of this type of activism during the 1960sand 70s, and led many of the citizens’ environmental movements during this time.More recently, during the environmental catastrophe caused by the meltdown of theFukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, women and mothers have been vocal protesters.Environmental movements have particular political salience because of the successwomen have achieved in this area both in policy change and also roles in formalpolitics. Women have consistently achieved these successes at the same time as theyperformed their roles as mothers and home managers; these roles have been usedstrategically to mobilize women with great effect, and also were central to the valueswith which the citizens’ movements defined themselves politically.

The Transformation of the Cooperative Financial Mode in the Countryside of China and the Future Choice

As an important part of the financial system in the country, the cooperative finance for a long time is greatly promoted by the government to solve the problem of weak financial support in the countryside. For various reasons, it has not achieved many results, which reflects that only with government promotion it could not achieve success. Since 2003, some mutually-supported financial societies gradually gain the recognition from the government supervision agencies and gain a lawful status. However such cooperative agencies proceed very slowly with a lot of hindrance factors. Comparatively, some cooperative societies simultaneously organized by the peasants and some peasants’ financial mutual supporting agencies become active and become an important way to solve temporary financial needs of the farmers in the process of production, which also provide a possible way for the integration of various sources in the countryside. Such modes have achieved success in Japan and Korea, although in China they remain in the state of research. We need to establish a suitable way of financial cooperative system for the countryside in China on the bases of experiences of other countries.

Beyond the Look East Policy: United Malays National Organisation and the Fall of the Liberal Democratic Party in Japan

This article argues that the strong relationship between Malaysia and Japan is also stimulated by symbiotic ties binding together both countries' respective major political parties, i.e., the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). UMNO, especially under the leadership of Mahathir Mohamad (1981–2003), derived political lessons from developments affecting LDP in Japan. First, emulation of Japan's success in economic development became the basis for the Look East Policy launched in 1981. Second, which is the focus of this article, lessons were drawn from the failure of LDP to retain power twice, in 1993 and in 2009. Although LDP's reversal of fortunes served as a landmark for UMNO in situating changes to its trajectory since 1993, the analogical reasoning and political lessons applied by UMNO leaders were, to a large extent, flawed. Arguably, politicians frequently do misjudge in analogizing between different situations which at a glance seem to be comparable.

English for content instruction in a Japanese higher education setting: examining challenges, contradictions and anomalies

This article examines issues pertaining to content instruction in English in a Japanese higher education institution. It notes that Japan's economic success in the latter part of the twentieth century was achieved with Japanese as the medium of instruction and observes that in terms of ideology and cultural politics at least, there are inherent contradictions with recent moves to have academic courses taught in English. Dominant motifs marking attitudes and practices relating to language, culture and to Japan's dealings with the world beyond Japanese shores are initially examined vis-à-vis the larger situ of a Japan that continues to live down the consequences of post-war occupation and the conservative politics that ensued, circumstances that have bolstered narratives of Japan as a predominantly monolingual and monocultural nation. This is followed by a discussion on how various ideological as well as macro- and micro-political forces bear on the use of English for content instruction. Finally, it will be noted that the present state of affairs calls for deeper thought and critical scrutiny – if recent initiatives towards having more English in higher education are not to be found for superficiality or even a lack of sincerity.

Nestlé coping with Japanese nationalism: Political risk and the strategy of a foreign multinational enterprise in Japan, 1913–45

This paper focuses on the strategy adopted by the MNE Nestlé in Japan between the establishment of a branch at Yokohama in 1913 and the end of World War II. It highlights the difficulties encountered by the firm in its attempts to open up and operate production facilities due to strong opposition from local condensed milk makers, supported by the state. Eventually, in 1934, Nestlé opened a factory by founding an incorporated company, ARKK, all of whose shareholders were Japanese working for Nestlé. Although the war drastically curtailed the activities of both Nestlé Japan and ARKK, the organisational facilities set up during the inter-war period provided a springboard for Nestlé's post-war success in Japan.

Book Reviews

Takeo Hoshi of Stanford University reviews, “Japan's Great Stagnation: Forging Ahead, Falling Behind” by W. R. Garside. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Presents a critical examination of the developmental premises of Japan's high-growth success and its subsequent drift into recession, stagnation, and reform. Discusses before stagnation—legacies of the high-growth period; catch-up growth and maturity—developmentalism in retrospect; developmentalism as ideology; economic and financial policy in a changing international environment—the origins and course of the bubble economy; “losing a decade”—economic and financial hubris in recessionary Japan, 1990– 97; funding a recovery—the impact and fate of fiscal policy, 1990–97; banking crises, monetary policy, and deflation, 1997–2000; reform without salvation—Japan, 1997–2000; recession, stagnation, and the labor market— continuity and change in the 1990s; and “lost decades?”—Japan's political economy in the new millennium. Garside is Professor of Economics and Economic History at Waseda University and Honorary Professor at the University of Durham.”

Shifting Domestic and International Perceptions of Japan's Economy

AbstractJapan's remarkable economic success especially from the 1960s to the 1980s has attracted extensive worldwide attention. However, the world's admiration has plummeted since the 1990s, when the Bubble Economy burst, bringing on chronic stagnation. Since then, the world has regarded the Japanese economy less as a desirable model and more as an evident failure with many lessons for other economies. These external judgments, positive and negative, have also affected how the Japanese perceive their own economy. This article reviews how these domestic and international perceptions of Japan's economy have varied. It situates the companion articles by Hwang (2012) and Harada (2012) in the historical context of studies of the Japanese economy. This article especially discusses one recurring fixation that muddles comprehension of factors underpinning Japan's economic success and failure: the tendency to overestimate characteristics that supposedly are specific to Japan and different from other market-oriented economies. From the 1960s through the 1980s, scholars, commentators, policy-makers, and the public insisted these characteristics were singular and significant contributors to Japan's remarkable economic development. Since the 1990s, they have considered them the root causes of Japan's remarkable stagnation. Both are exaggerations. Although some singularly Japanese attributes perhaps contributed to Japan's economic ascent and decline, it is equally plausible they did not. It is more likely that poorly conceived and executed macroeconomic policies, especially monetary policy, had greater influence on Japan's post-1990s stagnation.

The Seirankai and the Fate of its Members: The Rise and Fall of the New Right Politicians in Japan

Often ideology is downplayed in the study of Japanese politics. The Seirankai is important because it was a clearly ideological right-wing group of politicians. The group and its former members certainly pushed forward the right-wing ideological agenda in the decades after its formation but assessing its impact is not straightforward. The Seirankai and the fate of its members demonstrate the tension between ideology and standard narratives of political success in Japan.

Examining the impact of new policy facilitating SME succession in Japan: from a viewpoint of risk management in family business

In Japan, the difficulty surrounding SME succession has become one of the biggest social problems as society ages. Thus, every year 70,000 small businesses stop operations because the director cannot find a successor. Under these circumstances, Japan introduced a drastic reform to facilitate SME succession in 2008: the Diet voted for a law facilitating SME succession and the government reformed the taxation regarding succession of stocks of small business. After reviewing the legislation and reform policy concerning SME succession, the authors carry out a case study analysis based on the interview with a president of a firm in Osaka. We suggest that the 2008 reforms can be helpful.

Development of lowland weed management and weed succession in Japan

Since the introduction of rice production in Japan, lowland areas have been managed for rice production with the purpose of better rice growth, as well as lesser weed infestation. Rice is cropped every year in lowland fields by repeated cultivation of a single crop, with high yields and without soil sickness usually being observed in upland fields. This is probably because the irrigation water supplies various nutrients for healthy rice growth and the drainage washes out and removes harmful factors. However, until recently, the wet or flooded conditions of lowland fields in the Asian monsoon region never have allowed humans to cultivate useful summer crops, except rice or some aquatic plants. Therefore, the management of lowland areas in the Asian monsoon region has been significantly different from European field management, where crop rotation has been the traditional standard practice. Paddy weeds are aquatic plants or hygrophytes that have adapted to lowland fields. Traditionally, tillage and puddling were practiced seasonally in lowland fields on a regular schedule every year. Rice cultivation technology was developed and supported by regional irrigation systems that created stable environments for typical paddy weeds to complete their life cycle. After the introduction of chemical weed control, rice fields became very severe habitats for these paddy weeds, where they could not grow and reproduce without strategies for survival under herbicide exposure. Even so, many of the traditional paddy weeds survived because of their accumulated or uneradicated seed banks, although several aquatic plants were listed as endangered or threatened species. The important weed species changed, sometimes rapidly and sometimes slowly, depending both on their reproductive system and their biological response towards field management and weed control systems. Very recently, the level of perennial weeds, herbicide‐resistant weeds, and weedy rice has increased in paddy fields that are highly dependent on herbicide use. In addition, several hygrophyte species have invaded paddy fields. In order to address these issues, the improvement and application of integrated weed management methods are expected to be critical.

Asymmetry in Japan and Korea's agricultural liberalization in FTA: domestic trade governance perspective

Agricultural liberalization is one of the most contentious trade issues in Japan and Korea. Yet, important differences characterize the Japanese and Korean governments’ positions on agricultural liberalization when negotiating on free trade agreements (FTA). The Korean government supports substantial agricultural liberalization, whereas the Japanese government is reluctant to abandon farm interests even at the risk of undermining its FTAs. Given strong similarities in their agricultural structure and politics, how do you explain divergent government positions between Japan and Korea? The structure of a country's domestic trade governance largely explains the Japanese and Korean governments’ varying approach to agricultural liberalization during FTA negotiations. Domestic trade governance refers to the decision-making structure and process on foreign economic policies. Cohesive domestic trade governance enabled the Korean government to pursue agricultural liberalization under the broader national agenda of promoting trade through FTAs. In contrast, fragmented domestic trade governance gave disproportionately larger weight to agricultural interests within the Japanese government, ultimately allowing agriculture to undermine the success of Japan's FTAs.

The Effects of the Unequal Treaties on Normative, Economic and Institutional Changes in 19th Century Japan

Japan's mid 19th century transition from 200 years of self-imposed autarky to open trade is the main success story of East Asian integration into the world economy during the first wave of globalization (1850-1914). This article reviews the economic, institutional and normative changes within Japan that were triggered by the unequal treaties following Admiral Perry's arrival in 1853. These changes were instrumental for Japan's industrial success and catching up with the western powers on economic and military terms by the eve of World War I. We argue that Japan provides an interesting case study of a nation which was able to overcome, what economist Paul Romer has called 'idea gaps' (lack of ideas to produce economic value) and 'object gaps' (lack of factories, physical infrastructure) in the economic development process.

Offline: From August 6 to March 11

In Tokyo last week, we launched a Series on Japan's 50-year success story in health, a few hours after a new Prime Minister was elected by Japan's Diet (the two events were not related). Yoshihiko Noda is the country's seventh Prime Minister in six years. It is not an exaggeration to say that Japan's politics are presently rather unstable. The nation is mourning what will likely turn out to be the deaths of over 20 000 people in the north-eastern Tohoku region of the country. The Fukushima nuclear accident remains a crisis for the government.

Momentum in Japan: The Exception that Provesthe Rule

Momentum strategies deliver positive profits in a variety of markets and asset classes with one glaring exception—Japan. The failure of momentum in Japan has led some to call into question momentum’s viability, suggesting that perhaps momentum’s success elsewhere may be the result of data mining. Asness rejects that interpretation. He argues that because value and momentum strategies are strongly negatively correlated, they need to be studied as a system. He shows that the results in Japan are perfectly consistent with value and momentum working everywhere at similar levels and are entirely within the range of statistical noise. Viewed as a system, he shows that momentum strategies are actually a success in Japan. In sum, Asness finds that the Japanese momentum results are supportive, not contrary, to the idea that momentum is a strong ex ante efficacious strategy around the world. Put differently, the Japanese momentum results are the exception that proves the rule.