Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University

The changing patterns of Japanese tourism and the views of the Japanese tourist since the Meiji Restoration are given in an in-depth historical, geographical and social analysis in this book. Japan has long been a major source of international tourists and an increasingly important destination now in its own right. This is one of the few books on Japanese tourism currently available to an international audience, an area of study under-represented in the literature.

Most people take the conditions they work and live in as a given and think that it is normal that most social relationships are based on the principles of superiority and inferiority, that organisations are hierarchical and that societies are stratified. Many even think that this is the way it should be - and are neither able nor willing anymore to think that it could be otherwise, even should be otherwise. This book shall at least raise the awareness of hierarchy, its complexity and longevity. It focuses only on one, but quite fundamental problem of social systems such as dyads, groups, organisations or whole societies: Why and how does hierarchical social order emerge and persist over time? In order to investigate the question, a general theory of hierarchical social systems will be developed. This is the first time such a theory is attempted. With the help of the theory developed in this book, it is possible to interrogate systematically, comprehensively and in detail how peoples’ mindsets and behaviours as well as societal and organisational structures and processes enable the emergence and continuation of hierarchy.

This exemplary work of international collaboration takes an integral approach to the histories of Northeast and Southeast Asia, with contributions from scholars familiar with Japanese, Chinese and Korean academic discourse as well as that of English. The new scholarship represented by this volume demonstrates that the vast and growing maritime interactions between the countries of eastern Asia have long historical roots. The so-called "opening" to Western trade in the mid-nineteenth century was not the beginning of this process, as often assumed, but rather the return to a dynamic earlier pattern which had been interrupted by a phase of defensive state consolidation in the long eighteenth century. Asia cannot be understood without its "offshore" oceanic interactions as well as the continental ones.

After the Plaza Accord in 1985, together with the continued appreciation of the yen, wages of workers in the manufacturing industry in Japan surpassed that of advanced Western countries, and became the highest in the world. The increased standard of living, in terms of the national economy, was a good thing, but high-priced Japanese products resulted in a comparative reduction in market competitiveness. In response to increasing internationalization, corporations in Japan began relocating their production bases to developing countries. Pursuing efficiency in production and manufacturing functions prompted reorganization of management processes at Japanese companies. While domestic management functions became specialised in planning and development, production and sales, except for priority sites, began to be transferred overseas. In human resources research, a demand arose for studies focusing on positions and employment systems, rather than on general human resources. This began from research on white collar and specialist workers, which included research on management and non-permanent employees. The issues of research and development (R&D) experts also followed this trend. This book is a milestone of detailed human resources research concerning the particular characteristics of certain positions and duties, rather than traditional overall analysis of human resources in general.

Amid the competitions for the international market waged by both developed and developing countries, Japan’s domestic industries, which have been struggling under the appreciation of the yen in recent years, are now paying attention to Global niche top (GNT) companies for  their “fundamentals of manufacturing.” In niche markets focusing on specific technologies and products, these mid-sized companies never cede the top-level global shares. How and with what management strategies did these companies establish their positions today? Through a theoretical framework from three perspectives and analysis of nine different companies, the book will provide a view of the future of Japan's manufacturing industries.

The book (New minorities and tourism) is published as a following step of the conference I have hosted in Italy in January 2010 with Prof. Pechlaner (when I was working in Australia). Although it says a Proceeding of the conference, it is NOT a proceeding of the conference as much more papers were presented at the conference than the chapters included in the book. The chapters in the book were what have been shortlisted out of the conference. The book was published in October 2012 as shown in front.

In the early 20th century, a 23-year-old American medical student landed in a Shanghai of confusion. This is the story of an optimistic and sincere man and the misfortunes he faced while keeping company with the likes of Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai during a tumultuous time.

A new paperback edition of the same title, co-edited with Takashi Inoguchi (Professor Emeritus, Tokyo University, President, Niigata Prefectural University) and G. John Ikenberry (Professor, Princeton University, Visiting Professor, Cambridge University) and published by Palgrave-Macmillan. A group of contributing experts collectively analyzes varying regional perceptions of the US-Japan alliance in its evolving form.

This is a translated (into Japanese) and updated version of a book originally published in English in 2011 by Palgrave. This compilation examines challenges facing the US-Japan security alliance today from the points of view of Japan, the US, East Asian countries, and Europe. It has ranked as high as the 6th in “the Japan-US Security” section of the Amazon Daily Sales Ranking (as of January 7, 2014).

This book is a compilation of 44 columns on Japan-China relations and the dizzying pace of change in China that the author contributed to a Sino-Japanese trade organization journal over four years, from 2009 to 2012. It takes up a variety of familiar topics such as political reform in China, economic trends, environmental and population issues, Japan-China relations, the nature of media, film and tourism, youth culture, and buzzwords in China.