The Constitution of Japan has served the country for more than half a century, creating and maintaining a stable and functional democratic system. This book innovatively interprets Japanese politics as a ’benign elite democracy’ whilst demonstrating the Supreme Court's vital contribution to the political structure. In The Supreme Court and Benign Elite Democracy in Japan, Hiroshi Itoh presents the first empirical study of judicial decision making under Japan's Constitution. He examines the Supreme Court’s records regarding the protection of civil rights and liberties, the preservation of the conformity of lower levels of laws and regulations to the Constitution, and the maintenance of the Court's relationships to the political branches. The analysis of these three aspects of constitutional litigation reveal how the Supreme Court contributes to the efficacy of constitutional democracy by keeping the system adaptable to the ever-changing environment in and around Japan.
Human–Robot Interaction in Social Robotics explores important issues in designing a robot system that works with people in everyday environments. Edited by leading figures in the field of social robotics, it draws on contributions by researchers working on the Robovie project at the ATR Intelligent Robotics and Communication Laboratories, a world leader in humanoid interactive robotics. The book brings together, in one volume, technical and empirical research that was previously scattered throughout the literature. Taking a networked robot approach, the book examines how robots work in cooperation with ubiquitous sensors and people over telecommunication networks. It considers the use of social robots in daily life, grounding the work in field studies conducted at a school, train station, shopping mall, and science museum. Critical in the development of network robots, these usability studies allow researchers to discover real issues that need to be solved and to understand what kinds of services are possible. The book tackles key areas where development is needed, namely, in sensor networks for tracking humans and robots, humanoids that can work in everyday environments, and functions for interacting with people. It introduces a sensor network developed by the authors and discusses innovations in the Robovie humanoid, including several interactive behaviors and design policies. Exploring how humans interact with robots in daily life settings, this book offers valuable insight into how robots may be used in the future. The combination of engineering, empirical, and field studies provides readers with rich information to guide in developing practical interactive robots.
A concise overview of some of the findings and topics related to the pharmacology and clinical applications of traditional herbal therapeutics. It addresses the current and potential roles for herbal medicine in the context of our evolving health-care systems. Introducing many pharmacological advances made, the work also describes the modern theories and scientific methodologies applied to today's studies on herbal medicines and new drug development.
The Constitutional Case Law of Japan, 1970 through 1990, contains translations of 47 Japanese judicial decisions, selected after consultation with leading Japanese constitutional lawyers and judges. Landmark decisions, cases considered legally, socially, or politically importatn, and cases of special interest to the foreign scholar are included. Major areas covered are the renunciation of war, equality of rights, economic freedoms, rights related to the quality of life, rights of participation in election politics, procedural rights, and rights and freedoms of the spirit. A substantial introduction gives an overview of Japan’s constutionalism since 1945, and concisely explains the constitutional system and the courts and their roles. Brief summaries of the cases translated and cases not translated are provided.
Treadmill is a truly unique and historically significant novel and the only book written about life in the Japanese-American internment camps during World War II written at the time by an internee.Hiroshi Nakamura, along with his family, spent the war years in Salinas Assembly Center, Salinas, California; Camp II of the Poston Relocation Center, Parker, Arizona; and Tule Lake Segregation Center, Newell, California. It was during this period that he put down on paper what he was observing, experiencing, and hearing and expressed them in this novel. Nakamura captures exquisitely the thinking and mood of the people. It accurately evokes the fears, anxieties, suspicions, cynicisms and passions brought out by camp life. Nakamura &‘almost' succeeded in getting Treadmill published in the late 1940s. While editors and publishers thought well of the novel, they would not publish it as it was &‘too sensitive' an issue. Professor Peter Suzuki discovered Treadmill while he was doing some research on internment camps of Japanese Americans.This revised edition of Treadmill contains a new introductory essay by Professor Tara Fickle discussing the historical importance of Nakamura's work. Also included are a series of photographs of Japanese internment camps in California taken by renowned photographer Ansel Adams taken in 1943. Adams had unprecedented access to life inside the camps and these photographs provide an exceptional visual accompaniment to Nakamura's story.
First Published in 1995. The issue of foreign workers in Japan has already reached a turning point, as they are quickly changing from a flow into a group of settled residents. This change has been accompanied by a great deal of research in Japan, but there have been precious few attempts to grasp the problem in a unified manner, and this book, based on the author’s own field research, represents such an attempt.
All organisms produce nucleobases, nucleosides, and nucleotides of purines and pyrimidines. However, while there have been a number of texts on nucleotide metabolism in microorganisms and humans, the presence of these phenomena in plant life has gone comparatively unexplored. This ground-breaking new book is the first to focus exclusively on the aspects of purine nucleotide metabolism and function that are particular to plants, making it a unique and essential resource. The authors provide a comprehensive break down of purine nucleotide structures and metabolic pathways, covering all facets of the topic. Furthermore, they explain the role that purine nucleotides can play in plant development, as well as the effects they may have on human health when ingested. Plant Nucleotide Metabolism offers a unique and important resource to all students, researchers, and lecturers working in plant biochemistry, physiology, chemistry, agricultural sciences, nutrition, and associated fields of research.
This work covers the history of optical communications, fibres and fiber cables, and compares optical fibres with other transmission media. It also discusses optical fibre materials, reliability and manufacture, illustrates the design, construction and properties of recent cables used for optical fibre, describes fibre splicing and presents automated fibre splicing machines, and more.
If you're as interested in Japan as I am, I think you'll find that The Power to Compete is a smart and thought-provoking look at the future of a fascinating country." - Bill Gates, "5 Books to Read This Summer" Father and son – entrepreneur and economist – search for Japan's economic cure The Power to Compete tackles the issues central to the prosperity of Japan – and the world – in search of a cure for the "Japan Disease." As founder and CEO of Rakuten, one of the world's largest Internet companies, author Hiroshi Mikitani brings an entrepreneur's perspective to bear on the country's economic stagnation. Through a freewheeling and candid conversation with his economist father, Ryoichi Mikitani, the two examine the issues facing Japan, and explore possible roadmaps to revitalization. How can Japan overhaul its economy, education system, immigration, public infrastructure, and hold its own with China? Their ideas include applying business techniques like Key Performance Indicators to fix the economy, using information technology to cut government bureaucracy, and increasing the number of foreign firms with a head office in Japan. Readers gain rare insight into Japan's future, from both academic and practical perspectives on the inside. Mikitani argues that Japan's tendency to shun international frameworks and hide from global realities is the root of the problem, while Mikitani Sr.'s background as an international economist puts the issue in perspective for a well-rounded look at today's Japan. Examine the causes of Japan's endless economic stagnation Discover the current efforts underway to enhance Japan's competitiveness Learn how free market "Abenomics" affected Japan's economy long-term See Japan's issues from the perspective of an entrepreneur and an economist Japan's malaise is seated in a number of economic, business, political, and cultural issues, and this book doesn't shy away from hot topics. More than a discussion of economics, this book is a conversation between father and son as they work through opposing perspectives to help their country find The Power to Compete.
For long-span bridges, wind action is a dominant factor in their safety and serviceability. A large number of long-span bridges have been built in Japan over the past 30 years, and tremendous amounts of research and technical development have been accomplished in wind-resistant design. This book is a compilation of the results of active research and development. Wind-resistant design standards generated in Japan are described in the first few chapters. Then comes information such as design wind speed, structural damping, wind tunnel tests, and analyses, which provide the basis of the design standards. Wind-induced vibrations and their control of girders, towers, cables, and other features are explained with examples of field measurements. Comprehensive listings of Japanese experience in vibration control are also presented. Because achieving particularly dynamic safety against wind is still not an easy task, these data and information will be valuable assets for the wind-engineering and bridge-engineering communities.
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the First International Workshop on Security, IWSEC 2006, held in Kyoto, Japan in October 2006. The 30 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 147 submissions.
This book focuses on exploring the relationship between spin-outs from incumbents and the patterns of innovation in general purpose technology. Do spin-outs really promote innovation? What happens if star scientists leave the incumbents and establish a startup to target untapped markets? Entrepreneurial spin-outs have been recognized as an engine of innovation. General purpose technology, such as the steam engine in the Industrial Revolution, has been considered an engine of growth. This book provides new perspectives on how entrepreneurial spin-outs shape the patterns of innovation in general purpose technology by integrating theoretical findings in industrial organizations and includes innovation studies and detailed evidence from a longitudinal case study. Concretely, by longitudinally exploring the technological development of laser diodes in the USA and Japan, this study examines how the existence or absence of an entrepreneurial strategic choice for spin-outs influences the patterns of subsequent technological development. The longitudinal analysis in this book shows that spin-outs could hinder the subsequent development of existing technology when that technology is still at a nascent level, because the cumulative effects of technological development could disappear if research and development personnel leave their parent firms in order to target different sub-markets. The findings of this book show that institutional settings designed to promote spin-outs do not necessarily promote innovation. The book offers novel theoretical insights into the relationship between institutions promoting spin-outs and the developments of general purpose technology.
This study by the leading Japanese specialist in the field offers a comprehensive analysis of the deterioration of Soviet-Japanese relations in the 1970s and 1980s -- a period when the two countries clashed over issues ranging from military security to fishing rights and their competing claims to the southern Kuriles, Japan's "Northern Territories", awarded to Stalin at Yalta.
This pioneering work examines Japan's economic activities in Singapore from 1870 to 1965. Drawing upon a wide range of published and unpublished sources, the authors shed new light on issues such as:* prostitution* foreign trade by Kobe's overseas Chinese* fishermen in the inter-war period* Japanese economic activities during the Pacific War* Japan
The 17th International Symposium on Acoustical Imaging was held at Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan, during May 31-June 2, 1988. The symposium was organized by the ultrasonics research group of Tohoku University and the IEEE ijFFC Society, Tokyo Chapter. Of the 128 papers submitted, 88 were presented during the symposium, which comprised 144 researchers from 13 countries. This volume contains 81 papers as the record of the symposium and is clas sified into the following sections: (1) Acoustic Microscopy and its Applications; (2) Non-Destructive Evaluation; (3) Signal Processing of Images; (4) Acoustic Measurements and Physical Acoustics; (5) Medical Ultrasonic Diagnostics; (6) Acoustic Sensors; (7) Acoustic Holography and Tomography; (8) Seismic Exploration; and (9) Imaging Instrumentation and Other Techniques. A number of the papers submitted were associated with medical ultrasonic diagnostics and acoustic microscopy, reflecting a major activity in acousti cal imaging at Tohoku University. Accordingly, two invited talks were focused on this area: acoustic microscopy by Dr. G. A. D. Briggs of the University of Oxford and medical ultrasonics by Prof. M. Tanaka of Tohoku University. In light of the history of research in this field at our university, we are delighted to have had the opportunity to host the 17th symposium.
In the 1930s the history of Japanese photography evolved in two very different directions: one toward documentary photography, the other favoring an experimental, or avant-garde, approach strongly influenced by Western Surrealism. This book explores these two strains of modern Japanese photography through the work of two remarkable figures: Hiroshi Hamaya and Kansuke Yamamoto. Hiroshi Hamaya (1915-1999) was born and raised in Tokyo and, after an initial period of creative experimentation, turned his attention to recording traditional life and culture on the coast of the Sea of Japan. In 1940 he began photographing the New Year's rituals in a remote village, which was published as Yukiguni (Snow country). He went on to record cultural changes in China, political protests in Japan, and landscapes around the world. Kansuke Yamamoto (1914-1987) became fascinated by the innovative approaches in art and literature exemplified by such Western artists as Man Ray, Ren Magritte, and Yves Tanguy. He promoted Surrealist and avant-garde ideas in Japan through his poetry, paintings, sculptures, and photographs. Along with essays by the book's coeditors, Judith Keller and Amanda Maddox, are essays by Kotaro Iizawa, Ryuichi Kaneko, and Jonathan M. Reynolds, life chronologies, and a selection of poems by Yamamoto translated by John Solt. This book, which features more than one hundred images, accompanies an exhibition of the same name on view at the J. Paul Getty Museum from March 26 to August 25, 2013.
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