marginalia

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The Cultural Imperative for Japan in a Globalized World
Chuang Peck Ming, Business Times, Singapore, 21 December 2003

Sticking to old ideas and not opening up to new ideas from outside is shackling Japan. (more)

Japan Postures to Play Catch-up with China
Brad Glosserman, Asia Times, 20 December 2003
Reprinted from Pacific Forum CSIS

It’s hard to get excited about last week’s Japan-ASEAN summit. The decision to foster a new “special relationship” between the two could be historic, but the economic free-trade areas that will provide its foundation look like long shots. Japanese efforts are likely to be frustrated by the same political forces that have blocked previous initiatives. That is a pity, not only for Japan, but for the Southeast Asian governments that seek a rejuvenated relationship with Tokyo. (more)

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Girls of Visa-less Parents Cling to Their Home in Japan
May Masangkay, Japan Today, 18 December 2003

Japan’s entrenched closed-door immigration and refugee policy . . . raises doubts about its commitment to the 1951 U.N. Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, which it ratified in 1981. (more)

•Welcome to Japan?, Amnesty International online documentation archive, 17 May 2002
•Amnesty International Japan