High definition systems in Japan

The successful implementation of a strategy to produce high-definition systems within the Japanese economy will favorably affect the fundamental competitiveness of Japan relative to the rest of the world. The development of an infrastructure necessary to support high-definition products and systems in that country involves major commitments of engineering resources, plants and equipment, educational programs and funding. The results of these efforts appear to affect virtually every aspect of the Japanese industrial complex. The results of assessments of the current progress of Japan toward the development of high-definition products and systems are presented. The assessments are based on the findings of a panel of U.S. experts made up of individuals from U.S. academia and industry, and derived from a study of the Japanese literature combined with visits to the primary relevant industrial laboratories and development agencies in Japan. Specific coverage includes an evaluation of progress in R&D for high-definition television (HDTV) displays that are evolving in Japan; high-definition standards and equipment development; Japanese intentions for the use of HDTV; economic evaluation of Japan's public policy initiatives in support of high-definition systems; management analysis of Japan's strategy of leverage with respect to high-definition products and systems

Innovative Tokyo

This paper compares and contrasts Tokyo's innovation structure with the industrial districts model and the international hub model in the literature on urban and regional development. The Tokyo model embraces and yet transcends both industrial districts and international hub models. The paper details key elements making up the Tokyo model-organizational knowledge creation, integral and co-location systems of corporate R&D and new product development, test markets, industrial districts and clusters, participative consumer culture, continuous learning from abroad, local government policies, the national system of innovation, and the historical genesis of Tokyo in Japan's political economy. The paper finds that the Tokyo model of innovation will continue to evolve with the changing external environment, but fundamentally retains its main characteristics. The lessons from the Tokyo model is that openness, a diversified industrial base, the continuing development of new industries, and an emphasis on innovation, all contribute to the dynamism of a major metropolitan region.Labor Policies,Environmental Economics&Policies,Public Health Promotion,ICT Policy and Strategies,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,ICT Policy and Strategies,Environmental Economics&Policies,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Innovation

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Paper 26: The relationship between technology policy and scientific and technical information within the US and Japanese aerospace industries

Government technology policy has nurtured the growth of the aerospace industry which is vital to both the U.S. and Japanese economies. Japanese technology policy differs significantly from U.S. technology policy, however, particularly with respect to the production, transfer, and use of scientific and technical information (STI). In this paper, we discuss the unique position of the aerospace industry in the U.S. and Japan, U.S. and Japanese aerospace policy, and the role of STI in the process of aerospace innovation. The information-seeking behaviors of U.S. and Japanese aerospace engineers and scientists are compared. The authors advocate the development of innovation-adoption technology and STI policy goals for U.S. aerospace and the inclusion of an aerospace knowledge diffusion transfer system with an 'active' component for scanning and acquiring foreign aerospace technology and STI

Discussion on the progress and future of satellite communication (Japan)

The current status of communications satellite development in Japan is presented. It is shown that beginning with research on satellite communucations in the late 1950's, progress was made in the areas of communications, remote sensing, and technology experimentation. The current status of communication satellites is presented, stressing development in the areas of CFRP construction elements, the use of LSI and MIC circuits, advanced multibeam antenna systems, Ku and Ka band transmission systems, and the shift to small-scale earth stations. Methods for reducing costs and increasing transmission efficiency are shown. The technical specifications of all satellite projects currently under development are given. Users of Japanese communications satellite are presented

THE PROBLEM OF REGIONAL "HOLLOWING OUT" IN JAPAN : LESSONS FOR REGIONAL INDUSTRIAL POLICY

This paper considers the problems of "hollowing out" using a Case Study of Japan's machinery sector. In doing so, it explores the roots of the present crisis by focusing upon the role played by Japan's large transnational corporations. This is important because these corporations are the "central actors" within the Japanese economy and they control a significant proportion of Japanese manufacturing. It is their strategic decisions - those that determine the level and location of investment, employment and output - which ultimately shape the development path for Japanese industry (see Cowling and Sugden, 1994, 1998). In recent years, Japan’s large transnationals have become engaged in the process of elite globalisation, pursuing their own interests at the expense of domestic Japanese industry. This is a fundamental insight that is crucial for designing appropriate policy responses to arrest Japan's current industrial decline. It is argued that the lessons from Japan's experience might guide policymakers in other regions, such as Wisconsin, who are concerned with future industrial development, the effects of globalisation and problems of "hollowing out".Machinery sector ; strategic-decision making ; strategic failure ; industrial policy.

(at)america.jp: Identity, nationalism, and power on the Internet, 1969-2000

america.jp explores identity, nationalism, and power on the Internet between 1969 and 2000 through a cultural analysis of Internet code and the creative processes behind it. The dissertation opens with an examination of a real-time Internet Blues jam that linked Japanese and American musicians between Tokyo and Mississippi in 1999. The technological, cultural, and linguistic uncertainties that characterized the Internet jam, combined with the inventive reactions of the musicians who participated, help to introduce the fundamental conceptual question of the dissertation: is code a cultural product and if so can the Internet be considered a distinctly American technology?;A comparative study of the Internet\u27s origins in the United States and Japan finds that code is indeed a cultural entity but that it is a product not of one nation, but of many. A cultural critique of the Internet\u27s domain name conventions explores the heavily-gendered creation of code and the institutional power that supports it. An ethnography of the Internet\u27s managing organization, The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), investigates conflicts and identity formation within and among nations at a time when new Internet technologies have blurred humans\u27 understanding of geographic boundaries. In the year 2000, an effort to prevent United States domination of ICANN produced unintended consequences: disputes about the definition of geographic regions and an eruption of anxiety, especially in China, that the Asian seat on the ICANN board would be dominated by Japan. These incidents indicate that the Internet simultaneously destabilizes identity and ossifies it. In this paradoxical situation, cultures and the people in them are forced to reconfigure the boundaries that circumscribe who they think they are

Reform of Japanese Telecommunications Law: Panacea or Placebo

This Comment outlines the development of Japanese telecommunications law as it shifted the market from a government monopoly to private enterprise. This Comment first describes Japan\u27s former policy goals for telecommunications and the effects of its older telecommunications laws.6 Next, this Comment describes Japan\u27s new telecommunications laws and the policy interests that shaped them.17 This Comment also analyzes whether the impact of the new laws actually furthers their intended policy objectives. 8 The Comment concludes that Japan\u27s new telecommunications laws do promote several of Japan\u27s current policy objectives, but represent only part of a long-term remedy for correcting the telecommunications trade imbalance between Japan and the United States