I’d like to share a recent review of my book Japan’s Open Future: An Agenda for Global Citizenship by Dr. Hans Schattle, an expert on global citizenship and author of the 2007 book The Practices of Global Citizenship.
I have not yet had the chance to read Schattle’ s book, but according to the Amazon review, it “provides a detailed and [...]
Archive for the ‘Japan’ Category
Global Citizenship Expert Reviews Japan’s Open Future
Posted in Asia, Foreign affairs, History, Japan, Philosophy, Popular culture, tagged book review, Global Asia, global citizenship, Hans Schattle, Japan, Japan's Open Future on July 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Cleopatra’s Dessert and Shark Fin Soup
Posted in Arts and Aesthetics, Asia, Environment, Foreign affairs, History, Japan, Personalities, Philosophy, Uncategorized, tagged black swan, Cleopatra, discount rate, humility, intergenerational equity, nuclear waste, Ramsey, shark fin soup, Taleb on June 21, 2009 | 1 Comment »
At a Brussels nuclear law conference in 2007, I gave a technical paper on intergenerational issues in nuclear waste economics. I argued for the prudence of applying a conservative discount rate when setting aside funds for future nuclear waste management so as to guard against contingencies. Recently I had the chance to look at my argument again with fresh eyes [...]
Foreign Workers in Japan: Please Close the Door When You Leave
Posted in Asia, Foreign affairs, History, Japan, Media, Uncategorized on June 14, 2009 | 1 Comment »
A recent episode of National Public Radio’s All Things Considered discusses Japan’s (mis)treatment of foreign workers; my Japan book co-author, Jean-Pierre Lehmann, is interviewed just after five minutes into the seven minute program. It’s also worth listening for the politician Taro Kono’s candid comments about 3:28 into the interview.
A recent New York Times article, “Japan Pays Foreign Workers to [...]
Could China become another Japan?
Posted in Asia, Foreign affairs, History, Japan, Media, Uncategorized, tagged China, economics, FDI, Finance, Japan, Slater, trade on May 10, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Below is an interesting article by Dan Slater of Finance Asia in response to Japan’s Open Future (the book I have written with Tomas Casas i Klett and Jean-Pierre Lehmann, as introduced in an earlier post). I am reprinting Dan’s article here with his kind permission; it has been picked up on a couple of other sites [...]
Japan’s Open Future
Posted in Asia, Foreign affairs, History, Japan, Media, Uncategorized, tagged demographics, financial crisis, globalization, immigration, Japan, openness, pessimism, reform on March 22, 2009 | 3 Comments »
At long last, my book Japan’s Open Future: An Agenda for Global Citizenship (co-authored with Tomas Casas i Klett and Jean-Pierre Lehmann) has landed in warehouses in the UK and the US. My fellow bloggers at Sans Everything will know that this has been a long time in the making, and I thank them for some very helpful feedback on [...]
To Lawren Harris, from Wang Hui
Posted in Arts and Aesthetics, Asia, History, Japan, tagged bunjin-ga, Franklin Carmichael, Group of Seven, landscapes, Lawren Harris, literati painting, ukiyo-e, Wang Hui on December 4, 2008 | 5 Comments »
It sold for nearly $2.1 million dollars, that little oil painting shown above. Only 12 by 15 inches, the work came to the art world’s attention a few months ago, when a Vancouver woman decided to have her collection appraised. The painting by Group of Seven founder Lawren Harris had been given to the woman’s [...]
American Police through Japanese Eyes
Posted in Japan on March 1, 2008 | 5 Comments »
Via Chris Butcher, the cover of a Japanese magazine devoted to … um … American police. Oddly enough, this magazine seems to be celebrating the fine cops of the United States, at least according to the translation of a headline provided by one of Chris’s readers. According to LillianDP, the headline on the top left reads “32 pages [...]
Japan’s Justice Minister Hatoyama on Death Penalty
Posted in Asia, Foreign affairs, History, Japan, Personalities on February 2, 2008 | 5 Comments »
Hatoyama Kunio, Japan’s Justice Minister, gave an interview in the magazine Weekly Asahi last October that has been reprinted on Japan Focus, (a peer reviewed electronic journal and webzine on Japan), and reported recently in the Japan Times. The interview has some fascinating nuggets, but none so interesting as Hatoyama’s explanation for why Japan should continue to uphold the death penalty [...]
Welcome to Osaka
Posted in Asia, Foreign affairs, Japan, Philosophy, U.S. Politics on December 26, 2007 | 3 Comments »
The touchdown at Osaka airport by night is rather enchanting: there is even a lit up ferris wheel visible from the air. Enter the customs area at the airport, however, and the mood is somewhat less magical. Behind the row of customs officers processing visitors is a massive yellow sign, perhaps more than 30 metres across, with [...]
