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Exchanges

Ruben Lee

in Running the World's Markets: The Governance of Financial Infrastructure

This chapter presents a series of case studies illustrating how specific exchanges have actually been governed in particular contexts. The following institutions and contexts are described in turn: ... More

This chapter presents a series of case studies illustrating how specific exchanges have actually been governed in particular contexts. The following institutions and contexts are described in turn: the proposed iX merger between Deutsche Börse and the London Stock Exchange (LSE), and its subsequent collapse, in 2000; the “Penny Stocks Incident” at Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd. in 2002; the attempted takeover of the LSE by NASDAQ over the period 2006–8; Euronext's purchase of London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange in 2001; the resignation of the chairman/CEO of the New York Stock Exchange in 2003; and the purchase by the “Murakami Fund” of a major block of shares in the Osaka Securities Exchange in 2005. A few brief general lessons from each case study are also identified.Less

Let’s Take Our Rice Cookers to the World: Adapting Japanese Rice Cookers for the Chinese Consumer

Yoshiko Nakano

in Where There Are Asians, There Are Rice Cookers: How “National” Went Global via Hong Kong

This chapter describes how the National rice cooker team and William Mong worked together to adapt Japanese rice cookers for Chinese consumers. It begins in the year 1959, when Mong imported his ... More

This chapter describes how the National rice cooker team and William Mong worked together to adapt Japanese rice cookers for Chinese consumers. It begins in the year 1959, when Mong imported his first twenty-four rice cookers from a National factory in Osaka. It goes on to detail the sales tactics that Mong and his associates employed to introduce this unknown invention to Hong Kong citizens. Mong made it his mission to let Hong Kong people see how rice cookers worked, and he and his associates launched a series of cooking demonstrations. As early as 1960, Mong campaigned vigorously for changes in design to accommodate local tastes, which led to him personally carrying bags of rice from Hong Kong to Japan and taking part in grueling taste tests. Mong worked together with Tatsunosuke Sakamoto to adapt the Japanese rice cooker for Hong Kong consumers, and in the process paved the way for the product's globalization, taking it to Asia, the Middle East, and Asian diasporas around the world.Less

Pay in Hong Kong; Pick up in China: Bringing Modern Convenience across the Border 1

Yoshiko Nakano

in Where There Are Asians, There Are Rice Cookers: How “National” Went Global via Hong Kong

This chapter describes the transnational flow of appliances from Japan to mainland China via Hong Kong from 1979 to the end of the 1980s. By the time China opened its doors to Hong Kong ... More

This chapter describes the transnational flow of appliances from Japan to mainland China via Hong Kong from 1979 to the end of the 1980s. By the time China opened its doors to Hong Kong “compatriots,” the majority of Hong Kongers were already enjoying the benefits of modern appliances like rice cookers and televisions. New policies allowed Hong Kongers entering China to carry one television per person per year as a gift to the relatives they had left behind. Mong and his associates took the initiative and negotiated with the National factory in Osaka to create a model that would work in China. Along with three other manufacturers, they introduced the innovative “pay in Hong Kong; pick up in China” system that enabled Hong Kongers to provide their relatives with the comforts of a modern lifestyle without the trouble of having to carry the goods on a tiring and crowded journey across the border.Less

Introduction: Seki Hajime and Social Progressivism in Prewar Japan

Jeffrey E. Hanes

in The City as Subject: Seki Hajime and the Reinvention of Modern Osaka

Seki Hajime had a visionary plan to reinvent the city of Osaka, where he served benevolently from 1914 to 1935. He threw himself into the pursuit of urban social reform when he was named mayor, and ... More

Seki Hajime had a visionary plan to reinvent the city of Osaka, where he served benevolently from 1914 to 1935. He threw himself into the pursuit of urban social reform when he was named mayor, and by 1923 he had made residential reform the pillar of his urban social reformism, and the creation of working-class garden suburbs its central objective. To Seki, the city was a dynamic social organism whose development and well-being were predicated on the welfare of the classes, families, and other groups who inhabited it, while his adversaries, such as landowners and bureaucrats, treated it as an economic subject. Seki gained fame from his fight against capitalism and statism. He also fought mightily for metropolitan autonomy in the hope of freeing the municipal government to extend urban planning to Osaka's still-undeveloped hinterlands.Less

The Livable City

John Mason Hart

in The City as Subject: Seki Hajime and the Reinvention of Modern Osaka

Seki Hajime sketched the parameters of urban planning in the mid-1900s to bring sweeping social reform to Osaka. He spoke to a group of economists in Kobe, and noted that Osaka had been fortunate to ... More

Seki Hajime sketched the parameters of urban planning in the mid-1900s to bring sweeping social reform to Osaka. He spoke to a group of economists in Kobe, and noted that Osaka had been fortunate to be the beneficiary of a “grand urban plan” in the seventh century, although Tokugawa leadership had affected a dramatic spatial overhaul of Osaka. While Seki was concerned specifically with the Japanese version of a modern urban dilemma, he understood it as a variation on urban problems that affected all modern nations. He surveyed problems concerning urban planning that had manifested themselves in Europe and United States, and concluded that modern European cities were subject to pressures similar to those which hamstrung Japanese cities. By the early 1920s, Seki had created a sweeping policy proposal that addressed the modern social dilemma of urban sprawl, and urged the central government to empower the municipal authorities of Japan' largest cities to employ urban planning.Less

. A Great Earthquake

Gregory Clancey

in Earthquake Nation: The Cultural Politics of Japanese Seismicity, 1868-1930

On the morning of October 28, 1891, an unusually powerful earthquake centered in the Nōbi Plain near Nagoya rocked central Japan from Osaka to Tokyo. Contemporary seismologists, estimating on the ... More

On the morning of October 28, 1891, an unusually powerful earthquake centered in the Nōbi Plain near Nagoya rocked central Japan from Osaka to Tokyo. Contemporary seismologists, estimating on the basis of the yet-to-be-invented Richter scale, place the earthquake's magnitude as 8.4, making it the strongest seismic event in modern Japanese history. Given the power and extent of what would be named “the Great Nōbi Earthquake,” it was natural that all parties to the seismic question would flock to the ruins and draw lessons. The range and diversity of the destruction between Nagoya and Osaka indeed provided the evidence for many types of argument. On the one hand, there were tens of thousands of collapsed and/or burned Japanese wooden farmhouses. On the other hand, a number of very large European-style buildings and engineering structures had also dramatically failed.Less

The Slum Setting: Moving In and Settling Down

James L. Huffman

in Down and Out in Late Meiji Japan

After a description of a “ typical” hinmin day in Tokyo, the chapter examines the forces that caused Japan’s cities to mushroom and slums to explode numerically after the 1880s, in particular the ... More

After a description of a “ typical” hinmin day in Tokyo, the chapter examines the forces that caused Japan’s cities to mushroom and slums to explode numerically after the 1880s, in particular the mass migration of young farm males because of rural economic disasters. The slums (hinminkutsu) and other poverty pockets where they lived are then described, not only as grim and polluted places but as neighborhoods full of energy and variety. In Osaka, the poor lived primarily in the south; in Tokyo, they lived in shitamachi—the northeastern wards such as Asakusa and Fukagawa along the Sumida River. A discussion follows of hinmin living spaces. The greatest numbers lived in cheap, cramped apartments in nagaya or row houses, paying rent by the day; the worst off lived in kichin’yado or flophouses.Less

| | Festivals Foreign and Familiar

in Grounds for Review: The Garden Festival in Urban Planning and Design

The post-war garden festival concept, originating in Germany, has moved beyond the Netherlands and Great Britain, with versions adopted elsewhere in Europe, as well as North America and Asia. Despite ... More

The post-war garden festival concept, originating in Germany, has moved beyond the Netherlands and Great Britain, with versions adopted elsewhere in Europe, as well as North America and Asia. Despite the scope of design styles, themes, and follow-on development reflective of cultural trends and site contingencies, these events have tended to remain primarily horticultural exhibitions followed by new urban parks. This chapter discusses the Paris Floralies Internationale, 1969; the Wiener Internationale Gartenschau, 1974; the Grün '80, Basle; the AmeriFlora '92; the Expo '90, Osaka; the Les Floralies Internationales de Montréal, 1980; and the Expo '99, Kunming, China.Less

Museums, Heritage, and Everyday Life

Jordan Sand

in Tokyo Vernacular: Common Spaces, Local Histories, Found Objects

This chapter traces the evolution of representations of everyday life in Japanese museum exhibits from 1970 to the present, showing the trajectory in museums of a Japanese intellectual tradition of ... More

This chapter traces the evolution of representations of everyday life in Japanese museum exhibits from 1970 to the present, showing the trajectory in museums of a Japanese intellectual tradition of treating the everyday as a site of resistance against Western modernity. It also follows the development of museum-exhibit design as an industry that brought together historians, movie-set designers, and state and municipal politicians. In the most recent stage of their historical development, museums have begun to abandon the ideals of public history and remake themselves as sites of private nostalgia.Less

Prologue

Morgan Pitelka

in Spectacular Accumulation: Material Culture, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and Samurai Sociability

Outlines the themes and arguments of the book, using an anecdote about Tokugawa Ieyasu and Toyotomi Hideyori to introduce the notion of “spectacular accumulation” that binds the book together. The ... More

Outlines the themes and arguments of the book, using an anecdote about Tokugawa Ieyasu and Toyotomi Hideyori to introduce the notion of “spectacular accumulation” that binds the book together. The chapter is divided into sections on material culture, the biography of Tokugawa Ieyasu, samurai sociability (including cultural practices such as tea and social rituals such as gift giving), and a summary of the chapters.Less

Apotheosis: Ieyasu’s Early Modern and Modern Afterlives

Morgan Pitelka

in Spectacular Accumulation: Material Culture, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and Samurai Sociability

Recounts the deification of Ieyasu after his death in 1616, focusing on the use of material culture associated with his life in mortuary rituals, pilgrimages, and other practices that acted to ... More

Recounts the deification of Ieyasu after his death in 1616, focusing on the use of material culture associated with his life in mortuary rituals, pilgrimages, and other practices that acted to legitimize Tokugawa authority. This chapter also considers the modern apotheosis of Ieyasu and his material culture in the founding of the Tokugawa art museum in Nagoya in 1935 by one of his descendants, a philanthropist and colonial administrator.Less

Fecal Matters: Prolegomenon to a History of Shit in Japan

David L. Howell

in Japan at Nature's Edge: The Environmental Context of a Global Power

This chapter presents a comprehensive history of shit in Japan and shit's environmental consequences. It argues that shit is something useful—a source of benefit for the individual and the nation—and ... More

This chapter presents a comprehensive history of shit in Japan and shit's environmental consequences. It argues that shit is something useful—a source of benefit for the individual and the nation—and that even if useful shit is still yucky, its yuckiness is trumped by its utility, especially as fertilizer. The chapter first discusses shit as a natural resource, focusing on the idea that some people's feces are particularly potent. It then considers how poop was embraced as an object of utility during the Tokugawa and Meiji periods. It also looks at notions of the nature of excrement—the shittiness of shit—from an agronomic perspective. Finally, it examines shit as a valuable commodity in urban centers such as Edo and Osaka, and how competition for night soil and urine led to all sorts of conflict.Less

Cooperation and Reorganization on the North-South Routes from Japan in the Interwar Period

Mariko Tatsuki

in Global Markets: The Internationalization of the Sea Transport Industries since 1850

This chapter focuses on the Japanese shipping industry in the interwar years between the First and Second World Wars. It follows Japanese developments such as the expansion into Australian and New ... More

This chapter focuses on the Japanese shipping industry in the interwar years between the First and Second World Wars. It follows Japanese developments such as the expansion into Australian and New Zealand routes; the dominance of British shipowners over latitudinal routes and the subsequent response from rival nations in commoditizing longitudinal routes; the dominance of Nippon Yusen Kaisha over conference systems and other Japanese shipping companies; and the post-war utilisation of large diesel-powered ships for trade routes.Less

Globalization and International Competitiveness: The Experience of the Japanese Shipping Industry since the 1960s

Shin Goto

in Global Markets: The Internationalization of the Sea Transport Industries since 1850

This chapter considers the effect of globalisation and internationalisation on the Japanese shipping industry from the 1960s onwards. It discusses how the shipping industry was affected by the rapid ... More

This chapter considers the effect of globalisation and internationalisation on the Japanese shipping industry from the 1960s onwards. It discusses how the shipping industry was affected by the rapid economic growth of Japan during the 1960s; the slower growth of the late 1970s and early 1980s; the impact of the 1985 Plaza Accord on the yen; and the growth of international competition as a result of globalisation.Less

A Guide to the Emergence of Japan's Modern Shipping Industries

Peter N. Davies

in International Merchant Shipping in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: The Comparative Dimension

This essay explores the development of Japanese shipping, which grew at a considerable rate to become the second largest fleet in the world as of the year 2000. Peter N. Davies considers the unique ... More

This essay explores the development of Japanese shipping, which grew at a considerable rate to become the second largest fleet in the world as of the year 2000. Peter N. Davies considers the unique relationship between the Japanese government and Japanese shipowners, exploring the historical factors that developed this relationship and the way governmental policy provided comparative advantages for Japanese ship-owning companies. He also explores the benefits of the close relationship between shipowners and shipbuilders. Unlike Norway and Greece, Japan found great success with passenger liners. Davies concludes that skill and application gave Japan the competitive edge in the international shipping market, and that this success is likely to continue in the future.Less

High Hopes and Broken Promises (1900–1921)

Steve Rabson

in The Okinawan Diaspora in Japan: Crossing the Borders Within

This chapter examines the patterns of trade and migration between Okinawa and mainland Japan, particularly from the Okinawan side. Despite the strict prohibitions on immigration and travel during the ... More

This chapter examines the patterns of trade and migration between Okinawa and mainland Japan, particularly from the Okinawan side. Despite the strict prohibitions on immigration and travel during the Tokugawa shogunate, evidence strongly suggests that people from Ryukyu went for gainful employment to Japan. Moreover, in 1879, the year the Japanese government abolished Ryukyu and renamed it Okinawa Prefecture, a growing commerce emerged between the prefecture and the mainland—particularly Osaka—thus encouraging more Okinawans to settle on mainland soil. Yet despite the business opportunities these developments had provided, Okinawa's business community found themselves increasingly being put at a disadvantage. Thus, this chapter reveals an asymmetrical economic paradigm persists to this day in business relations between Okinawa and the mainland.Less

Orienting the Gateway to the Pacific: Reconsidering Japan and Reshaping Civic Identity

Meredith Oda

in The Gateway to the Pacific: Japanese Americans and the Remaking of San Francisco

This chapter charts Japan’s movement to the heart of San Francisco’s “Gateway to the Pacific” identity and the beginnings of the city’s transpacific urbanism. Local, regional, and global conditions ... More

This chapter charts Japan’s movement to the heart of San Francisco’s “Gateway to the Pacific” identity and the beginnings of the city’s transpacific urbanism. Local, regional, and global conditions reshaped how San Franciscans understood their place vis-à-vis the Pacific Ocean, Asia, and Japan in particular. A cohort of Pacific-oriented local businessmen responded to developments abroad and at home by seeking out new commercial opportunities in Japan’s rapidly growing economy. But while some in the business community had a deep investment in Japanese networks, their interest was not shared by city leadership nor by many San Franciscans. The Pacific-oriented cohort therefore turned to the sister-city affiliation to rehabilitate connections to Japan rendered dormant or troubled by the war, reshape the popular image of the nation in terms conducive to economic partnership, and foster San Franciscans’ investment in Japan and its ties to the metropolis. By investing a range of San Franciscans in friendly, productive relations with a formerly hated enemy, the sister-city affiliation helped to center the once-maligned enemy in San Francisco’s politics and civic life.Less

The Agony Ends: 1945

James R. Brandon

in Kabuki's Forgotten War: 1931-1945

This chapter discusses events surrounding the world of kabuki in 1945. These include the wholesale decline of kabuki theater in the first six months of 1945 due to the collapse of the Japanese ... More

This chapter discusses events surrounding the world of kabuki in 1945. These include the wholesale decline of kabuki theater in the first six months of 1945 due to the collapse of the Japanese Empire; the fall of Okinawa; and the bombing of Osaka and Tokyo. A national survey in 1943 reported that kabuki and other old plays accounted for just 10 percent of theater production nationwide. In 1945, production of “old plays” collapsed even further. Mainline kabuki actors were like helpless parents, watching their families scatter and stumble in the dark toward an uncertain future. Conditions were so chaotic in bombed-out Tokyo that from March through July, Shōchiku was able to mount just one commercial kabuki program. On the eve of surrender on August 14, three kabuki productions were running in Japan.Less

The Return of Two Maestros

Mari Yoshihara

in Dearest Lenny: Letters from Japan and the Making of the World Maestro

In 1970, Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic returned to Japan for the second tour, again with Seiji Ozawa. The tour was organized partly in conjunction with the Osaka Expo ’70, ... More

In 1970, Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic returned to Japan for the second tour, again with Seiji Ozawa. The tour was organized partly in conjunction with the Osaka Expo ’70, symbolizing Japan’s rapid rise as an economic power and the expansion of the classical music fan base in the nation. Seiji Ozawa, now an international maestro in his own right, led the tour along with Bernstein and conducted Toru Takemitsu’s November Steps. During the tour, Kazuko Amano and her family enjoyed their second encounter with Bernstein, but her joyful time was cut short by her domestic obligations.Less