Product development of Japanese companies has changed greatly from the post-war revival period, when it was promoted mainly to provide low-cost, high-quality products. In recent years, it has become necessary to develop products and services that correspond to social issues. Research and development has shifted from a technological basis to a…

This article discusses the types of citizenship education that are included in a sample of Japanese junior high school civics textbooks. Seven civics textbooks that have been authorized by the Ministry of Education for use in junior high school from the 2012 academic year were analysed in the context of fundamental issues in citizenship education…

Many large Japanese-owned multinational corporations have established successful subsidiaries in the United States, but distinct ethnic and cultural differences have caused communication problems between Japanese managers and American laborers and business people. Many top executives of the Japanese subsidiaries are sent to the United States on a…

Seven articles are presented addressing topics related to United States-Japan trade, foreign investment, and U.S. competitiveness in the global market. The first article, "Super 301 and the Changing Japan-American Relationship" by Glenn Davis describes recent U.S.-Japan trade frictions, epitomized by Super 301, and explains the influence…

In recent years, United States scholars with an interest in international business and organizational communication have begun to notice the success of Japanese "quality control circles." These are small groups, usually composed of seven to ten workers, who are organized at the production levels within most large Japanese factories. A…

The emphasis of Japanese business education is different from that of the United States because of differing responsibilities of male and female office workers, and less paperwork. (LRA)

Twelve financial institutions (nine banks and three insurance companies) from five countries (France, West Germany, Japan, Sweden, and the United States) were studied to determine the directions in which financial service markets and firms are moving as a result of increasing competition and technological change. Data were collected from…

This article describes the authors' experience of developing a business gaming course for business people in Japan. The course that was developed consists of (a) simple gaming experiments among multiple students using ALEXANDER ISLANDS, a tiny business game on the World Wide Web; (b) lectures to make the students understand the core concepts of…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 16 titles deal with the following topics: (1) women proteges' perceptions of the mentoring process; (2) the relationship between opportunity for upward communication and facets of job satisfaction; (3) the organizational…