This week at Japan Focus

H-Asia gave a pointer to Japan Focus, where there is an article by Scott Simon, a local anthropologist and perspicacious observer of things Taiwanese:

H-ASIA
January 10, 2006

This week at Japan Focus

From: Mark Selden _ms44@CORNELL.EDU_ (mailto:ms44@CORNELL.EDU)

Colleagues,

The following new articles were posted at Japan Focus on January 9,
2006


Feature. John Feffer, Human Rights in North Korea and the U.S.
Strategy of Linkage

1. James Card, A Chronicle of Korea-Japan 'Friendship'
2. Scott Simon, Formosa's First Nations and the Japanese: from
Colonial Rule to Postcolonial Resistance
3. Sandra Ward, Twilight in the Desert: an interview on peak oil with
Matthew Simmons
4. Jonathan E. Sinton, Rachel E. Stern, Nathaniel T. Aden, and Mark D.
Levine, China's Energy Options: national, regional and global
consequences
5. Michael McCarthy, 20 Years On and Whales are Under Threat Again:
Japan, Norway, Iceland
6. Masaki Hisane, Defiant Japan fights for its leather industry: a WTO
saga and an historic taboo

Greetings!

Did you know that Japan Focus includes literature in translation?
Check it out in our index under literature. This week we feature two articles
on Korea and four articles on the international economy including issues of
oil, energy and the environment in Asia and the Pacific. John Feffer offers a probing examination of the question of human rights in North Korea and the US strategy to exploit the issue in the 6-party talks. James Card probes the derailing of the Japan-Korea 'Friendship Year'. Scott Simon introduces the complex relationship between Taiwan's 'first nation' Taroko people and Japan, from colonial times to the present. Sandra Ward's interview with Matthew Simmons probes the question of peak oil and the prospects for energy in the world economy. A report on China's energy prospects places not only China but the world on notice by probing the intersection of energy availability and the environmental consequences of China's (and not only China's) omnivorous growth. Michael McCarthy examines Japan's whaling industry and the international campaign to save the whales. Masaki Hisane's examination of Japan's attempts to protect its leather industry is a tale not only of the WTO but of the socio-political sensitivity of the Burakumin issue.

Japan Focus is a refereed e-journal and archive on the politics, economics, history, society,culture and international relations of Japan and the Asia Pacific. It offers Japan Focus originals, translations from Japanese and other languages, and reprints from diverse sources. Japan Focus now is read by 50,000 readers a month and its articles are widely reproduced at other internet sites including History News Network, Asia Times, Nautilus, China Digital Times, Znet, YaleGlobal and Ohmy News among others.

Mark Selden
_ms44@cornell.edu_ (mailto:ms44@cornell.edu)


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Congratulations to Scott for a very fine article, which begins:

On June 13, 2005, Taiwanese independent legislator May Chin, who claims an Atayal identity, arrived in Tokyo with a group of fifty comrades-in-arms representing nine indigenous tribes from Taiwan. Their goal was to protest in front of the controversial Yasukuni Shrine where the spirits of 2.5 million war dead are honored. Among the dead commemorated in the shrine are 28,000 Taiwanese, including approximately 10,000 aboriginal men, who fought for the Japanese Imperial Army during the Pacific War. Although the families of Taiwanese soldiers have long demanded compensation from Japan for unpaid pensions, this protest made only one demand: that the names of aboriginal soldiers be removed from the shrine.

Enjoy!

[Asia] [Korea] [Japan] [Taiwan] [China]