Suchergebnisse

This article argues that the strong relationship between Malaysia and Japan is also stimulated by symbiotic ties binding together both countries' respective major political parties, i.e., the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). UMNO, especially under the leadership of Mahathir Mohamad (1981–2003), derived political lessons from developments affecting LDP in Japan. First, emulation of Japan's success in economic development became the basis for the Look East Policy launched in 1981. Second, which is the focus of this article, lessons were drawn from the failure of LDP to retain power twice, in 1993 and in 2009. Although LDP's reversal of fortunes served as a landmark for UMNO in situating changes to its trajectory since 1993, the analogical reasoning and political lessons applied by UMNO leaders were, to a large extent, flawed. Arguably, politicians frequently do misjudge in analogizing between different situations which at a glance seem to be comparable.

Japan-India relations in the post-Cold War era -- What's bringing Japan and India closer? -- Where do India and the US figure in each other's foreign policies? -- The personal touch -- External factors : China and ASEAN -- What lies ahead for India-US-Japan ties? -- The flux in the Indo-Pacific -- The future of India, US, Japan ties.

In the lead up to the signing of the Paris Peace Agreements (PPAs) in October 1991, Japan played a key role in the search for a comprehensive political settlement to the Cambodian conflict and the reconstruction of Cambodia thereafter. First, Japan coordinated meetings between the warring Cambodian factions that added an impetus for the finalisation of the PPAs. Second, during the implementation process of the PPAs, Japan assigned its top diplomat—Mr. Yasushi Akashi—to serve as head of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia, and contributed troops to the United Nations peacekeeping forces in Cambodia. They were the first Japanese soldiers to set foot on foreign soil since the end of World War II.1 Third, following the implementation of the PPAs, Japan spearheaded the mobilisation of international resources for Cambodia's reconstruction. In 1992, Japan successfully convened the International Conference on the Reconstruction of Cambodia in Tokyo which kick-started its multi-billion-dollar overseas development assistance (ODA) to Cambodia. The conference subsequently evolved into the Cambodian Consultative Group (CCG) that includes key Western donors and the World Bank, whose role is to mobilise and coordinate development assistance for Cambodia.2 Japan was Cambodia's largest donor until it was surpassed by China in 2007 (see Table 1). By 2019, Japan's total accumulated assistance to Cambodia was US$2.9 billion, focused on infrastructure development, education and training, agriculture, and healthcare.

Public administration has been struggling to address the balance between conflicting government values. Trust in the study is employed as nodal value to reconcile modern management dilemma concerning conflicting relationships between performance and accountability and between discretion and accountability. Using 2012 International Social Survey Program data, this paper analyzed the moderator and mediator role of government trust among discretion, performance, and accountability in cases of South Korea, Japan, and the United States.This study used factor analysis and ordinary least square multiple regression analysis. The statistical results partially confirmed the hypotheses regarding the mediating and moderating role of trust: (a) the moderating effect of the trust on the relationship between performance and accountability in South Korea; (b) the moderating impact of the trust on the relationship between deregulation and accountability in Japan; and (c) when governments work well, it leads to high level of trust, in turn followed by high accountability in the United States and Japan.

BACKGROUNDS: Income reduction in poor households affects healthcare demands for impoverished population. However, the impact of reduced benefits for public assistance recipients, who can use medical services for free, on healthcare costs has not been examined. We hypothesised that marginal cuts in benefits increase recipients' medical expenditure by extra demand for medical care. We tested this hypothesis using public assistance databases of Japan. METHODS: The study population comprised households in five municipalities receiving public assistance between April 2016 and September 2018. The households have a child aged 12–60 months and receive a monthly child-support income of US$150, which reduces by US$50 when the child turns 36 months of age. Our analysis comprised an age-based sharp regression-discontinuity study. RESULTS: We observed 4893 household-months (11 032 person-months). When a firstborn child reached 36 months, their frequency of outpatient visits and healthcare costs by recipients, except for the firstborn child, increased (0.45, 95% CI: 0.30 to 0.61; US$111.2, 95% CI: 20.7 to 201.7), while those of the firstborn child did not increase significantly. The monthly medical expenditure per household increased by US$248.6 (95% CI: 25.4 to 471.7). Inpatient medical costs increased significantly (US$64.3, 95% CI: 8.4 to 120.2). CONCLUSIONS: Government savings through income reduction were offset by increased medical expenditure. This may be due to recipients' behavioural change and their worsening health conditions. To prevent excessive medical expenditure, policymakers should consider how income reduction affects the behaviour and health of the impoverished population.

The state visit of Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio to the United States this week has been billed as a doubling down of Japan on the US Japan alliance. In reality, it is a continuation of the incremental and sustained investment in the bilateral relationship over decades to deal with regional and global security challenges.