Society

FSI researchers work to understand continuity and change in societies as they confront their problems and opportunities. This includes the implications of migration and human trafficking. What happens to a society when young girls exit the sex trade? How do groups moving between locations impact societies, economies, self-identity and citizenship? What are the ethnic challenges faced by an increasingly diverse European Union? From a policy perspective, scholars also work to investigate the consequences of security-related measures for society and its values.

The Europe Center reflects much of FSI’s agenda of investigating societies, serving as a forum for experts to research the cultures, religions and people of Europe. The Center sponsors several seminars and lectures, as well as visiting scholars.

Societal research also addresses issues of demography and aging, such as the social and economic challenges of providing health care for an aging population. How do older adults make decisions, and what societal tools need to be in place to ensure the resulting decisions are well-informed? FSI regularly brings in international scholars to look at these issues. They discuss how adults care for their older parents in rural China as well as the economic aspects of aging populations in China and India.

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With the collapse of Soviet Union and a lack of internal energy resources, North Korea has been in economic hardships since early 1990s. Chung will discuss how the shortage of electric power has affected not only the operations of factories but the daily lives of North Koreans. He will also examine how North Korea has attempted to rehabilitate its energy sector internally and in external relations with neighboring countries as well as in the Six-Party Talks.

Lee will evaluate North Korean nuclear technology based on his analysis of North Korea’s National Science and Technology Development Plan and of its historical background. He
will examine the priorities in disabling of North Korea’s nuclear capacity.

Joon Young Chung is a reporter at Yonhap News, a Korean news wire service, and has worked in various departments including the national desk, business desk and the North Korea desk for the past 14 years. Recently he has covered Inter-Korean Dialogue and the Six-Party Talks.

Choongeun Lee is a Research Fellow at the Science & Technology Policy Institute (STEPI) in Korea. Before joining STEPI, he worked at the Yanbian University of Science & Technology, Chinese Academy of Science, and Peking University in China. He received his B.A. and Ph.D. in engineering from Seoul National University in Korea, and Ph.D. in education from Beijing Normal University in China.

Daniel and Nancy Okimoto Conference Room

Shorenstein APARC
Stanford University
Encina Hall E301
Stanford, CA 94305-6055

(650) 736-0771 (650) 723-6530
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Joon Young Chung is a reporter at Yonhap News, a Korean news wire service, and has worked in various departments including the national desk, business desk and the North Korea desk for the past 14 years. Recently he has covered Inter-Korean dialogue and the Six-Party talks.

Joon Young Chung Visiting Scholar, Asia-Pacific Research Center, Stanford University Panelist

Shorenstein APARC
Encina Hall, Room E301
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6055

(650) 723-2408 (650) 723-6530
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Choongeun_Lee_1.jpg PhD

Choongeun Lee is a Research Fellow at the Science & Technology Policy Institute(STEPI, Korea). Before joining STEPI, he worked at the Yanbian University of Science & Technology, Chinese Academy of Science, and Peking University in China. He received his B.A. and Ph. D in engineering from Seoul National University in Korea, and Ph.D. in education from Beijing Normal University in China.

His research has concentrated on science and technology systems (S&T) and policy of North Korea, China, and other transition countries. His recent publications include Linking strategy of military and civil innovation system based on recent change in security posture on Korean peninsula (2007, STEPI), Education and S&T System in North Korea (2006, Kyongin Publishing Co.), Nuclear Bomb and Technology in North Korea (2005, Itreebook), The S&T System and Policy of North Korea (2005, Hanulbooks), The S&T Cooperation of North Korea-China and its Implication (2005, North Korean Studies Review).

Choongeun Lee Visiting Scholar, Asia-Pacific Research Center, Stanford University Panelist
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Shorenstein APARC is pleased to announce that Alisa Jones has been chosen as the 2008-2009 Northeast East Asia History Fellow.

Alisa Jones received her MA from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London and her PhD from the University of Leeds. She has recently collaborated on various book projects addressing the role of history textbooks, historiography, and popular culture in shaping public memory and national identities across East Asia.

As the Northeast Asia History Fellow, Alisa Jones will be a resident at the center for one academic year. During her year at the center, she will be researching on issues of historical memory, identity, conflict and reconciliation in the Northeast Asian region. She will also teach a credited Stanford lecture or seminar course through the university's center for East Asian and present a lecture on her research topic.

This fellowship was made possible through the generosity of the Northeast Asia History Foundation

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Shorenstein APARC
Stanford University
Encina Hall E301
Stanford, CA 94305-6055

(650) 726-0771 (650) 723-6530
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Northeast Asian Fellow, 2008-09
Jones,_Alisa.jpg MA, PhD

Alisa Jones received her MA from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and her PhD from the University of Leeds. She specialized in the history of modern and contemporary China with secondary interests in politics and education, writing her doctoral dissertation on history education policy and praxis in the post-Mao reform-and-opening period.

Recently, Jones collaborated on book projects that address the roles played by history textbooks, historiography, and popular culture in shaping public memory and national identities across East Asia and the ways in which the past has been contested in various domestic and international arenas. She is currently working on several related projects, examining the goals and content of history and citizenship education as well as the ways in which other public and private mechanisms (such as the legal system, patriotic campaigns, the media, the internet) have been used and abused to define the parameters of acceptable debate about the past and the claims on the citizens of the present and future it represents.

While at Shorenstein APARC, she will be researching and teaching on issues of historical memory, identity, conflict and reconciliation in the Northeast Asian region.

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Iain Johnston is the Laine Professor of China in World Affairs at Harvard University's department of government. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. His research and teaching interests include socialization in international institutions, the analysis of identity in the social sciences, and ideational sources of strategic choice, mostly with reference to China and the Asia-Pacific region. He is the author of "Cultural Realism: Strategic Culture and Grand Strategy in Chinese History" (Princeton 1995) and "Social States: China in International Institutes, 1980-2000" (Princeton 2008), and co-editor of "Engaging China: The Management of an Emerging Power" (Routledge 1999), "New Directions in the Study of China's Foreign Policy" (Stanford 2006), and "Crafting Cooperation: Regional Institutions in Comparative Perspective (Cambridge 2007).

Graham Stuart Lounge (Room 400)
Encina Hall West

Professor Alastair Iain Johnston Speaker Department of Government, Harvard University
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In this session of the Shorenstein APARC Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellows Research Presentations, the following will be presented:

Atsushi Goto, "What is the Optimum Strategy for Broadcasting Companies?"

Goto’s research will describe the potential risks for broadcasters and then categorize top-tier broadcasters into several groups based on their strategies. Additionally, he will explain the optimum strategy for broadcasters, hypothetically, and the argument that he has made with experts in this area. Finally, Goto will conclude with the outlook of the broadcasting market.

Natsuki Kamiya, "Bilingual Education for Children of Immigrants"

The 1989 revision of Japan’s Immigration Law facilitated an influx of Brazilians to Japan. As a result, there are 50,000 Brazilians in the Shizuoka Prefecture. Although they have Japanese ancestry, their lack of proficiency in the Japanese language makes it difficult for them to assimilate into Japanese society. Kamiya’s research will cover bilingual education in the United States in order to make policies that will help Brazilian children learn Japanese while retaining Portuguese.

Yotaro Akamine, "Produce or Reduce? A Feasibility Study of Introducing Heat Pump Water Heaters as an Environmental Solution in California"

In 2006, a strong environmental regulation, AB32, became effective in California. Akamine’s research shows the feasibility of introducing "heat pump water heater", Japanese commercialized technology, as a solution to the environmental issue, as compared to solar photovoltaic business, which has prevailed in California.

Xiangning Zhang, "The Practices of the American Energy Policies -- American Major Oil Companies' Development Strategies and Practices"

The high oil prices ushered in the third global energy crisis. The United States has issued and put in force a series of new policies and acts to try to establish an energy jurisprudence through legislation. It is now a transitional period in the new energy age, where oil and gas still play a critical role in the energy consumption structure, but alternative resources are getting more attention. Major oil companies are becoming super giants in the integrated energy industry. The United States faces a long road ahead until it reaches parity with its European neighbors in new energy policies and practices.

Philippines Conference Room

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Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellow
Atsushi.jpg MA

Atsushi Goto is a corporate affiliate visiting fellow at Shorenstein APARC for 2007-08. Prior to joining Shorenstein APARC, he has worked at Sumitomo Corporation since 1996. He has been in charge of developing new business as well as venture investment in IT industry. He received his BS and MS in Electric Engineering in Kyoto University in Japan.

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Atsushi Goto Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellow, Sumitomo Corporation Speaker
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Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellow
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Natsuki Kamiya is a corporate affiliate visiting fellow at Shorenstein APARC for 2007-08 and 2008-09. He works for the Shizuoka Prefectural Government, one of the local governments in Japan. He is interested in immigration policy in California. He graduated from Chuo University in Tokyo, where he majored in law.

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Natsuki Kamiya Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellow, Shizuoka Prefecture Speaker
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Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellow
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Yotaro Akamine is a corporate affiliate visiting fellow at Shorenstein APARC for 2007-08. Prior to joining Shorenstein APARC, he has been with the Tokyo Electric Power Company Inc. (TEPCO) since 1998. He has planned bulk power systems and coordinated plans of electrical power plants. He also estimated CO2 emissions concerning electrical power plants. Following this, he belonged to the Technology Management Group, General Training Center of TEPCO. Yotaro Akamine received his BS, MS and Ph.D in Electrical Engineering from Tokyo University.

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Yotaro Akamine Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellow, Tokyo Electric Power Company Speaker
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Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellow
Xiangning.jpg MS

Xiangning Zhang is a corporate affiliate visiting fellow at Shorenstein APARC for 2007-2008.

Zhang is the Vice President of PetroChina Foreign Cooperation Administration Department, the Director of Circum-Pacific Council (CPC) and a member of the Committee for the Petroleum Association of China(CAPG).

Zhang received both his bachelors and masters degree from Southwest Petroleum University. He is currently a PhD candidate at Chengdu University of Technology. Since graduation, he has been engaged in oil and gas exploration and development both in China and overseas. From 1983 to 1994, he worked in Liaohe Oil Field and the former Petroleum Industry Ministry of the People's Republic of China. From 1995 to 1998, he worked on overseas projects in Papau New Guinea, Peru and other countries. Since 1999, he has worked in PetroChina Foreign Cooperation Administration Department as director and Vice President.

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Xiangning Zhang Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellow, PetroChina Company Speaker
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In this session of Shorenstein APARC Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellows Research Presentations, the following will be presented:

Soichi Yushina, "The Role of Intellectual Property in the Innovation System"

Some Japanese working in the intellectual property field believe that in Silicon Valley (1) worker mobility is very fast and (2) trade secret is not protected sufficiently. Yushina’s research will try to answer if this is true or a myth?

Xuteng Hu, "Corporate Governance of China's Overseas Listed State-Controlled Companies"

Corporate governance is always the most complicated and difficult issue in both theoretical research and practical management of modern companies in the world. Corporate governance has become a hot issue in economic community, especially after Enron's bankruptcy. Hu's research focuses on the corporate governance of these companies and their operation, taking into account the rules on their relationship with parent companies, appointment of executives, formation of board of directors and supervisor board, information disclosure, and protection of medium and small investors' interests.

Noriaki Komori, "Key Success Factors for Online Commerce"

Amazon.com is the largest pure-online commerce company. In researching what the key success factors are, Komori describes their customer centric culture and technology to develop their system.

Philippines Conference Room

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Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellow
Soichi.jpg MS

Soichi Yushina is a corporate affiliate visiting fellow at Shorenstein APARC for 2007-2008.

Yushina joined Japan Patent Office (JPO), government of Japan in 1993 and has been specializing in Intellectual Property (IP) field since then. At JPO, Yushina built his expertise as patent examiner through examination of vast number of applications in chemical field. He has experience in policymaking, law reforming and other legislative works. In 2001, he had assignment at Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, where he took part in developing National IP Strategy and IP-related law reforming. In 2004, he was assigned to a position at National Center for Industrial Property Information and Training, where he contributed to development of human resource program in the IP field. His last post was deputy director of Examination Promotion Office in JPO. Yushina received his BS and MS in Engineering of applied chemistry from Sophia University.

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Soichi Yushina Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellow, Japan Patent Office Speaker
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Xuteng.jpg MS, PhD

Dr. Xuteng Hu is a corporate affiliate visiting fellow at Shorenstein APARC for 2007-08. He is also currently the vice president of Petrochemical Research Institute, PetroChina.

Dr. Hu has been studying in Tsinghua University for nine years, majoring in Chemical Engineering. He also received a dual baccalaureate in Mathematics. After receiving his Ph.D., he joined the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). As a main executant of CNPC, he took part in the reorganization of China's petroleum and petrochemical industries between CNPC and SINOPEC in 1998.

Additionally, as PetroChina was established in 1999, he was chosen to participate in the IPO of PetroChina. He was the main constitutor in planning Chemicals & Marketing Business, which is one of the four main businesses of PetroChina. Following this, he was appointed the president assistant of Fushun Petrochemical Company in 2001. In 2003, he was promoted to his present position in charge of constructing the R&D system of Refining & Chemicals. Presently, he is also the deputy secretary-general and executive member of the council of Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China (CIESC) and the deputy director of natural gas committee of the Chinese Petroleum Society (CPS).

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Xuteng Hu Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellow, PetroChina Company Speaker
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Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellow
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Noriaki Komori is a corporate affiliate visiting fellow at Shorenstein APARC for 2007-08. Prior to joining Shorenstein APARC, he has been with Sumitomo Corporation for twelve years. He currently serves as a person in charge for marketing for an online commerce web site. Komori completed his undergraduate study at Kobe University where he majored in Electrical and Electronics Engineering.

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Noriaki Komori Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellow, Sumitomo Corporation Speaker
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Masayo Fujimoto
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In recent years, Japan’s traditional employment structure has begun to shift. Historically in Japan, employees expected to work for the same organization throughout their professional lives, gaining experience and garnering respect as they grew in seniority. Known as “lifetime employment,” this occupational approach typified the Japanese professional experience. Today, though lifetime employment still persists in many companies in Japan, more and more workers, many of them recent graduates, are changing jobs in search of better prospects. The companies that hire this new breed of employee are looking for recruits who have the requisite experience, but lack the expectation of respect and promotion simply by virtue of their years of service. In the Tokyo metropolitan area in particular, a number of companies have embraced this short-term employment system.

What are the differences between Japanese who change jobs and those who work in the same place all their lives? In 2005, the Social Stratification and Mobility Study (SSM Study) provided new perspective on the changing face of Japanese job mobility. A large-scale survey, social survey professionals have conducted the SSM Study every ten years since 1955. This article is based on the fourth release data (November 2007 version), which was prepared by the 2005 Social Stratification and Mobility Study Group.

Several patterns emerge in the SSM Study data. First, much depends on when an employee first began working. Those (male) workers who started their first job after 1950—especially during Japan’s post–World War II rebuilding phase or the economic bubble of the early 1990s—are much more likely to change jobs than those who started their first job before that year. In particular, those employed during the rebuilding era have tended to change jobs multiple times.

Second, Japanese employees behave differently depending on the size of the enterprise at which they work. At governmental organizations or large enterprises with more than one thousand employees, for example, workers who started their first job there tend to stay there. As the organizations diminish in size, this tendency likewise decreases. At mid- or small-size organizations with fewer than three hundred employees, workers who started their first job there tend to change their job earlier than their counterparts at bigger employers.

Third, with respect to job type, white collar professionals tend to keep their first job, whereas blue collar workers change job more often. More specifically, there is little job movement, for example, among those employed in educational or research services. However, in mining, transportation, manufacturing, sales or wholesale businesses, legal and accounting services, communications, and advertising, workers regularly change job due to long hours coupled with low income.

Fourth, in terms of educational background, workers who have attended college, university, or graduate school often stick with their first job. Workers with high school or junior high school levels of educations are more likely to move on from their first job within first few years.

Why do Japanese workers change jobs? The SSM Study indicates that, among those moving from their first to their second job, 33 percent did so for a “better” position. Ten percent made the switch because they were dissatisfied and wanted a change, or because they were either laid off or the company went bankrupt. The Study also shows that the 33 percent who sought better work also tended, in making such a change, to increase both their income and job prestige, and to affiliate with larger organizations. Many workers who secured better jobs were more educated; the 10 percent who cited job dissatisfaction as the reason for their move tended to be less so. More detailed analysis of the SSM Study reveals that more than 50 percent of those who moved on to a second, better job not only felt that they were better off, but also that they actually joined a smaller organization. This data point shows that a “better” job in Japan does not always mean working for a big, famous company.

The SSM Study considered other important elements of the job-changing experience, including the patterns of change as they relate to job prestige and autonomy. People who moved from large companies tended to be forced into smaller companies, whereas workers from mid- or small-size companies (fewer than three hundred employees) often remain in that size bracket. Most workers experience increased job prestige when they change jobs; this is especially true of educated workers who change job after building up ten or more years of experience at their first job. The exception to this pattern is white collar employees, whose prestige is high from the very first job they take and therefore less likely to rise significantly higher.

The SSM Study showed that white collar workers—and, interestingly, particularly those working in sales—enjoy enhanced autonomy after their job change. Generally, job changes result in “better,” more autonomous employment and higher prestige, if at a smaller organization. People who change their job, therefore, tend to be more motivated by job prestige and increased professional autonomy than by the size of the employer, or even the income level.

Job mobility in Japan is still in an early phase. In the country’s large companies, educated white collar workers—those who theoretically possess the greatest potential for upward job mobility—still tend to stay with the same organization for most of their professional lives. Those relative few who do move report increased satisfaction with their autonomy and/or their job prestige, even in cases where they join a smaller company or take a pay cut. In an effort to move beyond traditional lifetime employment, the Japanese government now encourages the job mobility, but workers have yet to embrace the system on a large scale.

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The first in a series entitled "The Implications of Demographic Change in China," this colloquium features Professor Feldman speaking to us about his research program on demographic issues and statistics concerning the sex ratio in China. His joint research with scholars from Xi’an Jiaotong University is focused on the role of son preference in marriage customs. He will also talk about recent work on rural-urban migrants and how this migration affects the well-being of both the migrants and their elderly parents who remain in the rural areas. Gender is a factor in both migration and the pattern of remittance.

Marcus Feldman is the Burnet C. and Mildred Finley Wohlford Professor of Biological Sciences and director of the Morrison Institute for Population and Resource Studies at Stanford University. He uses applied mathematics and computer modeling to simulate and analyze the process of evolution. He helped develop the quantitative theory of cultural evolution, which he applies to issues in human behavior, and also the theory of niche construction, which has wide applications in ecology and evolutionary analysis.

Philippines Conference Room

Marcus W. Feldman Burnet C. and Mildred Finley Wohlford Professor of Biological Sciences Speaker Stanford University
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The demographic billionaires China and India are experiencing rapid population changes and social shifts, fast economic growth, poverty decline, a booming modern business sector, and rising human capital in the labor force age groups.  Because 37% of the entire world population lives in these two countries, the breathtaking transformations in India and China are causing major dislocations in the global economy and big changes in measures of world development.  This colloquium will highlight the most important demographic, social, and economic trends happening in China and India today, will compare and contrast the current situations and future prospects of these two powerhouses, and will focus on implications for Asia and the world today and in the coming decade.

Dr. Judith Banister is the director of Global Demographics for The Conference Board, the world’s premier business research and business membership organization, with offices in New York, Brussels, Beijing, Hong Kong, and New Delhi.  She is an expert on the demography of China and received her Ph.D. in demography and development from Stanford.

Philippines Conference Room

Judith Banister Director of Global Demographics Speaker The Conference Board
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