Since 1997, Dr. Richard Bush has been the leadig on-site practitioner of US-Taiwan relations. He was appointed to the Board of the American Institute of Taiwan by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and named Chairman and Managing Dircetor at the same time. Prior to his appointment, he was staff to the International Relations Committee in the United States House of Representatives, and also served as National Intelligence Officer for East Asia. He holds a doctorate in political science from Columbia University.

A Stanford Alumnus, Brigadier General Eikenberry currently serves as Defense Attache in Bejing, China - an assignment he has held since November, 1997. Earlier in his distinguished career in the United States Army, Brigadier General Eikenberry served in such assignments as National Security Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government; Chief of Foreign Area Officer Proponency Division in the Strategy Plans and Policy Directorate; and Senior Country Director for China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Mongolia in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. *** Luncheon will be provided. RSVP required. 650-725-6501. ***

12.00 p.m. Mr. Hiroyuki FUNAGURA (Toyobo Co., Ltd., Japan) Digital Subscriber Line Research. 12.15 p.m. Ms. Reiko HAYASAKA (Sankei Shimbun, Japan) The Outlook of the Japanese Press Club. 12.30 p.m. Mr. Toshiya KOINUMA (Asahi Shimbun, Japan) Open Source Software Development and its Influence on the Software Industry. 1.00 p.m. Mr. Hidenori MITSUI (Ministry of Finance, Japan) Comparison of American and Japanese Law Fundamentals: Focusing on Tax Law. 1.20 p.m. Mr. Yoshihiko MURASAWA (The Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc., Japan) Decision-Making Systems of Building Nuclear Power Stations in Japan. 1.40 p.m. Mr. Kiyoshi NOGUCHI (Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan) The Future of Japanese E-commerce.

John Wilson Lewis, William Haas Professor Emeritus of Chinese Politics at Stanford University, is one the founders of the field of contemporary China studies. After receiving a doctorate from UCLA, he taught at Cornell University before coming to Stanford in 1968. He founded and directed Stanford's Center for East Asian Studies, as well as the Center for International Security and Arms Control, and the Northeast Asia-United States Forum on International Policy (now Shorenstein APARC). He currently directs the Project on Peace and Cooperation in the Asian-Pacific Region. Professor Lewis has written widely about China, Asia, and security matters. Many of his works have long been required reading for students of Chinese politics, especially his still often cited Leadership in Communist China. His edited volumes include: The City in Communist China, Party Leadership and Revolutionary Power in China, Peasant Rebellion and Communist Revolution in Asia, and Next Steps in the Creation of an Accidental Nuclear War Prevention Center. His history of the Chinese nuclear weapons program, China Builds the Bomb, written with Xue Litai, is published both in English (by Stanford University Press), and, in Chinese, by the Atomic Energy Press in Beijing. He has also co-authored Uncertain Partners: Stalin, Mao, and the Korean War and China's Strategic Seapower: The Politics of Force Modernization in the Nuclear Age. In addition to his work at Stanford, John Lewis has served on the Committee on International Security and Arms Control of the National Academy of Sciences, the Joint Committee on Contemporary China of the Social Science Research Council, and the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. He has been a consultant to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the Department of Defense, and is currently a consultant to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Office of Technology Assessment, U.S. Congress. He has made numerous visits to the People's Republic of China (PRC), Japan, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and the Soviet Union/Russian Federation.

Why do some regions seem more innovative then other regions? What is the secret of successful regions? Based on research in several innovative regions, Collaborative Economics has identified some of the factors that shape success. Doug Henton, President of Collaborative Economics based in Palo Alto will present results from the 2000 Index of Silicon Valley and the results of a recent study on Innovative Regions which analyzes trends in several American regions including Austin, Route 128, Northern Virginia, San Diego as well as Silicon Valley. Doug founded Collaborative Economics in July 1993 after a decade as assistant director of SRI International's Center for Economic Competitiveness. At SRI, Doug directed local strategy projects in diverse regions, including Tampa, Florida; Southern California; and Austin, Texas. He led major state-level strategy development projects in Arizona, Florida, and California, and provided consulting assistance to the President's Commission on Industrial Competitiveness, the Western Governors Association, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the Appalachian Regional Commission. Internationally, Doug directed major projects on the economic future of Hong Kong, the technopolis strategy in Japan, and regional development in China. Doug holds a bachelor's degree in political science and economics from Yale University and a master of public policy degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

A pioneering Japanese-English simultaneous interpreter will entertain and enlighten you with the tales of some delightful events where humor has successfully transcended cultural barriers, or some embarrassing ones when the speakers and/or interpreters fell flat on their face. A product of the U.S. occupation of Japan and American tax-payers money later, Muramatsu has served countless international conferences and encounters by any other name, including the first nine G-7 Summit meetings of heads of state and government. (The first, in 1975, at Rambouillet, was G-6; guess who wasn't invited to the dinner.) Meticulously avoiding divulging any state secret or materials for tabloids, he has written essays, books, and given lectures on fascinating episodes that make us laugh and then think the tricks in breaking linguistic and cultural barriers. Born in Tokyo in 1930; worked first as a clerk-typist and then as an interpreter for the U.S. military in Tokyo 1946 through 1955; trained as one of the first eight Japanese simultaneous interpreters by the U.S. State Department, serving some thirty Japanese productivity study teams that toured the U.S. 1956-1960. Tried a new career as an economic researcher with the U.S.-Japan Economic Council in Washington, DC predecessor to the Japan Economic Institute of America). Went back to professional interpreting by returning to Japan in 1965, relinquishing his green card, and established Simul International, Inc., the first professional organization of, by and for interpreters in Japan. After 33 years as its president, then chairman, and also president of the Simul Academy, semi-retired into an advisory, albeit full-time, status in 1998. His clients include Pres. Reagan, Pres. Kennedy, Sen. Kennedy, Professors Milton Friedman, Paul Samuelson, John Kenneth Galbraith, Peter Drucker,Japanese prime ministers from Tanaka to Nakasone, India's Prime Minister Rajif Gandhi, Britain's Prince Charles, Jeffrey Archer, Arthur C. Clarke, Ralph Nader, Betty Friedan, and Yasser Arafat.

The role of location is gaining attention as a contributor to firm and industry competitiveness. A number of researchers have linked innovation and productivity to the geographic clustering of firms. While a variety of industry clusters in the United States and abroad have been studied, seldom have they been considered within the context of global competition. Global competition complicates the location decision. Drawing on extensive evidence from the hard disk drive industry, including information on the complete population of firms since the industry's inception, this presentation offers a framework for understanding the dynamics of industry location in international competition. David McKendrick is Research Director of the Information Storage Industry Center at the University of California, San Diego. His current research focuses on the role of location in competitive advantage, the effects of geographic dispersion on innovation and learning in multinational corporations, and the evolution of international competition. Prior to joining UCSD, he taught in the business schools at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Texas at Dallas. He received his Ph.D. in business from the University of California, Berkeley.

Youth labor markets in most OECD countries were in disarray by the end of the 1990s. Japan was no exception. Some observers have claimed that Japan's highly institutionalized school-work system, involving close linkages between high schools and employers, has efficiently matched young people to jobs and has helped keep youth unemployment rates low. How is this changing, in the face of Japan's recession as well as structural changes in the labor market? My research examines the role of the school-work system and the pressures the system currently faces. Mary C. Brinton is Professor of Sociology at Cornell University, where she moved in 1998 after teaching at the University of Chicago for 13 years. Her principal interests are in social and economic change in contemporary Japan, the comparative study of labor markets, gender inequality, and the analysis of educational systems. Recent publications include Women and the Economic Miracle: Gender and Work in Postwar Japan (University of California Press, 1993), "Married Women's Labor in Rapidly Industrializing Economies: Examples from East Asia" (with Yean-Ju Lee and William Parish), American Journal of Sociology 93, 1 (1995), and The New Institutionalism in Sociology (edited with Victor Nee; Russell Sage Foundation, 1998). Her current work focuses on how institutions intervene in the Japanese youth labor market.