James Carville’s simple refrain, “It’s the economy, stupid,” made during Bill Clinton’s campaign for president in 1992, is applicable to most nations around the world. Carville’s mantra holds that successful economic policy is the principal source of popular support and political success. In other words, achievements in domestic policy that pay special attention to pocketbook issues drive political longevity for leaders and their political regimes. By corollary, most foreign policy initiatives, success or failure, will only have a marginal impact on citizens’ attitudes towards their leaders. Japan is no exception to this dictum yet Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is ignoring it and will likely feel the consequences.

There is still a strong undercurrent of nostalgia for some of the more combative elements of the Trump presidency among a swath of both Japan officialdom and the public, coupled with fear of a weaker Biden one. This favorable view of Trump’s policy combined with pessimism about Biden as it relates to Japan is both unfounded and misguided for three reasons – a changing national narrative of Japan’s interests in the world promoted by Japan’s leadership, a superficial and largely erroneous understanding of Obama’s foreign policy, and an overly charitable assessment of Trump’s policies and actions in the region.

After 8 years in power, the longest of any postwar Japanese Prime Minister, the legacy that Shinzo Abe leaves behind will no doubt shape the country for years to come. Many of Abe’s ideas were beyond reform, some would say even radical in nature, yet the actual implementation and progress were, in the end, incremental at best. The main reason, as will be argued in this review and evaluation of Abe’s time in power, is that he allowed his ideology to color and permeate his policy throughout his term bequeathing numerous economic and domestic challenges to his successor and the country.

[Abstract] Spoken English is becoming a topic of growing concern among Japanese government policy makers. The main question is how to achieve fluency given that past methodologies have not achieved their expected results. Testing as a tool for learning can help in attaining proficiency. However, a good test must adhere to the three guiding principles of validity, practicality and reliability. This paper proposes one type of testing, the Unified Oral English Test, as an acceptable method of testing at the large institutional level, i.e., at universities. It is proffered that this test conforms to the principles of validity and practicality. While it is acknowledged that confirmation of the test's reliability requires further data, the test content and organization suggests reasonable reliability. The first section of the paper explains the importance of test construct and content in test design. This explanation is followed by a general outline of the test itself. The remaining parts of the paper are discussions of the four main types of validity as they relate to the test, the practicality of the test and finally the challenges of achieving reliability on a Unified Oral English Test.著者専攻: 応用言語学

[Abstract] This essay posits that agriculture has an important and equal role to industry in the initial stages of industrialization and economic development. However, most of the economic development literature, as reviewed here, fails to reflect this. In fact, the bias against agriculture that existed from the middle of the last century to the beginning of this one has relegated agriculture to a role subservient to industry. The demand and supply linkages between the two sectors are numerous and of significant importance. An underdeveloped agriculture sector can have grave consequences for incipient industry and ultimately lead to economy-wide distorted development. In practice, only the East Asian countries have been able to produce the required synergies between agriculture and industry. In contrast, Latin America has failed to create sufficient linkages between the two sectors. The results of the diverging strategies are clear: high speed sustained growth with equity in East Asia and economic fluctuation, significant poverty and inequality in Latin America. This paper uses the cases of Korea and Brazil to analyze the linkages and synergies between agriculture and industry in a developing economy.著者専攻: 国際異文化・国際関係

A discussion of concepts and strategies of oral testing in theory and practise.

Current status of oral testing at the university level.