This report provides (1) a description of the coverage, benefits, financing and administration of the Japanese health insurance plans; (2) a discussion of the way in which reimbursement levels for health care providers are determined; and (3) an analysis of the way in which the provision of health care system is organized in Japan.

A reevaluation of U.S. trade policy towards Japan and how we negotiate our trade difficulties is now taking place in the Congress, the executive branch, academia, and the business community. From the various reviews are emerging critiques and proposals for new policy approaches.

Japan has made considerable progress in opening its economy to imports, but significant obstacles remain. This report analyzes the underlying causes of Japan's market protection and assesses the prospects for Japan moving in the direction of greater market openness.

This report presents an overview of Japan's performance in its trading relations. The report begins with a discussion of the development, size, and importance of Japan's international trading sector. It then examines the composition, institutions, and policies for trade. This is followed by a review of Japan's balance of payments, capital flows, value of the yen, and direction of trade.

This report discusses trade relations between the U.S. and Japan. Commercial aspects of the United States-Japan alliance, in recent years, have begun to dominate the dialogue between the two nations. In particular, friction points have developed over chronic U.S. bilateral trade deficits with Japan, allegations of Japanese protectionism, and rapid incursions into U.S. markets by Japanese export products.

This report provides background and current analysis of the Japan--U.S. trade situation, discusses the political and economic tensions which this imbalance has created, and outlines the problems involved in several current negotiations, such as the question of trade barriers to U.S. agricultural exports.

Interview with Jess Stanbrough, a Texas National Guard WWII veteran from Wichita Falls, Texas, who served and was captured with the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery (the "Lost Battalion.") Stanbrough discusses his time in the Guard before the war, deployment to the Pacific, the fall of Java and being captured, experiences in internment at Tanjong Priok and Bicycle Camp in Batavia, operating a clandestine radio, transfer to Japan, being an iron smelter at Kamaishi, Honshu, American air and naval bombardment, and liberation.

Interview with Stephen E. Van Nostrand, former executive at Caltex Petroleum Corporation. The interview includes Van Nostrand's personal experiences about service during World War II, employment with Caltex in China, the formation of Ryuku Oil Corporation, and holding various positions within Caltex. Van Nostrand talks about joint ventures with Nippon Oil Company and Koa Oil Company, increasing the refining capacity from 60,000 bbls. to 900,000 bbls. per day, crude oil contracts, the Nippon Petroleum Refining Company, refinery rehabilitation and construction, his role in Caltex operations in Japan, the Nippon Oil Staging Terminal Company, relations between Caltex (Japan) and New York headquarters, OPEC and its effects upon Caltex, character sketches of Neal Lilley, Alec Singleton, and James Voss, and various Japanese oil executives. The interview includes a personal history of S. Nomura.

The purpose of the study is to empirically determine the relevance of PPP theory under the traditional arbitrage and the efficient markets (EPPP) frameworks during the recent floating period of the 1980s. Monthly data was collected for fifteen industrial nations from January 1980 to December 1986. The models tested included the short-run PPP, the long-run PPP, the EPPP, the EPPP with deviations from expectations, the forward rates as unbiased estimators of future spot rates, the EPPP and the forward rates, and the EPPP with forward rates and lagged values. A generalized regression method called Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) was employed to test the models. The results support the efficient markets approach to PPP but fail to support the traditional PPP in both the short term and the long term. Moreover, the forward rates are poor and biased predictors of the future spot rates. The random walk hypothesis is generally supported.

The most important long-term political forces operative in the Japanese political system are the interplay of decentralized community authority and the consolidation of that authority toward the top. The mura kyodotai (village community) concept is representative of both types of authority, neither of which has defined boundaries. An examination of the nature of indigenous community authority may provide the broad context for a valid understanding of Japanese decision making. Under the ideal of this order, Japanese political organization has valued the structure of Shinto: polytheistic local authority, plus conflated authority of church and state. Buddhism and Confucianism have provided direction and moral force to preserve traditional order.

This dissertation attempts to provide an exploratory structure to respond to, and tries to resolve, an existing void in international accounting research. The void is a lack of coherently structured, nation-specific, descriptive research to investigate socio-economic phenomena which may influence financial accounting. This dissertation's salient features include a political economy theory, an exploratory, sociological method, and a case study format. The political economy of accounting, introduced by Tinker [1980] and refined by Cooper and Sherer [1984], emphasizes a persuasive social relations dimension. This theory motivates selection of three countries (the United States, France, and Japan) that appear to have divergent socio-cultural environments. An exploratory and analytical approach of modified (enlarged) exogenism, developed by Smith [1973, 1976] and adapted to accounting by McKinnon [1986], provides an analytic structure for this exploratory investigation. Modified exogenism focuses upon an open, dynamic social system (the process of financial accounting), and provides analysis reflecting four major areas (the environment, intrusive events, intra-system activity, and trans-system activity). After examining the nation-specific financial accounting (socio-economic) structures for each country, an analysis of selected financial disclosures attempts to gain a better understanding of how socio-economic factors have influenced the development of financial accounting. My primary objective is to …

The impact of the energy crises in the 1970s hit all oil-importing countries much harder than it hit countries endowed with domestic supplies of energy. Energy politics and policies for the oil-importing countries have become vital issues that need to be examined. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine and compare the energy politics and policy processes in the Republic of China (ROC) and Japan during the period of 1970-1985. The study focuses on the politics of energy policies, using a policy analysis or systems framework for examining the policy processes in the two countries. A comparison is made of energy environments, the political actors, the institutions, and finally the substance of energy policy. An assessment is then made of the effects or consequences of energy policies on these two countries. In attempting to study energy politics and policies in these two Asian countries, the researcher began with a policy model or conceptual schema of energy politics from which the researcher raised a number of research questions. These questions were used to guide the direction of the study. A comparison was first made of energy systems, and then the major actors in the energy resources field were identified by …

This study analyzes the prisoner of war program in Texas and evaluates the Army's role in carrying out this assignment. Additional questions were, how were POWs treated? What problems did they create? How did civilians react to the presence of 50,000 prisoners?

Photograph used for a story in the Oklahoma Times newspaper. Caption: "Rich Loebl examines hanks of pearls."

Photograph used for a newspaper owned by the Oklahoma Publishing Company.

The question for this thesis is whether the four major stock markets--the United States, Great Britain, West Germany, and Japan are interdependent or segmented. The study period runs from February 1979 to June 1987, with the Wall Street Journal as a source of data. The Granger causality test is used to test for relationships among the four major stock markets. The thesis is divided into five chapters-- 1) statement of the problem; 2) survey of literature; 3) methodology; 4) results and 5) conclusions. The overall findings of this thesis indicate that there are few or no comovement similarities among all the four stock markets. However, the findings do point out the significant influence of the United States stock market on the other three stock markets.

Dress of violet, pink, blue and grey silk chiffon printed in a rose motif. Full-length, with rounded neckline and full-length sleeves that flare and are split at wrist. Skirt gathered at natural waist. Skirt with middle layer of dark pink chiffon, and inner lining layer of pink nylon(?). Center back opening, bodice with 7 button and loops and 8 covered snaps, and one hook-and-eye at neck. Skirt with 2 covered snaps on outer layer, zipper for attached inner layers, and hook-and-loop just below waistband. Designer's label at inside back, just below waist: "[Japanese characters] / Hanae Mori" Retailer's label at inside back, below waist: "Neiman-Marcus" Size label attached to designer's label: "12" With a chiffon scarf, of fabric matching outer layer of dress.

Box jacket of black wool with cutaway hem. Notched collar. Single-breasted with 5 button closure and tailored buttonholes. Welt pockets at left breast and at hips. Long, set-in sleeves with 3 smaller, non-functioning buttons at hem. Unlined. Designer's label at center back neckline: "Yohji Yamamoto" Also has fiber content, size and cleaning instructions on designer's label. Content/care label attached to inside hem of right pocket.

Box jacket of navy blue wool with cutaway hem. Notched collar. Single-breasted with 5 button closure and tailored buttonholes. Welt pockets at left breast and at hips. Long, set-in sleeves with 3 smaller, non-functioning buttons at hem. Sleeves and back panel lined in black acetate. Designer's label at center back neckline: "Yohji Yamamoto" Also has fiber content, size and cleaning instructions on designer's label. Content/care label attached to inside hem of right pocket.

Photograph used for a story in the Daily Oklahoman newspaper. Caption: "Deborah A. Rynda is not the usual, fresh-from-high school scholarship recipient."

Dress in shift style of violet, blue and pink flower motif silk with outer layer of black chiffon. Attached cape overlay on back in black chiffon with matching flower motif. Square neck elasticized at shoulders scoops in back; elbow length butterfly sleeves of black chiffon. Center back zipper with hook & eye on dress and covered snaps on cape. Lined in black rayon. Designer's label at back neckline: "(Japanese characters) / Hanae Mori" Size "10" tag attached to base of designer label. Content/care label at back neckline. Retailer's label on center back seam of dress near hem: "Neiman-Marcus"

Interview with Shigemi Ando, Consul General of Japan from Houston, Texas. In the interview, he discusses his work and responsibilities as Consul General.

In October, 1986, the 10th U.S.-German Seminar of State and Planning on Environmental Specimen Banking was held at the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences in Gloucester Point, Virginia. At this meeting the current status of specimen banking activities in the U. S., FRG, Canada, and Japan was presented and discussed. This publication contains the proceedings of that meeting with contributions describing various activities related to banking and analysis of samples from aquatic, atmospheric, terrestrial, and human monitoring programs.

Report that includes summaries of sessions and papers presented at a workshop on "Environment and Resources of Seamounts in the North Pacific," held March 21-23, 1984 at the Orido Community Center near the Far Seas Fisheries Research Laboratory and the Government Port Building in Shimizu, Japan.