Glossary -- Japan
- Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN)
- Established in 1967 to foster cooperation in food production,
industry and commerce, civil aviation, shipping, tourism,
communications, meteorology, science and technology, and Southeast
Asian studies. The charter members were Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Brunei was admitted in 1984.
Papua New Guinea has observer status.
- Bretton Woods System
- A structure of fixed exchange rates developed at the 1944
Bretton Woods Conference, which established the International
Monetary Fund (q.v.) and the World Bank (q.v.).
The Bretton Woods System was in effect until 1971.
- bushido
- Literally, the way of the warrior (samurai), a term applied to
the principles of loyalty and honor; a code of stoic endurance,
scorn of danger and death, religious worship of country and
sovereign, and proper social relationships; an aesthetic life-
style.
- Diet
- The national legislature. From 1890 to 1947, known as the
Imperial Diet (in Japanese, Teikoku Gikai) with an appointed House
of Peers and elected House of Representatives. Since 1947 has been
known as the National Diet, or Diet (in Japanese, Kokkai), with a
House of Councillors and House of Representatives, both of which
are elected. The word "diet" comes from the Latin dies
(day), a reference to the period of time for which a court or
assembly met. The word has been used as the English name for the
Japanese legislature since 1890.
- fiscal year (FY)
- April 1 through March 31.
- General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(GATT)
- An international instrument, under United Nations auspices,
establishing rules of trade accepted by countries responsible for
most of the world's trade; came into effect in 1948. Since 1968 has
operated in conjunction with the United Nations Conference on Trade
and Development (UNCTAD) to provide information and training on
export markets, marketing techniques, and trade policy issues. GATT
members have met in a series of "rounds" for multilateral trade
negotiations since 1964.
- Gross domestic product (GDP)
- The total value of all final (consumption and investment) goods
and services produced by an economy in a given period, usually a
year.
- Gross national product (GNP)
- Consists of GDP (q.v.) plus income from overseas
investments minus the earnings of foreign investors in the home
economy.
- International Monetary Fund
(IMF)
- Established along with the World Bank (q.v.) in 1945,
the IMF is a specialized agency affiliated with the United Nations
and is responsible for stabilizing international exchange rates and
payments. The main business of the IMF is the provision of loans to
its members (including industrialized and developing countries)
when they experience balance of payments difficulties. These loans
frequently carry conditions that require substantial internal
economic adjustments by the recipients, most of which are
developing countries.
- juku
-
- Privately established schools that teach either academic or
nonacademic subjects. Academic juku offer tutorial,
enrichment, remedial, and examination preparatory classes that
supplement regular school work. Most hold classes after school
and/or on weekends.
- Nihon (or Nippon)
- Japanese term for Japan, based on the two Chinese ideographs
(riben in pinyin romanization), meaning source of the sun.
The official pronunciation, as designated by the Ministry of
Education, Culture, and Science, is Nippon (or in full, Nippon
Koku--Nippon country). The common pronunciation in everyday usage,
however, is Nihon (Nihon Koku). The use of the term "Nihon"
antedates Prince Shotoku's seventh-century reference to himself as
the Son of Heaven of the Land of the Rising Sun and possibly dates
from the establishment of the Nihon-fu (Japan Office) in the Yamato
(q.v.) colony in southern Korea that served as a liaison
office of the Yamato court to the Chinese court, probably as early
as the sixth century. Marco Polo (or his scribe) referred to
present-day Japan as Cipingu (Ribenguo in pinyin romanization),
which has variously appeared as Cipangu, Jipangu, and Jipan, from
which the current spelling of Japan undoubtedly descends.
- Organisation for Economic Co-
operation and Development (OECD)
- Established in 1961 to promote economic and social welfare
among member countries by assisting them in the formulation and
coordination of policy and to promote their support of developing
nations. Members are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Britain, Canada,
Denmark, Federal Republic of Germany, Finland, France, Greece,
Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New
Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and
the United States.
- ronin
- Originally, a "wave person," or a masterless samurai who has
left the service of his lord, either by choice or forced
circumstances, and serves others with his bold and sometimes
desperate deeds. In contemporary Japan, a student who has failed
the entrance examination to the institution of choice and has
chosen to spend an additional year or more in study to take the
examination again.
- seppuku
- either voluntary (to expiate serious failure) or obligatory
suicide (instead of execution) to regain one's honor in death. A
privilege reserved for the samurai class. Commonly referred to as
hara-kiri.
- World Bank
- Informal name used to designate a group of four affiliated
international institutions that provide advice and assistance on
long-term finance and policy issues to developing countries: the
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the
International Development Association (IDA), the International
Finance Corporation (IFC). and the Multilateral Investment
Guarantee Agency (MIGA). The IBRD, established in 1945, has as its
primary purpose the provision of loans at market-related rates of
interest to developing countries at more advanced stages of
development. The IDA, a legally separate loan fund but administered
by the staff of the IBRD, was set up in 1960 to furnish credits to
the poorest developing countries on much easier terms than those of
conventional IBRD loans. The IFC, founded in 1956, supplements the
activities of the IBRD through loans and assistance designed to
encourage the growth of productive private enterprises in the less
developed countries. The president and certain senior officers of
the IBRD hold the same positions in the IFC. The MIGA, which began
operating in 1988, insures private foreign investment in developing
countries against various noncommercial risks. The four
institutions are owned by the governments of the countries that
subscribe their capital. To participate in the World Bank group,
member states must first belong to the International Monetary Fund
(IMF--q.v.).
- Yamato
- Refers to the country of Japan or things Japanese, such as
yamato-e (Japanese painting) and to the ancient court from
which the imperial family arose. The Yamato court was situated
either in modern Nara Prefecture, from the early fourth century
A.D., or in northern Kyushu, starting perhaps in the early third
century A.D.
- yen (¥)
- The national currency, in coins of 1, 5, 10, and 100 yen and
notes of 500, 1,000, 5,000, and 10,000 yen. From 1945 to 1971, the
Japanese yen was in fixed parity with the United States dollar at
¥360=US$1. After a period of adjustment during the financial crises
of the 1971-73 period, the value has floated according to movements
in the international capital markets. The exchange rate in December
1993 was ¥110=US$1. Fluctuations in recent years have been
considerable, producing exchange rates for US$1 of ¥147 (August
1990), ¥142 (August 1989), ¥134 (August 1988), ¥149 (August 1987),
¥155 (August 1986), and ¥239 (August 1985).
- yobiko
- A type of private school that specializes in preparing high-
school graduates for university-entrance examinations, often
through intensive full-time programs.
- zaibatsu
- Literally, "wealth group." Zaibatsu were powerful
industrial or financial combines that merged during the Meiji era
and were implicated in the militarist regimes of the 1930s and
1940s. They were an amalgamation of sometimes hundreds of
businesses controlled by a holding company owned by a single
family. The major zaibatsu were Mitsui, Mitsubishi,
Sumimoto, and Yasuda. The zaibatsu were abolished in 1945
and 1946. After 1947, numerous companies formerly controlled by
zaibatsu came together as keiretsu (enterprise
groups)--conglomerates no longer controlled by a single family and
whose individual member companies had greater autonomy than they
had had as part of a zaibatsu.
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