JIN-453 -- Space Race Japan

The 'JIN' Japan Inc Newsletter
A weekly opinion piece on social, economic and political trends
in Japan.
Issue No. 453 Wednesday February 20, 2008, Tokyo

-------- Job Fair for International Students & Careers ---------

The JOBFAIR will be held on March 8th in AKIHABARA.
This JOBFAIR is the biggest event for international students
and foreigners who are thinking about a career change in Japan:
50+ companies will attend seeking internationally-minded people!

JOBFAIR participants will have an opportunity
to visit company booths and ask HR about careers.

Some companies may have interviews on the day.
The JOBFAIR provides a great chance to meet many companies and
learn about them what they do and the people they need in a
short period of time.

DATE: March 8th /11:00 - 18:00
PLACE: at AKIHABARA
http://www.jobfair.jp/jp/JB5001LG.php?j=12&banner_id=rfb00009
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Space Race Japan

Japanese perceptions of the universe, like other national
variations, offer some interesting surface level differences
for the outsider: in Japan, trees and traffic lights are blue,
the sun is red and blood type is often believed to account for
different types of personality. When it comes to the solar
system, Japanese parents tell their kids not that the moon is
made of cheese but that when you look up, you can see two
rabbits with mallets smashing rice into mochi (rice cakes).

Some of these on-the-surface differences are inexplicable,
others make sense in the context of Japanese history and
culture. Many of the differences are also slowly disappearing,
smothered by the homogeneity that is a symptom of globalization.
Ancient Japanese perception of the galaxies for example differs
greatly from European nations, however, the modern Japanese
attitude towards them is the same as any industrialized country
— the heavens are to be explored, mined and, potentially,
conquered. In recent years, Japanese involvement in the
exploration of space has increased dramatically compared with
its marginal participation in the space race during the Cold War
era.

In 2005, new president of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
(JAXA), Keiji Tachikawa, former head of NTT DoCoMo, revamped
efforts to get Japan into space (see
www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1115727-1,00.html).
Under Tachikawa, JAXA has achieved a higher profile and
increased funding, often using the China threat theory and
Chinese advances in the field of space exploration as a lever
for support. JAXA has had some difficulties in the past few
years, not least being a run of failed launches, but it now seems
to be making some real progress.

[Continued below...]

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[...Article continues]

This year, Tachikawa explained in an interview, 'There are two
key objectives to be completed by the end of fiscal year 2008.
First, we have two satellite launches scheduled by H-IIA rocket
[and]…the assembly and operation of the Japanese experimental
module (JEM) Kibo. Kibo is Japan's first manned space facility,
and it will be installed on the International Space Station
(ISS) on three successive space shuttle missions.
(www.jaxa.jp/article/interview/vol36/p3_e.html)'
The three shuttle missions are also set to go ahead with the
first, with a crew including Japan's space walking pioneer Takao
Doi, taking place on March 11.

This is undoubtedly a big event for Japan in marking its
involvement with the ISS and has arguably been a cause for a
renewed interest in the space project by both domestic and
foreign media. The latter seems to latch onto the more amusing
sides of Japan's new found interest such as reports on plans to
throw paper planes (designed by the Origami Airplanes
Association) back to earth (http://tinyurl.com/38olq9), or to
test whether a boomerang works in space
(http://tinyurl.com/2kvw42).

Domestic media has been more focused on statements by senior
defense ministers concerning the existence of UFOs and the
former CEO of livedoor, Kozo Hiramitsu, who has recently left
the company intending to take a passenger flight into space on
Virgin Galactic in the near future.

However, with Japan's launch of lunar explorer Kaguya last
September, and developments looking on track for this year,
behind the media froth lies very strong scientific, and
potentially commercial, ambition from men such as Tachikawa
and even Shinichi Suzuki, the Tokyo University professor behind
the paper plane idea. After all, if his experiment works, the
implications for materials used in construction of spacecraft
could be wide-reaching; the planes have been developed using
sophisticated silicon treatment to give them a high heat
resistance capacity.

Ultimately, Japan's small steps in the international space race
could prove to be great leaps in terms of its profile as an
astronomical explorer.

Peter Harris
Editor-in-Chief

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++EVENTS

--------------- ICA Event - Feb 21 -----------------------

Event: Round Table Discussion - Successful Growth
through Planned Execution

Speakers: D. Forncrook, J. Glasser and J. Gabriella

Details: Complete event details at http://www.icajapan.jp/
(RSVP Required)
Date: Thursday, Feb 21, 2008
Time: 6:30 Doors open includes open bar (sponsored by Skillhouse)
and light buffet
Cost: 3,500 yen (members), 5,500 yen (non-members)
Open to all - venue is The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan

http://www.fccj.or.jp/aboutus/map

-----------------------------------------------------------

Start a Company in Japan

Entrepreneur's Handbook Seminar 1st of March, 2008

If you have been considering setting up your own company,
find out what it takes to make it successful.
Terrie Lloyd, founder of over 13 start-up companies in Japan,
will be giving an English-language seminar and Q and A on
starting up a company in Japan.
This is an ideal opportunity to find out what is involved,
and to ask specific questions that are not normally answered
in business books.
All materials are in English and are Japan-focused.

For more details: http://japaninc.com/terrie_lloyd/

----------- Java Training Course in English -------------

You don't have to leave Japan in order to enjoy
high-quality, advanced IT training in English!

Learn Java at our downtown Tokyo training center:

'Core Java and Web App Development using Servlets/JSPs'
March 3-7 (5 days - total of 40 hours of training)

Other courses to be offered this Spring include:

4-day Intensive Project Management Professional(PMP)
Certification Prep Course

1-2 day Intensive Courses on Building Secure Web
Applications (Microsoft .NET and Java tracks available)

InnoSoft Japan K.K
For more information visit www.innosoft.co.jp
or contact us at 03-6868-3000

---------------------------------------------------------
Marcus Evans Events - Supported by J@pan Inc

-Customer Relationship Excellence
15th - 16th April 2008, Hilton Tokyo
http://www.marcusevans.com/html/eventdetail.asp?eventID=13548
This event features leading speakers from Daihatsu Motor,
Daimler Japan, General Motors, Honda Motor, Nissan Motor,
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Automotive Systems Corporation. Don't miss this out!

-Compensation and Benefits
27th - 28th May, Tokyo
This event provides Japanese firms the understanding and
'how-to' of investing in their employees for the purpose
of sustaining their businesses Corporations nowadays need
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leverages human capital to drive corporate growth.

'J@pan Inc readers are entitled to a 10% discount upon
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For further details and brochures, please contact:
Ms. Esther Wong
Tel No: +603 2723 6736
Fax No: +603 2723 6699
Email add: estherw@marcusevanskl.com

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Please contact at sachie.kuroda@japaninc.com for more details.
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++END