October 2003 Issue

On the cover: A handwritten sign on the door of a bar behind Toyohashi station makes its unequivocal point. Photograph by Tony McNicol "With a swelling community of immigrant workers, how long can Japan maintain its self-image of a country united by race?" -- Future Imperfect

October 2003
No. 48

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October 2003 Issue

Upfront
	From the Editors Tough issues and tough revelations after a long hot summer of barbecues, beaches and booze

	Contributors The Editor's page

	The Pulse 1 The Word on the Street from the Heart of Tokyo

	The Pulse 2 Technology and Finance News

	The ETC System Stalls at the (Toll) Gate Electronic Toll Collection slowly gains traction in Japan

	China's Rise Lifts Japan Why a rising China is less threat than savior

	The Cost Killer Cometh Celebrity CEO Carlos Ghosn on his MO, the China challenge and the future

	Rethinking Telecommunications Regulation Deregulate and promote competition -- or face global irrelevance, argues Lisa Suits

	Southeast Asia's "Tiger Cubs" Roar The region's smaller nations are outpacing the big cats, notes Gordon Feller

	To the Editor The Editor's page

	Kobe's Quandary: Robots versus Revolution Dominic Al-Badri visits a Kansai conference on population and foresees signs of social revolution in an aging Japan

Features
	Future Imperfect Visit Toyohashi, a medium-sized city at the very center of the Pacific Belt, and you may find a model social template for the future of the nation: immigrant workers from South America working side-by-side with their Japanese neighbors. But there's a hitch: Japan's future immigrants will be Asian

	Banking on a Tourist Boom Tokyo's global brand hotel boom is just another sign of the multinationals zeroing in on Japanese real estate, writes Matt Wilce. But can Japanese style, service and hospitality be replicated? And will the government's ballyhooed tourism campaign be enough to fill all those rooms?

	Slick Operators "Upstream" business activities such as oil exploration and drilling are notoriously costly. But the government's mismanagement of its 30-year-old oil operations -- and its recent moves to dissolve them -- have resulted in black holes of debt and enraged investors.

News & Info
	Is Japan Recovering? A Global Logistics Company tells the Real Story

Blowfish
	A school of fish? This past summer's most stimulating stats, foods and females -- plus: rankings of Japan's scholarly halls.