Asiatica Association

We have just received the Newsletter for Research in Chinese Studies, 119 (August 2011 - vol. 30, no. 3), a hard copy quarterly published by the Center for Chinese Studies (CCS), established in 1981 to promote research in Chinese studies both in Taiwan (The Republic of China) and overseas.

It is written in Chinese with subtitles in English. It contains articles, interviews, and regular updates on the happenings in the worldwide community of Chinese studies.

This issue includes: Summary of Research: “The Center for Chinese Studies: Hopes for the Next 30 Years”, by Tseng Shu-hsien; “Creating a Hig Quality Environment for Chinese Studies: 30 Successful Years of the Center for Chinese Studies”, by Huang Kuan-chung; “A Brief History of the Center for Chinese Studies”, by Tsai Ching-lang; “A Brief History of the Center for Chinese Studies”, by Tsai Ching-lang; “Advisory Committee of Center for Chinese Studies”, by Chen Hsu-mei; “Chinese Studies Archive Search ad Reading Service”, by C hen You-min; “Printing a Rich Variety of High-Quality Chinese Studies Publications”, by Wang Yu-ching; “Making Friends around the World: Research Grant for Foreign Scholars in Chinese Studies”, by Liau Jane; “Providing Global Academic Exchange Platform: Center for Chinese Studies Academic Activities”, by Liau Jane; “Where to Find Sinology in a Sea of Information? Introduction to the Center for Chinese Studies Databases”, by Sun Hsiu-ling; “An Overview of the Center for Chinese Studies 30th Anniversary Program of Events”, by Keng Li-chun. Conference Reports, News from Academia.

The Association of Japanese Institutes of Strategic Studies (AJISS) has just published the AJISS-Commentary No. 140 ""A New Era for APEC and TPP" by Takashi Omori, Chair of the APEC Economic Committee (till 2011) and Professor of Economics at Tokyo City University (tomori@tcu.ac.jp.

With the Honolulu summit in November, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) wrapped up its so-called "golden three years" forged through the presidency of Singapore, Japan and the United States in turn. The East Asia Summit, held a week later in Bali, witnessed the first official participation of the United States and Russia. The Japanese government took the opportunity of the annual APEC summit to announce its intention to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations despite split public opinion at home. If Canada and Mexico, which similarly expressed interest in the TPP talks, are added, the future TPP could have 12 member countries, a majority of the 21 APEC economies.

We have just received the International Edition of the Journal of Confucian Philosophy and Culture, vol. 16 / August 2011, which is published by the Institute of Confucian Philosophy and Culture, Academy of East Asian Studies of Sungkyunkwan University, a private academia located in Seoul and Suwon, South Korea, which was established in 1398 and is considered one of the foremost universities in the country.

The papers of the Journal of Confucian Philosophy and Culture deal with Confucianism, its idea and idealsand the more recent studies on it. They are written either in Korean with a summary in English, or in English. In this issue, which is 268 + XVII page long, papers are written in Korean.

Table of contents, papers: Nine Proofreading Notes on the Characters and Woods of Chin Bamboo..." by Ding Sixin, "A Study on Times of Chunqiu Wei" by Ren Milin, "The Legitimacy of the Source of Political Power and of Governance" by Deng Yong, "The From "The Memorial Service for Confucius" to..." by Yoo Eun Joo,

The Association of Japanese Institutes of Strategic Studies (AJISS) has just published the AJISS-Commentary No. 136”World’s Most Powerful Computer: Does It Reflect Japan’s National Power?” by Akinori Yonezawa, Co-Director of the RIKEN Advanced Institute of Computational Science and Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo (yonezawa@riken.jp).

The Japanese supercomputer “Kei,” developed jointly by Fujitsu and RIKEN as a national project, took first place in the top 500 list at the International Conference on Supercomputing held in Hamburg, Germany, in June. The so-called “K Computer” outstripped its competitors, being more than three times faster than the second-place Chinese Tianhe-1A and more than four times faster than the US’ third-ranked “Jaguar” (developed by IBM). Given that the competition takes place every six months, the K Computer is expected to maintain its lead as the world’s most powerful computer for at least a year or so.

The Association of Japanese Institutes of Strategic Studies (AJISS) has just published the AJISS-Commentary No. 135 "The Hague Convention on International Child Abduction and Japan's Move Toward Ratification" by Yuko Nishitani, professor at the Kyushu University Faculty of Law (nishitani_at_law.kyushu-u.ac.jp).

Cross-border child abduction has recently attracted great attention in Japan. The problematic, incoming abduction cases arise when a Japanese parent, usually a mother, married to a foreign spouse and living abroad ("inter alia," the U.S., Canada or the U.K.), comes back to Japan with the child after the marriage breaks down, seeking shelter at his/her parents' or relatives' home. The left-behind parent desperately seeks the return of the child, mostly in vain.The U.S. counts 230 child abduction cases in relation to Japan since 1994 (100 active cases as of January 2011), but no single child has so far been returned successfully. This is due to current Japanese domestic law that fails to provide effective remedies.

We have just received the Newsletter for Research in Chinese Studies, 118 (May 2011 - vol. 30, no. 2), a hard copy quarterly published by the Center for Chinese Studies (CCS), established in 1981 to promote research in Chinese studies both in Taiwan (The Republic of China) and overseas.

It is written in Chinese with subtitles in English. It contains articles, interviews, and regular updates on the happenings in the worldwide community of Chinese studies.

This issue includes:

The Global Forum of Japan Commentary of October 1, 2011, Vol. 4, No. 5 presents views of members and friends of GFJ on the relations of Japan with the rest of the world and other related international affairs. The commentary "The Death of Osama bin-Laden" is written by Prof. Bruce Mazlish (MIT).

The Death of Osama bin-Laden, by Bruce Mazlish

The death and disposal in the sea of Osama bin Laden on 5/1/11 seems a fitting book end to the events of 9/11. It cannot be lamented; but it does raise a set of questions. The Letter of Mr. ITO Masanori entitled "Is Osama Bin Laden a Criminal or a Hero?" and carried by "GFJ -Commentary" is very interesting because it tries to answer such questions. Agreeing with him that the international legal system would have benefited from his trial (and he could have been captured,) I would like to respond to some of the questions raised by him.

Something like 3,000 victims were claimed at the World Towers and the other 9/11 sites. Al Qaeda, led by bin Laden, has been responsible for many more. Horrible as they are, their number has been fairly limited. In comparison with the Nazi Holocaust and the killing of an additional 6 million or more Poles, Russians and others, the Al Qaeda attack is dwarfted into insignificance. Its major significance lay in the shattering of the belief in American domestic invulnerability. The fear that was created by the small number dead -compare the 60,000 plus deaths each year on American highways- resulted in a major victory for the terrorists.

I want to introduce Sudharma. The Only Samskrita Daily, the only Sanskrit e-newspaper that I know of, which joines Sanskrit language and journalism. IThe paper format has been launched on Juky 14, 1970. You can subscribe to it or donate.

History.

Kalale Nadadur Varadaraja Iyengar, a Sanskrit scholar, launched this paper in the year 1970 with a goal of propagating the language. He was also a publisher of Sanskrit books and the Sanskrit moving types that were sometimes lying idle with him were another motivation for starting the newspaper. When he discussed his venture with others, he had to face the wrath of skeptics who warned him of his ‘misadventure’ and predicted the newspaper’s doom. This was because not many people believed that the Sanskrit language had a vocabulary sufficient enough to cover contemporary and complex day-to-day activities and developments. He was, however, supported in his venture by Agaram Rangaiah, who was an editor of a Kannada newspaper and also by P. Nagachar, who was a former Joint Director of Information. Ignoring the skeptics, Varadaraja Iyengar published the first issue of Sudharma on July 14, 1970 from a location called ‘Ganapathi Totti’ in Maharaja’s Sanskrit College. He was also instrumental in starting a Sanskrit news bulletin on All India Radio by convincing I. K. Gujral, the then Minister of Information and Broadcasting in the Government of India. K. V. Sampath Kumar, the son of Varadaraja Iyengar, is the current editor of the newspaper. The paper is currently published out of a press in the # 561, 2nd Cross, Ramachandra Agrahara locality of Mysore.