Japanese Agricultural Policies Towards 2000: Swimming with the Tide
Japanese agricultural policy has undergone substantial change in the last year. Since the completion of the Uruguay Round, the rice market has been partially opened, import quotas on agricultural products have been replaced by tariffs and there has been a general shift away from consumer funding of agricultural programs to funding by taxpayers. These changes are making Japanese agricultural policies more transparent and more open to scrutiny. There is now recognition in Japan that the changes are irreversible and that agriculture will be faced with increasing competition from imports.
Developments in the Japanese beef market following import liberalisation
Over the last several years there has been increasing pressure on most western industrialised countries to liberalise trade for food and agricultural products and yet the full implications of freer trade are not always well understood. This paper attempts to fill this gap by reviewing the developments in the Japanese beef market following import liberalisation. We conclude that the Japanese beef market has experienced major structural changes over a relatively short period as a result of liberalising beef imports. The most apparent impact has been on Japanese consumers who have benefited from lower retail beef prices and a greater variety of beef cuts to choose from. The types and quality of beef imported have also changed and consequently major suppliers have adapted their production systems and their products to the changing taste and preferences of Japanese consumers. Beef exporters to Japan, on the other hand, have experienced declining wholesale prices but have, nevertheless, benefited from the growing size of the market. Developments in the wider economy, such as changes in the retail distribution systems and the exchange rate have also influenced the beef sector.
Comparative Industrial Sociology and the Convergence Hypothesis
Industrial sociology grew spectacularly after World War II, concentrating on three areas: workers' relations with each other, their managers, and their unions; the social organization of the factory; and the impact of technology on social systems extending from the factory to the society. Unable to sus­ tain leadership in all of these areas, industrial sociology shrivelled as other fields invaded its domains. Human relations became the ideological property of the business schools; labor economics maintained its grip on industrial relations; industry-community relations waned as interest in community power soared; industrial organizations were absorbed into the study of com­ plex organizations; occupational sociology maintained research impetus in labor force analysis; and the sociology of the economy dominated the study of industry's institutional relationships. Industrial sociology survived on remnants: worker-machine relationships (job satisfaction, alienation, un­ employment), organizational responses to technological changes. and a bit of working-class ethnology. Enduring interest in technology, however, en­ abled industrial sociology to take part in sociology's expanding interest in comparative studies.