January 30th, 2012

Signs of growth in post-Fukushima Japan, say Stanford experts

Nearly a year has passed since an earthquake triggered a tsunami that swept away entire communities on Japan's northeastern coast, leading to a series of accidents at the Fukushima nuclear complex. Masahiko Aoki and Kenji Kushida discuss post-March 11 developments, and a related conference at Stanford scheduled for February 27. Read more »

January 18th, 2012

Corporate Affiliates alumnus' research in China's energy sector

China possesses vast coal reserves, and coal accounts for 70 percent of the country's total energy consumption -- 3 billion tons per year. But China also consumes oil, natural gas, and an increasing amount of renewable energy. Xuteng Hu, a Corporate Affiliates Visiting Fellow Program alumnus (2007-08), discusses the energy and materials development projects he manages at PetroChina’s Petrochemical Research Institute in Beijing. Read more »

August 5th, 2011

Energy efficiency, financial crisis response, and Fukushima

Phillip Lipscy, an assistant professor of political science and a center fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute of International Studies, is currently conducting research on energy efficiency and financial crisis response. Here he discusses his recent research within the context of contemporary Japan, and comments on current social and political conditions in Japan after the March 2011 disaster. Read more »

April 1st, 2011

Japan situation difficult, but reconstruction on the horizon

Japan's massive earthquake and tsunami three weeks ago and the challenging recovery process continue to make news headlines around the world. It is difficult to separate fact and reasonable speculation about the future from the terror-filled coverage about radiation leaking from the Fukushima nuclear complex. In an effort to make sense of recent events, the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center convened a panel of experts for a discussion about the possible future implications arising from this complex and emotionally charged situation for Japan's energy policy, economy, and politics. Read more »

March 23rd, 2011

SPRIE executive training session offers Chinese enterprise leaders insights into innovation

From how failure drives innovation to the role of government in supporting entrepreneurship, two expert professors at Stanford led a training session for executives from Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOE) as part of the 2011 Cisco China 21st Century Enterprise Leader Program (ELP) hosted by Stanford Program on Regions of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SPRIE) on March 22, 2011. Read more »

September 22nd, 2010

Defining success though positive development

When Makoto Takeuchi came to the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) as a Corporate Affiliates Program fellow during the 2004-2005 academic year, he was working as a senior manager with the Business Development Group of Kansai Electric Power Company, located in Osaka, Japan. Through his experience at Shorenstein APARC, Takeuchi defined his idea success and will soon be assuming the new role of senior energy specialist with the World Bank's East Asia Sustainable Development Department, where he says his goal is to "provide clean energy through a sophisticated power system with renewable energy and to contribute to what people in the region really want." Read more »

February 8th, 2010

Will Japan emerge from its shell? The new government finds charting a new course not so easy

Since the Democratic Party of Japan came to power in August 2009, upsetting fifty years of conservative rule, U.S.-Japan relations have been on rocky ground. It would seem that the DPJ is upending decades old policies, hewing its own path with the United States, China, and the Asia-Pacific region. As Shorenstein APARC Associate Director for Research Daniel Sneider notes, Japan's new tack not only has caught the United States flat-footed, but also has other countries in the Asia-Pacific worried. Read more »