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The purpose of this paper is to overview Japanese concept of disaster recovery and seek a way for an international cooperation. As the presence of disaster is immanent in the global risk-society, this paper aims to analyze transnational and trans-local activities along with socio-cultural, economic, and political transformations and their process under the global risk-society. Furthermore, this paper contemplates ‘local power’ which is related to the transnationalism, or trans-localization. Therefore, this paper provides issues to be solved and theorizes them by articulating the mechanism of cooperation and confrontation surrounding disaster governance of the global era. The analytic frame of paper introduces the concept of transnationalism and pro-geopolitics and analyzes a structural transformation regarding disaster recovery and revitalization of local area in Asia. As this paper introduces the ‘reversed image’ in the era of transnationalism from the traditional view of government-led process in disaster recovery, the paper presumes that diverse local actors and responses from disaster sight practically give their influence on the state-level of ‘disaster governance’, furthermore, the transnationalization. Thus, the paper attempts to reflect Japanese post-disaster lessons: social fluctuation, risk responses, and recovery efforts, from mega-disaster (1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake & 3.11 East Japan Earthquake) to transnational responses and the local revitalization. By focusing on the trilateral interaction between the local, government, and state, this paper implicates that theoretical verification and a need of new approach for the revitalization from disaster are required to solve surrounding problems from ‘series of complex risk’. A response and solution for the local recovery process must be shared among international community and the construction of a cooperative system is significant. The theory of transnational disaster recovery and the role of academism from the view of disaster study for the revitalization are suggested throughout this paper. Living in the era of transnationalization, the humanity must response to the ‘safety revolution’.

The Great Hansin-Awaji Earthquake occurred in Hyogo Prefecture twenty years ago. Many people lost their lives and houses, office buildings, and roads were damaged. Many lessons were learnt from the earthquake: the importance of initial action, the community’s preparedness to deal with a disaster, and building earthquake resistant towns. With these lessons in mind, the following assignments are the most important in Hyogo Prefecture. (1) Maintaining a base for large disaster prevention, effective operation of the Phoenix disaster management system, and reinforcing administrative systems through establishing a disaster prevention bureau at Kansai. (2) Promoting independent disaster prevention organizations, reinforcing regional disater prevention through self-help and mutual efforts, such as Hyogo Prefecture’s campaign. (3) Promoting disaster prevention education aimed at children and students. (4) Maintaining a base for international disaster prevention organizations and humanitarian assistance- such as the Disaster Reduction and Human Renovation Institution, donation projects, and hosting the UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction. These measure demonstrate that disaster prevention is a priority in Hyogo Prefecture. Moreover, with plans to give new strength to the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, Hyogo Prefecture is promoting creative plan led by local residents. It is expected that the scale of damage will be reduced through appropriate disaster prevention and disaster risk reduction measures, such as tsunami shelters and earthquake-proof structures, even though the chances of a large scale earthquake occurring are high, as Hyogo Prefecture is along the Nankai Through. Hyogo Prefecture has made active efforts to improve the land. In the future, Hyogo Prefecture will try to contribute to disaster prevention by sharing information with other regions of Northeast Asia.

High probability of natural catastrophes in the Russian Far East and in Northeast Asia as a whole is connected with their geographical position at the interface of Eurasia and two oceans: the Arctic and Pacific oceans. The threats of natural catastrophes caused by the extreme natural processes, such as volcanism and earthquakes, tsunami, storms, cyclones, typhoons and flooding are singled out. The threats of technogenic catastrophes connected with possible spills of oil and oil products, with forest fires, with extraction of natural resources on the sea-bottom are distinguished. Specific threats are connected with the trans-boundary transfer of the water and air contamination into the trans-boundary watersheds of the rivers (the Amur River, the Tumen River, and others) and into the seas (the Sea of Japan – the East Sea). The paper gives the examples of natural catastrophes – the extreme flooding in the Amur River watershed (July - August, 2013) and technogenic catastrophes - extreme technogenic contamination of the Sungari River (December, 2005). A small-scale natural-economic zoning of the Russian Far East, including identification of four zones with various danger to economic activities, and fractional natural-economic zoning, including identification of 24 areas with the different combinations of possible extreme processes, are carried out. The projects of UNEP on protection of the sea environment in the Northwest Pacific, including the sea oil spills, contamination of the seas by other kinds of technogenic substances, the trans-boundary transfer of air contamination and others are considered. The directions of the international cooperation on minimization of the negative consequences of natural and technogenic catastrophes, including the conclusion of the international contracts on the trans-boundary watersheds (rivers, lakes, and seas), the formation of the joint international programs, commissions, insurance funds, and monitoring systems are offered.

The aims of this paper are to take stock of the current development of political reconciliation in Northeast Asia at the levels of government and citizenry, and to explore a critical impediment to political reconciliation, despite increasingly complex interdependence in the region. This paper argues that different (if not incompatible) historical prisms are central to explaining the current regression of political reconciliation in Northeast Asia. It is also argued that, without any sensitivity to different historical prisms of China, Japan and South Korea, mainstream international relations theories are insufficient to explain the complexity of Northeast Asian international relations today.

This paper aims to explain how and why the multilateral negotiations for creating the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM), which took effect on August 1, 2010, were successfully concluded by analyzing their process from the theoretical perspective of institutional bargaining model. It finds out that a humanitarian crisis resulting from inhumane harm to civilians caused by the indiscriminate use of cluster munitions in a series of military conflicts served as a crucial momentum to launch the negotiations for the CCM. It also finds that there were crucial factors for their successful conclusion, such as consensual knowledge, which was formed by the epistemic community, such as the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC), the UN agencies, and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) about harmful and unacceptable effects of using cluster munitions; effective leadership exercised by Norway and the core group of pro-ban states in proceeding with the negotiations; the inclusion of salient solutions and effective compliance mechanisms in the CCM; and an incremental approach through which to deal with conflicting issues separatively and gradually. A close partnership between the core group of pro-ban states and such NGOs as CMC and ICRC, and the procedure of deciding on any matter of substance about the CCM by a two-thirds majority vote, rather than by consensus, served as additional factors that contributed to reaching an agreement on the CCM negotiations.

This ethnographic research on Korean huaqiaos examines their shifting positions in dealing with China and Taiwan since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and China in 1992. Until the 1980s, Korean huaqiaos had perceived Taiwan as their motherland, as they were affected by the ideology of anti-communism under the Taiwanese nationalist education system. Since 1992, however, Korean huaqiaos have sought for new economic opportunities by capitalizing on the connection with their original hometown, Shandong Province in mainland China. At the same time, they have built a close relationship with the Chinese Embassy while keeping estranged from Taipei Mission in Korea since Democratic Progressive Party held political power of Taiwan in 2000. Nevertheless, Korean huaqiaos seek to distinguish themselves from other Chinese immigrants including ethnic Koreans from China (or ‘Chaoxianzu’), and have not developed a strong sense of attachment to their ancestral hometown of Shandong. Most Korean huaqiaos still maintain their Taiwanese citizenship, and have formed an independent identity as a migrant group by keeping a selective distance from either China or Taiwan. The case of Korean huaqiao demonstrates that China’s effort of expanding transnational nationalism is fragmented and negotiated by a migrant group’s distinctive and strategic position, and that the process of resinicization can also be complicated by overseas Chinese’ unique definition of ethnicity beyond national borders.

This paper empirically studies the relationship between the managerial ownership and corporate performances in China. Using the panel dataset of 958 companies across 12 industries in 2010-2014 (non-financial listed firms). The results indicate that First, the regression analysis taken from both exogenous and endogenous perspectives on the entire sample revealed that an inversed U-shaped curve, displaying non-linear relationship between the managerial ownership and two measures of corporate performance (ROA, ROE). Second, the regression analysis on each group divided according to the ownership type displayed that state-owned enterprises were not in line with the above conclusions (entire sample, private-owned enterprises), and there are only linear relationships between the managerial ownership and two measures of corporate performance. Third, we also find that corporate governance variables including concentration of ownership and the ratio of independent directors perform monitoring role to help to improve firm performance.

This study aims to find political factors that affected different paths of developing a Halal certification policy between Indonesia and Malaysia. Despite their common histories regarding Islam and other cultural aspects, the Halal certification in Indonesia has been driven by Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI hereafter), a non-governmental association of Islamic scholars (ulama), whereas Malaysian government has been a dominant player of the Halal certification in Malaysia by establishing Department of Islamic Development (JAKIM hereafter), a government agency that deals with Islamic affairs. In this article, I found that both a relationship between the government and the Islamic civil society and the extent of social and political cleavages have an significant influence on determining the extent of the state’s role in involving the issues of Islam in two countries. While the Indonesian state embraced Pancasila, a state ideology that puts an emphasis on religious freedom, nationalism, and secular constitution, Muslim nationalists in Malaysia accomplished their political ascendancy over other ethnic groups by mentioning Islam as a state religion and Malay-favored political systems. Furthermore, in contrast Indonesia, where political Islam has faced limits of Islamization due to a fragmentation of the cleavages within a Muslim society, a clear political rivalry between United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) played an key role in establishing a state-led Islamization, including the establishment of JAKIM.