This text discusses issues including the impact and implications of European expansion as well as developments in the Asia-Pacific region. It also examines the driving forces, backgrounds, obstacles and opportunities for regions to become powerful global players. The work contains much empirical material and is supported by a thorough investigation of the theory and methodology of policy strategies for the positioning of regions in the new global economy.

This book focuses on a very important and still controversial topic in Japan, namely, whether a future exists for Japanese farmers, especially rice-producing farmers. Dealt with here is the prospect along with a personal view of the course that Japanese agriculture should follow, that is, a prescription for enriching the international competitiveness of the agricultural sector, especially rice production, in a more market-oriented economy. Toward restoration of Japanese agriculture, prescriptions are pursued from different aspects. One is the planting schedule of various farm products at the...