First published in 1998, this study of Japan-U.S. trade friction and the role perceptual differences have played in its evolution differs from its predecessors in key ways. First, it is interdisciplinary, drawing on the research of anthropologists, area specialists, intercultural communication specialists, linguists, sociologists, and social psychologists as well as that of political scientists and economists. Second, it both identifies and quantifies perceptual differences between Japanese and American opinion leaders regarding the large bilateral trade imbalances, the bilateral relationship, and national negotiating styles. Third, original data were collected from completed questionnaires sent to 230 American and 230 Japanese opinion leaders from business, government, academia, and the media, who had been involved in some way with the rice, automotive, or semiconductor sectors. Fourth, the three case studies of trade friction are representative of three differing mixes of trade friction are representative of three differing mixes of trade friction causal factors and perceptual dynamics. Finally, based on the findings of this study, modest suggestions are offered on how the bilateral perceptual gap might be narrowed and trade friction diminished so that the structural and sectoral problems might more effectively be addressed. This book should be of interest to scholars, government officials, and business leaders in Japan, the United States, and other countries in the global community who are interested in bilateral relations, international economic and political affairs, and trade friction. It should also be of special interest to social psychologists and cross-cultural scholars and researchers.

Emerging trade blocs in North America and the European Community are transforming the global economy and Japan's place in it. Will trade blocs be trade diverting or create new opportunities for Japanese trade and investment? Will a new Asian-Pacific trade bloc emerge in response to this new challenge? How will the collapse of the Soviet empire and the emergence of China as an economic power affect Japan's approach to trade blocs in its two most lucrative markets?

For years, reducing the number of traffic-related fatalities and injuries has been a major problem throughout the world. Today, it has gained much more momentum in view of rapidly increasing SUV, van, and light-truck populations relative to the number of passenger cars, and due to significant improvements in technologies that facilitate a better understanding of the interaction dynamics among widely differing size vehicles. Unless disparities in crashworthiness among vehicles of different masses, sizes, and structural characteristics in mixed crash environments are successfully taken into account, the challenge toward improved vehicle safety will continue. This two-part compendium provides the most comprehensive information available on the entire spectrum of vehicle crash compatibility. The first part presents oral comments captured from the 2003 SAE World Congress panel discussion on compatibility. The panel of leading experts representing industry, academia, and government provides a rough framework and a broad range of views on current and emerging developments in compatibility research. The second part of this compendium features 44 best technical papers from SAE International and the International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles, published from the early 1970s through 2004. Readers will get a feel for the direction passenger car and heavy-vehicle manufacturers, research institutions, infrastructure suppliers, insurers, and governments are taking to reduce the number of traffic fatalities and injuries.