Thomas Maerten of the National Security Council Nonproliferation Issues (particularly nuclear) will give an informal summary of the latest discussions between Presidents Clinton and Putin as well as National Security Advisor Sandy Berger and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov.

Japan's macroeconomic problem has yet to be properly diagnosed. Throughout the 1990s, policy makers could not decide on the proper macro economic measures to combat the country's severe economic slump. We propose a unified explanation, with deep historical roots, of why aggregate private demand failed to recover after Japan's stock and real estate bubbles burst in 1991 and deflationary pressure continues into the new millenium. Ron McKinnon is William D. Eberle Professor of International Economics at the Department of Economics, Stanford University. His research interests cover trade and financial policy in less-developed countries, the transition from socialism in Asia and Eastern Europe, the foreign exchange market and U.S.-Japan trade disputes, European monetary unification and international monetary reform, and the economics of market-preserving federalism. Rishi Goyal is a Ph.D graduate student in international economics working with Professor McKinnon on a Japan project--and will be writing his dissertation in this area. His undergraduate B.A. (with distinction) is from Swarthmore College in 1995. He expects to complete his Ph.D in 2001.

In the midst of preparing for the upcoming Inter-Korea Summit in June, the South Korean government and many North Korea experts struggle with how to manage this historic opportunity for breakthrough in the Korean peninsula. What happened behind closed doors to reach this agreement to have the summit meeting and what uncertainties lie along the way? What issues will be discussed at the summit? What will some of the challenges be in the post-summit era, not only in inter-Korean relations but in neighboring countries' policies toward the Korean peninsula? These questions and more will be discussed during this seminar. Dr. Kil has worked for the last four years in the Washington bureau of the Korean newspaper, Joong Ang Ilbo, closely monitoring the U.S.-North Korea talks. He is currently on leave for research at the Tokyo Foundation. Dr. Kil has a Ph.D. in political science from Yale University.

12.00 p.m. Mr. Noriaki OZAWA (Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Japan) What is Japan? A Look at Japan's Changing Sociocultural Identity. 12.20 p.m. Mr. Nobutake SHIRAI (Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, Japan) Internet Business in U.S. and Japan: A Comparative Study. 12.40 p.m. Mr. Raita SUGIMOTO (Toyota Motor Corporation, Japan) Reorganization of the Automobile Industry and its Impact on the Asian Market. 1.00 p.m. Mr. Takeo TAKIUCHI (The Patent Office, Japan) Entrepreneurship through Technology Transfer in Silicon Valley. 1.20 p.m. Mr. Kenji UCHIDA (The Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc., Japan) Setting Up New Ventures In-house at Kansai Electric Power Company. 1.40 p.m. Mr. Zhi-Jie ZENG (CITIC Pacific, Hong Kong) China's WTO bid and the Effect on China's Internet Business. Research Introductions: Mr. Yong-Ky EUM (Hyundai Heavy Industry, Korea) Mr. Jiang FENG (People's Bank of China, PRC) Ms. Xiaohui ZHANG (People's Bank of China, PRC)

12.00 p.m. Mr. Hiroyuki FUNAGURA (Toyobo Co., Ltd., Japan) Digital Subscriber Line Research. 12.15 p.m. Ms. Reiko HAYASAKA (Sankei Shimbun, Japan) The Outlook of the Japanese Press Club. 12.30 p.m. Mr. Toshiya KOINUMA (Asahi Shimbun, Japan) Open Source Software Development and its Influence on the Software Industry. 1.00 p.m. Mr. Hidenori MITSUI (Ministry of Finance, Japan) Comparison of American and Japanese Law Fundamentals: Focusing on Tax Law. 1.20 p.m. Mr. Yoshihiko MURASAWA (The Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc., Japan) Decision-Making Systems of Building Nuclear Power Stations in Japan. 1.40 p.m. Mr. Kiyoshi NOGUCHI (Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan) The Future of Japanese E-commerce.