Market-opening

This book introduced me to studying fuseki.

I liked it at that time because I could use some of the ideas in a fuseki I could understand, that would be somewhat flexible and keep things simple. After that I've got more interested in studying fuseki.

It's not a dictionary, and is not worth "memorizing". It is interesting to see how each stone develops the game in a given direction.

When I read it I was about IGS 9k*

In this book Kato Masao analizes in detail the Chinese fuseki. This is the first fuseki I've learned: the basic ideas are quite easy to grasp and it allows Black to make a vast zone of influence that White will have to invade, creating a fight where Black can take the advantage. There are few josekis in this book but they are analized in depth - something more useful and interesting than an overview of lots of josekis.

This is a review from the Financial Times in London. JRB Copyright 1994 The Financial Times Limited; Financial Times (London) November 2, 1994, Wednesday By CHRISTOPHER HOWE 'OPENING JAPAN'S FINANCIAL MARKETS' By J. Robert Brown Jr. Routledge, Pounds 45, 272 pages ... The Japanese began systematic preparations to penetrate the western economies about 130 years ago. Serious, large-scale efforts to reverse the process date only from the rise of the Japanese trade surplus in the early 1980s. Given the linguistic, psychological, institutional and other barriers between the parties, it is not surprising that the balance of economic advantage in recent years has seemed to be so much in Japan's favour. Furthermore, although the west is beginning to catch up, at least in consciousness of the problem, the problem itself gets more difficult. For whereas the main challenge used to be how to penetrate the markets for goods, there is now increasing concern with the markets for services and with the obstacles to making a success of direct investment in Japan. J. Robert Brown's book is one of the most interesting accounts of these subjects yet to appear. Based on careful study of the literature and on more than 100 detailed interviews, it throws new light not only on the banking sector, but on the wider issue of how public and private sectors can interact in the process of market opening. A small number of western banks had established themselves in Japan before the Pacific War, including the old British Far Eastern banks, and Citibank, representing America. These mainly supported foreign trade and the banking needs of foreign companies in Japan. In the case of Citibank, at least, care was taken not to compete with domestic banks, on whom it relied for advice on local creditworthiness. During the post-war occupation, foreign banks had a new opportunity to re-enter the market and three prominent American Banks did so. Again, however, the foreigners were sidelined rather than integrated into the mainstream of the financial system, focusing on trade finance and short- to medium-term dollar lending. After the occupation, the Japanese government and the Ministry of Finance (MOF) resumed control. No new foreign entrants were allowed in for many years and a highly regulated financial system was established. In this system, Japanese institutions were assigned designated, highly specialized roles and the volume, direction and price of credit flows were each tightly controlled by an MOF with enormous legal and discretionary authority. The only way in which foreigners could be fitted into the picture was to restrict them to specific classes of business, such as foreign exchange, trade and dollar lending. Foreign banks acquiesced in these arrangements through much of the 1960s and early 1970s partly because their niches were exceptionally profitable. So much so, that in the early 1960s Citibank's profits from only four branches were larger than those of Fuji Bank, the largest of the Japanese City Banks. The other reason for acquiescence was that in the Japanese system, since banks rather than security markets were the main source of industrial finance, they were called upon to provide what was in reality a form of risk-sharing, equity finance, and were also expected by the authorities to provide both leadership and, when necessary, bail-outs for large companies. At the time, western bankers, with their short term, balance sheet approach to lending, found these practices unacceptable and hence were unwilling to undertake a lead role in company lending, even had they been encouraged to do so. All this began to collapse after the oil shock of the 1970s and the rise of US-Japan trade frictions in the 1980s. What Brown brings out so clearly is that liberalisation and market opening occurred because it was in the interests of both the western banks and the Japanese City Banks. Both sides wanted new instruments and avenues to funds and both wanted abolition of the old division between banking and securities business. The government had ultimately to agree to change, and all that this entailed, because of its need for large-scale bond financing to cover its budgetary deficit. Brown also shows that, although driven by these underlying factors, the occasion of the big breakthrough was the Reagan-Nakasone summit of 1983, when an embarrassing absence of business allowed the Americans to put the financial services issue on an unexpectedly high-level agenda. In spite of all the change and the formal steps towards liberalisation that have taken place, the longer term results remain disappointing. On the positive side, examples such as Citibank have shown that by taking a long view and making a careful analysis of the market, by a shrewd combination of conformity and innovation, and by good training and personnel policies, it is possible to make a success of business in Japan. On the other hand, the overall profitability and market shares of western banks as a group, remain very low. A fundamental reason for this is that there remain strong traditional elements in both the relationships between the financial system and the MOF, and between the institutions and their customers. Whether the political economy of the post-'Bubble' era will change this, or whether western companies will adapt even more flexibly to Japanese ways, remain fascinating questions for the future.

Where was this book my first year of college? Choosing a major and making other good choices in my life would have been much easier. However, the idea of "career volunteering" was the one thing that set me on the right path.

It's the night of Maggie Kean's first opening. Her sculptures will be on display for the public. She is very nervous. Mark, the manager and overseer of the Outlook, the upscale gallery for her show, introduces her to Henry Duran who is interested in her sculptures. But, he wants something with a little more edge to it. She takes him into the studio in back to show him one of her sculptures that didn't make it into the show. She feels it might be just what he is looking for. On their way back there, she smells something burning. Without thinking, she opens the peephole on the kiln in the firing room and finds a man curled up in the kiln, dead.

Maggie's boyfriend, Detective Sam Villari, is in charge of the investigation. While he is working, she is questioned by another detective.

Maggie and Villari have a very volatile relationship. He loves her and readily admits it. Maggie isn't sure what she feels and definitely can't voice it.

Mark and his wife Jamie seem to be having trouble. Mark says Jamie is distant and won't talk to him. Maggie has spoken to Jamie about it, and she says work is just busy. Maggie does not believe this to be what is causing their trouble, but she isn't certain what is. Then Maggie follows Jamie when she gets into a black car with another man. Unfortunately Maggie's car is not very good. She ends up losing them.

She, Duran and Maggie's friend Lisa begin investigating. They are looking into various leads to determine who killed Jeff Riley and why. They find themselves in some very interesting predicaments and often in danger.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Maggie Kean is the girl next door, but she has her own baggage as well. Her relationship with Villari is on again, off again. You never really know what's up. Her car really adds to the story as well. Her friend Lisa is terrific and sticks with her through thick and thin. Duran is a character in and of himself. He is so well written and described. I wonder if he'll be in future books.

I am not an art fan, but this was such an enjoyable read, that I never really thought about it. I highly recommend this book and look forward to reading more!

She's at it again! Magnificent, and sometimes mysterious, Maggie Keane tries to live a normal life. All she wants to do is build a reputation as a respectable and talented artist, while cuddling up in her favorite sweatshirt with the love of her life. Never mind that the sweatshirt has seen better days and that she is completely blind to her feelings for Sam. She's just going about her business the best way she knows how and wham! A dead body appears in the middle of it.

Well, this is, unfortunately, normal for Maggie, as those of you who have read 'A Dying Art' already know. And as Sam tries to keep her out of danger, Maggie only manages to make matters worse for her man and herself, finding herself in situations that are alternately hilarious and terrifying. Ms. Davis has created a delightful central character who will amuse you and frustrate you, but definitely keep you turning the pages!

An Opening for Murder is the second Maggie Kean mystery and returns the character of the spunky artist/sleuth to new audiences. Here Maggie's involvement with a homicide detective brings new romance, while her professional life is enhanced by a showing of her art - until a body is discovered at the opening, burned in the studio's kiln. Suddenly Maggie's back in the middle of a murder mystery in this compelling mystery.

The book only gives you a flavor of the context of e-commerce, without going into details (which you won't find strange comparing the table of contents and the number of pages :-). The logic is sometimes strange and some conclusions are questionable. Ok, that might be your first book on e-commerce, but it's far from being your last one, if you really want to understand it. Think !

Opening Digital Market: Battle Plans and Business Strategies for Internet Commerce is a must read book for every business professional interested in the world of Internet Commerce. It is very clear, concise, and presents its core arguments in logical and coherent fashion. While the entire book is organized along the lines of e-commerce formulation (technological/organizational challenges) to e-commerce implementation (examples of good business models), it is written such that the reader can easily skip chapters and go to their topic of interest without missing a beat. In the past, I have been thoroughly disappointed with the supply side (firm/technological) emphasis of emerging trends. This is one of the few books that makes a seamless transition between the supply side and demand side (market orientation)and thus manages to offer a holistic perspective of all facets--its challenges, its pitfalls, its multifaceted opportunites--of Internet Commerce.

If you have read "Reengineering the Corporation" by Hammer and Champy, you will see parallels with this book. It seems that the author has adopted a similar style but focused on the Internet, so it is a very practical management handbook that presents a comprehensive framework which is not affected by the day to day Internet developments. Thinking of electronic markets (the author calls them "digital markets") as a primary goal for the Internet is a great way to keep a business focused on the main objective. The book shows many ways to participate in these markets, which Mougayar believes are the markets where future competition really counts. We used the book here for our own purposes, and it did have an impact on our thinking. I concur that I wouldn't want too many of my competition reading this book either.

You have to be impressed with Farrer's ability to dive into the most awkward edge of a complex and fluid society and emerge with such clarity of analysis conveyed in engaging prose. He belongs to that school of social research that believes in letting the reader in on the process of study as well as its conclusions, and the book is all the more enjoyable because the reader can follow the author along on his ventures into the clubs and parties of Shanghai night life (all the more easily imagined with the help of the photos by Fritz Hoffman). The result is a carefully balanced book that swings easily from anecdote to interpretation. The individuals whose stories Farrer tells are never reduced to types or mere data, but are brought to life in the telling of their social and sexual negotiations. Farrer's fieldwork was obviously caeful and thorough, and readers can see for themselves how he made the most of his situation as an outsider who spoke the local language, a participant-observer not directly a part of the scene (and competition).

But the stories are only the exemplars for a sophisticated analysis of the tropes used by the people of Shanghai to characterize themselves and others in a period of significant transformation of mores. Because Farrer's research extended over time, we are able to see shifts in the application of these tropes both collectively and by individuals. The local typology is applied to people, places, situations, even body-parts, and obviously emerges from the author's close listening, rather than being imposed from outside. His rhetoric-analysis approach is a smart choice: he lets his subjects describe themselves, with their own candor often undermining the self-images they try to promote. The book shows the great advantage to patient listening, from which the author has spun a fascinating account of identities-in-flux at the very edge where human identity is formed first: in that anxious, self-conscious, furtive bonding that forms the most basic constituent of human society.

Anyone who has spent any time in Shanghai knows that it is a city dripping with sex, from its "Wh*re of the Orient" label filtered down to the frolicking bra ads in the subway, the come-hither looks of Maoming Lu bar girls, and the ubiquitous revealing, form-fitting fashions. Yet for all of Shanghai's sexuality, it is decidedly unsensual due to the determined twinge of commercial opportunity that sours every interaction.

In Shanghai, money is sexy and sex is financial, a phenomenon that dominates James Farrer's intriguingly accurate but densely academic study of the city's recent sexual revolution. The characters and scenarios presented in Opening Up: Youth Sex Culture and Market Reform in Shanghai will be entertainingly familiar to residents of Shanghai or any other major Chinese city. Observers who have paid more than passing attention to sex in the city will be gratified for this rigorous quantification of the subject, but they will also probably be frustrated at the dense and distracting academic dialectic attempts to fit Shanghai into some postmodern deconstructive box.

Farrer combs comprehensively through all strata of Shanghai society, from the "Low Corner" blue-collars and marginalized unemployed to the downtown "little white collars" to the middle-aged "old cabbage leaves." These different classes and generations are dissected along with their respective mating rituals and the venues in which they are executed. There is a heavier focus on young white collar women, understandable given the author's perspective as an American married to one of them and his readership's likely greater exposure to and interest (prurient or otherwise) that group.

Opening Up is a compelling read for its descriptions and dissections, presented in a fondly familiar tone, but its pace slows when it switches into dense, formal "sexuality studies" mode. The dense dialectical discourses of Foucault have little off-campus appeal. Farrer has an annoying fondness for the concept of irony, finding it improbably under every leaf and stone of Shanghai's sexual dialogue. He even describes the novel Shanghai Baby, straitforwardly self-important to the point of farce, as ironic, while the only thing ironic about it is the seriousness with which Western readers treat it.

As such, Opening Up is best read in piecemeal. Start with the last chapter, "Play: Dance and Sex," a hilarious catalogue of Shanghai's various night spots and their respective sexual mores. Then jump to chapter three, "Characters: Big and Small" for an itemization of archetypes and stereotypes, lest you confuse your "KTV misses," "fishing girls" and "golden birds". Chapters four to eight are loosely grouped case studies that make for good leisurely perusing, and the densely theoretical introduction and first two chapters require either skimming or intensive plowing.

With its detailed documentation of Shanghai's sexual and romantic practices, narratives, expectations and limitations, much of which holds true for the rest of urban China, Opening Up is an interesting read for anyone interested in modern China and an indispensable blueprint for foreigners wishing to date Chinese.

As an anthropologist of Asia, I found this book sensitively written with the sort of rich detail that only comes from years of systematic field work, in this case, exclusively in Shanghai. The data is exhaustive and the facts well documented. (Although the footnote style makes references excruciatingly difficult to follow).

The book is also a pleasure to read. Rather than the usual heavy-handed dose of cultural theory with thin ethnographic data, we plunge into an amusing and readable narrative that is a tour through contemporary Shanghai's cultural scene, into poor neighborhoods, flashy discotheques and even back in time to the early 1980s (though arguably not back far enough to when Shanghai was really interesting -- the 1930`s and 40`s)

As a scholar I also found the introduction to the book particularly helpful. It is employs an innovative take on Kenneth Burke`s theory of rhetoric to analyze how popular representations and practices of sexuality are transformed in a complex changing social and economic context of Shanghai.

Farrer is able to bring to life the dynamics and contradictions -- sexual, social and economic -- that these young people face. This is very unusual in academic writing of any kind. I was struck by the way that he saw narratives of sexual play as important devices in the marking out of new moral terrains as the once-secure Chinese political and social landscapes fade away. I also thought the use of rhetoric theory pointed to new and refreshing approaches to the question of agency within the sociology of culture: Farrer clearly shows the struggle that young people in China are facing and how they deploy in innovative ways cultural forms from a wide range of global contexts to bear upon the immediate situation. I personally would have liked to see some more historical tracing of some of these discourses, but that would have been another study.

Read the book itself to find out. It is facinating material and makes a theoretical contribution to the scholarly literature.

So we have a contemporary novel set in a UK seashore resort where a young aspiring actress (and I use the word actress very liberally here) accepts the lead role in a play about sex .....

Our heroine, Holly, while asleep, has a pernicious tendency to have erotic dreams, and, while shes awake, well shes pretty much naked, spread eagle for just about everyone. Yup, even the people she hates have total access to her body .....

OK.. in my view, erotica has to have some element pursuit, capture and ultimate sweet submission, but, when you are nothing more than a live action porn actress you don't have erotica but rater a very very long Penthouse letter ....