Week 4 - Maegan Enverga

Similar to what was described in “How American Style Fueled Postwar Youth Fashion in Japan” by Chantal Fernandez, social entrepreneurship can assist in a country’s development by boosting the economy. Kensuke Ishizu, for example, recreated men’s fashion in Japan after World War II. From observing the fashion of young adult Americans, Ishizu formed a startup company selling clothing with American-based style (Fernandez). Once Ishizu’s clothing company became popular, his American-inspired clothing eventually traveled to America to build his company internationally. By beginning with a startup company and working towards an international company, Ishizu was able to collect money from the outside to the inside of the borders of Japan, which would boost the country’s economy and therefore the country’s development. Similar startups from Japan generated more companies, including Uniqlo, that helped Japan achieve their national aesthetics status as one of the major producers of some of the most popular fashion for men, as well as a country that developed an economy not simply similar to the time period before World War II, but one seen as one of the most stable economies in the world - an important goal for Japan, according to “Japan’s Grand Strategic Shift from Yoshida to Koizumi: Reflections on Japan’s Strategic Focus in the 21st Century” by Tang Siew Man.

Question: In assisting a country’s development of rebranding or achieving maximum national aesthetics status, how can you prevent the consequences of social entrepreneurship, such as resorting to sweatshops to make cheaper products for consumers to purchase?

https://jingdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/uniqlowindow2.jpg

Linda Nguyen-Week 4

Linda Nguyen

ASA189F, National Aesthetics

Dr. Valverde

1/28/2017

I believe a country remade itself by focusing on what represented the country as a whole. In other words, placing the high value on tradition would be something that Japan would remake itself. This can be illustrated in the reading How American Style Fueled Postwar Youth Fashion In Japan by Chantal Fernandez. Social entrepreneurship is a concept that captures a unique approach to economic and social problems. Social entrepreneurship applies to practical, innovative and sustainable approaches to benefit society in general (Week 3 Lecture 2). Social entrepreneurship is an approach that sets the social entrepreneur apart from the rest. It is important to learn these skills: manager skills, technical skills (qualitative and quantitative), and in order to achieve success. In addition, having a practical and innovative stance to a social problem, thinking outside the box, a healthy impatience, and a zeal to measure and monitor their impact (Week 3 Lecture 2). According to the legislation, social entrepreneurs model will be “considered for special treatment” in granting of licenses and certificates in Vietnam, particularly in the village of Duong O, Bac Ninh province. Social enterprise Zo wants to find an alternative to keep the tradition of making a traditional paper called Do alive by creating a demand for the paper by finding modern uses (i.e., lamps, notebooks, envelopes and greetings cards) (Jenkins 2015). Social enterprises are important to meet the needs of a developing country like Vietnamese where business and government struggle to solve problems of poverty, social inequality, and environmental pressure [as well as the economy] (Jenkins 2015). Entrepreneurs can help people like Huong and her family, and three other left in the area in keeping the industry alive, open job availability to everyone – no matter their ability (Jenkins 2015). A social entrepreneur assists in a Vietnamese’ development by obtaining enterprises to cover operational and administration costs (Jenkins 2015). Vietnamese like the idea of social enterprises when they first learned about them and it would be a good start for everyone who wants to establish social enterprises. However, Vietnamese people faces problems with money and are cautious about the risks (Jenkins 2015). Nevertheless, social enterprises should be welcomed in Vietnam because of their benefits and contribution to the country.

In relation to how a social entrepreneur assists in a country’s development would be Yoshida’s  Doctrine (Man 117). The three tenets of the Yoshida doctrine follow: The prime national goal is Japan’s economic rehabilitation, Japan should remain lightly armed and avoid involvement in international political-strategic issues, and to gain a long-time guarantee for its own security (Man 118). Japan opted for an approach by introducing the idea of “acting together, advancing together” (Man 134). In addition, this vision, with undertones of inclusiveness and partnership, it addresses Japan’s current and future strategic interest. Japan’s primary goal was to legitimate Japanese leadership and “establishing a cooperative linkage among regional member” (Man 134). Next, in relation to social entrepreneurship, Japan successfully created national aesthetics by the idea of America is informed by foreign countries (i.e., Japan) importing it back (Fernandez 6). In other words, Japan took the idea of Ivy League fashion, pushed it, and make something new that reflected their history and their country’s tradition. “When somebody is young and wearing a button-down shirt it’s not, ‘I love Ivy League’; it’s ‘I love this tradition that is my country’s tradition.’” (Fernandez 6).

Question: What are some ways (or effort) the government can do to encourage, support, promote the development of social entrepreneurship in countries like Vietnam? And what are some ways social enterprise can convince Vietnamese people by both investors and customers’ skepticism about social enterprise’s motives and fear of corruption?

Tradition paper-making

Chung Hong Nhung is creating a demand for Do paper by
finding modern uses (i.e., lamps, notebooks envelops, and greeting cards)

Sources:

Fernandez, Chantal. "How American Style Fueled Postwar Youth Fashion In Japan."  Fashionista, 2 

     Dec. 2015. Web. 27 Jan. 2017.

     <https://canvas.ucdavis.edu/courses/72045/files/folder/Readings/Week4?preview=683710>.

Harris, Peter, Christopher Whalen, Gregory Tozzi, and Daniel R. DePetris. "Why Japan Will Never 

     Be a Permanent Member of the UN Security Council." The National Interest. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 

     Jan. 2017. <http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/why-japan-will-never-be-permanent-member-

     the-un-security-11014>.

http://thisisgoodwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/goodwork-vietnam2.jpg

http://thisisgoodwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/goodwork-vietnam5.jpg

Jenkin, Matthew. "It's not charity: the rise of social enterprise in Vietnam." International social 

     enterprise. Guardian News and Media, 31 Mar. 2015. Web. 28 Jan. 2017. 

     <https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/mar/31/its-not-charity-the-rise-of-

     social-enterprise-in-vietnam>.

Week 4- Anya Reames

Social Entrepreneurship and Japan

Japan was able to remake itself after the war with the US in the 1940s by focusing their resources on economic development rather than on arms. Social entrepreneurs helped the countries develop by overcoming a social or an economic problem and by achieving large scale, systematic, and sustainable change. One such example is Kensuke Ishizu who tackled the problem of providing a “functional uniform for the emerging middle class.” Kensuke Ishizu brought over American “Ivy League” fashion and it took off, solving the needs of the middle class while simultaneously creating a large scale and systematic change.  (1)

Currently Japan’s national asthetic is very good amongst the international community when it comes to admiring the culture and the fashion. However, amongst the international diplomatic community Japan is still somewhat lacking as it has limited its involvement in international affairs. Although Japan sends vast amounts of aid to other countries, its lack of “human resources” for peacekeeping or members in the UN are what’s causing a poor image in the international political arena.  The Koizumi administration sought to change this. (3) However, much needs to be done, Japan is still not a permanent member of the United Nations Security council. China still has a negative view of Japan’s lack of international participation and thus is expected to veto Japan’s permanent entrance to the UN Security council.  (2) Hopefully with time this will change.

              King Louis XIV of France was in a way a social entrepreneur. He tackled a problem, France’s poor image, and created a systematic and long term change by making it the fashion and luxury capital of the world. To this very day, France is seen as relating to beauty, luxury, and refinement. Its changes have been long lasting. France had originally been inspired by the high quality cloth from other countries that it soon overtook.

This begs the question, “How can a country maintain its culture while simultaneously taking ideas from other cultures such as France being inspired by foreign cloth and Kensuke Ishizu being inspired by the Ivy League fashion.”

Citations:

(1)    Fernandez, Chantal. "How American Style Fueled Postwar Youth Fashion In Japan."  Fashionista, 2 Dec. 2015. Web. 27 Jan. 2017.<https://canvas.ucdavis.edu/courses/72045/files/folder/Readings/Week4?preview=683710>.

(2)    Harris, Peter, Christopher Whalen, Gregory Tozzi, and Daniel R. DePetris. "Why Japan Will Never Be a Permanent Member of the UN Security Council." The National Interest. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Jan. 2017. <http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/why-japan-will-never-be-permanent-member-the-un-security-11014>.

(3)    Man, Tang Siew. "Japan's Grand Strategic Shift from Yoshida to Koizumi: Reflections on Japan's Strategic Focus in the 21st Century." Akademika 70 (2007): 117-36. 1 Jan. 2014. Web. 27 Jan. 2017

Photo Citation:

http://streetgentry.co.uk/cloth/style-sheet-japanese-ivy-league-style

Week 4 - Angela Nguyen

In Japan’s Grand Strategic Shift from Yoshida to Koizumi: Reflections on Japan’s Strategic Focus in the 21st Century, Tang Siew Man discusses about the political influences Yoshida and Koizumi had on Japan. The article argues that the leadership of Koizumi was more successful and impactful than that of Yoshida’s and this was due to how matters were like during that time period. How Koizumi was more successful was he was able to make the Japanese care about their country and politics more by painting the idea that Japan was going to reform through elections. He kept running elections and was able to bring big changes to Japanese politics such as nationalising party politics, weakening the major clientelistic relations in the country, and shifted the focus of elections from being less local as they were before. Koizumi took on many actions during his leadership that helped to improve and redefine political matters in Japan of which leads to how the country runs today.

Japan following the Meiji Restoration Era went through a lot of hardships and difficulties, but the country was able to remake itself by focusing on improving its economy. This strategy was so important because through its methods, such as clientelism and privatisation, Japan was able to lift away from being one of the countries with the worst economy in the world to being amongst the top now. Elaborating more on the country and its strategies, social entrepreneurship really assisted Japan with development because its unique ways of doing things such as the creation of a Postal Saving System allowed the country to foster growth. One interesting thing that Japan was able to do was to push for a national idea of being unique (Nihonjinron). Through its countries’ value and Japan’s methods of bettering its economy, it is able to thrive so much. 

Question: Japan had a very unique economy and its economy was able to improve at a rapid rate in a very short period of time. If developing countries were to adopt its methods, would they be able to thrive as Japan once did and become one of the top economies in the world like Japan?

Work Cited:

Scheiner, Ethan. 2006. Democracy Without Competition in Japan: Opposition Failure in One-Party Dominant Japan. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Tang Siew Man. “Japan’s Grand Strategic Shift from Yoshida to Koizumi: Reflections on Japan’s Strategic Focus in the 21st Century.”

Picture: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14675448

week 4 yonglin wang

Social entrepreneurship is a perfect embodiment of doing business. Of all the Asian countries.Japan is one of my favorite countries.Exotic culture, delicious sushi, and the world first-class cartoon.But when we talk about said Japan is Japan's largest companies - Toyota.Toyota is one of the world's top ten automotive industry corporation, Japan's largest car company, was founded in 1933.Toyota is affiliated with Toyota consortium.Toyota associated settlement only income of 2006 reached 21.0369 trillion yen, turnover 2.0873 trillion yen, net profit of 1.3721 trillion yen.As of November 2007, a total of 317716 employees.Toyota motor corporation since 2008 gradually replace ford.Toyota motor corp. and ranking the first car manufacturers in the world.Its brands include lexus, Toyota and other series of high school low-end models, etc.So far, Toyota is Japan's biggest companies.Is the world's top 500 enterprises and 8th.Now the country's economy is driven by Toyota in.In 2015, at the same time, the international Olympic committee (IOC) on March 13, have been signed with Japan's Toyota motor corp., the highest partner agreement.This is the first time for Toyota to sign such a agreement.Although at the signing ceremony Akio toyoda has always maintained a bright smile, but the burden of him by the shoulder is what we can't imagine.Toyota announced has for the first quarter of 2015 the performance of the modified budget, performance than the previous quarter is expected to rise 17.8% in the first quarter, up to 2.7 trillion yen, currently operating profit has amounted to 3 trillion yen.As a result, Toyota will be increasing responsibility, government dependence on Toyota will be deepened.But it seems to me that if the Japanese economic development relying on Toyota, can make the distortion of the whole social development, for Toyota also causes huge pressure.The Japanese government's top priority, is to create other than Toyota can contribute to Japanese economic development of the company.


Why the company can do the world's largest car company?In addition to the economic benefits brought it back to Japan?

http://www.toyota.com.cn/about/company.php
http://www.chinatimes.com/cn/newspapers/20150315000039-260203

Week 4 - Katrina Shi

4. How can Social Entrepreneurship assist in a country's development?

Social entrepreneurship is a term that best captures a unique approach to economic or social problems. A social entrepreneur, thus, is someone who is a leader that is able to create large scale change that is both continuous and systematic in nature. Kensuke Ishizu, for example, can be seen as a social entrepreneur. In the readings we see how he, seeing the need to provide the emerging middle class a functional work uniform, thought of incorporating Ivy League style into the designs targeted towards the Japanese young generation at the time. As a result, we see how the change in Japan’s menswear fashion was able to influence its fashion industry and create a culture for Japanese youth that redefined what American style means in the fashion industry. Japan’s fashion achieved success both nationally and across the globe by adopting a more Western style in textiles and attire, allowing Japan to establish a cultural connection to more developed countries such as the US. Combined with the nation’s economic power and its policies to extend foreign diplomacy and influence, the establishment of American style in Japanese menswear fashion allowed for Japan to insert itself into the American consciousness. 

Question: How can a nation best preserve its own unique culture while incorporating elements from other cultures in an effort to diversify and reach out to other countries?