Japan-U.S. Business Report.(discontinued)(Brief Article)

This is the final issue of the Japan-U.S. Business Report.

I appreciate your forbearance as the report fell further and further behind schedule. Ironically, I always considered it to be first on my list of things to do. However, the demands of publishing the weekly JEI Report and other management responsibilities -- including, most recently, winding up the operations of the Japan Economic Institute -- repeatedly forced a reordering of my priorities. The explosion of information that has accompanied the spread of Internet-based communications, although providing a more complete picture of U.S.-Japan business dealings, also contributed to the delays.

For three decades, the Japan-U.S. Business Report occupied a unique position among the many publications in the United States addressing the multifaceted transpacific relationship. No other report attempted to track, month in and month out, the activities of American and Japanese businesses -- whether of the Fortune 500 variety or small companies unknown outside their specific field -- in the other's stronghold. The result was a fascinating glimpse into the ever-more diverse and complex real world of U.S.-Japan corporate competition and cooperation. Although admittedly biased, I believe that the demise of the Japan-U.S. Business Report will create a void in analysts' understanding of the extensive and constantly evolving commercial relationship between the world's two largest economies.

The ...