Thursday, May 2, 1963 University Daily Kansan
Page 5
Japanese Society European Rather Than Typically Asian
In India 80 per cent of the population live in small villages. Only 29 per cent of the Japanese people are now living outside of the large cities.
HE EXPLAINED Japan has a compulsory education system for students up to the age of 15. But a great many of the young people in Japan are staying in school beyond 15.
Unlike the rest of Asia, Japan is a country which has gotten past its population problem, he said. The birth rate is half of what it was in 1948 and life expectancy has increased dramatically.
The Japanese society tends to resemble a European society more than an Asian one, an expert on Japan said yesterday.
THE BIRTH RATE in Japan today is lower than in the United States, Olson said. Annual increase in the Japanese birth rate has dropped to about 1 per cent.
Lawrence Olson, the American Universities Field Staff expert on Japan spoke to the Faculty Forum yesterday.
"OUTSIDE OF RUSSIA and the West, Japan is the most highly developed economy in the world," Olson said. "There are many ways in which it differs from the other Asian countries."
The annual per capita income of $500 in Japan is in the European range, higher than any other Asian nation and even higher than some of the poorest European nations, he said.
It is an urban, literate, mobile society, he said. In contrast to the rural, illiterate, sedentary societies of most Asian countries.
OLSON SAID JAPAN stays alive by her trade, and her biggest market today is the United States. But he said the Japanese are now trying to reduce their dependence on the U.S. without cutting the level of trade by starting to diversify its
markets.
THE THIRD YEAR he returns to the United States to tour the 12 universities connected with AUFS and lecture to students. He said he gives about 300 talks in the year.
"The AUFS program brings fresh, current data on foreign countries to the university students," Olson said. "It is more up to date than text books and goes much deeper into the subject than newspapers and magazines."
Europe is the area in which they are concentrating the most effort, he said. They would like to expand their small European market, and become a partner in the European economic organizations.
The job of an American Universities Field Staff representative is a cross between that of a foreign correspondent and an academic researcher, Lawrence Olson, AUFS representative for Japan said yesterday.
AUFS Expert Defines Work As Double Job
He explained that as an AUFS representative he spends two out of every three years in Japan writing papers on his studies.
But in addition to the participating universities, AUFS also sells the papers written by its representatives to businesses, to the government and to many large newspapers and news magazines.
Olson explained that AUFS began 13 years ago, after World War II as one of the many experiments that were being tried to help broaden the horizons of Americans.
Today it has representatives in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. Most of these representatives are in underdeveloped countries although there are some in countries like Japan and Italy, Olson said.
New Sound Tracks
DAVID & LISA
DIAMOND HEAD
THE LONGEST DAY
I COULD GO ON SINGING (Judy Garland)
BELL'S
925 MASS. VI 3-2644
When You're In Doubt, Try it Out—Kansan Classifieds