PWRI Web Magazine Editorial Staff
P.R. Managerial Meeting
<Tsukuba>
General Manager: Dr.Kazunori Wada, Representative managers: Mr. Eiji Aoki, Ms. Harumi Moriki, Mr. Toshio Yarimizo, Mr. Masuo Kondo, Mr. Minoru Kikuchi, Managers: Mr. Yoshiaki Sato, Mr. Takahiro Yamanashi, Mr. Akira Kamakura, Mr. Takayuki Ayabe, Ms. Yuko Nagaya, Mr. Yuya Kato, Mr. Junji Kato, Dr. Masatoshi Denda, Mr. Hiroki Sakamoto, Mr. Takeshi Shimizu, Mr. Nobuharu Isago, Mr. Yoshikazu Shimizu, Mr. Yasushi Josen
<CERI>
General Manager: Dr. Atsushi Yoshii, Managers: Mr. Hiroshi Ota, Mr. Satoshi Mori, Mr.Yoshio Ninomiya, Mr.Morito Takahashi, Mr. Hiroyasu Kyoshi, Dr. Motoki Asano, Dr. Yoshiaki Hideshima, Mr. Yukinori Outi

Editor´s Note

This is the 19th issue of the web magazine. Three whole years now have passed since it was established, and with the next issue, we will be entering our fourth year.
Unlike articles in printed media, those on websites have the advantage that anyone can search them using keywords.
In this global price war, export industry of Japan is in financial difficulties caused by strong yen and mass-produced products coming from countries with low labor costs. However, according to documents such as "Lifestyles in Saudi Arabia" from the Japan External Trade Organization, when it comes to the thawb, an Arabian garment, "although ready-made thawbs manufactured in factories are appeared on the market, Japanese-made cloths for the production of thawbs entries into the market too". I checked the company involved and found that it was a textile company in Hokuriku of Japan. Although it seems that times are tough following the Lehman crash, Japanese cloth is still a very popular premium product.
Speaking of clothing, the 9th issue of Sendai City promotion magazine "Sendai New" featured a connection between the design of the Star Wars' Darth Vader costume and that of Date Masamune (1567-1636) who was a samurai warrior during the age of Japan's provincial wars. The article describes a book on Star Wars published in the USA, and includes a photograph of the book which shows pictures of the helmet section of Date Masamune's "Kuro-urushi Gomai Dogusoku" (literally "black-lacquered five-part body armor") and Darth Vader's helmet placed side by side. It is intriguing that a helmet produced by Japanese artisans in the 16th century has had an influence on Hollywood, USA in the 20th. In fact, the design of Masamune's black armor itself took inspiration from Li Keyong, a military commander in the Tang Dynasty, whose nickname was Dokuganryu (the One-eyed Dragon) due to a handicap in one of his eyes.
"Europe", the PR magazine of the Delegation of the European Union to Japan, has been tracking the trends followed by the euro since its establishment as the official currency of the EU, these having a large impact on the strong yen, the effects of which Japan is currently suffering. The October, November and December 2000, issues featured in-depth articles describing, from the European point of view, the diplomatic maneuvering over currency that surrounded the request of the Hussein administration of Iraq in October 2000 to change payment of export charges for crude oil from the U.S. dollar to the euro.
In this way, interesting PR magazines and reports that are available free on websites can easily circulate information to various kinds of people in addition to specialists on history or economics. Recently, with our Web Magazine becoming richer in content, we have been receiving inquiries asking if some of the photos in the magazine can be used in teaching material for junior high school students or if graphs can be re-printed in newspapers. I think this is a sign that our publicity activities, aimed toward general public, have begun to bear fruit.

(Yoshiaki Sato)