In Japan, some people believe that RoboCop (1987), one of America's finest sci-fi films, was inspired by Robot Detective (1973), Japanese superhero TV drama comprised of 26 episodes now available at Prime Video. Is it true? Although some advertisements affirm it, both the author Shotaro ISHINOMORI (1939-98) himself and his son Jo ONODERA have actually denied the direct influence on the American counterpart. The truth is, ISHINOMORI, not only the King of Manga whose Cyborg 009 series remains popular, but also the giant creator of Japan's superheroes such as Masked Rider and of course Go-Rangers, the progenitors of Power Rangers, was extremely irritated by the sheer fact that he was NOT internationally acknowledged as the first to come up with the idea of a robot police officer as a superhero. In other words, he was disappointed that Robot Detective had been almost forgotten even in his own homeland, obviously thinking that the quality of the children's program did not meet his satisfaction and preferring his own manga version for young adult readers.
However, the TV original of Robot Detective is truly worth watching, deserving reevaluation among people all over the world. In the drama, Robot Detective K (often called just "K") learns how to get along with his human colleague SHINJO (played passionately by Jiro CHIBA, younger brother of Sonny CHIBA) and his irascible but humane boss Daizo SHIBA, not to mention that he, using both martial arts and powerful weapons, fights a variety of villain robots. Just as charmed by RoboCop Murphy and his partner Anne Lewis, you will be also fascinated by the good example of Japan's male relationships which were to help achieve the "Japan as Number One" position from the late 1970s to the early 90s, whose dominant influence can be seen in RoboCop 3 (1993), the worst in the series because the very American essence of Paul Verhoeven's masterpiece was damaged by the completely different values. While it is not unusual that Robot Detective K is helped spiritually by Japanese women including his "Mother," the huge female robot resembling Buddhist deity of mercy, it is really discouraging to see the once invincible RoboCop saved by a nine-year-old American girl at the climax of the movie.
Having seen the culmination of Japan's economic power, Kaku TAKASHINA (1919-94), the actor who played older detective SHIBA, passed away in the following year. He had made his debut in the 1938 war movie Mud and Soldiers as the First Class Private who is killed in action, saying "For the sake of His Majesty the Emperor." I rediscovered Robot Detective as a drama of Japan's high economic growth by paying more attention to TAKASHINA's marvelous acting which undoubtedly contributes to the immortal merit of this TV program for children as if he had left his secret message of encouragement to the future generations of his country.

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The growth of “transnational universities, ” including offshore branch campuses and degree programs provided in partnership with local institutions, is a major factor that made higher education a target of WTO/GATS negotiations. Quality assurance for transnational universities, including approval and evaluation, is a newly emerging issue for national higher education systems in the face of globalization.
This paper analyzes Australia's policy on quality assurance for transnational universities, since Australian universities are extremely active as transnational universities, and because the Commonwealth and State governments of Australia have developed an explicit quality assurance framework for transnational higher education.
The analytical viewpoint adopted in the paper is that for nation states, assuring the quality of transnational universities is a control measure for embracing those universities into their national education system, as a part of their strategic adaptation to globalization. The paper examines whether or not this viewpoint is valid by analyzing quality assurance policies in Australia, a leading country in this regard.
The results of the analysis confirm the validity of the viewpoint, and demonstrate that Australia, as both a supplier and recipient country, is utilizing quality assurance as a control measure for incorporating transnational universities into its national education system. The quality assurance policy of Australia, as a supplier country, is to implement external quality assurance of Australian universities' offshore programs through overseas audit visits by the Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA), while calling upon the universities to develop their own internal quality assurance mechanisms, in order to sustain the brand image of Australian higher education. Its policy as a recipient country is to manage the approval process for foreign universities to operate in Australia, requiring them to have equivalent quality and standards to Australian universities. While there is a difference between the former policy, which is supportive in nature, and the latter, which involves legal regulation in the form of licensing, both policies are instruments that aim to incorporate transnational universities into the national education system, and place them under the nation state's control.
Australia's policies will have significant implications for Japan as it begins to recognize foreign university branch programs, and authorize moves by Japanese universities to open offshore branches, opening up its national borders to transnational universities both into Japan and outwards from Japan.

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本論文では、オーラルヒストリーの手法と統計資料を用いることで、基地依存度の高い 沖縄市が基地経済脱却を目標にどのような政策をとりながら観光経済にシフトしようとし たのかを捉え、その上でどのような問題点と課題があるのかを考察する。また、こうした 観光地化を行う上での現実的な問題点を通して、歴史的に地元民と軍人・軍属の関係性がどのように変化してきたのかをミクロに捉えることも目的としている。その際に戦後から復帰前まで軍人・軍属の娯楽施設だった「A サインクラブ」とそのクラブの要素を多く踏襲した復帰から現在にかけて存在している「ポストA サインクラブ」という演奏空間を通して、上記の内容について考察する。
沖縄市は、「基地の街」という別名を持ち、嘉手納基地を中心に経済発展した。嘉手納基地は「アジア最大の米軍基地」という名で知られるほどの面積を持ち、沖縄市の36％を占めている。特に、嘉手納基地は朝鮮戦争やベトナム戦争の最重要拠点基地だったため、沖縄市には他の市町村の軍人・軍属の数よりもその数が圧倒的に多く、軍人・軍属のための歓楽街まで形成された。
また、沖縄市は「基地の街」とともに「音楽の街」としても認識されている。軍人・軍属の歓楽街では地元民が彼らのために海外のポピュラー音楽を演奏し、「沖縄ロック」や「沖縄ジャズ」と呼ばれる沖縄独自の音楽ジャンルが誕生した。しかし、本土復帰に伴って基地経済は衰退し、軍人・軍属の歓楽街も徐々に衰退していった。沖縄市はこうした状況から基地経済脱却を掲げて、市の音楽資源を活用した地域活性化と観光誘致に取り組み始め、その際に軍人・軍属の娯楽施設だったA サインクラブやポストA サインクラブも観光資源の一つとして活用するようになった。

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