Area within which goods may be landed, handled, and re-exported freely. The purpose is to remove obstacles to trade and to permit quick turnaround of ships and planes. Only when the goods are moved to consumers within the country in which the zone is located do they become subject to tariffs and customs regulation. Free-trade zones are found around major seaports, international airports, and national frontiers; there are more than 200 such zones in the U.S. alone.
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Staff of a state's international-affairs department that represents the state's interests in foreign countries. It fulfills two functions, diplomatic and consular. The standards for foreign-service jobs are similar in most countries. Before the 20th century, wealth, aristocratic standing, and political connections were the chief requirements for high-ranking diplomatic positions. Political appointees still hold the top positions in many foreign missions, but their subordinates generally must demonstrate their education and intellectual ability through a competitive examination. Foreign-service personnel have special legal rights (e.g., they do not have to pay taxes to their host country). Seealso ambassador.
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Study of the relations of states with each other and with international organizations and certain subnational entities (e.g., bureaucracies and political parties). It is related to a number of other academic disciplines, including political science, geography, history, economics, law, sociology, psychology, and philosophy. The field emerged at the beginning of the 20th century largely in the West and particularly in the U.S. as that country grew in power and influence. The study of international relations has always been heavily influenced by normative considerations, such as the goal of reducing armed conflict and increasing international cooperation. At the beginning of the 21st century, research focused on issues such as terrorism, religious and ethnic conflict, the emergence of substate and nonstate entities, the spread of weapons of mass destruction and efforts to counter nuclear proliferation, and the development of international institutions.
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Organized effort to spread the Christian faith. St. Paul evangelized much of Asia Minor and Greece, and the new religion spread rapidly along the trade routes of the Roman Empire. The advance of Christianity slowed with the disintegration of the Roman Empire after AD 500 and the growth of Arab power in the 7th–8th century, but Irish and Anglo-Saxon missionaries continued to spread the faith in western and northern Europe, while missionaries of the Greek church in Constantinople worked in eastern Europe and Russia. Missions to Islamic areas and Asia began in the medieval period, and when Spain, Portugal, and France established overseas empires in the 16th century, the Roman Catholic church sent missionaries to the Americas and the Philippines. A renewed wave of Roman Catholic missionary work in the 19th century focused on Africa and Asia. Protestant churches were slower to undertake foreign missions, but in the 19th and early 20th century there was a great upsurge in Protestant missionary activity. Missionary work continues today, though it is often discouraged by the governments of former European colonies that have won independence.
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Transfer of capital, goods, or services from one country to another. Foreign aid may be given in the form of capital transfers or technical assistance and training for either civilian or military purposes. Its use in the modern era began in the 18th century, when Prussia subsidized some of its allies. After World War II, foreign aid developed into a more sophisticated instrument of foreign policy. International organizations, such as the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, were created to provide aid to war-ravaged countries and newly freed colonies. Foreign aid is often given with conditions attached, such as the requirement that all or part of it be used to buy goods from the donor country. Seealso International Monetary Fund; Marshall Plan; World Bank.
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A foreign-born Japanese (Japanese:日本国籍取得者, nihon kokuseki shitokusha, literally "person who has acquired Japanese citizenship") are Japanese people of foreign descent or heritage, is a person who was originally born outside Japan and later acquired Japanese citizenship. This category encompasses persons of both Japanese and non-Japanese descent. The former subcategory is considered because of intricacies of national and international laws regarding the citizenship of newborn persons.
By Japanese laws, adult persons generally cannot hold both foreign citizenship and Japanese citizenship (dual nationality):
No law forbids a foreign-born Japanese to be elected as a member of Diet (as Marutei Tsurunen in fact became one). Theoretically, therefore, a foreign-born Japanese can become the Prime Minister of Japan. If this were to happen, it would repeat what happened in France in 2005, when Moroccan-born Dominique de Villepin, a member of the French National Assembly, was appointed Prime Minister. It would also repeat what has happened in Canada, the US and Israel many times since their respective foundings. Prominent politicians, born outside Canada, the US or Israel, but serving in a Canadian, American or Israeli legislature, have included former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir (born in what is now Ukraine), British-born former Canadian Prime Minister John Turner and Hungarian-born Tom Lantos, a former member of the US House of Representatives
Probably because of the difficulty of gaining citizenship and because of cultural difference, foreign-born Japanese people account for a very small percentage of the demography in Japan. Many who are born and live in Japan permanently, particularly Korean and Chinese, tend to maintain their citizenship. There has been a constant discussion among the government and lawmakers whether to give them some status similar to that of a permanent resident in the United States.
This contrasts with countries, such as most of those in Western Europe, Poland, Canada, the US, Australia, Israel and most Arab states, where people born natively are allowed to hold dual nationality, even if they are not automatically given the citizenship of their country of birth. In some cases, people born in those countries automatically acquire the citizenship of their country of birth.
Europeans in Japan, Japanese people of European heritage, European is fluent in Japanese.