Given these statistics, it is imperative that Americans increase their knowledge and understanding of Japan. The current ascendance of the Asia-Pacific region confirms the old prognostication that the Pacific would be the ocean of the future. We are, indeed, in the age of the Pacific. Further, Japan is a preeminent nation in the region and a harbinger of future developments. Through Japan, the larger context of the Asia-Pacific region can be explored and students can be introduced to current realities.
Japan is an important part of Asia-Pacific dynamism.
This fact cannot be overstated. Reports confirm that during the past decade, air-traffic growth in Asia has outpaced the rest of the world. Further, this trend is fully expected to continue for at least the next ten years. The top five competitive countries for 1994 are the U. S., Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, and Germany. Japan and the U.S. are increasingly interdependent.