Re: [tlug] OT: interesting NY times article:High-Tech Japanese, Running Out of Engineers

[Edward Middleton <emiddleton@example.com>]

Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:
>  > There was a huge ongoing debate over whether to allow Korean,
>  > Chinese, and Taiwanese engineers (we were working on a tieup with
>  > an Indian company already) to work at the headquarters as it was
>  > feared that they'd copy everything and do it cheaper when they went
>  > home.
>
> It's funny that the Japanese would fear that, since it's what they did
> so well.  It's sad that on the whole they decided (as many <insert
> non-Japanese ethnicity du jour here> will tell you) to act on their
> fears and keep the foreigners as far away from sensitive technology as
> possible.

Which "sensitive technology" are you referring to.  My understanding of 
Japanese export controls was that they don't even require permanent 
residence to have access to controlled technology.  I don't think the 
issue is so much ethnicity as much as where the non-Japanese person 
holds citizenship.  If you hold citizenship in a country were export 
controls apply (e.g. a communist country) or one in which industrial 
espionage is not really prosecutable, I would image you would have problems.

Edward