The result of a conference jointly sponsored by the Asia Program of the Wilson Center and the MIT-Japan Science and Technology Program, these papers suggest that America must better understand its major high-tech competitor, Japan, if it wishes to balance our bilateral relationship. The challenge of overcoming America's technical illiteracy about Japanese science and technology requires awareness of the importance of training scientists and engineers in the Japanese language, increased funding for applied Japanese language studies, and a commitment by U.S. corporations to employ Americans that acquire foreign language and area expertise. Co-published with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.