Manufacturing DI in Kansai continues to improve: OIA survey
The economy in the Kansai region remains on a recovery track, according to a survey by the Osaka Industrial Association (OIA). The survey of OIA members, conducted in May, showed that the diffusion index (DI) for all industries in the region for the April-June period improved by 12.1 points since the last survey in February to minus 1.8. The index has been improving continually since August 1998.The DI represents the percentage of companies that feel business is favorable minus those that feel it is unfavorable.
Capital investment improved from the previous survey and appear to be on a steady recovery track.
However, personal consumption is still deteriorating as a whole, though improvement is seen in some sectors, showing that full recovery of consumption is still way ahead.
Meanwhile, the business performance index for the same period improved by 3.2 points to minus 6.9 due to a recovery of the manufacturing sector, contrary to predictions of deterioration. The business performance index is expected to maintain improvement.
Nara outlines project for international exchange
The Nara Prefectural Government has outlined plans for creating a base for international exchanges through cultural Japanese heritage. The project, called the "Project for Creating Exchange Opportunities in Yamato Road ," will involve 1) the building of a data base for providing information on tourist resources, such as temples, shrines, parks and lodging facilities, in Nara Prefecture, 2) the creation of an Internet-based tourist information system called "Yamato Road Archive(tentative name)," and 3) strategic development of tourist promotion events to be called "Yamato Road Historical and Cultural Metropolis Project (tentative name)."The Nara Prefectural Government plans to carry out various projects based on the concept in the next 10 years, hoping to create a space Japanese and foreign tourists will find as an oasis of the Kansai district.
Co-generation saves energy by 14%: Osaka Gas survey
Cogeneration enables households to save energy consumption by 14% and reduce heating and lighting costs by 10% annually. This was confirmed in an experiment of residential gas engine co-generation system developed by Osaka Gas Co. The system consisted of a 1.8-kilowatt gas engine and a hot water/heat supply device using exhaust heat.The experiment was conducted, for the first time in Japan, from March through May in a model house built at the company's Utilization Technology Department, on the assumption that a family of four (a couple and two children) lives there. In the experiment, the cogeneration system consumed 7.5%-16.3% less energy than conventional power generation and reduced lighting and heating costs.
Osaka Gas says it would continue the study to gather more data on cogeneration, hoping to raise the system's exhaust heat recovery ratio and durability and further reduce costs.
Ine Town to promote tourism with legend of "Urashima Taro"
Ine Town, Kyoto Prefecture, plans to promote tourism by holding various events related to "Urashima Taro," the tale of a local fisherman who is said to have visited the fabulous "Ryugujo" undersea palace.As part of the events, the town office will host on July 1(Saturday) and 2 (Sunday) a meeting of representatives of communities all over Japan where similar legends are bequeathed.
The meeting, to be called "Urashima Summit," will discuss economic development and promotion of tourism through publicity of local legends. During the two-day meeting, folklorist Taryo Obayashi, honorary professor of the University of Tokyo, will deliver a lecture on the legend of Urashima Taro on the second day. A panel discussion on the legend is also scheduled.
The Urashima Summit will serve as a prelude to the All-Japan Meeting for Making a Rich Ocean to be hosted by Ine Town in October. The Urashima Taro legend bequeathed to the town's Urashima Shrine is said to be the oldest in Japan.
Now that Urashima Taro has become its No.1 tourist attraction, the town has opened a commemorative park to publicize the legend.
The town office hopes that the forthcoming "Urashima Summit" will offer an opportunity for bolstering its name recognition throughout Japan.
Scientist awarded honorary degree from U.S. university
Hidesaburo Hanafusa, an internationally known specialist in oncogenes, has been awarded an honorary doctor of science degree by the Rockefeller University in the United States. Hanafusa, who currently serves as director of the Osaka Bioscience Institute, is the first Japanese to receive the prestigious award from the American university.Rockefeller University, which has produced a large number of world-renowned scientists who have contributed to the progress of medical science, including the Japanese-born pathologist Hideyo Noguchi, annually grants an honorary doctor's degree to renowned scientists of the world.
Hanafusa, graduated from the school of science of Osaka University in 1953 and went to the United States to pursue his pathological studies.
He served as professor at Rockefeller University 1973-1998 and currently is a professor emeritus of the university. His research on cancer-causing genes has unraveled the workings of cancer and earned him international recognition.
He also won the prestigious Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 1982. Hanafusa assumed the post of director of the Osaka Bioscience Institute in October 1998.
Mie Pref. to open venture promotion club in Osaka
The Mie Prefectural Government will shortly open in Osaka a membership club for supporting the establishment of venture companies. The club, to be called "Osaka Venture Salon" and located at the prefectural government's Osaka regional office, will be part of the prefectural government's efforts to offer comprehensive services to assist the start-up of new businesses.It will cooperate with the Mie Industry and Enterprise Support Center, established in April, to give entrepreneurs advice on how to obtain technology and information, raise funds, and recruit employees, all of which are necessary for starting new businesses.
The "Salon" will hold various events for members, such as seminars by specialists in various fields and successful venture business owners; technological, financial, managerial and legal consultations; and meetings with owners of venture companies in Mie Prefecture.
Membership of the Salon will not be limited to businessmen in the prefecture but open to entrepreneurs in the entire Kansai region who intend to start up new businesses. Membership fee is free, in principle.
Kansai in Focus: Traditional ayu fishing endangered in Kansai rivers
The 2000 season of ayu (sweetfish) fishing opened in various rivers in the Kansai region. Anglers rushed to rivers for "tomozuri," a unique way of fishing, with high expectations for a good haul. But in recent years ayu fishing in Kansai has been in danger due to environmental disruptions, such as pollution of river water and the pavement of river banks, as well as the spread of bacterial infection.Anglers normally use hooks with baits or lures to get fish. But tomozuri of ayu fishing involves the use of a live grown-up ayu as a decoy that carries the hook on the abdomen. Each ayu has a territory for its food. When another ayu invades his territory, he attacks the abdomen of the invader. The decoy is an invader. The owner of the territory attacks the invader to drive it away from its territory. And it ends up getting hooked.
There are many rivers in Kansai where tomozuri is permitted. The ayu season started already late in May in the Yoshinogawa river, Nara prefecture; Chigusagawa river, Hyogo prefecture; and Aritagawa and Hidakagawa rivers in Wakayama prefecture. With the turn of the month, the ayu season opened in other rivers one after another -the Yasugawa river, Shiga prefecture (June 1); Yuragawa (June 1), Hozugawa (June 4), Miyamagawa (June 11), and Kamikatsuragawa rivers (June 8) in Kyoto prefecture; and the Miyagawa (June 1), Nabarigawa (June 11), and Kushidagawa rivers (June 25) in Mie prefecture. The season starts in July in some rivers.
Local fishing cooperatives, which make preparations for the ayu fishing season, including the setting of the opening dates, the release of fry and the supply of lure ayu, are plagued by various problems which could endanger ayu fishing. Among them are the pollution of river water, the pavement of river banks which has changed the environment of the rivers, and the spread of an infectious disease, known as Flavobacterium Psychrophila (cold water disease), which has stricken and killed a large number of ayu in Kansai rivers. The bacterial infection was first discovered among salmon in the North American continent about 50 years ago and was first detected in Japan at a fish breeding farm in Tokushima prefecture 13 years ago. Ayu develops anemia, bleeding in the lower part of the gill, inflammation and perforation of the body surface, once they are infected by the bacteria and die in two or four days.
Ayu for tomozuri are not only wild ones which were spawned in the sea and returned to their mother rivers but also those artificially hatched and nurtured in fish farms or those caught in Lake Biwa while they were fries and released in rivers. Artificially cultivated ayu or those brought from Lake Biwa are particularly susceptible to the bacterial infection. In some rivers, these artificiality cultivated ayu can now hardly grow.
The spread of the disease has prompted the Shiga Prefectural Fisheries Laboratory to conduct a large-scale study to determine why ayu fries caught in Lake Biwa are susceptible to Flavobacterium Psychrophila. Lake Biwa produces nearly 50% (or 1,200 tons a year) of ayu fries which are released to rivers all over Japan. The study revealed that the bacteria multiplies explosively and fish fall ill in temperatures of 15 to 18 degrees C, but such a phenomena hardly occurs in temperatures above 25 degrees C. It also brought to light the rate of fish that develop the illness can be drastically reduced if ayu fries are kept in water of 23 to 25 degrees C before being released to rivers.
The laboratory has instructed fish farms throughout Kansai to "disinfect" the fish in water of 25 degrees C before releasing them in rivers. It reported that courtesy of its effort, no major outbreak of the disease has been reported in Kansai rivers so far this year. Even so, fishing cooperatives remain on the alert since the temperature of river water is lower this year than normal years. Some fishery cooperatives delayed the release of ayu fries as precautionary measures. Fishery cooperative officials say they will remain nervous until the middle of July, or the midpoint of the ayu season, when river water becomes warmer. (K)