Cultural Agency to boost Kansai as cultural center
The Agency for Cultural Affairs has announced that it would promote the 'Kansai genki (vigorous) cultural sphere concept' (a provisional name) for the Kansai region to play a vigorous role in the promotion of culture. The program will cover the Kansai region, centering on Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Hyogo and Shiga Prefectures.An executive committee, comprising representatives of cultural and economic organizations, the mass media and local and central governments, will be established with its secretariat to be located in the Agency of Cultural Affairs. If necessary, a branch office will be established in the Kansai region.
In order to give stimulus to the new undertaking, the Agency will hold a public performance of arts such as a film festival and bunraku (a puppet theater). It will also invite people related to culture from around world to hold a 'Cultural Version of Davos Congress' (an international cultural forum) in Kyoto in November.
Flat light source developed for LED lighting
Omron Corporation (head office: Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto City) has developed a 'flat light source' featuring low profile/large surface area/uniformity aimed at LED (light-emitting diode) illumination. Taking full advantage of its small size/long service life, features inherent to the LED, the 'flat light source' is expected to accelerate the development of technology for unrestricted illumination, such as 'wall-mounted light' and 'portable light.'Using light wave control technology of the currently marketed DR-LED as a base, a precise optics design was implemented for optical beam dispersion to compartmentalize more space, and by doing so, increasing the amount of surface area. The light emitting surface area is 30mm by 30 mm with a thickness of 6mm, giving it about 50 times more illumination surface area than a typical bullet-type LED of the same thickness. The thickness of the new flat light source is only one-tenth to one-fifth of that of a bullet-type LED that would create the same amount of illumination surface area. Moreover, the new technology makes it possible to mix three colors (blue, green and red), which are the three primary colors of light, into a single 'flat light source,' thus making any color possible, something that has proven to be very difficult for light bulbs and fluorescent light.
Business training for Kazakh and Uzbek
Pacific Resources Exchange Center (PREX, Chairman: Mr. Yoshikuni Inoue) has been commissioned by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to conduct an educational program for trainees from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in Central Asia who are studying business management. The program will run through April 8.The seven trainees attending the current program are people enrolled in the business courses at Japan Human Resources Development Centers (Japan Centers) in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, which were established by JICA. The trainees include government officials, university professors and those related to the centers. While enrolled in the program, the group will study quality control, process control and management philosophy through company visits in the Kansai region and Tokyo, and attending lectures at JICA's Osaka International Center (Ibaraki City, Osaka Prefecture), so that its members can learn at the practical level the theories they have studied at Japan Centers.
3rd World Water Forum closes with declaration
The 3rd World Water Forum, which had been held in the prefectures of Kyoto, Osaka and Shiga for eight days, closed on March 23. At the Forum, approximately 24,000 people, including government officials and representatives of citizens' groups from 182 countries and regions around the world, participated in, and discussions were held in 351 sessions under respective themes. The ministerial meeting held on March 23, the closing day, adopted a declaration for the solution of water problems.The governors of Kyoto, Osaka and Shiga Prefectures and mayors of Kyoto, Osaka and Otsu (Shiga Prefecture) cities issued a joint statement calling for the building of a network of residents, governments, businesses and non-profit organizations for the conservation of the water environment, including water quality and the ecosystem, in the entire area that connects Lake Biwa and Osaka Bay. The joint statement also set the goal of building regional communities that are friendly to the environment and that take full advantage of nature and culture of Lake Biwa and the Yodo River basin.
Historic Kansai:Murouji Temple waiting for rhododendron blossoms
By Junzo TanakaUntil a few years ago, I used to see a young brunet with eyes the color of the deep sea every month. She was the moderator of an English conversation study group that met in Osaka monthly through the good offices of a friend of mine. When I first met her, she told me that she is the daughter of an Italian-American father and a Japanese mother. During her five-year stay in Japan, she would visit tourist attractions and historic sites in Japan from time to time with her friends. It seemed that she was eager to absorb what little she could of the culture of her mother's native country.
In our study group meetings, everyone was to speak briefly about his or her recent experiences. Most of the participants were Japanese, but some foreign students and foreign nationals working at companies also attended the meetings. The lady in question was helping one of her relations who was running a trading firm.
At one of our meetings, I spoke about 'Murouji Temple,' a national treasure, in Murou village in Nara. I told her that this temple, which belonged to the Shingon sect (esoteric Buddhism), was called Women's Koya because it allowed women to worship there in the days when Mt. Koya, the head temple of the Shingon sect, was off limits to women. The young lady seemed to be very much interested in this story. True to its popular name, Women's Koya, the buildings and the garden of Murouji Temple are diminutive in scale and very elegant.
When I told her that while five story-pagodas in temples are usually so tall that we had to look up to see them, the pagoda at Murouji Temple was diminutive so that I felt that I could just stretch my arm and touch its roof, she began to take notes. I proceeded to say that after climbing up the lane that extended from the back of the pagoda for some distance and looked back, I was able to see how hinoki (Japanese cypress) barks used to thatch the roof were laid one on top of another at the top of the pagoda. By then, she seemed to be absolutely enchanted, as if she was filling the gaps in my tale caused by my poor English with her own imagination.
When she asked me how to get there, I answered briefly that she could get there by train and then take a bus from the train station. By car, she would be able to get as far as right next to the temple gate. However, I added that it would be better to walk there from as far as possible, because then she would be able to appreciate the joy of the ancient visitors who finally arrived there after a long journey. Then, on a later day, I mailed her a map of the hiking route by post. It turned out that she did indeed walk a great distance to get to the temple. Usually, we take a Kintetsu train from Osaka to Murouguchi-Ono station and then take the bus to Murouji Temple. It is a refreshing walk from the bus stop to the temple gate, but she got off the train several stops ahead of Murouguchi-Ono and walked the Tokai natural walkway for hours.
In September 1998, a typhoon hit the area and some of the trees around the pagoda fell down and partially damaged it. I did not have the heart to tell this to the young lady, who had already returned to America. I did not visit the temple even after its reconstruction two years later. Even though the damage had been repaired, my feeling of sorrow lingered.
The other day, I visited the temple with my wife. It was a joy! Simple red and white coating of the pagoda, which is said to have been built during the Nara or early Heian period (8th or 9th century), was restored. Moreover, its aged beauty was not damaged at all.
From mid-April through May, the area around Murouji Temple is covered with rhododendron blossoms, for which the area is well known. The people at the temple told me to make sure to come back again during the rhododendron season. I plan to ask the young lady, who now lives in San Francisco, to visit Murouji Temple again with prayers for world peace.
Kansai in Focus: Press tour to Tokushima, a charming, high-tech province
The 45th Kansai Press Tour (March 13-14) to Tokushima Prefecture in Shikoku Island, sponsored by Kansai International Public Relations Promotion Office (KIPPO), started with viewing of 'currents of Naruto Strait and whirlpools,' which is one of the three most rapid currents in the world. Members of the tour also visited Ryozenji-Temple, the first place of the Shikoku pilgrimage of 88 holy sites, viewed such traditional culture as Awa indigo dyeing and Awa-Odori dance, and interviewed the presidents of pioneering and high-tech firms.The members of the tour were excited with the tour in Awa, the old name for Tokushima, in the spring. In a bid to become 'Japan's better province,' Tokushima, which has joined the Kansai region with opening of Akashi Kaikyo Bridge connecting the island to mainland Japan, enjoys living with nature, works hard to preserve and promote culture, nurtures world-class chemical and IT firms and has become a charming, high-tech province.
After viewing through the glass the whirlpool from Uzu-no-Michi promenade, built on the Ohnaruto Bridge 45 meters above the sea, the group visited APRO Life Science Institute, Inc. in Naruto City. The firm was founded in 1990 by Dr. Eiji Majima, president, with the backing of Mr. Kim Don-jo, chairman of the firm. It is a venture business with capital of 140 million yen that approaches life science through analyzing protein structure. Despite a small business employing only 23 workers, it won Tokushima New Business Grand Award in 1999 and was designated as a regional science promotion program (RSP) by the central government in 2000. It uses mass spectrometers developed by Mr. Koichi Tanaka, a Nobel Prize laureate for 2002, at Shimadzu Corp., and its business has been expanding sharply as it has been commissioned to conduct analyses by U.S. and other universities and research centers.
The members of the tour enjoyed mingling and dancing with the residents of Tokushima at Awa-Odori Dance Hall in the evening of March 13. Awa-Odori has been danced for 400 years during the Bon Festival (August 12-15), but it can be enjoyed at the Hall every day.
On the second day, the group visited Ryozenji-Temple and then Aino Yakata, a historical museum of Awa indigo, in Aizumi Town, west of Tokushima City. Tokushima is Japan's largest producer of Ai, or indigo. Natural Awa indigo declined at the beginning of the last century due to the imports of inexpensive synthetic indigo from Germany. Since the second half of the 1970s, however, natural Awa indigo and indigo dyeing have been reevaluated as traditional arts and craft. It was interesting to see correspondents from Germany and Switzerland watch intently the deep blue color of Awa indigo.
Nichia Corp. in Anan City in southern Tokushima Prefecture has developed blue LED as well as LEDs of different colors and white LED. The firm was established in 1956 by Mr. Eiji Ogawa and had developed as a fine chemical company. Today, the company is a one of the world's most advanced manufacturers 'pursuing high-quality 'light'' with factories and offices in the United States, Europe and Asia.
The last stop of the tour was Tokushima Prefectural Museum of Literature and Calligraphy, which opened last autumn thanks to the ardent wishes of Ms. Jakucho Setouchi, a noted writer hailing from Tokushima.
Here, Professor Takeo Yamato of Shikoku University spoke of Tokushima as 'although Tokushima was slow to develop due to the characteristics of the nature-loving and easygoing residents, the region has formed Awa-style commercial economy while people have acquired a sharp business sense through their indigo business, resulting in the development of world-class businesses and the present status of Tokushima as a better province.' The members of the tour nodded in agreement. It was a tour that has driven home the fact that Tokushima has increased its charm. (J)