World's largest-class solar power plants to start in 2011
Kansai Electric Power Co. and Sharp Corp. have announced plans to jointly promote construction of the world's largest-class photovoltaic power generation facilities in a seaside area of Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture. The local municipality also supports the 'Mega Solar Power Generation Plan' which it expects to help realize a low carbon-emitting urban community dubbed 'cool city Sakai.'Kansai Electric Power will handle the establishment of a solar power plant by itself on a landfill for industrial waste disposal about 20 hectares in size, aiming to start its operation in fiscal 2011. It will produce about 10,000 kilowatts of power, equivalent to the power consumed by some 3,000 households. (See artist's sketch.) It will become the first commercial solar power generation plant to be operated by an electric power company in the country. Another plan calls for the two companies to jointly install and manage photovoltaic power generation facilities within a liquid crystal panel complex that Sharp and others are building. Solar cell panels will be placed on the rooftop and walls of each plant to yield 18,000 kilowatts of power that will be used up in the complex. The facilities are expected to start operation by March 2011.
The combined power output of the two plants will total 28,000 kilowatts, the volume equal to the power expended by about 8,000 households, and they will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 10,000 tons a year. They will exceed the scale of the world's largest solar power generation plant currently in operation in Spain.
For inquiries, please contact Office of Community Relations & Corporate Communications, Kansai Electric Power Co. (Tel: 06-7501-0242; URL: http://www.kepco.co.jp/).
Kansai farm, marine products to be in Asian stores next day
The Kinki District Transport Bureau of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has set up a study panel and held its first session to discuss the creation of a distribution network aimed at exporting agricultural and marine products in the Kansai region to Asian countries by utilizing late-night freight flights departing from Kansai International Airport (KIX), which is the only 24-hour airport in Japan. Amid the growing popularity of safe and high-quality Japanese farm and seawater products in countries centering on Asia, the panel will examine efficient means of their transportation from production sites to KIX for the use of late-night freight flights to cut flying hours, maintain their quality and optimize their distribution.The panel will practice model shipments in the export of such products as peaches produced in Wakayama Prefecture and grapes grown in Osaka Prefecture from July to August. Thus far, peaches exported to Taiwan have been flown by day flights on the day after they were shipped from Wakayama, going on sale at stores three days after shipment. The use of late-night flights on the same day the peaches were shipped out will make it possible for them to appear in stores the following day.
For inquiries, please contact Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport & Tourism, Kinki District Transport Bureau (Tel: 06-6949-6410; URL: http://www.kkt.mlit.go.jp/).
Cooling service by mist sprayer launched in Osaka
The Osaka Municipal Works Bureau has started selling and leasing a device that switches tap water into mist for spraying into the air as a means of combating heat waves in summer. The bureau, in partnership with rental business Nikken Corp., offers a package of one-stop services ranging from planning to set up the dry-type mist sprayer and its design and installation work to maintenance service and tax reduction/exemption for water bills. It is the first public enterprise in the nation to pair up with a private company in the business of sprinkling mist.The apparatus is made to release pressurized tap water in mist from a minute injection opening for spraying into the air, thereby lowering the temperature in the surrounding area by the cooling effect of water evaporation. It is said to reduce the mercury by 2 to 3 degrees centigrade in the surrounding area, without passersby getting wet even if the mist comes in contact with their clothing. It is being put to use as a model project to cope with the 'heat island' phenomenon successively at 12 places, including Osaka Municipal Chuo Primary School (photo) and areas around the Midosuji avenue in Osaka City.
For inquiries, please contact Engineering Division, Planning Department, Osaka Municipal Works Bureau (Tel: 06-6616-5512; URL: http://www.city.osaka.jp/).
1st fish traceability recognition
Ohseto Suisan of Kushimoto Town, Wakayama Prefecture, has become the first Japanese company in the aquaculture industry to receive certification under the Japan Agricultural Standards (JAS) for accurately informing consumers on the traceability of farmed fish.The certification was 'JAS of Cultivated Fish with Production Information' which the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries put in force in April. The company utilized 'traceability software' named 'Gyoreki' for cultured fish developed by Marubeni Nisshin Feed Co. Consumers can obtain information on the environment in which fish were cultured on the dedicated homepage, including fish farmers, feed, medical and pharmaceutical products used, and the day fish were caught. According to Marubeni Nisshin Feed, consumers are showing growing interest in securing peace of mind and safety in the midst of successive problems arising over foodstuffs and there will be further moves among fish farming industry people to obtain the JAS certification.
For inquiries, please contact General Affairs, Personnel & Public Relations Department, Marubeni Nisshin Feed Co. (Tel: 03-5201-3276; URL: http://www.mn-feed.com/).
Winners of 24th Kyoto Prize
The Inamori Foundation has named three scholars - an American and two Canadians - as winners of the 24th Kyoto Prize for their work contributing to the progress of science, the advancement of civilization and the elevation of the human spirit.They are computer scientist Richard Karp, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, in the category of advanced technology; Anthony Pawson, a molecular biologist and professor at the University of Toronto, in the category of basic sciences; and Charles Taylor, a philosopher and professor emeritus at McGill University in Montreal, in the arts and philosophy category. Pawson and Taylor are the first Canadians to receive the prize. Karp has developed 'many practically relevant computer algorithms' to solve problems by computer, while Pawson has shed light on the 'basic paradigms of signal transduction' in cells, and Taylor has envisioned 'the future in which diverse, heterogeneous cultures peacefully coexist upon mutual recognition.' The three scholars will each receive 50 million yen.
For inquiries, please contact Communications Department, Inamori Foundation (Tel: 075-353-7272; URL: http://www.inamori-f.or.jp/)
[Kansai Event File] July - October 2008
Nachi fire festival (Wakayama, July 14), Gion Matsuri festival, Yamahoko-junko (parade of floats) (Kyoto, July 17); Tenjin festival (Osaka, July 25); 90th national high school baseball championship (Hyogo, 17 days from Aug. 2); Awa Odori folk dance (Tokushima, Aug. 12-15); Kasuga shrine mid-year lantern festival (Nara, Aug. 14-15); Daimonji fire festival (Kyoto, Aug. 16); Kishiwada Danjiri-matsuri (float festival, Osaka, Sept. 13-14); Nada no Kenka-matsuri (fight festival, Hyogo, Oct. 14-15); Jidai Matsuri (festival of the ages), Kurama no Himatsuri (fire festival), (both Kyoto, Oct. 22).
Kansai Information: 'Awa Odori' dance is midsummer festival
Summer in Tokushima Prefecture on the smallest main island of Shikoku definitely means 'Awa Odori' folk dance. The boisterous street dancing is staged to the beat of festival music with participants chanting in local dialect. Featuring a mixture of women dancing with elegant, smooth and soft motions and men with dynamic, freewheeling movements, the dancers exude energy and captivate those who come to watch them. They dance to the tune of festival music known as 'Awa Yoshikono,' with lyrics like 'fools dance, fools watch them and if we are all fools, we might as well join them in dancing.' The event is open to anyone willing to take part. The dance with spontaneous participants precisely becoming dancing fools offers exceptional pleasure (photo). With a history of about 400 years, Awa Odori is held in various parts of the prefecture, including the prefectural capital Tokushima, and the cities of Naruto and Miyoshi.
Particularly, Awa Odori in Tokushima City held for four days from August 12 to 15 turns the whole city into a frenzy of the midsummer festival. The city's Awa Odori is used as a scene of the movie 'Bizan' released last year based on a story written by singer Masashi Sada. A total of more than 1,000 Awa Odori 'ren' groups take to the street from seven dance sites and plazas established in the center of the city commanding a view of the Bizan hilly terrain, dancing and walking to the accompaniment of music such as flat portable gongs that give off a resonant tone when struck, 'shamisen' three-stringed instruments, flutes and 'taiko' drums.
This year marks the 10th anniversary since Tokushima Prefecture was linked with Japan's largest main island of Honshu by bridge and road. Improvement of the prefecture's traffic network, including an expressway, has made rapid progress during the past decade. Access to Tokushima from not only the Kansai region and the rest of the country but also from abroad has improved by leaps and bounds as a result of the operation of such transportation services as direct bus runs from Kansai International Airport. The festival last summer drew a turnout of 1.39 million people thanks to fine weather. Tokushima hopes visitors will feel free to come this summer.
Advance tickets to Tokushima Awa Odori are available at Ticket Pia and convenience stores Sunkus, Circle K, FamilyMart and Lawson. Tickets can also be obtained by telephone and the Internet. Tickets sold on the day of the event will be available at the counter of each dance site starting at 5 p.m.
For inquiries, please contact Tourism Planning Division, Tourism Strategy Bureau, Tokushima Pref. (Tel:088-621-2337; URL: http://www.awanavi.jp/category/0000222.html).
Kansai in Focus: Melting iron with tea; universities are local industry of wisdom
Battered by a falling birthrate on top of the concentration of population in the Tokyo zone, universities in the Kansai region, including former national universities that have become independent administrative institutions, face the challenge of how they are going to survive. Although the self-complacent doctrine of academic supremacy that has kept them out of touch with general society is said to work no longer, universities are still treasure troves of wisdom and technological achievements. Will attractive results of their research rescue them?Kinki University has succeeded in fully farming bluefin tuna, which have become scarce as consumption of the fish surges throughout the world. It is shipping the university-cultivated brand of bluefin tuna to the Tokyo market. As a private university in the Kansai area, it is the only general university that has medical and pharmaceutical departments. It has a total of 11 departments with students numbering 32,000. It also has a nuclear reactor for research.
Recently, the university has been taken up by the mass media across the nation in the wake of growing awareness of health and moves for the preservation of ocean resources. Prof. Hidemi Kumai, former director of the Fisheries Laboratory of Kinki University, achieved full-cycle culturing of bluefin tuna, the first such feat in the world. Carrying on the research initiated by his former teacher, Kumai experienced repeated successes and failures over more than 30 years, while receiving support from a public financial institution. He finally triumphed in putting the research into practical use. It takes time to bring about 'attractive results of research.'
Iron dissolution by tea
Kinki University is said to be in the final stage of a project to develop technology for dissolution of iron by tea aiming for its early commercialization. The research has been under way since an application for funding was accepted by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), an independent administrative institution, under a program known as the Grant for Practical Application of University R&D Results under the Matching Fund Method.
Iron that sustains present-day civilization is taken out of a blast furnace after iron ore is dissolved by high-temperature coal-derived coke. However, there have been problems with mass-consumed coke such as increases in imported prices of coking coal and greenhouse gas emissions. On the other hand, makers of tea, coffee and other soft drinks that have come to be consumed extensively have spent huge sums of money for the disposal of great quantities of residue.
'Bio-coke' developed
A team of researchers led by Tamio Ida, associate professor of the university's School of Science and Engineering, has been developing 'bio-coke' capable of producing high temperatures for use in iron manufacture from the remnants of tea and other waste materials containing carbon, and succeeded in manufacturing cylindrical coke measuring about 5 cm in diameter. Experimental tests conducted in a small foundry furnace verified that 'bio-coke' could be utilized as an alternative to about 20% of coal-based coke. The outcome of research, conducted by Kinki University and MHI Environment Engineering Co. in industry-academia cooperation, has come to the stage of establishing a procurement route of raw material (tea residue and other waste) for recycling of resources and sales routes geared toward a business model for 'bio-coke' commercialization.
Probably, technological R&D helping to resolve a variety of regional and social problems - directly or indirectly over a short or long term - is the original function of universities, not only as educational institutions but also as pearls of wisdom for regions and society. In other words, universities are part of local industry. Those believers in proudly independent academism may fly into a rage saying that it is inexcusable to 'call a university local industry.' However, wisdom is an outstanding industry in today's society. Efforts for ingenuity are spreading among universities in the Kansai region as they seek to be local industry for the sake of areas where they are located. (Tawara)