Intact dinosaur bone dug up in Fukui
The Fukui Prefectural Museum recently released an interim report on the progress in 1997 of its Dinosaur Fossil Excavation Project, an extensive collection of fossils unearthed in Katsuyama City, Fukui Prefecture, where the Tetori Group section of the earth (comprised of sedimentary rock from the Mesozoic era) is located.The approximately 600 dinosaurian tooth and bone fossils - those of Doromaeosauridae, a flesh-eating group of dinosaurs, Iguanodontidae, a genus of gigantic herbivorous dinosaurs, Sauropod, and others - obtained from the site provided results of even greater significance than had been anticipated.
The find included a number of very well-preserved fossils from the skull of Iguanodontidae. The samples included an intact lower left jawbone, and the first predentary and upper jawbone ever discovered in Japan from a dinosaur.
The Iguanodontidae fossils unearthed on this dig appear most likely to have come from the same animal as the other skull fossils discovered on previous digs. With 15 bone fragments now in hand, scientists can build a more complete reconstruction of the head of this dinosaur, giving taxonomists more data to work with.
The discovery indicates that the Iguanodon unearthed in Fukui may very possibly represent a new type different from all other known Iguanodontidae specimens.
Kankeiren releases eco-action plan
The Kansai Economic Federation (Kankeiren) has made public a voluntary environmental action plan, compiled from the action plans worked out by 153 member companies. The purpose is to accelerate attempts by the Kansai business community to come to grips with global environmental problems.Eighty-eight businesses in the manufacturing sector and 65 companies in the non-manufacturing sector participated in formulating the action program.
Some of the attempts listed in the Kankeiren Voluntary Action Plan on the Environment are: promotion of the use of automobiles powered by natural gas (Osaka Gas Co.), promotion of slag recycling (Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd.), a 35% cutback in energy consumption for air-cooling in fiscal 2000 from fiscal 1990 levels (Sanyo Electric Co.), and a 75% reduction in industrial waste by the year 2000 from 1991 levels (Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.).
Among the other plans are: expansion of environment-related businesses such as power generation by refuse incinerators (Nissho Iwai Corp.), promotion of a campaign for planting 1 million trees with 100,000 trees planted annually (Nippon Life Insurance Co.), introduction of energy-saving types of trains (West Japan Railway Co.), and attainment of over 99% recycling of waste and by-products in the beer production process (Suntory Ltd.).
Osaka plans to boost Olympic bid in Nagano
The City of Osaka plans to conduct a promotion campaign in Nagano for its bid to host the 2008 Summer Olympics during the period of the Winter Olympics, which is to take place from February 7-22, 1998.The city intends to set up an Osaka House near the Main Press Center as a base for local public relations activities. The building will have display panels introducing Maishima, the man-made island where the main Olympic venue would be located; Yumeshima, the planned site for the Olympic Village; and other facilities for sporting events. Videos of the streets and culture of Osaka will also be shown.
According to the plan, the Osaka House will also have space where Japanese officials concerned can meet those of the International Olympic Committee and various international sporting federations, as well as the international mass media.
The city will print 10,000 copies each in English, French and Japanese of a pamphlet designed to introduce the attractive features of Osaka, highlighting history, culture, high technology and other aspects. An Osaka Olympic bid promotion badge and picture postcards will also be distributed.
In addition, the city government hopes to inaugurate by the end of this month a preparatory committee to establish a national committee that will undertake activities to promote Osaka's bid to host the Olympics. The preparatory committee will be composed of officials from the Japanese Olympic Committee, the Education Ministry and the City of Osaka.
Ryukoku Univ. issues int'l academic journal
The Association of Economic Studies of Ryukoku University in Kyoto has recently started publication of an English-language international academic journal in collaboration with the Institute for Research into International Competitiveness of Curtin University in Perth, Australia.The Asia Pacific Journal of Economics & Business focuses on such topics as economy, industry and corporate activities in the Asia-Pacific region with the purpose of offering academic analyses to readers around the world. The journal is to be issued biannually.
Contributions will be solicited from university scholars, researchers at public and private research institutes, people in the business world and government officials engaged in survey/analysis. These professionals will also be targeted as subscribers.
The inauguration issue contains six articles selected from 50-odd theses, including "Ethics, Corruption, and Doing Business in Asia" written by Richard T. De George, professor at the University of Kansas.
Shanghai theme park to open at Kobe Port
The Kobe Municipal Government has selected Daiei Inc. as the prospective operator of an amusement facility to open in the Naka-Tottei (Naka Pier) district of Kobe Port. Daiei won the competition for the best plan to build a facility that will attract visitors to the area. The district is being redeveloped by the City of Kobe with an eye to "creating a midtown waterfront that highlights the sea and ships."Among criteria for the competition were the creation of "a facility that can make the waterfront lively by attracting many visitors" and building "a facility that can become a major base of tourism in Kobe Port, and serve as a new tourist spot in the port town of Kobe."
Under Daiei's proposal, a seven-story facility with a total floor space of about 25,400 sq. meters will be built at a cost of some ¥11 billion yen. It will include a theme park that recreates the streets of Shanghai, a pub where people can enjoy Chinese shows, a restaurant serving dishes from around the world, a 10-screen cinema complex seating 2,000. The leisure facility is slated to open in March 2000.
Garden designs sought for 'Japan Flora 2000'
Hyogo Prefecture, the Association of the Intercultural Communication Project, and other organizers are holding an international competition to solicit design ideas for a flower garden and a promenade garden that Hyogo Prefecture plans to set up for the International Gardening and Landscaping Exhibition "Japan Flora 2000." The exhibition will take place on Awaji Island, Hyogo Prefecture, in the year 2000.The flower garden will consist of 100 terraced sections, each measuring 4.5 meters by 4.5 meters. The promenade garden, measuring an average 17 meters in width with a length of 300 meters, will sweep across the middle of a sloping bank overlooking the exhibition site and Osaka Bay.
Proposals, including written descriptions and design sketches, are to be submitted from March 1 through March 31, 1998, and should be in Japanese or English. Persons interested in taking part in this competition must register by December 25 with the competition secretariat. Total prize money for each category is ¥2 million yen, with the award ceremony scheduled for May 1998.
Further details are available at the home page (http://web.pref.hyogo.jp/jpnflora/compe.htm).
Kansai in Focus: Living cultural assets: Nara Park's wild deer mingle with visitors
Deer are found in every part of the Japanese archipelago, and as such are well known throughout the country. As usual with herbivores, though, they tend to be very cautious, and wild deer will never approach humans or other potential predators. There is only one place in Japan, however, where this rule does not apply. In Nara Park, in the eastern part of Nara City, wild deer behave more like pet dogs than their brethren elsewhere in the country, allowing people to approach and touch them and freely crossing roads that are buzzing with automobiles.
Historical records show that the deer of Nara have been protected for over a thousand years, since the Nara and Heian eras. Because of their historical place in the city, and for their interest to scientists as wild animals with no fear of human beings, the deer were designated natural monuments under the Cultural Properties Protection Law in 1957. In other words, the deer of Nara Park have been recognized as valuable national assets on a par with the many structures and art works that are designated national treasures or important cultural properties in Nara, the ancient imperial capital.
According to Takeshi Kobune, secretary general of the Nara Deer Fund, the current deer population in Nara Park is about 1,200. Although the nonprofit corporation cares for deer that have been injured, whether attacked by stray dogs or hit by cars, generally it leaves the animals to their own devices - except for two times a year.
Deer give birth in spring, and when people approach the fawns, their mothers may kick them with their front legs to protect their young. For this reason, the deer-care society sequesters pregnant does in spring, not letting them rejoin the herd until their young are weaned. In the autumn mating season, when male deer grow restless and aggressive, the society rounds them up and cuts their antlers to prevent injury to human visitors. The antler-cutting ceremony dates back to 1671, and today is offered as a sightseeing attraction open to public view every Sunday and public holiday in the month of October.
The deer's main food source is the grass in Nara Park, eliminating the need to mow the grass, and their droppings serve as fertilizer, which also help to spread seeds throughout the park. This natural process keeps the park's lawns beautiful all the year round, without maintenance work by gardeners. Deer also eat the leaves and branches of trees, up to 2 meters off the ground, contributing to good visibility in spite of the large number of trees in the park. An additional food source is the "deer crackers" sold by vendors in the park to visitors, but these account for little more than snacks and are the only food the deer are given by people, as anything more would cause them to stop foraging for themselves.
To the east of the park is Kasuga Shrine, dedicated to a god who, legend says, rode in on a white deer from Kashima Shrine in Ibaraki Prefecture in the year 768. Deer have been protected in the area ever since as sacred servants of the gods, and it is largely agreed that this mystical connection is what has made the Nara deer unique in Japan for their interaction with human beings over the centuries.
The ancients' tradition of respect for the animals is today carried on by the protection society, which looks after the deer as living cultural assets. The Nara Deer Fund is supported by Nara Prefecture, Nara City and Kasuga Shrine.