"OB Summit" to be held in May 2001 in Hyogo Prefecture
The Hyogo Prefectural Government announced the holding of a meeting of the Inter Action Council "OB Summit" in 2001, with former presidents and prime ministers of 27 countries gathering.The 16th annual meeting of the Inter Action Council, held in Rio de Janeiro May 3-5, approved and authorized the 2001 Council meeting to be held in Hyogo Prefecture, that has promoted invitation activities to publicize to the world the progress of restoration work in the Hanshin area hard hit by the 1995 great earthquake.
The Inter Action Council, established in 1983, comprises former presidents and prime ministers, including Kiichi Miyazawa, prime minister of Japan, Helmut Schmidt, chancellor of Germany, Malcolm Fraser, prime minister of Australia, Jimmy Carter, president of the United States, Mikhail S. Gorbachev, president of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Lee Kuan Yew, prime minister of Singapore, Jose Sarney, president of Brazil, and Valery Giscard d'Estaing, president of France.
The Council meets annually to discuss political, economic and social issues facing mankind and offer recommendations for practical settlement of problems.
The 2001 meeting is likely to be held sometime around May, with its theme to be fixed the previous year. The Hyogo Prefectural Government hopes to hold the meeting at the Awaji Yumebutai (Higashiura town), the international facilities to be completed in 2000.
Osaka Gas synthesizes carbon nanotube at a high yield rate
Osaka Gas Co. announced it has successfully synthesized carbon nanotube, a next generation highly functional carbonic material at a high yield rate, first in the world,and paved the way for its mass production.Carbon nanotube, discovered in Japan in 1991, comprises carbon atoms arranged in tube structure and is 10-50 nanometers in diameter. It outperforms conventional materials such as metals and ceramics in various aspects: it is about 40 times as strong as carbon textile and emits electron about 100 times more than molybdenum, can store gas about five times more than hydrogen synthetic metals, and has high electrically conductive characteristics.
It will have wide applications in the energy, information-communications, aviation, space, somatological and medical sectors and so forth. So far, however, only a few grams of carbon nanotube were produced a day with conventional methods.
The new method removed this problem. It synthesizes carbon precursors by electrical reduction from hydrocarbon fluorides as starting materials, which is then exposed to electron irradiation. It has realized a yield rate of 50%. Carbon nanotube can be produced in large quantity if large-sized electron irradiation equipment is installed.
Small firms' management style difficult to change
Osaka City Shinkin Bank conducted a survey in May on how small- and medium-size enterprises in Osaka Prefecture has restructured their business since the collapse of the bubble economy. The bank sent questionnaires to 1,400 companies, of which 1,022 or 73% responded.The survey showed that 37% have completed restructuring or are in the process of restructuring, and more than 90% of them said restructuring was worth it. As specific restructuring measures in multiple answers, 47.6% cited personnel reductions, 27.5% contraction of borrowings, 25.7% streamlining of working and manufacturing methods, and 22.8% retooling of the wage system.
On the contrary, only 2.9% cited changes in management strategy and product lines , 5.8% disposal of idle assets, and 9.5% specialization of businesses.
The questionnaire asked companies that are yet to conduct restructuring why they have not done so. As many as 66.8% replied that they consider restructuring is necessary but have not done so because they are not confident about doing so. A total of 170 companies or 26.4% said they found it unnecessary to restructure their operations since they are doing well, and 6.8% said they would shortly start restructuring.
The questionnaire also asked all the 1,022 companies, excluding 170 which found restructuring unnecessary, what were the most difficult issues they had to deal with in restructuring. Their reply was: firstly, it is difficult to break the status quo and change their management framework(48.5%,multiple answers), and, secondly, it is not easy to formulate a new corporate strategy (46.1%, multiple answers).
Takeda develops new way to produce hGH
Takeda Chemical Industries Ltd., based in Osaka, has developed a new procedure for producing human growth hormone(hGH), an agent for treatment of pituitary dwarfism.Growth hormone produced in Escherichia coli with gene recombination technology contains extra methionine, a kind of amino acid, and is not applicable for clinical use. Takeda conducted research from a new perspective, completely different from conventional methods, and for the first time in the world succeeded in chemically removing methionine from human growth hormone. The new method, which involves the use of four drugs, has a high yield rate and is relatively easy to handle. It is an epoch-making process, more than halving the production cost from the conventional method that removes methionine with a special enzyme.
Takeda reported on its feat in a news bulletin of The Royal Society of Chemistry "J.C.S. Chem. Commun, 1998" issued on May 21.
Wave power generation device to be tested off Mie
The prototype construction of an offshore floating wave energy device "Mighty Whale" has been completed at the Ishikawajima Harima Heavy Industries (IHI) shipyard in Aioi City, Hyogo Prefecture. The whale-shaped device for the Japan Marine Science and Technology Center (JAMSTEC) has dimensions of 50 meters in length, 30 meters in breadth and 12 meters in depth. JAMSTEC is expected to moor the floating device to its test location just outside the mouth of Gokasho Bay off Mie Prefecture, and start its tests in mid-July. The tests, which are expected to continue for approximately two years, are aimed at ensuring Mighty Whale's safety, durability and economic efficiency and exploring the feasibility of its practical application.
Mighty Whale will be capable of generating power by wave enough to meet the demand of four to five households. It can pressure the air with some of electricity it genrates and emit the compressed air into the coastal waters together with the fresh offshore seawater. Accordingly, the device increases oxygen volume in the seawater, activating microorganism and acting as a water purifier.
The device also has a wave-calming function, which helps calm waters behind it. A row of such devices will thus create the environment that fits fish farms or leisure sports. Its another characteristics is that it just floats and does not prevent the ocean water from circulating.
SEI develops rat-repellent optical fiber cable
Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. (SEI) has developed mobile optical fiber cables coated with special polyethylene that repels rats and other wild animals.Because they are laid outdoors for TV relay broadcasting and for voice or image transmissions in various events and therefore tend to be nibbled by rats and other wild animals, mobile cables must be protected from such harm.
SEI engineers hit upon the idea of mixing the synthetic pungent ingredient of red pepper in the polyethylene coating of optical fiber. Since the pungent element of red pepper is an eating material, it is safe and friendly to the human body and to the environment. Its rat-repellent effect lasts long.
The polyethylene coating is laminated by another layer of thin protective coating, which prevents cable laying workers from directly touching the pungent ingredient.
Kansai in Focus: Wide-area tie-up starts to move in Kansai
A wide-area tie-up beyond administrative boundaries started to move among autonomies and business organizations in the Kansai region. Nine prefectures, three major cities and five major business organizations in the region have established a preparatory committee for the inauguration next spring of the Kansai Consultative Council. Local governments all over the nation closely watch whether Kansai's action makes a breakthrough in local administration reform.The preparatory committee is joined by the Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo, Nara, Wakayama, Shiga, Fukui, Mie and Tokushima prefectural governments, the Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe municipal governments, Kansai Economic Federation, Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Kansai Association of Corporate Executives, Osaka Industrial Association, and Kansai Employers' Association.
Top leaders of the prefectural and municipal governments and the economic organizations agreed to pursue "Togetherness of All Kansai" at the Kansai summit meeting held in Osaka on May 7, claiming that the goal of the Kansai Consultative Council is to enhance the Kansai region's total strength by taking full advantage of its industry, history and other potentials under the concept that Kansai is a single entity.
So far, there have been some attempts in the Kansai region in the past to promote joint projects beyond prefectural boundaries, but many of them failed due to local egoism. It was because prefectures differed on specifics though they were all one on generalities. Now, they finally succeeded in establishing a wide-area body, though a preparatory one at the moment. This, however, reflects the fact that the prolonged recession has deteriorated the revenue shortfalls of local governments, making it difficult for them to undertake large-scale projects separately. Local governments now find it impossible to independently take measures for the wide-area prevention of large-scale disasters such as the Great Hanshin Earthquake, and deal with environmental problems like the disposal of industrial and household wastes. It is also pointed out that cultural facilities such as concert halls built by local governments one after another have low operation rates, increasing financial burdens of local residents.
Whether the Kansai Consultative Council can really function as planned is open to question, because "independent mind" is still so strong in each local government that they find it difficult to work together with others on the joint projects. At the latest summit, for example, Osaka wanted to host the Olympics, Wakayama preferred the construction of a bridge between Wakayama and the Awaji Island, and Fukui called for the construction of the Hokuriku Shinkansen, etc. Thus, success of wide-area cooperation in the region depends on whether local governments can set aside their differences for the sake of unity of the whole region.
Even so, there are growing expectations among various quarters in the region that the proposed consultative council should play the leading role of pushing for decentralization in Japan. They consider as a great stride the moves that local entities in the region started toward wide-area tie-up, and hope that the Kansai region will develop into a wide-area union under the local autonomy law.
Yasuo Shingu, chairman of Kansai Economic Federation, who advocated the establishment of a wide-area Kansai union, says emphatically that the proposed council would succeed if it learns the spirit of the European Union. The Chubu, Tohoku and other regions are keenly interested in the moves in the Kansai region. A successful wide-area tie-up in the Kansai region would serve as a model case for the reform of the whole nation. (R)